Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-05-29

are not suitable kinds, being either too
soft to hold UP the loads, or too PERISH
able when laid In the track. Creosoting
processes can extend the life of some
SUCH woods, but that nearly doubles the
cost of the ties AS a result one road In
this region that requires a million and
quarter ties every year has only been
able to buy a third of them in New Eng
land, and only about one-half of those
were cut In the woods adjacent to its
tracks, which run for hundreds of miles
through wooded country. Trees are
everywhere plentiful enough, but there
Is dearth of suitable timber Southern
pine has supplied this road. and all
others in the main, for some time past,
but even that source Is becoming unde-
pendable. and within the present month
the railroad administration has bought
million and half Douglas flr ties on the
West Coast, all of which are destined for
use on this side of the continent. What
wonder that the railroads are not able
to earn a profit!
A CHAPTER OF HOPES AND FEARS
Improvdence in the use of timber is in
no wise peculiar to New England. It Is
the same story throughout the country.
In some cases the outlook is even worse
for the simple reason that the public
conscience is not everywhere as far
awake to the situation as it is here. The
very fact that so many in New England
see the situation. and yet do nothing
adequate to amend 1t, makes this section
the more culpable. The timber situation
in the country as a whole has been clear
ly indicated in the chart which has been
prepared by Harris A. Reynolds, secre-
tary of the Massachusetts Forestry as
ISOLATION, and here reproduced by his
permission. The curves there drawn
show the increase in population from the
settlement of the country, and the COIN
cident use of the timber supply. The one
rises hopefully, while the other falls
distressingly. The ultimate prolongation
of the population curve to the year 1850
gives a reasonable forecast that there
will be one hundred and seventy million
souls in the country by that time. The
| prolongation of the timber supply curve
| on the basis of the present trend, shows
! a theoretical total timber exhaustion just
before 1860. OF course no one expects
| that the country is destined to experience
quite such complete restitution in wood
as that, then or any time. In the first
place a growing scarcity in wood will in
evitably force up the price, and compel
the use of substitutes to a greater degree
than at present. Then. too, cheaper
grades of lumber, not now marketable
| will gradually come into use, exporting
will cease with the broadening of the
| domestic market, and moreover. IL we
have faith in our country's future, we
must believe that native horsesense will
| come to the rescue, forest fires will be
stopped, and timber growing will be
\, Co
tors will undoubtedly stave off the arrival
come to parts of China, and to other
| Eastern lands.
| THE NATIONS LUMBER BILL
! 1t is interesting to note that, in arriv-
| ing at the basic timber supply figure
Mr.. Reynolds has taken the estimate OF
the original stand at the settlement OF
the country as made by the national con-
| servation commission, which everyone
regards as having been extremely con-
sentative, and has fortified this with an
climate representing the probable repro
ducton which has grown and been har-
vested meantime on n good deal of the
area Furthermore, it should be under
stood that this timber curve represents
merchantable lumber merely, and does
Two years ago the forest service esti.
mated that the remaining standing tim
Der in the country amounted to twenty
seven hundred billion board feet suitable
for lumber. 1t also figured that the ma.
| ton was using each year about one
| hundred and one billion feet, Of which
forty billion was lumber. Mortal eye Is
incapable of visualizing through arith.
metcal figures alone. 1t becomes more
readily perceptible through the picture
that Mr.. Reynolds draws Of the Lincoln
Highway (assuming that it is laid out
half a mile wide instead of few rods In
width, planked all over with boards one
inche thick from one end to the other
That could be done merely with the lum-
| Der that the country uses every year
With the remaining wood that Is used fol
other purposes a rampant twenty-five
feet high and ten feet thick could be
erected along both sides of this plankec
way.
PRIVATE FORESTS THE MAIN
RELIANCE
The remedy that is being urged by
Colonel Graves to cover the presen
situation is not based solely upon public
lly-owned forests. He is u stout believer
in national, State and municipal forests
and his programme calls for an extension
of such public properties in all parts O
the country. 1t is clear to him, however
that the main reliance must continue t.
be in privately owned forests. but he be
leves that the public has the right t.
insist that such private properties shall
l. &t,t, ,,,Jx-