Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1919-08-13
Trees in Forests Must Be Re-
placed or Great Scarcity
win Result.
SAW MILLS SMALL FACTOR
Pulp Mills Eat Up Many Millions Of
Spruce Every Year - Scientific
Forestry Has Not Caught Up
to Tree Slaughter.

Bangor, Me.-When the world gets
through with its arguments about war,
peace the Cor AZ League of Nations
and all that Is expressed in the
short and ugly word rum" 1t should
turn its most serious and intelligent
attention to tree farming Positively,
there must be many more trees, or
constant and liberal replenishment Of
the existing supply, or presently we
shall suffer great Inconvenience from
the scarcity Of many useful and some
ornamental things.
In the simple and innocent old times
tree was just so much standing lum-
Der, and lumber was cheap. Within
the memory of men of middle age
hrst-ciass spruce logs sold In Bangor
at S11 to S14 per thousand feet. The
men who cut the logs were paid SIS
20 $50 a month and board the board
consisting chiefly Of a bunk 10 sleep
in and "beans twenty-one times a
week" The men who "drove" the
same logs, that is, personally con
Quoted them down the roaring brooks
and raging rivers, received for their
labors and hair-raising risks, 1928 to
So day, according TO their athletic
skill and their fame as white water
men," and Of course all hands were
fed although the menu was character
ized by monOtonous simplicity and
the service subject to many irregu-
laritIes and postponements These
same logs We're sawed in mills that
ornnmented the banks Of the Penoh-
scot for fifty miles or more, chiefly
between Milford and Bangor a dis
lance Of about fifteen miles. The mill
hands went to work very early IN the
morning and kept at It until long af-
ter everyone else had quit for the
daN being rewarded 10 the extent Of
about $50 n month and all the corned
beef cabbage. etc, they could ent I'm
twenty TO thirty minutes. three or
-four times a day, according TO sea-
son.
Profit to Manufacturer.
The understanding spruce that was
sliced of by the saws was worth
S14 70 S2f per thousand feet, accord |
ing to quality and dimensions. This !
would seem TO allow of slight profit |
TO the manufactures, but there are
vorious ways Of measuring logs and |
iumbeT-woods scale, boom scale and /
mill scale-and during the golden err |
OF Bangor's spruce trade the iugglery |
'0 figures was such that 1000 feet Of |
g csu boom scale would "saw out"
anywhere from ] $50 to 400 feet Of
lumber. 1000 feet being n fair aver
pge. So even in the gloomlest days. /
when heavy spruce dimensions were
selling ut S2l to SOB and the Bangor
min men would sit In their Offices
scbewing tobacco and cusslng the hari
&mes, they were IN fact making n
pretty good thing-especIally II they
happened TO own the land the logs
were cut from.
Then. last of all, the coasters who
carried the lumber to Boston. the
Sound and New York got S1.75, 1928
and $3.50 per thousand feet for de-
livery at those several destinations
that Is, the rates quoted prevailed
times lumber was carried from Ban
gor to Boston rs cheaply as $l.25 TO
81 per thousand, 10 Long Island
sound ports at sl75 TO 81, and to New
York at s. to S223
Now everything IS changed. OF
Names normal log cut of 100000
600 feet. at least 60 per cent goes in
70 pulp ard paper the native log
ger who swung a sharp AK skillfully
~ SIS TO $50 81 month and was CON
tent 10 live on baked beans and
saltod fish. has been succeeded by
polyglot mob that uses saws Ian
guldly at $50 to see month. de-
minds hotel fare. frequent payments
polite treatment and every few weeks
vacation. The logs for the most
part. are cut into four-foot lengths.
and they 90 to the big pulp and paper
mills owned by corporations that long
ago bought up hundreds of thousands
OF acres of the best timber in Maine.