Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-08-15
DANCER OF WOOD
) famine IS seen
Trees in, Forests Must Be Re-.
placed or Great Scarcity
! viii Result.
SAW MILLS SMALL FACTOR
pulp Mills Eat Up Many Millions Of
Spruce Every Year 1890 Scientific
Forestry Has Not Caught UP
to Tree Slaughter.


Bangor, Me.--When the world gets
through with its arguments about war;
peace, the Tor a) League OF Nations
and all that is expressed in the
short and ugly word rum" it should
turn its most serious and intelligent
attention TO tree farming. Positively,
there must be many more trees, or a
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
a tree was Just so much standing lum-
Der, and lumber was cheap. Within
the memory of men of middle age
first-class spruce logs sold in Bangor
at 81 to $14 per thousand feet. The
men who cut the logs were paid S1S
to 500 month and board, the board
consisting chiefly Of bunk to sleep
In and "beans twenty.one times
week" The men who "drove" the
same logs. that ia, personally con-
Quoted them down the roaring brooks
and raging rivers, received for their
labors and hairraising risks. SID 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
lied by monotonous simplicity ana
the service subject to many irreeu-
larities and postponements. These
same logs were sawed In mills that
ornamented the banks Of the Penob-
scot for fifty miles or more, chiefly
between Milford and Bangor, dis
lance Of about fifteen miles. The mill
hands went to work very early in the
morning and kept at it until long ar
ter everyone else had quit for the
day. being rewarded to the extent of
about $50 month and all the corned
beef, cabbage, etc. they could eat IN
twenty to thirty minutes, three or
four times day, according to sea
con.
Profit to ManQfacturer.
The sweet smelling spruce that was
sliced OF by the saws was worm
S1A to $21 per thousand feet. accord
ing to quality and dimensions. This
would seem to allow Of slight profit
to the manufacturer but there are
various ways Of measuring logs and
lumber-woods scale. boom scale and
I'm .a,yo aud 1,,rinv tho golden ora
Of Bangors spruce trade the 1uggiery
OF figures was such that 1000 feet OF
logs. boom scale would saw out
anywhere from 1,150 to 1,4O0 feet OF
lumber, 1000 feet4heing fair aver
age. So, even in the Agloomiest days,
when heavy spruce dimensions were
selling at sol to 500 and the Bangor
mill men would sit IN their ofnceS
chewing tobacco and cussing the hard
times, they were in fact making a
pretty good thing-especially If they
happened to own the land the logs
were cut from.
Then, last of all, the coasters VINO
carried the lumber to Boston, the
Sound and New York got Sl,1o, S2.29
md $3.50 per thousand feet for de-
livery at those several destinations
that Is, the rates quoted prevailed
during fairly good times. In dulI
times lumber was carried from Ban
por 10 Boston as cheaply as Sl,2o te
$50 per thousand, to Long lslano
sound ports at S175 to 81, and to New
York at So to 1925.
Now everything is changed OF
Names normal log cut of 1,OOoVoo'
600 feet. at least GO per cent goes in
TO pulp and paper. The native log
ger. who swung sharp Ak sEillfullN
at S1S to 500 month and was con
font to live on baked beans ant
sailed Ash, has been succeeded by
polyglot mob that uses saws ian
guidIy at $50 to $50 month, de
mands hotel fare, frequent payments
polite treatment and every few week
vacation. The logs for the mos
mart, are cut into four-foot lengths
and they go to the big pulp and pape
mills owned by corporations that lonI
ago bought M hundreds Of thousand
of acres Of the best timber In Maine
Logging used to begin In Novembe
and end in March. Now 1t goes on a
all seasons.
Saw Mills Small Factor.
The saw mill Is small factor II
the great game Of turning Maine for
ests into money. "aa I2s-~ -