The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-07-22
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsI1IN, Director.
Washington, D. c.
INCREASING THE WOOD SUPPLY

definite forest policy for the United
States. There has already been intro
duced in the house by Representative
Smell of New York, bill which would
accomplish this, and Senator McCor-
mick, of Illinois, has sponsored the
measure in the senate.
At present America has its United
States forest service, and a few ma
national forests. But what interested
men and women are clamoring for
is a forest policy which would put
to work the s1,Oo0,OOO acres of idle
land in the United States, now prac-
ticalIy good for nothing.
The American Forestry association
is actively pushing the Smell bill. The
Chamber of Commerce of the United
States has taken up the question, too,
and a commission of its appointment
is now on the way to the Paclf1c
coast, making a survey of the forest
situation turnout the nation. The far
reaching importance of adequate lun1-
/ Der supply is beginning to be realized
| in all its branches. 1t is fact that
the cost of forest products has an in
| fluence on the price of house or or
a dozen eggs. The egg crate must
be considered, and the forests enter
into consideration If you intend to
build a castle or a dog kennel. The
price of the newspaper you are read
ing is directly affected.
A survey of the situation as present
conditions are affecting it shows that
the center of the lumber industry
where the lumber is Secured--ls NOV
| ing steadily toward the Pacific coast.
This means that a great deal of this
! lumber must be shipped to points east
! of the Mississippi river, where the ma
| jerity of the manufacturing establish
ments are, and this shipment means
additional costs thru freight rates.
Once again the finished product must
! be shipped, with additional freight
| charges upon it. Nearly everywhere
/ the timber is becoming exhausted. New
| England has an eighth of the timber
| it had originally, New York manufac-
| tureres now cut about tenth of the
requirements of the people OF that
state alone. The lumber cut in Penn
/ sylvania is less than the amount con-
sumed in the Pittsburgh district.
Elsewhere the same situation exists.
The Great Lakes states, which for
| thirty years supplied most of the east
| en- and central regions with soft wood
| lumber, now cut less than an eighth
OF their former production and are
forced to import soft wood from the
! Pacific coast. The cut of southern
pine, the standard lumber of the east
for the past fifteen years, is falling
| off fast In ten years, it is estimated,
it will not be sufficient to supply the
needs of the south alone.
| Cutting Gown Ine IlllD6r supply 10
not the only loss. Forest fires have
destroyed $S5, 100000 worth of stand
ing timber in the past five years. 1t
| is seldom that the connection is seen,
| but big fire in a city means the re-
placement of the destroyed buildings,
and therefore takes just. that much
/ more lumber.
Importance OF Forests.
The American Forestry association
puts the matter in this way: Before
you every morning, at breakfast is
nothing for which you must not
thank forest products The break
| fast table itself, the butter that
reached town in wooden TUBS, your
grapefruit was shipped in a wooden
box; your eggs were Grated for ship
ment and your breakfast food was
packed in paper containers encased
in turn in wooden boxes. Your
breakfast stops when the forests dis
appear.
The situation in regard to the trees
from which newsprint paper is made
is alarming. In less than twenty
years 95 per cent of the pulp and pa
per mills OF the country, mainly those
in the east, have exhausted practically
their entire supplies of fir, spruce,
and hemlock-the principal woods
from which paper for printing news
papers is made.
The annual cutting of this wood in
New bQRIdnQ ana new 4OTk IL
about 3,262,000 cords, and at this
rate the supply will last seventeen
years. The yearly cutting in the Lake
states is 3,030,000 cords, and there is
left only a supply sufficient for
eighteen years Pennsylvania, Mary
land, Virginia, and North Carolina
have smaller supplies, the annual cut
ting amounting to 1,470,000, and at
this rate the supply in these states
will last only ten years. Only in
Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Cali
fornia are the reserves in no imme-
date danger of exhaustion, providing
| that the cutting proceeds at the
present yearly rate of about 2,218,00
cords.
Again the freight rate enters.
When the supplies of timber for news
print paper in the east and middle
shipment across the continent of the
wood for making the paper. This is
necessary because about 95 per cent
of the paper mills are located in the
east. In some cases, If this comes to
pass, the Pacific coast would be the
worst sufferer, because the manufac-
tured paper would have to be shipped
back across the continent. with addi-
tional freight rates piling up.
The Smell measure is designed to
meet this situation in all Of it's angles.
It calls for an appropriation of about
| $10,000,000 annually for putting the
otherwise useless 81 oO0,000 acres of
American land to work growing trees.
There is also provision for fighting
forest fires, so that the labor of years
would not be wiped out by a single
great wave of flame sweeping thru
the woods.
The United States used to be indie
pendent with regard to newsprint, but
within the past ten years the con-
sumption has exceeded the home sup
ply, Canada is StepDine into the
| breach, and now operates ninety pa
per and pulp mills. with an aggregate
production Of 2,1o0 tons of newsprint
paper daily. Roughly, 80 per cent of
this production is available for ex-
port. America in its present plight
depends on Canada for about one
third Of all the supplies 1t requires of
paper, wood and pulp.
Lumber Tariff Harmful
/ To complicate the situation, the