The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-07-19
Frederic Haskin's Letter
Increasing the Wood Supply.

Washington, d. c., July 1S.-A
strong effort is being made 10 make
congress realize the Importance OF
q definite forest policy for the Unit
ed States. There has already Deen
introduced in the house by Rep
lesentative Smell of New YORK, a
bill which would accomplish THIS,
and Senator Mccormick of Illinois,
has sponsored the measure IN the
senate.
At present America has its United
States Forest service, and few ma
tional forests. But what interest
ed men and women are ciamoring
for is a forest policy which would
nut to work the 81 900, 900 acres OF
IDLE land in the United States, now
practically good for nothing.
The American Forestry associa-
ton is actively pushing. the Smell
bill. The Chamber of Commerce of
the United States has taken up the
question, too, and commission Of
its appointment. is now on the way
to the Pacific Coast, making a sur
vey of the forest situation through
out the nation. The far-reaching
Importance of adequate lumber sup
ply is beginning to be realized in
all its branches. 1t is a fact that
the cost of forest products has an
influence on the price of a house
or of a dozen eggs. The egg crate
must be considered, and the forests
enter into consideration if you in
tend to build a castle or a dog ken
mel. The price of the newspaper
you are reading is directly affect
ed.
A survey of the situation as pres
eHt conditions are affecting it sh0Ws
that the center of the lumber in
dustry-where the lumber is oe-
cured-is moving 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 major
ity of the manufacturing establish
ments are, and this shipment means
additional costs through freight
rates. Once again the finished pro-
duct must be shipped, with addi-
tional freight charges upon it.
Nearly everywhere the timber is be-
coming exhausted. New England
originally, and New York manu-
facturers now cut about a tenth of
the requirements of the people of
that state alone. the lumber out
in Pennsylvania is less than the
amount consumed in the Pittsburgh
district
Elsewhere the same situation ex-
lists. The Great Lakes states,
which for 80 years supplied most
'of the eastern and central regions
with soft wood lumber, now cuts
less than an eighth of their former
production and are forced to i'm
port soft wood from the Pacific
coast. The cut of southern pine, the
standard lumber of the east for the
past Is years, is falling off fast
IL 10 years, it is estimated, it will
not be sufficient to supply the needs
of the south alone
Cutting down the timber supply
is not the only loss Forest fires
have destroyed SIS, ZOO, 900 worth of
standing timber in the past i've
years. 1t is seldom that the con-
nection is seen. but a big fire N
q city means the replacement of the
destroyed buildings, and therefore
takes just that much more lum-
Der.
Importance of Forests.
The American Forestry associa-
ton puts the matter in this way.
Before you every morning at break
fast is nothing for which you must
not thank forest products. The
breakfast table itself, the butter
that reached town in wooden tubs,
your grapefruit was shipped in a
wooden box, your eggs were crat-
ed for shipment, and your break
fast food was packed in paper con-
tainers encased in turn in wooden
boxes. Your breakfast stops when
the forests disappear. .
The situation in regard to the
trees from which newsprint paper
is made is alarming. In less than
20 years 95 per cent Of the pulp and
paper mills of the country, mainly
those in the east, have exhausted
practically their entire supplies of
fir, spruce and hemlock-tha prin-
cipal woods from which paper for
printing newspapers is made.
The annual cutting of this wood
in New England and New York is