Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1922-11-19
Uy W. II. Greeley.


Hy W. II. Greeley.
Chief L. s Forest service.
The lumber industry of tho
United states is dropping behind tho
Rocky Mountains. This &, rhe out
standing fact i'm tho 1870 canvass OF
American sawmills JUS completed
by the Forest Service. The cut of
lumber in practically every western
state has Increased In nearly
every Eastern State il has declined.
Washington heads the list OF lum-
her producing states ami manufac-
lures sixth Of tn" entire lumber
OF tho country. Louisiana Yong held
second place. hu, now yields it %
OREGON. california becomes the
fifth in rank. replacing another %,
her southern sisters. The American
sSwmill has steadily eaten its way
Westward and now Is cropping the
last rich virgin pastures. over so
per cent az the timber left in the
United States lies Between the
Rocky Mountains and the Pacific
Ocean. From that region the coun-
try must draw steadily increasing
part OF The thirty Eve odd billion
feet OF lumber which Il needs every
year FOR its dwellings and its indus
tries
Last summer I rode over sixty
mile stub railroad in tho mountains
ht west virginia on which thirty
i've sawmills, large and small. have
been dismanti"d aud abandoned
within the last fifteen years IT,
stations arc mostly sAwdust niles
each with it's cluster Of vacant. rot
inG buildings Another stub a few
miles distant once marketed the
product OF twelve large sawmills
Now one "f them is loft and its hum
ming saws viii lccome silent In
four or fly" years. The fores, indus
tries Of this region are practically
~ an end. Its min towns arc one
with Nincvch and Tyre Hero and
there throughout once vast forests
Of homio"k, spruce and OAK. there Is
a LITTLE group "f bottomland farms
or little patch "t pasture Land
Nine-tcnths of it is nurned and
idle waste.
IN old story.
Tn" story " these Nest Virginia
mountains tells the history 81 many
timhcrsd regions and ono" thrivinc
industrial districts in the United
states. 1t is rctold in the Allrrhany
forests Of "nnsylvania. in the old
sawmill towns and lumber camps OF
the Grea, Lakes. in the pineries hor-
d.rirc the south Atlantic and the
Guf. Il NO, only = story Of for
=, wrecksge. hut of economic and
Social rctr"greSsi"n. The sawmil,
putsu.nc the c"urs. dictated by It's
own financial fortunes has Let,
enormous areas - unemployed ana
uuproductive land behind it. and
with The passing az the sawmill
passed the priucipal Industry aud
source Of employment Where tho
denuded land vas fertile and t!llahle
and wh"r. a genuine demand FOR its
,s,gf ..41 Itl
a. IN tho Ohlo Valley. the dcstrUv-
,ion "f e large part ~ the forest was
necessary to economic progress. Hut
enormous areas. stripped Of their
timber and burned at their young
growth. Will never H.. converted into
farms. ANA other vast stretches az
low or uncertain agricultural value
VIII not b" cultivated for an"the.
generation ur more. Ia tact. the
farm economists tell us that the cN-
tension OF pillow land in the tinted
states j. din" for 4 slowing up ana
that tn" necessary trend "f Am"rican
agriculture = toward the more Int
t"usivc fertilization and ,illarr ~
land nov under tn. pliiNv. And We
have also learned that "a productive
wo,.Alot - valuable, Il not
necessary, part Of very many OF our
farms.
Man, Idle Lands.
trek 40 tho sawmiu is not hccaus,
most 90 ~" virgin forests between
IN" Atlantic and the Great Plains |
have been cUt. for such cutting vas
NECESSARY and inevitable. II - rather
because much ~ uGr good mother |
earth is out - work There are
some $4,000. OGu acres OF logEpd-on /
land which have no, been converted
into farms. i:irhiN-uu" million acres
Of 1t are wholly idle a. far a. the
production "f any other useful crop
IS concerned Many Other million
acres are EruwIngshrdM cu. .ick ne
ton of tic wood they might pro-
duce. y iarg. part of every old for
est region j. idle today. There ar"
oo.0oO.ro0 unemployed forcs, acres I'm
the Lake states and another 90. 900.
GOO in tn. south Idle logged on
land lies within stones throw al
great lumber consuming centers II
New YORK ana PENNSYLVANIA There
are over . 900 600 acres Of II IN little
Sew England.
As IA" sa~mlls move across the
Great risins !utr virgin H"ld-. the
average homsbuId"r or manufacture
or pass the piper. With every fresh
move" tho freight nIl On lumber
product goes up Consider u hat this
l'''1iIN gro q , . q liHft Nf-A o. n iil-
caEn or Sew York &carls 500 N0O-
nm f""t ~ lumber pass through Ch-
oa@o yearly ~ is the greatest um
h"r market az the world Thirty
Years ago 4, was supplied hy the
abundant forests - the Central and
LAKE states ana the freight charge
on 'he average Thousand feet
- lumhor coming in,6 the city was
make any drug cornrany "uytous
w.Il .udcr $500 Today with inc
hulk of the umbc~ shipments COM
INK from tho far Sou,n OF ia" far
west nc average freight hill j. uo,
less than So per thousand feet, Tho
lumber users and distributors az Chi
caro arr paying from t2o."o0,o0J 4,
s25.0o0oo0 Year IN added rr."T,
charges hecaus" the sawmiiis D..
nearby states nave c4t ana mr,~.
on Ana f"r "vcry dollar of this
excess freight there is an acre Of
idle forest land wl;hiu 900 miles of
Chicacos lumh.r warns
Because az un"muiored for.st land.
-%YDr - v,rxv-< --.