Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-08-21

| UA0t11NGIONb aug. zl.-Ine
truth of the poetic statement of
Joyce Kilmer, the young American
soldier-poet who lost his life in the
war, that only God can make a tree"
is being realized with increasing in
tensity in the United States, for the
American people now are invading
their last stands of virgin timber.
The vast forests which once shaded
a great portion of the territory of
the United States have been disap-
pearing at a rapid rate and today
the end is in sight.
The original supply of American
timber was calculated at $500, ,000,-
100000 board feet. There are left
standing but 1900, 900, 900, 900 board
feet of virgin timber and 500. 0.000,-
100000 board feet of culled and Sec
ond growth. This is still vast
amount of timber, but when the
rapid rate of consumption Is taken
into consideration, 1t does not seem
so large. About three-quarters of
| this timber is in the states west of
the Great Plains, but nearly half of
the lumber consumed is used east
of the Mississippi and north of a
line drawn from st. Louis to Wash
lngton.
The warning of conservationists
and the adoption by timber COM
panies of methods calculated to
eliminate waste, as we'll as restrictive
measures taken by the Federal Gov
ernment, are tending to make the
Isupply go as far as possible but
the annual consumption remains
tremendous.
IN 1870 lumber production in the
United States amounted to 12,755,-
100000 board feet. In two decades
| 1t nearly doubled, reaching 23,497,-
100000 board feet. A peak of pro-
duction came in 1910 when 40,01S,-
100000 board feet were produced.
1t was about this time that the con-
servationists agitated the need of
preservation Of the forests. By 1915
lumber production had dropped to
/ 37,011 100000 board feet and in 1920
4 1t was only 33,79S, 100000 board feet.
Later figures are not now in hand
but 1t is estimated that the building
boom of 1922 and 1923 will send the
figures pretty well up to the peak
again.
Steel construction and the use of
concrete does not seem to have
checked lumber consumption. Had
these materials not come into gen.
eral use, perhaps the lumber COM
sumption would have been even
greater. but considerable lumber is
used anyway in the erection of con-
crete buildings. 1t is used for forms
and moulds. Indeed. u certain
amount of rough lumber is more
rapidly consumed in this way than
when actually built into the houses.
The structural utility of the lumber
/ is finished after the concrete has
hardened and the forms are often
thrown away or used as fuel. When
the same amount of lumber Is used
to erect frame house, It remains
IN use over a considerable period of
years.
Too Many Wooden Houses
One reason for the rapid con-
sumption of lumber in the United
States Is that the enormou timber
resources very early taught Ameri-
lcans to live in wooden houses. When
lGilbert K. Chesterton, the eminent
English essayist and observer, visited
the United States not long ego, he
declared that the single observation
which most impressed him on his
tour of the country was the fact that
There were so many wooden houses.
TO a man born and reared In Eng
land, these frame buildings looked
Islight and temporary. British houses
ARE built almost uniformly of stone
or brick and people are living in
many houses in England that are a
Thousand years old. Americans, as
a rule, don't expect their frame
houses to last more than half a CEN
ltury but in New England and In tho
ISouthern States there are frame
houses from $50 to 200 years old
which are still in good condition and
Inhabited.
In early days of American develop
lment, the forests were in the way of
lcultivatlon. The trees had to be
,cleared away to make room for ar
able farm lands. 1t was not surpris-
ing klat the pioneers got IN the
habit of using the timber which had
to be removed anyway to build their
houses. When the cities began to
develop so rapidly, the fact that the
usual frame house did not last sew
leral centuries disturbed no one
urban development was so rapid that
the house built one year would be
torn down in a few years to make