Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1923-08-07
DO GEORGIA FORESTS
REED PROTECTION.

DO GEORGIA FOXES
NEED PROTECTION.
ANY increase in the cost of pro-
ducing articles is pYramided IN the
successive steps necessary to reaeh
the consumer. ON American Nv
ing standards arc therefore essen
TALLY tied in with adequate wood
supplies. Wood scarcity carries
universal menace.
For example, the requirements OF
our railroads, essential to our eco
monte life, are enormous. They
use wood for buildings, cars,
bridges, fences, tanks, and many
other purposes, but especially for
ties. The increased cost Of ties
alone since Is years ago has added
$1,000 per mile to the cost of con-
struction Of new lines, and $135
per mile to the annual cost of
maintenance. With present
yearly consumption of ties only
about two thirds of the pre-war
total, this means an added outlay
equal to 10 per cent Of their total
net revenues in 1913,
Our paper Requirements furnish
another example YAH least 90 per
cent of the paper used IN print
ing is made Of wood The high
prices of pulp wood in the past
few years have helped send up the
cost of paper, and, in consequence,
of books, periodicals, ana adyertis-
ing, and to a less extent newspa-
pcrs.
Ninety-eight per cent Of our
rural dwellings are of wood. Fol
urban dwellings the per centage is
from SO to SO, varying from State
to State. Wooden houses are the
easiest, suickests and ordinarily
the cheapest to- Construct. This has
put decent homes within tbs reach
of millions of people, many Of
whom could not have afforded
brick, stone, or concrete structures.
The present shortage of dwell
ings has been estimated at more
than million. This in itself means
cramped quarters, overcrowding,
high rentals, lowered living stand
ards in every direction, and a
train or social dangers and evils.
1T is not merely the poor, nor
merely those living in cities, who
suffer when the cost of home
construction increases; and the eff
feet is not fully measured in
terms of the number of dwellings,
needed but not built.
The more it costs to build a
house, whether in the city or in the
country, the. smaller will be the
space with, which the occupant,
even though relatively well to do.
must be content. Rooms are
smaller, and there are fewer of
them; and; in the cities at least,
children create serious problems.
Cheap housing and ample living
space are, very real blessings.
Without abundant timber supplies
they would never have been pos
sible.
The lumber and other forest
products going into building CON
struction in 1922 cost the con-
sumner at least $750,OOO,OOO more
than was paid for similar material
in 1909, although the quantity
used in the earlier year was some
80 per cent larger.
The United States is just be-
ginning to feel the effects of tim
Der scarcity, and its full coage-
quences have not yet become evi.
dent. Both their extent and then
duration win depend very largely
upon what measures may be adopt.
ed to supply our future require
ments.
Some light on what these re
quirements may be expected ito b,
is thrown by the requirements O.
the past.
The per capita consumption O
the country rose steadily ant
rapidly during the industrial de
vclopment that marked the secor,
half of the nineteenth century; bu
since 1906 it has been declining
The 1920 average per capita con
sumption was less than that il
1870, so years before. It is tru
that the World War was largel
responsible for the more recent an,
abrupt part of the decline, and