FOREST CONSERVATION 



413 



will be no end of my writing, and having 

 diligently considered, I found that there was 

 not any which could be followed without 

 wood, and I could well allege a thousand 

 reasons, but it is so cheap a philosophy that 

 the very chamber wenches if they do but 

 think may see that without wood it is not 

 possible to exercise any manner of human 

 art or cunning." 



China has paid absolutely no attention to 

 the preservation of her forests; hardly a 

 twig left in what was her great forest fields, 

 while Japan, close by, has fifty-nine per cent, 

 of her total area under forests, and the Gov- 

 ernment has reserved under its control a 

 very large part of the whole. Compare the 

 conditions of these two countries, side by 

 side, and draw your own conclusions. While 

 practically all other countries are effectually 

 practicing forestry, none of them, I believe, 

 save Sweden and Russia, foresaw the dif- 

 ficulties toward which they were drifting — 

 at least, made any effort to provide against 

 them until they found themselves importing 

 lumber in great quantities. 



One nation, Germany, paid out in a single 

 year $80,000,000, and still their timber re- 

 serves are being depleted at a rapid rate. 

 Realizing into what condition she was drift- 

 ing, she set at work to remedy the evil, and 

 to-day is in the forefront in working out this 

 great problem, and it will not be many years 

 before she will be producing an annual crop 

 equal to her consumption. This is most com- 

 mendable, but it would have been much less 

 expensive and more businesslike had she 

 have exercised the same judgment and fore- 

 thought in the matter our leading business 

 men make use of in handling the problems 

 affecting their interests to-day. As is usually 

 true, those spending the most money in the 

 development of an industry obtain the best 

 net results. To illustrate, Germany and 

 France are spending about $11,000,000 a year 

 and reaping $30,000,000 net ; while we, last 

 year, spent $1,400,000, receiving $130,000. 



Considering all of the above, coupled with 

 the fact that from the viewpoint of the value 

 of annual production, it stands as the fourth 

 greatest industry in the United States, being 

 exceeded only by, first, food and kindred 

 products, the annual value of which is 

 $2,845,234,900; second, textiles, annual value 

 $2,147,441,418; third, iron and steel and their 

 products, annual value $2,176,739,726; lumber 

 coming fourth, annual value $1,223,730,336; 

 which pays annually in wages about one hun- 

 dred million dollars, providing an income and 

 living for something like two million of our 

 people. Can it be passed lightly by without 

 bringing the censure of the generation that 

 will live after us, upon our heads? 



But need we say more of the important 

 part forests play in the affairs of our coun- 

 try, or what bearing they have had and are 

 having on the nations of the world? It 

 seems to me we should determine, if we can, 

 the life of our forests under existing condi- 



tions and upon the course necessary to their 

 perpetuation. 



In January, 1903, I prepared a paper on 

 the subject of stumpage, to be read at a 

 convention of lumbermen. I spent a vast 

 deal of time in gathering the data necessary 

 to its preparation ; I took into account only 

 the white and Norway pine of the Lake 

 States the yellow pine of the South, and 

 the timber growing in the states of Oregon, 

 Washington, and California, as they were 

 the only woods entering in any large way 

 into the lumber supply of this country, calcu- 

 lating that long before any of the woods in 

 question had been exhausted, practically all 

 other woods in our nation would have large- 

 ly passed out of use. 



My investigation led me to make a state- 

 ment that the timber in the Lake States 

 would not exceed sixty billion feet ; that 

 within ten years it would probably play no 

 larger part in the lumber supply of this 

 country than did poplar at that time. I see 

 no reason to change that statement unless 

 the effects following our recent panic, which 

 are very depressing on the lumber industry, 

 should continue longer than is now expected. 



As to the life of the southern yellow pine, 

 I gave it as my belief, that eighteen years 

 would find it cutting no great figure in our 

 lumber supply. I am more convinced of the 

 correctness of this statement now than I was 

 then. Adding the white pine, yellow pine, 

 and Pacific coast nroducts together, my esti- 

 mate was that the life for all was forty-one 

 years. I am not so sure as to the amount of 

 timber on the Pacific coast, but I do not be- 

 lieve the total life of all will vary to exceed 

 five years from the date indicated. 



Some calculate that substitutes, such as 

 cement, will likely curtail the demands for 

 lumber; judging from the experience of 

 other countries, it will not ; even in England, 

 where nearly all of the lumber used is im- 

 ported, their lumber consumption per capita 

 is increasing at the rate of five per cent, per 

 annum. In France and this country it is in- 

 creasing at the rate of ten per cent, per capita. 

 But why speculate on our timber supply, a 

 question of such great importance to this 

 nation, when definite information can be 

 had? It is unlike any of our other natural 

 resources. It all stands above the ground 

 and can be estimated with great accuracy. 

 Men and money are the only means neces- 

 sary for securing this valuable information. 

 The former can be had by supplying the lat- 

 ter. Should a nation as rich as ours hesitate 

 to furnish the means required for informa- 

 tion of such great value? 



My plan would to be take our timber areas, 

 and, "working them by counties, parishes, or 

 townships, make a complete estimate, as if a 

 purchase was to be made; where the timber 

 was practically the same in several counties, 

 townships, or parishes near each other, a 

 careful estimate of one, and a reckoning of 

 others on the same basis, would be suffi- 

 cientlv accurate for all purposes. This would 



