THE AMERICAN LUMBER MARKET 



209 



There are countless old and new uses 

 for which wood is best, but the superior- 

 ity of wood has not been revealed to 

 the people, while house-to-house sellers 

 of other materials have forcefully urged 

 to the contrary. Lumber salesmen vie 

 with each other in selling to retailers 

 for less, but few direct their efforts 

 among the actual users. Any limiber- 

 man will concede the superiority of 

 cement for certain uses, and it should 

 have its place, but ingenious popular- 

 izing of other materials should not be 

 permitted to eliminate wood from the 

 uses for which it is best. 



Wood blocks are superior for street, 

 road and bridge paving and for factory 

 and warehouse floors. The slow-burn- 

 ing, heav^^-timbered type of factory 

 building, properly designed, is safe, 

 serviceable and comparatively inexpen- 

 sive. It is the contents of buildings 

 that burn, and so long as our buildings 

 are filled with inflammable articles a 

 hazard will exist. In case of fire there 

 is less danger from sudden collapse in a 

 wooden structure than in a so-called 

 fire-proof building. 



In the rural districts lumber is still 

 the staple construction material despite 

 the fact that energetic sellers of substi- 

 tutes have introduced to the farmers 

 steel fence posts, concrete buildings and 

 silos, cement troughs and other I arm 

 accessories. The manifest superiority of 

 lumber for general farm use makes rural 

 districts the logical field for the strongest 

 efforts toward market extension. De- 

 creasing cost of automobiles, interest 

 in good roads and improvement of 

 interurban service combine to entice 

 city dwellers away from crowded, haz- 

 ardous apartment houses to suburban 

 homes, good air, green gardens, lower 

 fire hazard and healthful conditions. 



For country construction wood has 

 countless qualities. Lvunber is lasting. 

 It is the cheapest and most adaptable 

 material for houses, barns and sheds. 

 Wood silos have been proven by test 

 and experience to be the most durable 

 and satisfactory. Treated wood blocks 

 make the most sanitary and serviceable 

 flooring for barns. Lumber will repay 

 its cost over and over again in the hous- 

 ing of farm machinery, and low-priced 

 material serves the purpose. Lumber 



is the one handy, easily preserved, 

 easily applied building material for 

 farm repairs. Children or adults may 

 fashion it at will into useful and orna- 

 mental things. 



According to the Forest Service, 

 50 per cent of all of the lumber manu- 

 factured in 1909 was used in the form 

 of rough timbers, 25 per cent in planing 

 mill products, 10 per cent in boxes 

 and crates, 3 per cent in car construc- 

 tion, 2 per cent in furniture, one-half 

 of 1 per cent in tanks and silos, and 

 one-sixth of 1 per cent in paving 

 blocks. In some of these uses wood 

 must yield to materials which are 

 better; in others it has no equal and its 

 use could easily be increased, and must 

 be increased if the production of today 

 is maintained. 



SOUTH AND WEST SPARSELY SETTLED 



The Southern States have developed 

 rapidly during recent years. A greatly 

 increased local demand for lumber has 

 resulted and the close-at-home market 

 will develop more and more as the fertile 

 lands are occupied. With an average 

 crop value already reaching $40 per acre, 

 the South will soon need its timber 

 supply for home consumption. The 

 same is true of the Lake States. West 

 of the Missouri is an area of two million 

 square miles supporting only sixteen 

 and one-half million people. Japan 

 and all of Europe, exclusive of Russia, 

 have approximately the same area with 

 a population of nearly four hundred 

 millions. Only race-destroying cata- 

 clysms can prevent the dense occupation 

 of this great domain. To be sure, 

 much of the land west of the Rockies 

 is arid or semi-arid, but irrigation, dry 

 farming and human need will demand 

 the use of much of it. 



THE SOURCE OF SUPPLY 



In 1909 there were 2800 billion feet of 

 standing timber in the United States; 

 sufficient to last, at the present rate of 

 cutting, for seventy-five years. The 

 Forest Service reports that there are 

 250 million acres of forest area on which 

 there is sufficient natural reproduction 

 to insure a fair second crop. No 

 reforestation on a large scale will be 

 undertaken by private capital, but the 



