26 THE WESTERN HEMLOCK. 



The third objection will be discussed under the head of lumbering. 

 There is little doubt that if Hemlock logs brought $5 a thousand, even 

 the heavy butts would find their wa} T to market. 



ACCESSIBILITY. 



A restricted home demand and remoteness from other markets are 

 the chief difficulties before the lumber manufacturer in Oregon and 

 Washington. Although timber is cheap, labor is high, and to sell his 

 lumber he must place the price so little above the cost of logging and 

 manufacture that the business is one of uncertainty and slender profit. 

 The result is that although lumbering is carried on upon an immense 

 scale, the State is being denuded of its timber with little profit beyond 

 the employment of the men engaged in producing the lumber. The 

 owner gets little for his timber, and the mill man receives an income 

 trifling when compared with his investment and risk. 



The reason for this is the cost of transportation. The manufacturer 

 is obliged to depend upon the foreign cargo trade, the Eastern market 

 accessible by rail, and locally upon Alaska and California. The latter 

 is the dumping ground for side and common lumber which can not be 

 profitably shipped a long distance. The cargo trade is peculiar in that 

 the market is fairly stead} r and no great energy in pushing the product 

 is required, but it is governed very largely by ocean freight rates. 

 If grain be moving the lumber shipper will find it impossible to 

 charter a vessel. Owners dislike to load lumber, both because it is sup- 

 posed to be bad for the ship and because it often takes her to a port 

 which furnishes no return cargo. If, on the other hand, the prospect 

 for grain on the Pacific coast is bad, ships do not come there at all 

 unless under charters which fully recompense them. The effect is that 

 when rates are favorable the mills accept all the orders they can secure, 

 make charters regardless of possible forfeit through delay, and run 

 day and night, piling up immense amounts of nearly unsalable lumber. 

 When matters turn the other way, the mills may run for months at a 

 loss or with little profit so far as the cargo trade is concerned. 



The following freight rates on lumber from the northern Pacific 

 coast ports to foreign ports, for September, 1899, and September, 

 1900, are quoted from the San Francisco Commercial News: 



Table 2. — Freight rates on lumber from northern Pacific coast ports to foreign ports. 



RATE PER 1,000 FEET, SEPTEMBER, 1899. 



From Puget Sound to — 



Sydney, New South Wales $11. 25 to $11. 75 



Melbourne or Adelaide 13. 12 to 13. 43 



Port Pirie, Australia 12. 50 to 12. 81 



Freemantle, West Australia 15. 93 to 16. 25 



Geraldton, West Australia 16. 25 to 16. 56 



