LUMBER MARKETS OF NEW YORK. 45 



the Middle States, it contributes materially to the commercial suprem- 

 acy of New York. 



Oswego was also an important distributing- point, where a large 

 amount of Canadian lumber was handled and reshipped by canal. In 

 1870 the receipts of lumber at this port amounted to 289,315,329 feet. 



The city of New York, owing to its export trade and large local 

 demand, is also the center of an immense lumber trade. In the year 

 1900 the total receipts of lumber from ocean, canal, river, and rail 

 aggregated 1,216,014,601 feet. 



The lumber industry in this State has been affected to some extent 

 at different times by the tariff laws relating to Canadian imports. 

 Until recently the amount of lumber imported from Canada equaled 

 or exceeded the amount produced in the State; and the fact that New 

 York is a border State, with numerous entry ports on the lakes, already 

 in close proximity to the Canadian mills, and brought still nearer by 

 easy rail and water transportation, rendered its markets peculiarly 

 susceptible to foreign competition, and attracted thither the bulk of 

 the importation. In 1851 Hon. William L. Marcy, then Secretary of 

 State at Washington, made a reciprocity treaty with Canada, under 

 which lumber was admitted into the United States free of duty for ten 

 years. Since 1865 the duties on sawed lumber have varied, and in 

 some years have been withdrawn altogether. The present tariff 

 imposes a tax of $2 per 1,000 feet 1 on sawed lumber, which is equiva- 

 lent, on an average, to an ad valorem duty of about 13 per cent. 3 

 Under this impost the Canadian imports have fallen off one-half within 

 the last two years. 



Such, in brief, is the history of lumbering and the lumber industry 

 in the State of New York brought down to the present time. It is 

 interesting to note that improved methods of lumbering and a con- 

 servative system of forestry have been introduced in the woodlands 

 of the State, which mark a distinct epoch in the history of the industry 

 and promise to make the forests a still more important and beneficent 

 factor in the economy of the Commonwealth. Already some of the 

 largest private timber tracts in northern New York are being lumbered 

 under a system that not only insures immediate profit, but makes 

 ample provision for forest preservation and a perpetual timber supply. 

 The cutting is restricted not only to certain species, but to a tixed 

 diameter, which leaves a good number of the same species as the basis 

 of another crop. Further provision for the future growth of mer- 



a The present tariff, enacted in 1897, puts a duty of $2 per 1,000 feet on sawed 

 pine, spruce, hemlock, balsam, maple, birch, beech, elm, ash, and walnut; and a 

 duty of $1 per 1,000 feet on whitewood, sycamore, and basswood. Cedar, when 

 sawed, is admitted at 15 per cent ad valorem. On planed lumber an additional 

 charge is made of 50 cents per 1,000 feet for each side dressed; and 50 cents more 

 per 1,000 feet for tongued and grooved boards or flooring. 



