321 



which we can draw cheap and abundant supplies of timber to 

 meet a demand per capita so larg-e as to be without parallel in 

 the world, and that the suffering which will result from the 

 progressive failure of our timber was but faintly foreshadowed 

 by the recent temporary scarcity of coal. 



WHEIN THE FORESTS FAIL. 



"What will happen when the forests fail ? 



''In the first place, the business of lumbering will dis- 

 appear. It is now the fourth greatest industry in the United 

 States. 



"All forms of building industries will suffer with it, and 

 the occupants of houses, offices, and stores must pay the 

 added cost. 



"Mining will become vastly more expensive ; and with the 

 rise in the cost of mining there must follow a corresponding 

 rise in the price of coal, iron, and other minerals. 



"The railways, which have, as yet, failed entirely to develop 

 a satisfactory substitute for the wooden tie (and must, in 

 the opinion of their best engineers, continue to fail), will be 

 profoundly affected, and the cost of transportation will suffer 

 a corresponding increase. 



"Water power for lighting, manufacturing and transporta- 

 tion, and the movement of freight and passengers by inland 

 waterways, will be affected still more directly than the steam 

 railways. 



"The cultivation of the soil, with or without irrigation, Avill 

 be hampered by the increased cost of agricultural tools, fenc- 

 ing, and the wood needed for other purposes about a farm. 

 Irrigated agriculture will suffer most of all for the destruction 

 of the forests means the loss of the waters as surely as night 

 follows day. 



"With the rise in the cost of producing food, the cost of 

 food itself will rise. Commerce in general will necessarily 

 be affected by the difficulties of the primary industries upon 

 which it depends. 



A SUICIDAL POLICY. 



"In a word, when the forests fail, the daily life of the aver- 

 age citizen will inevitably feel the pinch on every side. And 

 the forests have already begun to fail, as the direct result of 

 the suicidal policy of forest destruction which the people of 

 the United States have allowed themselves to pursue. * * * 



"We are accustomed, and rightly accustomed, to take pride 

 in the vigorous and healthful growth of the United States, 

 and in its' vast promise for the future. Yet we are making 

 no preparation to realize what we so easily and glibly foresee 



