18 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Oi-tolnT 2.-,. 191S 



Lumber Census for 1918 



THE TIME IS APPEOACHING for taking tlio lumb?r census of 

 1918. For some years it has been the custom of the Forest 

 Service, in co-operation with some other branch or bureau of the 

 government, or with some lumber association, to compile a lumlier 

 census each year, showing the quantity of lumber produced, how 

 much in each state, and how much of each kind of wood. Figures 

 on mill prices have usually been included in the statistics. 



The work has not been done on the same basis year after year. 

 In one year many more mills are listed than in others. For example, 

 in 1899 the number of mills from which figures were collected 

 totaled 31,000; in 1904, 18,000; the ue.vt year, 11,000; while in 1909 

 the number jumped to 40,000, and in 1915 it fell to 16,000, and dur- 

 ing the whole period from 1899 to 1916 the number of mills varied 

 between very wide limits. This variation in figures did not cor- 

 respond with any such variation in the actual number of mills. 

 The total number doubtless ran fairly uniform through the whole 

 period; and the reason why so many more or so many less were 

 listed one year than another was the fact that the census taker 

 skipped more mills one year than another. The work was not 

 uniformly done year by year. 



The totals of lumber output from year to year varied less than 

 the totals showing the number of mills. That was because the 

 census takers went after the large mills every year, but skipped 

 the small ones some years; and, since most of the lumber is cut on 

 the large mills, the recorded totals of production varied less than 

 might be supposed. Thousands of small mills might not cut as 

 much lumber as a few dozen large plants. 



As the time approaches for taking another lumlier census, plans 

 are doubtless being laid for the work. Thi.s has been a highly im- 

 portant year in the lumber business. The total cut will probably 

 fall below the production of some former years; but this is a war 

 year and certain kinds of wood, like spruce, oak, walnut, ash, and 

 others, are being cut in large quantities to meet war needs, and it 

 will be interesting to know the particulars. The coming census 

 can collect the figures. If it does not do so, they will never be 

 collected. 



The small mills should be given their share of attention this 

 time, for many of them have been busy with war orders, par- 

 ticularly hardwood mills. The leading softwoods, like yellow pine, 

 Douglas fir, and Sitka spruce, come principally from very large 

 mills and the census takers will be sure to get them; but if the 

 collectors of lumber statistics skip the small hardwood mills this 

 time, much interesting war lumber will be left out of account, and 

 the statistics for 1918, the most momentous of the war years, will 

 be defective. 



Prevention of Forest Fires 



TT WILL BE A LONG TIME before danger from forest fires will 

 1 be a thing of the past. Prevention works out in theory much 

 better than in practice. A strong force of rangers is supposed to 

 insure against dangerous fires; but under certain circumstances a 

 whole army would be powerless. If a blaze starts in dry grass and 

 leaves and a high wind prevails, the chance is that men can do 

 little to check the fire. Sometimes the flames travel as fast as 

 men can run, and it is as much as the fighters can do to save them- 

 selves. The combination of an incipient fire, dry woods, and high 

 winds is not present every year; but once in several years the com- 

 bination is just right, and then a destructive fire results. 



The recent disastrous fires in Minnesota and Wisconsin are no 

 new things in our forest history. Similar fires have been occurring 

 ever since the northern country was settled and centuries earlier. 

 Prairies are due to forest fires. The southern states have not 

 suffered so much because the forest foliage there is thin and fires 

 are slow; but from New Brunswick to Dakota many destructive 

 fires have taken place within the past eighty or a hundred years. 

 They date back farther than settlements by white men. More 

 than a hundred years ago a fire which must have been of excep- 

 tional fierceness swept the region of northern Minnesota, Dakota, 



and Manitoba. The Hudson Bay tra^'cr, Henry, ;n his diary 

 described the ruin. Immense numbers of buffaloes perished in the 

 fire, being unable to escape, so rapid was the advance of the flames 

 through the woods and across the open prairies. 



So long as large bodies of forest remain, destructive fires will 

 be possible. When the woodlands shall be partly replaced by farms, 

 leaving the remaining woods in isolated patches, as is the case in 

 most of the older states, the danger from fire will largely disappear. 

 If a fire then starts it can usually be confined to a small area, 

 because the flames, under most circumstances, will not cross a 

 cultivated farm. 



One of the usual defenses prepared in advance against the spread 

 of fire is to cut broad lanes through the forest, and keep the leaves 

 and other dry foliage cleared from the lanes. If the wind is not 

 high, a small force of men can generally stop a fire at such a lane; 

 but if the wind is high, it may not be possible to do so. Sparks 

 have been known to start new fires half a mile in advance of the 

 main conflagration, and no fire lane would be a defense under 

 such circumstances. In some of the national forests, the fire lanes 

 are closely grazed by sheep and goats and are thus put in good 

 condition to be used in stopping fire. 



Prevention is the best defense. The United States Forest Service, 

 as well as state forest services, have long been trying to lessen the 

 danger from fires by educating the public to be careful. Campers, 

 hunters, fishermen, travelers, and forest workers are told of danger 

 from unextinguished camp fires, from cigar stubs, from combustible 

 gun wads, from dropping matches, and from many other ways of 

 unintentionally starting a fire. Highways and paths are posted 

 with such notices, and without doubt much good has resulted. Still 

 fires occasionally start. There are a hundred ways in which this 

 may happen in spite of warning and caution. Lightning alone 

 starts thousand of fires every year in the United States, and that 

 danger cannot be lessened by any human law. 



Public sentiment is now strong everywhere against forest fires. 

 That will help to keep them down. People know fires are dstructive. 

 There was a time when little sentiment existed on the subject. 

 Stockmen once deliberately burned the woods to improve the range 

 for cattle and sheep. Nobody does that now. The general situation 

 is improving, but room exists for still more improvement. 



Back to the Old Track 



APPARENTLY THE TIME is not far off when the country will 

 get back to the old ways of doing business, and there will be no 

 more war orders or official rulings to interfere with manufacturing 

 and shipping. Supply and demand will govern. It may take a little 

 time to get back in the old way, but it will be an agreeable change from 

 war conditions, for American people would rather do business in 

 peace than in war. Few industries will more heartily welcome the 

 change to the old method than the lumbermen; for war business in 

 the lumber industry has not been very popular as a simple business 

 proposition. For patriotic reasons, it has been made the most of, 

 but not for any other reason. 



The War Department Disapproves of Child 

 Labor 



THE SUPREME COURT DECISION that the child labor law is un- 

 constitutional was a distinct blow at the development of right 

 thinking, and at the social improvement of our population. The em- 

 ployment of child labor has without question seriously interfered with 

 the proper development of the population in the regions where young 

 children have been kept at hard toil and deprived of their opportunity 

 for the enjoyment of normal life under normal conditions. 



The silo is a comparatively new industry that calls for much 

 wood in its construction. The use of silos is increasing rapidly. 

 Various woods arc satisfactory, and substitutes are pushed forward 

 to take the ]dace of wood, but not with complete success. 



