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World Markets for American Lumber 



BY fir MAXWELL 



SIXTH ARTICLE 



Editor's Note 



The proximity of Mexico and Central America to lumlier centers in the t'nited States ought to insure a large 

 trade Railroads' connect Mexico with this country, while eyery republic between our borders and South America 

 has a coast line on one or both oceans, east and west, and sea-borne freighl should be landed cheapl.v. However, 

 that region is not yet a profitable m;irket for American forest products. Toor tr;ii'e is due to had industrial and 

 political conditions' in those republics. Unfortunately, tln-re seems to he no immediate prospect of a change lor the 

 better That Held presents some hard trade problems, and the .American lumber exporter has not yet mnrte much 

 proaress ia solying them. The natives of th.'se republics show liltle disposilion to produce anything to offer us in 

 exchange for our lumber, and foreigners in business in those countries are barrassed with so many obstacles that 

 they are seriously handicapped in their efforts to deyelop trade. 



Seven republics and one colonial pos3ess'.on lie south of the Eio 

 Grande and north , of South America. They are all occupied chiefly 

 by descendants of early Spanish adventurers, and a mixture of Indians, 

 negroes, and various other nationalities. The countries, wi';h their 

 areas and populations, are as follows: 



Country Area, S'q. Miles Population 



Mexico 767,005 13.600,000 



Nicaragua 49,200 600,000 



Guatemale 4S,290 1,842,000 



Honduras 46,2.i0 500,000 



Panama : 31.5:n 400.000 



Costa Rica 18,400 341,000 



British Honduras 7,562 41.000 



Salvador 7,225 1,006,000 



Total 975,463 18,336,000 



'The foregoing flgiires are believed to be the best obtainable at 

 present, and as to areas they are approximately correct; but those 

 showing population are only averages compiled from guesses and esti- 

 mates. No man knows the population of some of those countries; 

 and an error of thousands either way makes little difference to the 

 man who is looking for a chance to sell lumber in that quarter. The 

 masses of the people are not lumber buyers and will not be until a 

 fundamental change takes place in their habits and resources. The 

 buyers are large companies, generally in charge of foreigners. 



It is not necessary to be very particular in speaking of the countries 

 separately, since they are all much alike in prospects and resources. 

 Most of them have been harrassed and overrun by civil wars and pur- 

 poseless insurrections until their available resources have been prac- 

 tically consumed, while efforts to develop their latent resources have 

 been discouraged or frustrated. The two principal exceptions to this 

 rule have been British Honduras and Costa Rica. The British have 

 kept order in the former, while Costa Rica, by a stroke of good fortune, 

 was settled by a better class of people than those who first colonized 

 and exploited the other countries, and the revolution habit has never 

 been popular in Costa Rica, and property and individual rights are 

 respected. 



Climate and Eesources 



The length of Mexico and Central America, from the border of 

 Arizona to the frontier of Colombia, is 3,500 miles. At the widest 

 part the width is half of that, and in the narrowest about fifty miles. 

 The combined area extends from well northward in the temperate 

 3one to within a few degrees of the equator. Altitudes range from 

 •sea level to nearly twenty thousand feet above. There are low, hot, 

 damp coasts and plains, and high, dry, and cool table lands. Moun- 

 tains are many and rugged; valleys wide and fertile. Some of the 

 ■finest natural scenery in the world b found in that region. Its re- 

 sources are many, and belong to the temperate zone and the tropics. 



Agriculture is developed in spots, but not generally. Coffee, cotton, 

 tobacco; bananas.-and farm stock are the principal products; hi,t these 

 'do not grow is all parts of the region. Coffee is produced in all the 

 countries, but only in certain districts where heat and rainfall are 

 suitable. Cotton and tobacco each has its regions where the climate 

 sorts. Bananas are becoming one of the most profitable crops in 

 parts of Central America. Cattle raising is a profitable industry on 

 the broad Mexican table lands, and in some other regions also: while 

 In certain parts of Central America, cattle raising is next to iintxisRihle 

 on account of the red, tailless bats, called vampires, which swoop down 

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in such numbers as to bleed to death a herd of cattle in one night. 

 Mines constitute an important resource throughout much of the region 

 from the Rio Grande to Panama. During three hundred years the 

 Spaniards and their descendants exploited mines to the neglect of 

 agricultural and other resources of the country. That neglect can 

 properly be named as one of the causes of the deplorable condition 

 which has so long existed in the countries south of us. The mines were 

 a perpetual temptation to those looking for schemes to get rich quickly, 

 and where one person made a fortune, hundreds or thousandh were 

 made poor. 



Balance of Trade 

 'The foregoing resources constitute the chief means with which 

 Mexico and the countries farther south must purchase from us and 

 other foreigners. The lumber exporter is paid from the proceeds of 

 the coffee crop, the banana business, the mining operations, and the 

 stock ranges. If business in those lines is good, the people wUl be able 

 to buy lumber and other articles from us. The United States is and 

 always has been a good buyer of all that the Mexicans and Central 

 Americans have to sell. This makes it comparatively i-asy for them to 

 purchase our products. The most diflScult part of the transaction 

 consists in convincing them that thay need our lumber. Most of the 

 people of that region have never felt the necessity of using much 

 wood in the way it is used in the United States. They have been able 

 to get along without it. A lot of missionary work will have to be 

 done before the export of timber from this country will reach its 

 proper proportion in the countries south of the Rio Grande. The 

 people there must learn to grow or make something to sell, and must 

 be induced to use more lumber. 



Exports Southwards 

 The best idea of the state of our lumber trade with Mexico and 

 Central America can be obtained by an examination of the kinds and 

 amounts of shipments to those countries. The conclusion may be 

 anticipated by the statement that the whole region between the Rio 

 Grande and Panama, with 18,000,000 people, and an area of nearly a 

 million square miles, apparently does not use as much lumber anil other 

 forest products as the single state of Illinois. There ought to be a 

 field for enlarged trade in that direction. The following statistics of 

 exports for 1913 are presented for the benefit of exporters and pros- 

 pective exporters who may be interested in knowing where ami in 

 what quantities shipments are going to the countries south of the 

 Rio Grande. 



Round Loos 

 British Honduras and Guatemala each bought 1,000 feet of round 

 oak logs from American exporters in 1913; Panama bought 40 000 feet, 

 and Xicaraugua 49,000. Mexico purchased 34,000 feet of walnut logs, 

 and all other round logs to those countries are shown as follows: 



Feet 



Mexico I.'>.0:iii,(in0 



rannma 7,577,i>O0 



II lunis 213,11(10 



Costa Hica ]lH,ociO 



Ouiitenialn 100 (iiiO 



nrltlsh Honduras 41,i"io 



Nicaragua 4. into 



Total purchases of round logs by all the countries, 23,SS)0,000 feet. 



Sawed Timber 

 Below are figures showing the exports of sawed timber, most of 

 which was yellow pine: 



