20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Honduras 3,200 



Salvador 1,000 



Guatemala 600 



Total 4.051,529 



BUILDERS' MATERIAL 



Various kinds of building material and supplies are exported to 

 those countries from the United States. In the following tables the 

 values of such exports are shown in dollars: 



Furniture Doors, Etc. 



Mexico $530,294 $11,667 



Panama 130,206 20,10S 



Costa Rica 34,872 4,267 



Guatemala 30,745 5,204 



Honduras 19,904 4,861 



British Honduras 14.719 .3,589 



Nicaragua 12,519 1,895 



Salvador 10,2.34 971 



Total §789,493 $52,562 



Our exports of other commodities are given in the table which 

 follows : 



House Finish Wooienware 



Mexico $31,751 $ 4,784 



Panama 10,220 2,037 



Costa Rica 1,990 1,432 



Guatemala 1,628 370 



British Honduras 1,103 936 



Honduras 942 1.392 



Nicaragua 860 284 



Salvador 67 50 



Total $48,561 $11,285 



(ITIIF.R WOOD MANUFACTUBBS. 



Mexico $.324,866 



Panama 68,202 



Honduras 29,786 



British Honduras 16,926 



Nicaragua 15,337 



Guatemala 11,610 



Costa Rica 9,095 



Salvador 1,825 



Total $477,647 



Native Timber 

 The timber which grows in the regions between the Eio Grande and 

 Panama will compete with shipments from this country, so far as the 

 kinds are similar. There is more pine in those republics than in the 

 West Indies, but otherwise the forests are verv similar. That is par- 

 ticularly true of the Central American states and the West Indies, and 

 what was said in a former article concerning the timber resources of 

 those islands applies very generally to Central America. Mexico is 

 somewhat different because of its topography and its dryer climate in 

 some parts. The country consists largely of high plateaus and moun- 

 tain ranges where rain at certain seasons' is scanty. 



','■', Outlook in Mexico 



Tlie opinion is generally held and is probably well founded that 

 a change for the better will come before long in Mexico, either by 

 the disappearance from the scene of the quarreling politicians, or 

 their suppression by a strong arm. It is certain that the country's 

 tangible resources have been so abused and wasted during recent 

 years of internecine strife, that when peace comes, a serious search 

 wni begin for something to sell in order to patch up the broken 

 fortunes of the government and the large property holders. The 

 fortunes of the common people who had little to lose will not be 

 much aflfected by the war one way or the other. Their labor will be 

 about all they will have to sell, as it was before the trouble began. 



It is usually considered that next after the mineral lands, Mexico 's 

 timber will be the largest riesource that can be quickly converted into 

 cash. It has been seriously asked whether the rapid conversion of 

 that stumpage into marketable products may not upset the markets 

 in the United States. The fear that such a thing might occur is not 

 le'ssened by the unknown quantity of timber that might be cut. 

 People are often more scared at what they cannot see than at what 

 is apparent. 



This holds for Mexico's timber situation. There is a lack of exact 

 information concerning the forests of Mexico; but thev are not 



extensive enough to scare anybody on account of their size. The 

 latest report covering that subject seems to have been published four 

 years ago in "The Forest Resources of the World," by Raphael Zon, 

 who complains that the report is based on meager information. 



According to that, the timbered lands of Mexico embrace from 

 20,000,000 to 25,000,000 acres, consisting of pines in the North and 

 hardwoods in the South. The southern forests are more than two 

 thousand miles from the northern, and most of the timber is inac- 

 cessible at the present time. A cruise of a tract of 1,000,000 acres 

 furnished the only basis for an estimate of the remaining areas. That 

 cruise showed an average of 8,000 feet per acre, and it was believed 

 that was above rather than below the average for the country's 

 whole timber area. 



That would place Mexico's whole supply of standing timber at 

 200,000,000,000 feet, or less. That is less than one-half of the 

 quantity of the single species Douglas fir in the United States. It 

 does not exceed the standing oak in this country. It is little more 

 than half of California's timber, about half of Washington's, little 

 more than one-third of Oregon's. It is less than the stand of long- 

 leaf pine alone in the South. 



The pine is usually of good quality similar to that commonly called 

 California white pine or western yellow pine. There are several 

 kinds of pine among the mountains of Mexico. In the southern 

 part of the country there are many hardwoods and some softwoods. 

 Mahogany, prima vera, and Spanish cedar are the best known. 



The lumber business in Mexico four years ago was ridiculously 

 small, and it is probably smaller now. The whole annual output 

 in Zon's report was placed at 225,000,000 feet, board measure. That 

 is less than the product of the little state of Vermont, and only 

 one-tenth that of Mississippi. It is apparent that lumber will have 

 to come out of Mexico at a much faster clip than that to have much 

 effect on the markets of the United States. A couple large mills 

 of Louisiana or Washington will cut more lumber than was reported 

 annually from the whole of Mexico. 



If peace is restored in that troubled country and business opens 

 up, it will have an effect on the lumber business of the United States 

 different from what some have apprehended. Instead of flooding this 

 country with Mexico lumber, that country will buy from us. Four 

 years ago the Mexicans were importing from this country three-fourths 

 of all the lumber they were using. They could not supply even their 

 own people with lumber, but came to the United States for it. 



They are not users of wood. Anyone who ever had a single glimpse 

 of a Mexican town or ranch does not need be told how small the 

 market is for lumber. They would rather live in a mud house than 

 take the trouble to procure lumber; and the ranch of 10,000 acres 

 usually has about as much fence on it as the ordinary ten-acre 

 Indiana farm. Most of the wood used in Mexico is bought by 

 foreigners for railroad building, oil well development, mine improve- 

 ments, and the like, while the typical native's purchases are nil. 



With the restoration of peace, if it is the kind that investors have 

 confidence in, there will be -a good trade in lumber between the United 

 States and Mexico; but the most of the shipments will go south, 

 not north. 



Means of Communication 

 South of Mexico the means of communication are jioor. This applies 

 both to sea and land. In normal times ships are not numerous in those 

 waters. Of course, vessels with cargoes for certain ports go and come 

 as business calls, and on the cast side the fruit steamers carry out 

 pretty regular schedules, but travelers on the west side miss many con- 

 nections which look easy in the printed time tables, but are often 

 woefully out of joint in practice. A wait of two or three days for a 

 boat, after it is due, has been described as a common incident of travel 

 in that region ; while annoyances and delays which beset the traveler 

 at the custom houses are said to be enough to break the patience of 

 Job. The commercial travelers who make regular trips in those coun- 

 tries have learned to discount such annoyances and delays, and to 

 endure them with stoical patience; but the newcomer who is making 

 the rounds for the first time has experiences which he will not soon 

 forget. 



It is often worse inland tluiii mi the coast. In some of the countries, 



