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World Markets for American Lumber 



BY II n MAXWELL 



NINTH ARTICLE 



Editor's Note 



Lumber markets In the Mediterranean eountries are not new. The earliest known trade in forest products, 

 was there, and the trade lias continued from ancient times till the present. Centers have changed, routes have 

 shifted, sources liave not lieen permanent, destinations have varied in contormitv with political movements: hut dur- 

 ing ail recorded time there has been trade in timber in the Mediterranean countries. America became interested 

 in that business centuries ago. New England shipped pine, oak, and ash to Portugal from the first settlement of 

 our Atlantic coast. The present is an opportune time for increasing our export timber business with the Medi- 

 terranean countries. It will not be necessar.v to discover or create new markets. Those now existing are large, and 

 if we take onl.v what others seem destined to lose in the course of present troubles and the political changes which 

 are likel.v to follow, the lumber exporters of the United States will make large gains. Those countries are as anxious 

 to sell their commodities to us as we are to dispose of ours to them. Results greatl.v to the advantage of them and 

 us mav be brought about by a shifting of the channels of tiade, turning them in our direction instead of toward the 

 north of Europe, where the.v have been running in the past. 



The Mediterranean countries are liberal buyers of American forest Spain 

 products. This is particularly true of the eountries on the Medi- Spain is a good customer for staves made iu the United States, 

 terranean 's northern shore. The present article deals with that and it buys other forest products also. It sends us grapes in bar- 

 region. The southern coast of that sea was considered in a former rels with cork dust packing. These barrels are to be seen during 

 article of this series dealing with Africa. This sea is enclosed by autumn and winter in nearly all fruit stores. The cork dust packing 

 three continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Having that fact in is a pretty reliable proof of origin, though some such packing may 

 mind, the ancient geographers called it the sea "in the middle of the come with grapes from Portugal or Morocco. The dust is the waste 

 world," which is the meaning of the word "Mediterranean." Its from cork cutting establishments. The' staves which Spain buys 

 position has always made it a center for world trade, since world in America are partly for grape barrels, and are classed as slack 

 trade first began. The Egyptians were the earliest to use it, so far as cooperage, and partly for wine barrels, which classifies them as 

 history has left record, and it is worthy of note that some of the tight cooperage. Some of the barrels made from American staves and 

 earliest cargoes were of logs cut on the coasts of Syria and carried containing wine, as well as some of those containing grapes, come 

 in ships to Egypt, and some of that identical wood is in existence to America. 



today, and may be seen in museums in the form of mummy cases Spain is nearly twice as large as Texas and its population is five 



and old boats. The ancient Egyptians appreciated the trade advan- times as great ; yet only parts of Spain are thickly settled. It con- 



tages of their position. The old admiral in the service of Egypt tains large areas of worn and deserted land, where conditions are al- 



(according to the poet who recorded the circumstance) thus explained most desert-like. As a whole, Spain is a poor country. It exhausted 



the geographical advantages: "Here sits Egj-pt. Here lies Punt. itself, both as to natural resources and men, in its long course of 



And here the Sea of Suf which I have seen." establishing and losing colonies, and in fighting wars more or less 



After Egypt came the Phoenicians and the Carthagenians who unsuccessfully. It once was the largest holder of colonies and was 



traded with all the Mediterranean shores. After that the Greeks regarded as the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world, 



became the traders by land and sea, and were followed by the Its last American colony has departed from it, and most of those 



Romans who were a long time in learning to sail ships. The Vene- in other parts of the world, and with the colonies went ;i larger 



tians succeeded the Romans as the chief traders of that part of the Spanish population than now remains in Spain. 



world, and after them came the modern nations. It has been claimed that much of Spain 's present sterility has 

 The countries considered in the present article include Portugal. been the result of forest destruction. Tracts which were well wooded 

 Spain, Italy, Greece, Montenegro, Servia, Bulgaria, Roumania and and of extreme fertilit.v during (he Moorish occupation, are now tree- 

 Turkey in Europe and in Asia. Geographically, southern France less and poor. The stripping away of the forests caused the drying 

 and southern Austria are Mediterranean countries; but since they are up of streams formerly i)prennlal, and probably also lessened the 

 only portions of larger countries, they are omitted from present con- seasonal rainfall. 



sideration. The area and population of the region are shown below. Spain needs large quantities of lumber and other forest products. 



Area square miles Population It can secure them only by importation. 



sp.''n'. .'". :".'." ■.::■.:::: : : : : : ;.■.■.■; :::::::: : : ''4«;ooo iljlZTi '^^'^ '^"'^ ^«s'°"^ "^ ^"pp'y "" *''" ^^"'*'"' ^'=**''' ^"'^ ^°'^^y '^"^ 



Balkan States and European Turkey .'. ISo^SSG 2l]oOoioOO Sweden. The statistics given in this article show what forest prod- 



Ital.v 110,040 3.'?,000,000 ucts Spain is buying from America. It augurs well that Spain is de- 

 Portugal ,"!4,i502 5,021,657 sirous of doing more liusiness with us. It is anxious to sell us more, 



-Potal J ,.^2 004 97 776 331 ''"'' consequently will buy more of our products. 



The Balkan states and European Turkey are grouped because, as Portugal 

 a result of the two wars recently fought in that region, various ad- Conditions in Portugal do not greatly differ from those in Spain, 

 ditions and subtractions of area were made, some of the countries "^ ^^' ^^ ^^^y a^^ct the market for lumber and other forest prod- 

 becoming larger at the expense of others. Available statistics do not "'t^. Portugal is not one-tenth as large as Spain, but has more than 

 show these changes, and.it is impracticable to state the exact size one-fourth as many people. It is more evenly developed and does 

 and population of each of the states. This has made it necessary to "O* ^'^^'^ '" '""'''' vacant and unprofitable land. It has been more 

 group them and consider the group as a whole in stating population fortunate with its colonies. Though it lost Brazil, which is one 

 and area. The imports for 1913 are given for each of those eoun- hundred times as large as Portugal, it still holds enormous areas in 

 tries separately, and they will be further considered separately as -'Africa, and some of them arc developing at an encouraging rate, 

 far as it is practicable to do so. and have established satisfactory trade with the United States. We 



Turkey in Asia belongs with the Mediterranean countries, because purchase grapes, wine, cork, and many other commodities from Por- 



of its geographical position. It embraces more than half of the t«gal> ^intl though that country is less than one-tenth as large as 



region and one-fifth of the population, but it is not a large buyer of Spain, it buys two fifths as much forest material from us. 



lumber. Practically all of the imports of lumber into Asiatic Turkey " Italy 



enter through the Mediterranean ports. The vast interior, especially This is the most populous country of southern Europe, and is our 



the southern part, is chiefly desert, or it is so remote from ports and best customer in that region, in the purchase of forest products, 



other means of communication with the outside world, that the ex- Its annual imports from us exceed Spain's by $400,000. It is a 



porter of lumber from the United States has little immediate pros- country highly developed, but in some districts it is rather over 



peet of doing business there. populated and many of the people lack the means of buying furnitur*, 



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