500 



ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1925 



of our timber supply has gone on apace. And as the virgin forests 

 disappeared, the relation of geography to timber supply has become 

 more and more pronounced. It is summed up in the cost of trans- 



portation from the standing tree to the user of its products. From 

 the economic viewpoint our forest history is a record of widening 

 gaps between the consumer of lumber or paper and the source of 

 his supply. 



As long as Maine, New York, and Pennsylvania were the fore- 

 most lumber-producing States, lumber was cheap in the great mar- 

 kets of the country, primarily because the hauls were short and 



