542 



ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1925 



or passing' out of existence. A committee of pulp and paper manu- 

 facturers is stuclyin<^ ways and means of perpetuating their industry 

 on American soil. A committee of turpentine and rosin producers 

 is going to France to leai'n tlie naval stores forestry of the Landes 

 and how it may be applied to our southern pineries. These are 

 signs of the times. 



The shortage of available virgin timber is growing more and 

 more critical every year. It can not be emphasized too strongly 

 that the seriousness of this |)roblem is in proportion to our enor- 

 mous use of wood, to our unparalleled economic and social de- 

 pendence upon forests. To solve this problem with even meager 

 success, every resource of American ingenuity and foresight must be 

 employed. 



Like the other nations in similar plight, we nuist barter for all 

 the timber we can secure from our neighbors. The prospects in 

 this direction, however, are not encouraging. Our present exports 

 and imports of lumber and other forest products nearly balence. 

 The imports can undoubtedly be increased somewhat, particularly 

 of paper from Canada and of lumber in limited quantities from 

 certain Canadian provinces and from Mexico. The hardwood 

 forests of South America and the softwood forests of Siberia hold 

 out possible sources of relief. But a number of other industrially 

 aggressive nations are in the same situation as the United States. 

 A recent survey- of the principal forest resources and wood-using 

 countries of the world shows that the markets of the whole earth 

 are short of raw materials for paper and construction lumber, and 

 that the accessible supply of timber, particularly of coniferous 



Zoii nml Sparhiiwk, Forest Resources of the WuiUl, 1923. 



