FOREST DEVASTATION 919 



entire land area in continuously productive forests, yet imports increas- 

 ing quantities of forest products. 



For many years America has furnished an important part of the 

 v^orld's timber trade. When the American forests become exhausted 

 to a point where we must import any considerable part of our timber 

 supplies, we shall be forced to compete with all the rest of the world 

 for whatever remains of the world's virgin forests. 



Of the important timber regions of the v.'orld, only Siberia, South 

 America, the Congo, and the East Indies remain unexploited. The 

 Amazon and Congo forests are tropical hardwood jungles, yielding 

 little wood of a quality suitable for our uses. Africa and the East 

 Indies are for the most part colonies of European countries, and will l)e 

 able to furnish very little lumber to our markets. There is no evidence 

 that the supply of Siberian softwoods is great, and the domestic re- 

 quirements yet to be developed in Siberia are unknown. 



We still have the greatest stand of high-grade timber available to any 

 modern nation. We have millions upon millions of acres of forest 

 which can easily be made to produce continuous timber supplies. We 

 have millions upon millions of acres of forest land lying idle and non- 

 productive which can be put to work again producing what, in peace or 

 in war, is a national necessity. It is preposterous that the United 

 States should become dependent upon a foreign supply of timber. A 

 foreign supply, in addition to its high cost, must always be subject to 

 the hazards of ocean traffic. In view of our experience in the Great 

 War, the mere suggestion is well nigh disloyal. 



OUR STOCKS OF GROWING TIMBER ARE SHORT BY FIFTY PER CENT 



It is evident that we cannot continue indefinitely to cut our forests 

 faster than they grow, and that we cannot continue to consume more 

 timber than is currently produced. 



The annual growth of wood upon a tree or in a forest is added to 

 the growth of previous years just as interest is added to principal. 

 Well-managed forests add wood at an average rate of 2 per cent, 

 and there is no way to increase it. This statement does not refer to 

 money return, but only to the growth of wood. Considering only 

 sawlog material and assuming that it forms half of the total wood pro- 

 duced — in other words, that the annual increase by growth in sawlog 

 timber is at the average rate of 1 per cent — it is clear that our present 

 total consumption of 50 billion feet of sawlog timber will require a 

 stand of growing timber equivalent to 5.000 billion feet. Our present 



