TIMBER OF BRITISH COLUMBIA 777 



mately $100,000 before he can commence to operate. I liave in mind 

 one operation, not 20 miles from here, where a logger spent $125,000 

 building his logging railroad and putting in camps, etc., before he 

 made a cent, then when he was ready to operate a slump came and 

 he had no market for his logs. 



The price of logs governs the price of lumber ; and with the con- 

 sumer demanding cheap lumber, the mill man naturally is demanding 

 cheap logs. The logger in order to get his logs as cheaply as pos- 

 sible is devastating our forests ; cutting only the timber that can be 

 cheaply handled, smashing down all the smaller timber in the process 

 of logging and leaving in the woods to rot or to be burnt, some 30 

 to 40 per cent of the volume of the timber on the ground. He can- 

 not afford to attempt to log much of the timber on the high elevations 

 or on the rough ground ; broken timber is left and on most operations 

 on rough ground, fully half of the timber never reaches the mill, it 

 being broken up and left on the ground. 



There is no country in the world that would tolerate the wasteful 

 logging methods practiced on the Pacific Coast of Canada and the 

 United States. It is not logging; it is forest devastation. Whom are 

 we to blame? 



The logger, in order to make a fair return on his investment, and 

 log all the timber on the tract, carefully taking ofif, first of all, the small 

 timber, and then logging the heavy timber; must have an increased 

 price from the mill for his logs. Therefore, the consumer cannot 

 look for any cheap timber in the future, as the cost of operating is 

 continuously climbing. 



We have been credited in British Columbia with having 350 bil- 

 lion feet of standing timber. Of this I have no hesitation in saying 

 that there will not be 100 billion feet actually taken to our saw mills 

 in the form of saw logs> This figure of course refers to our virgin 

 timber. Our present output is approximately two billions of feet 

 per year; this figure will be more than doubled within five years, 

 and by 1930 British Columbia will be called upon to supply at least 

 six billion feet per year, possibly more. 



As is well known, the eastern United States is almost denuded 

 of timber, they are already dependent on eastern Canada, the southern 

 States and the Pacific Coast for 90 per cent of their domestic re- 

 quirements in lumber. The southern States which now cut approxi- 

 mately 13 billion feet per year, will, within seven years, cease to be 



