74 North American Forests and Forestry 



we have kept our economic superiority to the older 

 countries, another widening of the rent between 

 the rich and the poor, another difficulty thrown into 

 the path of a democratic form of society. 



But even if we accept the necessity of restricting 

 the use of lumber in construction, there are many 

 other uses of wood where a substitute cannot be 

 found at all. Such uses will easily suggest themselves 

 to the reader : aside from furniture, he will think 

 of boxes and packages, various household utensils, 

 and other things consumed in great quantities by 

 every civilized society. One very important use, 

 in which no substitute for wood is likely ever to 

 be found, is the consumption of mining timber. 

 Wherever mining is carried on underground it be- 

 comes necessary to shore up the walls and ceilings 

 of the galleries with timber to keep them from 

 caving in. This necessity is one of the heaviest 

 sources of expense in most mines, and a constant 

 supply of cheap timber is necessary to their running. 

 It is not apparent what substitute could ever be 

 employed for such and similar purposes, so that the 

 disappearance of timber supply would be a death- 

 blow to the mining interests. 



It is clear, then, that the maintenance of a supply 

 of timber, both of the soft- and hard-wood kind, re- 

 mains a vital necessity of our economic welfare, 

 even if our present rate of consumption is greatly 

 diminished in the future. It is also undoubtedly 

 true that we cannot rely much longer on a supply 

 furnished by the original forest in the way we have 



