The Forest Industries 75 



done heretofore. The forests are rapidly disap- 

 pearing, or where they do not disappear entirely 

 they deteriorate so as to lose the power of furnish- 

 ing timber of commercial value. Fortunately, it is 

 not impossible to so change our ways of treating 

 the forests now in existence that they may con- 

 tinue indefinitely to supply us with their products. 

 By doing so we will at the same time protect our- 

 selves against certain dangers to our physiographic 

 and climatic conditions which excessive deforesta- 

 tion brings in its train. These dangers will be dis- 

 cussed in another chapter in connection with the 

 means that should be adopted to prevent the im- 

 pending famine. But before we proceed to this 

 part of our subject we ought to attempt an outline 

 picture of the manner in which the lumber business 

 has been carried on in the United States since it 

 first assumed large proportions. 



There are few legitimate branches of business, 

 not consisting of mere speculation and manipulation 

 of stocks, in which such large fortunes have been 

 made by individuals during the last fifty years as by 

 the lumber industry. At the same time few branches, 

 aside from agriculture, have been so instrumental 

 in building up the general prosperity of the sections 

 in which they were carried on. The foundations of 

 these large fortunes were laid in days when the 

 scale of operations was small and a man needed but 

 a few thousand dollars to begin. At the present 

 time, all lumbering conducted as a business by itself 

 is done on a very large scale indeed, mostly by 



