The sum of resources is simple and fixed. From 

 the sea, the mine, the forest and the soil must be gat li 

 ered everything that can sustain the life of man. Upon 

 the wealth thai these supply must be conditioned for- 

 ever, as far as we can see, not only his progress, Inn his 

 continued existence on earth. How stands the inven- 

 tory of property for our own people? The resources 

 of the sea furnish less than five per cent, of the food 

 supply, and that is all. The forests of this country, the 

 product of centuries of growth, are fast disappearing. 

 The best estimates reckon our standing merchantable 

 timber at less than 2,000,000,000,000 feet. Our an- 

 nual cut is about 40,000,000,000 feet. The lumber cut 

 rose from 18,000,000,000 feet in 1880 to 34,000,000,000 

 feet in 1905 ; that is, it nearly doubled in 25 years. We 

 are now using annually 500 feet board measure of tim- 

 ber per capita, as against an average of 60 feet for all 

 Europe. The New England supply is gone. The 

 \Orthwest furnishes small growths that would have 

 been rejected by the lumberman 30 years ago. The 

 South has reached its maximum production and bc-in- 

 to decline. On the Pacific Coast only is there now any 

 considerable body of merchantable standing timber. 

 We are consuming yearly three or four times as much 

 timber as forest growth restores. Our supply of some 

 varieties will be practically exhausted in 10 or 12 

 years; in the case of others, without reforesting, the 

 present century will see the end. When will we take 

 up in a practical and intelligent way the restoration of 

 our forests ? 



