THE AMERICAN LUMBER INDUSTRY 97 



The future for what is left of the lumber industry in these states 

 depends upon reforesting idle lands, and the management of all forest 

 areas on a scientific basis of sustained yield. Such methods are 

 already being employed by several wood-using industries which have 

 employed trained foresters to manage their properties. The majority 

 of the governments in these states have embarked on ambitious pro- 

 grams of reforestation. Tax revision to encourage forest growing by 

 private enterprise has been attempted by two or three of these states, 

 but if the tendency in lumber production, which has slumped from 55 

 per cent, of the nation's output in 1850 to 6 per cent, in 1920, is 

 again to be upward, the future of the lumber industry in the north- 

 eastern section hangs upon reforestation. 



The Lake States 



From a position of producing about 7 per cent, of the country's 

 lumber in 1850, the Lake States took the lead in 1870 and moved 

 upward to 35 per cent, in 1880. For two decades more they held the 

 van, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota in that order leading the 

 lumber states as late as 1899. They then declined rapidly to a parity 

 with the northeastern section today. The virgin forest exceeding 

 100,000,000 acres in the Lake States and embracing rich stands of 

 white pine, has dropped to a virgin stand of about 10,000,000 acres, 

 with some 19,000,000 barren acres and perhaps 26,000,000 acres of 

 second growth and youthful forest. 



Tax revision and fire protection are the major problems of the 

 lumber industry in these states if reforestation is to be made to pay. 

 There are many wood-using industries, including the paper and furni- 

 ture manufacture, in this section. The Lake States pay a freight bill 

 each year on lumber and wood from the South and West amounting 

 to approximately $30,000,000. 



The Southern States 



Between 1850 and 1860 the states from Virginia to Texas rose to 

 a position of producing about 18 per cent, of the country's lumber out- 

 put. They fell off for a decade but in 1870 began a gradual rise to a 

 production of 45 per cent, in 1910, their approximate position of 

 today. The decline of the white pine region of the Lake States brought 



