THE TASK AHEAD 245 



centrate first. After all the location of a forest is one of the 

 most important factors that makes for its value and useful- 

 ness. It is especially important that timber be grown reasonably 

 close to where it is going to be used and so prevent the waste 

 that comes from transporting lumber from coast to coast. For 

 accomplishing this we are in a favorable situation since three- 

 fourths of the land available for timber growing is east of the 

 Great Plains and at the very door of our great centers of con- 

 sumption. 



Constantly increasing prices for forest products are having 

 their effect on the outlook for profitable timber growing. Since 

 1845 timber prices have advanced three and a half times as 

 fast as the average price of other stable commodities. These 

 higher prices, which we might note in passing are the unmis- 

 takable thumb prints of a lumber shortage, have already begun 

 to be reflected in decreased per capita use. In 1906 each person 

 in the United States used 516 board feet of timber. Since that 

 high level it has fallen forty per cent. Our total wood use, as 

 a nation, has remained about the same since our increased pop- 

 ulation just about compensates for decreased per capita use. 

 The significant point is that this enforced decrease in wood use 

 represents neither conservation nor economy. It is not desirable 

 that our use of wood should decrease except in so far as we 

 are able to find better and cheaper substitutes. Usually the sub- 

 stitutes we have been forced to use in the past are not so good 

 as wood and only a little cheaper. 



Intensive utilization is all very well and waste is bad, but 

 the degree of intensiveness that some countries have reached 

 can be predicated only on dire need and on a degree of timber 

 scarcity that would be regarded in this country as a very real 



