A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 277 



The largest field for expansion of our native timber requirements 

 lies in the possibility of substituting domestic production for the half 

 of our consumption which is imported. The possibilities in this 

 direction are greatly enhanced by the prospect of a continued rise in 

 paper requirements. Total pulpwood requirements for the country 

 amounted to nearly 13^ million cords in 1930. Estimates of probable 

 requirements by 1950 vary from 22 million cords to 30 million cords. 



FUEL WOOD 



Our annual consumption of wood as fuel has shown a considerable 

 decline from earlier estimates of more than 100,000,000 cords to a 



E resent estimate of about 61,000,000 cords. The decline has occurred 

 irgely in cities and towns. Wood has remained and is likely to 

 remain the chief fuel in rural sections, and requirements may now be 

 approaching a minimum for that purpose. 



OTHER TIMBER PRODUCTS 



Trends in minor and miscellaneous timber products do not definitely 

 indicate any great change in total requirements from those of 1929. 

 The most important recent increase has occurred in consumption of 

 logs for veneer and plywood. 



THE GENERAL OUTLOOK 



Obviously there have been and still are so many factors at work 

 influencing trends in the consumption of forest products that no 

 generalization as to the future can be validated. It is impossible to 

 reduce the net effect of opposing factors of declining and increasing 

 use to exact estimates. However, for the consideration of both the 

 consumer who would like to use wood and the owner of forest land 

 who seeks a profitable outlet for his timber crop, it is well to revert to 

 the introductory statement wherein it is pointed out that the con- 

 sumption of wood is, in general, likely to vary with the abundance, 

 suitability, and cheapness of its supply. 



Mention must also be made of the fact that manufacturing and 

 merchandising of lumber and other forest products, with the exception 

 of paper, have changed little during the past 30 years during which 

 time science and invention have wrought momentous changes in 

 nearly every other field of industry. Hence, it is reasonable to feel 

 that modern scientific methods applied to promoting the use of forest 

 products, whether in present forms or something entirely different, 

 would increase consumption much as in the case of other materials. 

 Measures by which this can and may be accomplished are discussed 

 in the section, " Enlarging the Consumption of Forest Products." 



And, finally the timber requirements of a nation are measured as 

 well by the need for industry as by the need for the products of 

 industry. The conversion of timber into tables and chairs, let us 

 say, is the basis for a large industry, employing thousands of wage 

 earners to satisfy the market for tables and chairs. But it is not 

 only our need for tables and chairs, but the employment of labor to 

 manufacture them, that measures the importance of the industry and 

 therefore of the raw materials necessary to maintain the industry. 



