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A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



TABLE 5. Average annual timber exports from principal exporting countries, 

 1881-1913, not including pulpwood and wood pulp 



[In million cubic feet] 



WAR PERIOD 



The war period disrupted the old channels of world timber trade. 

 The total annual exports from the seven principal exporting countries 

 during the 5-year war period, 1914-18, dropped to about 40 percent 

 of the pre-war exports and the participation of the different countries 

 materially changed, as shown in table 6. 



TABLE 6. Timber exports from principal exporting countries before and during the 

 World War, not including pulpwood and cellulose 



[In million cubic feet] 



1 Exports from Austria-Hungary were practically negligible during the war. 

 POST-WAR PERIOD TO 1929 



After the war, with the revival of normal economic activity, world 

 trade in timber rapidly expanded. Building construction in most 

 European countries was naturally at a standstill during the war. The 

 wood which was cut went chiefly into temporary buildings, temporary 

 railroads, military equipment, and other transitory uses. At the time 

 of the armistice there was a great stored-up demand, not only for 

 actual reconstruction in the war-torn countries, but for normal con- 

 struction which had been held up by the war. Furthermore, some 

 of the European countries, cut off during the war from the outside 

 sources of supplies, had made heavy inroads into their own limited 

 forests and many forests in the war zones had been destroyed by shell 

 fire. There was, therefore, every reason to expect at the end of the 

 war a rapid expansion in timber trade. As a matter of fact, such an 

 expansion materialized. The new countries which came into existence 

 through the peace treaties began feverishly to convert their forests 

 into cash. The Scandinavian countries, which had accumulated a 

 surplus of lumber during the war, began to ship large quantities and 

 both Canada and the United States increased their exports. With 



