60 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND FAMINE PRICES 



It was thought at the time that the war would be 

 over by the following summer. The comfortable assur- 

 ance of November 1914 has quite another aspect in 

 May 1916. 



That home timber can be made to, in some small 

 degree, supplement even temporarily the great scarcity 

 is of importance and value, but it will not help the 

 nation at large to face the position at the end of the 

 war and a more distant future. 



This is the much larger question before us. Suppose 

 that the war lasts another year, or even longer. What 

 is going to be done about the timber supplies ? Are 

 the Allies is this country going to make no effort 

 to place the matter on a basis which will at least give 

 some stability to prices and prevent the wasteful, the 

 criminally wasteful, extravagance of the past twenty 

 months. 



At the beginning of the past season the bulk of the 

 timber supplies for war purposes was procured from 

 the port of Archangel, but where future supplies are to 

 come from appears to be a grave problem in the eyes 

 of prominent timber merchants. It is said that there 

 will not be sufficient supplies from Archangel to meet 

 the demand. Should Germany succeed in restricting 

 the shipments from Sweden or manage to torpedo the 

 boats carrying timber cargoes, it is probable that there 

 will be something of a timber famine in this country 

 provided the present demand is maintained. And 

 as long as the war continues there is no guarantee that 

 the demand and prices will not remain at a high level. 



The Home Timber Committee will see that we get 

 all that is possible from home woods. But the Board 



