66 



National Resources Committee 



Importance of Forest Industries 



to the Railroads of the Pacific Northwest 



A coiR'eivable extension of the analysis of the im- 

 portance of an industry as a source of exports from the 

 Region is to divide all workers into those engaged in 

 export, or basic industries, and those engaged in service 

 occupations. The number of persons dependent upon 

 a particidar export industry might then be conceived 

 of as those directly supported bj^ the industry, plus a 

 proportion of the service population determined by the 

 relation between the total ser\'ice population and the 

 total basic industry popidation. The difficulty with 

 this approach is that export industries are also service 

 industries, supphdng their products to the local popula- 

 tion as well as to the outside world. In niany cases it 

 is impossible to secm-e an acceptable estimate of the 

 relative importance to a basic industry of the export 

 and local markets. Tlais difficulty may be illustrated 

 by the case of agriculture. In 1930, there were over 

 330,000 persons gainfully employed in agriculture in 

 the Pacific Northwest. How many of these were 

 engaged in producing agricultural products for consump- 



FREIGHT ORIGINATING ON RAILROADS 

 IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

 IN 1929 



NORTHERN 

 PACIFIC 



GREAT 

 NORTHERN 



UNION 

 PACIFIC 



SOUTHERN 

 PACIFIC 



C.M.STR 

 a PACIFIC 



zspas. 



ALL OTHER 

 RAILROADS 



^ 



20 30 40 50 60 70 80 



PERCENTAGE OF COMMODITY CROUPS 



FOREST PRODUCTS 



MANUFACTURES S 

 MISCELLANEOUS 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS 



ANIMALS AND 

 PRODUCTS 



MINE 

 PRODUCTS 



LESS THAN 

 CAR LOADS 



AREA OF SQUARE REPRESENTS TONNAGE OF FREIGHT ORIGINATING 

 IN THE REGION- 53.6 MILLION TONS 



AREAS OF RECTANGLES REPRESENT TONNAGE OF FREIGHT 

 CARRIED BY RAILROADS ACCORDING TO ABOVE LEGEND 



NUMERALS ARE TONNAGE IN MILLIONS OF TONS 



RECTANGLES WITHOUT NUMERALS R EPRESENT A TONNAGE 

 LESS THAN .05 MILLION TONS 



Flcil'KE 9. 



tion within the Region, and how many were producing 

 goods to be consumed in other areas? Or how may a 

 farmer be classified who produces wheat and cattle, 

 products exported from the Pacific Northwest, although 

 extensively consumed here also; and corn, barley, and 

 rye, commodities imported into the area? Data are 

 not available to answer these questions. 



It is possible, however, to secure some idea of the 

 importance of a basic industry to a closely related serv- 

 ice industry by estimating the proportion of the busi- 

 ness of the service industry which comes directly from 

 the basic industry. This can be done most readily in 

 the case of transportation agencies. It illustrates the 

 way in which the activities of one industry affect an- 

 other business. The influence of a basic industry is 

 communicated to other businesses in an ever-widening 

 circle, but with continually diminishing force. The 

 effects of the basic industry on other activities thus 

 reach out in an almost infinite series, the siuu of which 

 cannot be determined. The attempt to add to those 

 directly engaged in the forest industries, for example 

 those engaged in supplying serNaces and commodities 

 to forest industries, plus those engaged in furnishing 



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