Conservation of Lumber Supply 351 



supply has been carried to that extent that while we have 

 been cutting over and denuding one-half of our coniferous 

 forests, the title to nearly the whole has been parted with 

 by the government. So that at the present time, the con- 

 dition is that about one-half of our pine timber lands have 

 been denuded. Of the other half over four-fifths of this re- 

 mainder has been sold under this promiscuous method and 

 passed to f>rivate owners. 



The conservation of the forests under, and in the man- 

 ner that the lands have been handled by the government, and 

 other adverse conditions, have made it absolutely impossible 

 for the lumbermen to cut and handle the timber conserva- 

 tively, or to reforest the areas as they were cut over. In 

 fact, the lumberman has had more adverse conditions to work 

 against than the men engaged in any other industry or oc- 

 cupation whatsoever. 



We have now reached that period of our history when it 

 has come to be known that the forests must be conserved or 

 in a comparatively few years, supply will be practically ex- 

 hausted. 



Other substitutes, and economical and more efficient 

 methods of manufacture, can and will be applied when the 

 price of lumber gets to that point that it will make prac- 

 ticable these new methods. But in the meantime the re- 

 maining forests, especially those in the Pacific and mountain 

 states where the land is of but litle or no use for agriculture 

 and available for a timber supply, and where the area is suf- 

 ficient to furnish a reasonable stock for many generations to 

 come — perhaps a perpetual supply — may be sufficient to serve 

 the more urgent needs of the people, and especially when 

 supplemented by the general development of timber culture 

 throughout the countrl. 



The question now comes up — what can be done to con- 

 serve the forests? 



There is quite a demand for the removal of the little 

 tariff protection that is now existing. Agricultural products 

 are protected to an extent three times as great as lumber, 

 which are not in need of protection to as great extent as 

 lumber; and it would not work continued waste by remov- 



