FOREST POLICY. 27 



14. Rules of lumber inspection. The "inspection rules" in 

 vogue for the grading of lumber in the United States are 

 the cause of much waste in the woods. These inspec- 

 tion rules discriminate against "odd lengths" of lumber, and 

 hence of logs ; against the presence of sap, or of wane, or of 

 knots; against taper and splits and so on. As a consequence, 

 odd lengths are cut down in the woods or in the mills to even 

 lengths ; knots and splits and other defects are cut out and 

 burned, together with large slices of good lumber next to the 

 defect, whilst the rectangular shape of the board is being main- 

 tained. In the saw-mill, the sawyer, the edger, and the trimmer 

 are hard at work to produce not the largest possible output of 

 boards, but the largest amount of money in the boards. Hence 

 an enormous amount of waste in the saw-mill, and also in the 

 woods, where the logs are cut to order so as tO' yield the maximum 

 of value in the mill. Many a short log, many a knotty log, 

 many a small log must be left in the woods under the present 

 rules of lumber inspection, after the tree is cut. 



These inspection rules are made, in the long run, not by the 

 owner of the woodlands; they are made by the consuming 

 public. 



15. Freight rates. Whilst the freight rates on lumber in the 

 United States are not high per ton per mile, they are high in 

 the aggregate, owing to the fact that the forests are situated far 

 from the points of consumption. 



Unfortunately the freight rates are alike for the upper grades 

 and for the lower grades of lumber, being the same for boards 

 worth ten dollars and for boards worth a hundred dollars per 

 1000 feet, b. m. at the mill. Obviously a good grade of boards 

 can stand the charge for transportation easily, whilst a poor 

 grade of boards had best be left in the woods, in the log, or else 

 at the mill. If the Interstate Commerce Commission, in co- 

 operation with the railroads and the lumber associations, would 

 revise the freight rates on lumber, so as to leave the total of 

 freight charges unchanged, but so as to increase the freight 

 charges on high-priced, and so as to reduce the freight charges 

 on low-priced lumber, the prospects of conservative forestry 

 in the Unitea States would be greatly subserved. 



