demand for timber. In 1911 the sawmills of the Northwest 

 were used to cut less than half of their capacity, and in the 

 two greatest lumber-producing states alone one hundred and 

 thirty of them were idle altogether. Mill owners naturally 

 prefer to use the mills they have to cut the logs they own 

 rather than to build new mills and buy from the government. 



Wherever national forest timber is accessible and is not 

 blanketed by private holdings, however, approximately the 

 annual growth is being cut. Thus, in the group of national 

 forests near Pocatello, in Southern Idaho, the annual growth 

 is estimated at eight million feet. The present cut is seven 

 million seven hundred and eighty-four thousand feet. On 

 the Deer Lodge forest, in Central Montana, the yearly growth 

 is approximately thirty million feet. The present cut, used 

 largely at the copper mines near Butte, is now twenty-two 

 million feet, and will soon reacn the total of the annual 

 growth. Sales on the Whitman forest, in Oregon, will soon 

 equal the sustained yield of the forest of from forty to fifty 

 million feet yearly. 



Must Wait For Buyers. 



National forest timber cannot be sold unless some one will 

 buy. It has for years been the steady practice of the forest 

 service to advertise its timber for sale just as a private 

 owner would do. It has made, in addition, vigorous efforts 

 to bring bodies of ripe timber to the notice of possible pur- 

 chasers, to seek new capital, and encourage new wood-using 

 industries in a word, the service has done all it could to 

 utilize the annual growth of the forests without sacrificing 

 their future usefulness. 



The Question of Selling Government Timber. 



"Why not throw the government's timber on the market 

 for less than the regular price of stumpage, and so cut down 

 the price to the consumer" says the Seattle man. 



"For two reasons," replies the forester. "First, because ' 

 the moment you propose to sell government stumpage for 

 less than it will bring in the open market you must face the 

 question, How shall we choose the fortunate lumbermen to 

 whom this public timber shall be given for less than it is 

 worth? Just to mention the word 'polities' is a sufficient an- 

 swer to that question. There is no safe and fair way to sell 



['31 



