With much non-agricultural land, fitted only for the raising 

 of trees, it would be a sad commentary upon the foresight of 

 the present generation, if advantage were not taken of the 

 opportunity to provide state forests and to keep Minnesota 

 well up in the list of lumber-producing states of the future. 

 The lumber industry has done much for Minnesota. It has 

 proved a tremendous source of wealth. It can well continue 

 indefinitely if the voters see their duty in voting for Amend- 

 ment No. 9, at the coming general election. 



Decrease in United States. 



True it is that the production of lumber throughout the en- 

 tire United States was less in 1913 than in 1912. The produc- 

 tion of lumber in the United States in 1913 was about three- 

 quarters of a billion board feet less than in 1912, according to 

 the official figures just issued by the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



In 1913, 21,394 mills reported a production of 38,387,009,000 

 board feet, as against 39,158,414,000 feet reported by 29,648 

 mills in 1912, and 37,003,207,000 feet reported by 28,107 mills 

 in 1911. Although about 8,000 fewer mills reported in 1913 

 than in 1912 most of those not reporting were of small ca- 

 pacity and the inclusion of their reports would not, it is said, 

 materially increase the total. 



High Water Mark in 1909. 



The high-water mark in lumber production was set in 1909, 

 when the cut exceeded 44,000,000,000 feet. In 1907 the cut 

 was slightly over 40,000,000,000 feet. No other years have come 

 up to the record of the last two years. 



The production in 1913 of nearly as much lumber as in 1912 

 is of special significance in view of the business conditions 

 which have existed in the industry. During the first three 

 months of the year the lumber trade was excellent, but in the 

 second quarter the demand for lumber fell off noticeably. 

 Further weakening in the demand during the summer led to 

 a substantial curtailment of production in the yellow pine 



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