FACTS ABOUT DEPLETION OF OUR FORESTS 



435 



ample, on certain grades exceed retail prices on the identi- 

 cal grades in Oregon in some instances by as much as $50 

 per thousand board feet after allowing for all transpor- 

 tation costs. The curtailment of lumber output in the 

 eastern regions not only has compelled the average con- 

 sumer to pay more for freight but has enhanced the 

 effects of congestion in transportation and of climatic 

 and other factors limiting the production in regions 

 which still support a large lumber industry. It has 

 restricted opportunity for competition and thereby in- 

 creased the opportunity of the lumber manufacturer or 

 dealer to auction his stocks for higher prices. In other 

 words, the effects of forest depletion can not be measured 

 in terms of the total quantity of timber remaining. Its 

 injury is felt particularly through the steady process of 

 regional exhaustion. Our remaining timber is so local- 

 ized that its availability to the average user of wood is 

 greatly reduced. Particularly does such a restricted 

 location of the timber supplies assume a serious national 

 aspect in the face of transportation congestion and 

 inadequate transportation facilities such as the United 

 States is now experiencing. Had the forests and forest 

 industries of the Eastern States still existed, the oppor- 

 tunities for regional competition in supplying the lumber 

 markets and the wider distribution of lumber transport 

 undoubtedly would have afforded a curb upon rising 

 prices which did not exist in 1919. 



The export trade in lumber does not have a serious 

 bearing upon timber depletion from the standpoint of 

 quantity ; but does have an important bearing upon the 

 duration of our limited supply of high grade timber, 

 particularly of hardwoods. The exports of high grade 

 oak, walnut, hickory, ash, and other woods essential to 

 many industries in the United States which now seem 

 probable will further enhance the shortage of such prod- 

 ucts for the domestic market and the tendencies already 

 evident toward sustained high prices. On the other 

 hand, the United States imports from Canada about two- 

 thirds of its total consumption of newsprint or newsprint 

 materials. The effects of our export trade in lumber 

 should be considered from the standpoint of the specific 

 timber grades or products whose depletion is most im- 

 minent and threatening to American industries. 



The concentration of timber ownership has not changed 

 materially since the exhaustive report made upon this 

 subject by the Bureau of Corporations in 1910. One-half 

 of the privately owned timber in the United States is 

 held by approximately 250 large owners, the ownership 

 of the remaining timber being very widely distributed. 

 The tendency toward the acquisition and speculative 

 holding of timber beyond operating requirements has 



been checked and the present tendency is toward the 

 manufacture of large timber holdings. At the same 

 time, the lumber industry, particularly in the Western 

 States, is going through a partial reorganization into 

 larger operating and marketing groups. In this there is 

 a tendency for small mills to disappear and small timber 

 holdings to be blocked into larger ones adapted to ex- 

 tensive lumber manufacture. While there is still a large 

 number of individual timber owners and of sawmills 

 operating as separate units, the larger interests are acquir- 

 ing a more dominant place in lumber manufacture in the 

 West. It is to be expected that these large interests or 

 groups will maintain, as time goes on, a fairly constant 

 supply of timber for their manufacturing plants by 

 acquiring smaller holdings. No information is at hand 

 which justify a conclusion that monopolistic conditions 

 on any general scale have grown out of this situation. 

 There are many instances to the contrary. On the other 

 hand, the degree of control of the timber remaining 

 in the United States exercised by a comparatively small 

 number of large interests will steadily increase as tim- 

 ber depletion continues, approaching a natural monopoly 

 in character, and this control will extend particularly to 

 the diminishing supply of high grade material. 



In 1918 our per capita consumption of lumber was 

 about 360 board feet. The homes and industries of the 

 United States require at least 35 billion feet of lumber 

 yearly, aside from enormous quantities of paper and 

 other products of the forest. A reduction in the current 

 supply of lumber below this figure would seriously cur- 

 tail our economic development. Appreciable increases 

 in lumber imports are not possible except at excessive 

 prices. We can not afford to cut our per capita use of 

 lumber to one-half or one-third the present amount 

 to the level of European countries where lumber is an 

 important luxury. We must produce the great bulk of 

 the timber which we need ourselves and we have the 

 resources for doing so. 



The solution of the problem presented by forest 

 depletion in the United States is a national policy of 

 reforestation. Increased and widely distributed pro- 

 duction of wood is the most effective attack upon exces- 

 sive prices and monopolistic tendencies. Depletion has 

 not resulted from the use of forests but from their 

 devastation, from our failure, while drawing upon our 

 reservoirs of virgin timber, to also use our timber grow- 

 ing land. If our enormous areas of forest growing 

 land, now idle or largely idle, which are not required 

 for any other economic use, can be restored to timber 

 growth, a future supply of forest products adequate in 

 the main to the needs of the country will be assured. 



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