MEXICO AS A SOURCE OF TIMBER 



BY AUSTIN F. MACDONALD 



A FEW years will often work startling transforma- 

 tions in the motives and desires of a people ; and 

 not the least wonderful is the change which was 

 wrought in the lives of the American people by our par- 

 ticipation in the great world conflict. In 1916 we were 

 busily engaged in the absorbing task of making money, 

 we were looking for profitable opportunities to invest 

 that money. In 1918 our sole aim was to win the war, 

 and foreign investments, no matter how alluring, did 

 not appeal to us. But now America has emerged tri- 

 umphant from the struggle, and the present time marks 

 the dawning of a new era of prosperity. Once more 

 American capital is seeking satisfactory opportunities 



v — 



valued at $495,257. While these figures are not large 

 when considered by themselves, relatively they are very 

 important, for the forest products during the year 1913 

 formed approximately one-eighth of the total exports 

 of the country. We must not conclude, however, that a 

 comparatively small export of lumber means a lack of 

 forests in Mexico. On the contrary, it merely signifies 

 that the great forest areas have not yet been developed 

 and are still awaiting exploitation. The Republic has 

 been estimated to contain 479 square leagues of thick 

 forests and 18,134 square leagues of wooded land. Its 

 forests are rich in every variety of the precious woods, 

 besides great areas of commercial timbers. Because of 



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lanatlon: 



I Temperate Zone Forest Area. 

 ■■ Tropical Forest Area. 



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for investment, and intelligent information on this sub- 

 ject is rapidly becoming an urgent need. 



There is, perhaps, no bit of advice which the American 

 business man has heard more frequently in the past than 

 the suggestion to invest in Mexican timber. Just what 

 kind of timber, and in just what part of Mexico, seems 

 to have been entirely immaterial. Strangely enough, en- 

 thusiasm about this timber seems to have been in inverse 

 ratio to the actual amount of knowledge concerning it. 

 The purpose of this article is to state concisely the ex- 

 tent of Mexico's timber resources, and the location of 

 these forested areas. 



In the year 1913 the Republic of Mexico exported 

 mercial timber valued at $3,365,131, and dye woods 



the lack of laborers and the difficulty of transportation, 

 and because of the presence of precious metals, exploita- 

 tion went on very slowly for over two centuries. Now, 

 however, the people are beginning to realize the vast 

 wealth of their forested areas and are developing them 

 ' at a rapid rate. Wasteful methods of hauling and cut- 

 ting which are at present being employed will if con- 

 tinued lead to deforestation. More scientific exploitation 

 is needed, and it must come quickly. 



One must not conclude from these introductory re- 

 marks that all Mexico is one vast forest. There are 

 great stretches of waving grain and of the crops of a 

 more tropical agriculture, and there are vast areas that 

 are uninhabited deserts. For the purposes of this paper 



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