1899. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



23 



has been recklessly despoiled by the stave 

 producer. 



To begin with, the very land was turned 

 over to these people by the railroads, who in 

 the end are the chief sufferers. When the 

 development spoken of was first projected, 

 the stave people flocked in and secured pos- 

 session of the land or trees for their purposes, 

 always working far in advance of the actual 

 location of transportation facilities. In their 

 operations only trees of perfect growth and 

 only about 20 per cent of the board measure 

 contents of them are utilized. 



Traveling ahead, they fell all the choice 

 timber. Of this they utilize in the case of each 

 tree a 13-foot cut only. This is riven into 

 staves, and the remainder about So per cent 

 of the average perfect tree is left a victim to 

 the always hastening forces of worms and 

 decay. These staves are piled in cribs and let 

 remain, if needs be, for several years before 

 hauling. They are being dried in the mean- 

 time and the freight on them is being largely 

 absorbed by the neighboring air this is the 

 extent of the neighborhood benefit. The com- 

 munity or the State does not benefit even to 

 the slight extent of the labor employed, which 

 is imported by wholesale from the disappearing 

 forests of Europe for the purpose. 



Should necessity demand, these staves may 

 in the end be hauled a dozen or fifteen miles 

 for shipment at a comparatively low cost. 

 This is not possible with logs, hence the lum- 

 berman can be and is anticipated in his opera- 

 tions; in fact, he cannot operate. 



Before the fallen trunk left by the pipe- stave 

 man can be reached and they are the most 

 valuable things left they are rotten or worm- 

 eaten. What is left is not sufficient to make 

 an attempt at lumber producing either tempt- 

 ing or profitable. The counties of Sunflower 

 and Bolivar, in Mississippi, are living evidences 

 of this. Less than 10 per cent of their re- 

 sources are disposed of in such a way as not 

 only to prove unprofitable in themselves, but 

 to render the remaining 90 and more per cent 

 largly valueless. The country they include is 

 covered with stave cribs, and when the time 

 comes that the atmosphere will cease to ab- 

 sorb the freight, the railroads which held these 

 lands and delivered them into the hands of the 

 alien, in a more than double sense, will receive 

 a paltry freight earning for the short haul 

 necessary to reach the nearest exporting point 

 only, and even the amount of this revenue is 

 more than they deserve, since the rate which 

 produces it is the same as they have fixed upon 

 lumber. Verily, this is a waste of substance 

 that should be inquired into and remedied. 



Information Wanted. 



The notable lack of reliable information as 

 to the timber supply of the United States was 

 clearly demonstrated during the discussions 

 that preceded the adoption of schedule D in 



the Dingley bill. While that bill was pending 

 in the Senate a request was made on the De- 

 partment of Agriculture for information cover- 

 ing this point, and in response the Division of 

 Forestry furnished an estimate, which was 

 prefaced by the statement that it was largely 

 guesswork. The remaining supply of White 

 Pine in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota 

 can be arrived at with some degree of certainty, 

 but we have little accurate knowledge of the 

 vast resources of the south and the Pacific 

 coast. 



It has been suggested that an attempt be 

 made to collect this information in connection 

 with the taking of the Twelfth Census, work 

 on which will begin in 1900. Those who have 

 had experience, however, claim that all such 

 information can be more economically gathered 

 through the appropriate bureau, and in this 

 case the Department of Agriculture, having 

 charge of the Forestry Division, would be the 

 proper medium for the purpose. In fact, the 

 bill providing for the taking of the Twelfth 

 Census, which has already passed the Senate, 

 was prepared with reference to excluding all 

 such information because of the tendency to 

 overload the enumerators, who ordinarily have 

 had no practical experience in such work. 



There is no reason, however, why this work 

 of securing information as to the timber supply 

 should not be taken up by Congress indepen- 

 dent of the Twelfth Census and the work 

 might justas well be begun next year as the year 

 following. It is stated by a leading lumber- 

 man who is in close touch with the authorities 

 at Washington that should it be demonstrated 

 that there is a public need of such information, 

 there would be no difficulty whatever in se- 

 curing an appropriation from Congress for the 

 Forestry Division to carry out any plan of 

 operations that might be decided upon. That 

 there is a demand for such information is 

 clearly shown by the resolutions adopted at 

 the conference of Northern and Southern mill 

 men held at St. Louis recently. These mill 

 men represented Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, 

 Illinois, Missouri. Arkansas, Indian Territory, 

 Louisiana and Mississippi, and included in the 

 number were several of the heaviest timber 

 land holders in the country. In the preamble 

 to this resolution, after reciting the need of 

 statistics relating to the timber supply, the 

 opinion is expressed that such statistics can be 

 compiled only by the Government, through 

 some special bureau abundantly equipped by 

 ample appropriation and thus able to employ 

 the expert knowledge required. The resolu- 

 tion therefore urged the establishment of a 

 Bureau of Timber and Lumber Statistics as a 

 part of the Division of Forestry, Department 

 of Agriculture, to be supported by adequate 

 annual appropriations, or that a special appro- 

 priation be made to cover the cost of the com- 

 pilation of these statistics in connection with 

 the Twelfth Census. Northwestern Lumber- 



man. 



