264 WOOD AND FOREST. 



In view of this wholesale destruction it becomes of interest to 

 know how much still remains of the timber supply of the United 

 States. The latest and most authoritative estimate of standing tim- 

 ber in continental United States, excluding Alaska, gives a total of 

 2,800,000,000 M feetB.M., 4 of which 2,200,000,000 M feet are pri- 

 vately owned, about 539,000,000 M feet are in the National Forests 

 (Fig. 119, p. 271,) and 90,000,000 M feet are on the unreserved pub- 

 lic lands, National parks, State lands and Indian reservations. 



Earlier estimates were hardly more than guesses. For example 

 the census of 1880 estimated the stumpage of the U. S. at 856,290,- 

 100 M feet, while the census of 1900 gives a total of 1,390,000,000 

 M feet. The discrepancy appears still greater when it is remembered 

 that in the meantime 700,000,000 M feet were cut. Of this amount 

 500,000,000 M feet were of conifers or 80,000,000 M feet more than 

 were included in the estimate of 1880. The simple fact is of course 

 that the earlier estimates were gross underestimates, due to the fact 

 that they were based on entirely inadequate data, and therefore can 

 not be used to obscure the now unquestionable fact that the timber 

 supply of this country is surely and rapidly melting away. 



The Forest Service estimates that the present annual cut of saw 

 timber is about 50,000,000 M feet. At this rate the present stand 

 would last about 55 years and the privately owned timber only 44 

 years. This estimate does not allow for growth and decay. 



While the population of the United States increased 52 per cent, 

 from 1880 to 1900, during the same period the lumber-cut increased 

 94 per cent. In other words the yearly increase in use is 20 to 25 

 per cent, per capita, that is, fast as the population grows, the lumber 

 consumption increases nearly twice as fast. This increase in the 

 lumber-cut far overbalances the growth of trees. 



It is also to be remembered that this increase in the use of lum- 

 ber is in spite of the enormous increase of substitutes for lumber, 

 such as brick, cement and steel for building, and steel for bridges, 

 vehicles, fences, machinery, tools, and implements of all kinds. 



How lavishly we use lumber may further be appreciated from the 

 fact that we consume 260 cubic feet 5 per capita, while the average 

 for 13 European countries is but 49 cubic feet per capita. In other 



* A board foot is one foot square and one inch thick. 

 5 167 cubic feet equal about 1000 board feet. 



