EXHAUSTION OF THE FOREST. 



265 



words every person in the U. S;. is using five times as much wood as 

 he would use if he lived in Europe. It is estimated that on an average 

 each person in this country uses annually the product of 25 acres of 

 forest. The country as a whole, cuts every year, between three and 

 four times more wood than all the forests grow in the meantime. By 

 contrast, the principal countries of Europe, cut just the annual 

 growth, while Russia, Sweden and Japan, cut less than the growth. 

 In other words, the 2,800,000,000,000 feet B.M. of the stumpage of 

 the United States is a capital which is constantly drawn upon, 

 whereas, the 944,700,000,000 board feet of the forest of the German 



Fig-. 115. Southern States include: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 

 Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas and Okla- 

 homa. 



Pacific States include: Washington, Oreg-on and California. 



North Atlantic States include: New England, New York, Pennsylvania, New 

 Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. 



Lake States Include: Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. 



Central States include: Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, 

 Illinois, and Missouri. 



Rocky Mountain State? include: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, 

 Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. 



Empire is a capital which is untouched but produces annually 300 

 board feet per acre. 



One striking evidence of the decrease of the timber supply is the 

 shifting of its sources. Once the northeastern States produced over 

 half of the lumber product. They reached their relative maximum 

 in 1870 when they produced 36 per cent. At that time the Lake 

 States produced about 24 per cent. By 1890 the Lake States came to 

 their maximum of 36 per cent. Today the southern States are near 

 their maximum with 41 per cent., but the center will soon shift to 

 the Pacific States. Their product rose from less than 10 per cent, of 

 the whole in 1900 to 17 per cent, in 1908, Figs. 115 and 116. When 

 that virgin forest has been cut off, there will be no new region to 

 exploit; whereas, heretofore, when a region was exhausted, the lum- 

 bermen have always had a new one to which to move. At the annual 



