TIMBER DEPLETION, PRICES, EXPORTS, AND OWNERSHIP. 



59 



sources in Siberia have not yet been developed sufficiently to 

 support ii foreign lumber trade. 



The two important classes of products for which the United 

 States now depends upon foreign countries are cabinet and 

 other extremely valuable woods from tropical countries and 

 paper or its raw materials. Our dependence upon Canada for 

 paper is an extremely important factor which must be reck- 

 oned with for many years to come. This results in part from 

 the depletion of pulp-making woods in the eastern United 

 States and in part from transport and manufacturing condi- 

 tions which have prevented the paper-making industry from 

 utilizing pulp timbers available in the Western States and 

 Alaska. Adequate development of our western pulp-wood re- 

 sources could make the United States independent of foreign 

 supplies of paper. 



EXPORT TRADE POLICY. 



It must be recognized that, unlike most articles of commerce, 

 the replacement of a considerable part of the raw material con- 



sumed in lumber exports will, under the best conditions, be a 

 slow and difficult process. Foreign trade in softwoods has 

 less serious effects than the export of hardwood products; a 

 foreign trade in such articles as softwood railroad ties and 

 common lumber is the least serious of all since such com- 

 modities can be produced with comparative rapidity in large 

 quantities once growth replaces devastation of our forest lands. 

 On the other hand, foreign demands for high-grade hardwoods 

 endanger certain of our " key " industries such as the manu- 

 facture of agricultural implements, vehicles, and handles* 

 Without any exports we face a serious shortage in their raw 

 materials. These facts should be considered in determining the 

 foreign-trade policy of the country and in weighing the ad- 

 vantages of reciprocity. Our fundamental national policy, 

 however, should be for timber growth rather than the regula- 

 tion of timber use. If the export trade in lumber is to be 

 regulated, such regulation should be discriminating and should 

 apply to the grades and products in which a shortage is most 

 imminent and most menacing to domestic industries. 



