1380 



Canadian Forest rij Journal, November, 1917 



Will Russia's Forests Pap Her War Debts 



By A. J. Slack 

 Director, Russian Information Bureau, New York 



During the year 1915 the debit 

 balance of Russia's foreign trade 

 amounted to $385,000,000. During 

 1916 it rose to over $1,000,000,000. 

 This was partially produced by war 

 conditions, but after the war Russia 

 must pay the interest on her national 

 debt, and, therefore, the question 

 of turning the balance in favor of 

 Russia is one of the most important 

 problems of Russia's economic life 

 at the present time. 



This problem is solved in a very 

 interesting manner by the possi- 

 bilities in the development of Russia's 

 timber industry. The timber export 

 even nowadays holds second place, 

 following grain, in Russia's export 

 trade. 



The Advance of Export 



In 1892 the receipts from the tim- 

 ber industry in Russia's ordinary 

 state revenue amounted to $9,572,000 

 — 1,9 per cent, of the entire amount 

 of state revenue. In 1913 the re- 

 ceipts from the timber industry in- 

 creased to $46,11,176 — 27 per cent, 

 of the entire amount of state revenue. 

 During the period 1892-1913 the 

 entire income of the imperial treasury 

 was multiplied 3.5 times, whereas 

 the income from the timber industry 

 was multiplied 4.9 times. 



The export of Russia's timber de- 

 veloped even faster than the timber 

 industry in general. In the beginning 

 of the nineteenth century, the export 

 of Russian timber amounted to only 

 $765,000—1.7 per cent, of the total 

 amount of Russia's export at that 

 time. In 1910 Russia's export of 

 timber already amounted to $70,- 

 482,000—9.5 per cent, of the total 

 export. During the period 1800- 

 1913, the total amount of Russia's 

 export multiplied 21 times, whereas 

 the timber export multiplied 126 



times. It is interesting to observe 

 that during the same period the 

 amount of grain export multiplied 

 only 44 times. 



Russia's Vast Forests 



In 1913, as we have said before, 

 Russia exported timber to the am- 

 ount of $84,099,000. But this am- 

 ount is surely negligible compared 

 with the possible export of timber. 

 In exporting grain, Russia meets the 

 competition of the United States, 

 Argentina, Canada, the East Indies, 

 Australia, Bulgaria and Rumania. 

 But in exporting timber, Russia cer- 

 tainly can take and is going to take 

 the leading place in the world's mar- 

 ket. 



I. 



Amt. timherland 

 (in acres) 



Germany 38,430,000 



Balkan States 28,380,000 



France (without colonies) ...27,141,000 



Spain (without colonies) 17,844.000 



Italy (without colonies) .... 11,256,000 

 Great Britain (without col- 

 onies) 3,375,000 



Other European countries .. 6,426,000 



Total 132,852,000 



Russia holds over 1,125,000,000 

 acres in timberland. 



Future Readjustment 



This table shows that timber is 

 needed in all the European countries, 

 exclusive of Russia, Scandinavia and 

 Austria-Hungary. The import in 

 Europe from the United States is 

 comparatively small. Canada, per- 

 haps in the near future, may become 

 a great exporter of timber. Russia's 

 chief competitors in the European 

 timber market will be Scandinavia 

 and Austria-Hungary. But the ex- 



