STUMPAGE SITUATION IN PACIFIC NORTHWEST 27 



region, due to increased wages, cost of equipment, materials and 

 provisions. 



The per capita consumption of wood is decreasing annually, 

 and the output of the mills remains stationary. The number of 

 wood substitutes is increasing yearly and the amount of wood 

 displaced by them already equals about one-fourth of our total 

 lumber cut. Wood preservation has made inroads into the lumber 

 industry by doubling or trebling the life of timber. Much greater 

 utilization in the forest, at the mill, and at the point of consump- 

 tion, is practiced today than ever before. These and other fac- 

 tors tend to regulate the price of lumber and of stumpage; and 

 though the country has actually less timber than it will consume 

 during the next 50 years, under the present conditions of the 

 lumber industry ; it must be cut and disposed of as rapidly as pos- 

 sible to avoid loss to trie present owners. Under conditions which 

 exist today every owner of coast timber will be compelled to cut 

 his stumpage within a comparatively short time, unless some re- 

 lief is forthcoming. To cut the timber regardless of market con- 

 ditions would be a national calamity. It is to be hoped that some 

 way may be found to handle this extraordinary situation, so as to 

 protect the owner, safeguard the public, and in this way save a 

 great National resource from wanton exploitation and permanent 

 destruction. 



