532 



Canadian Forestry Journal, May, ipi6. 



The Russian Forests After the War 



Will Germany and Austria be Able to Command the European 



Market for Timber? 



[An extract from "The Forests of Russia and Their Present Importance to the 

 Allies," by E. P. Stebbing in "The Nineteenth Century and After," March, 1916.] 



"Previous to the war, Great Bri- 

 tain bought nearly half of the tim- 

 ber exports from all countries, and 

 her voice in the timber markets of 

 the world was supreme. Will this 

 be so at the close of the war? It is 

 difficult to see that it can be, for the 

 simple reason that we shall have 

 other European nations competing 

 against us in these markets, and 

 those nations will be principally 

 some of our present Allies. The de- 

 vastation in Belgium, in North 

 France, in Poland, and elsewhere 

 will require an enormous amount of 

 building and other timber to make 

 good. These countries therefore, 

 previously but small importers of 

 timber since they depended mainly 

 on their own woods, will have to 

 purchase in the open market. In 

 Belgium not only will building op- 

 erations have to be carried out on a 

 large scale, but immense destruction 

 has been caused to the forests of the 

 country, and the Germans have add- 

 ed to this by felling areas of woods 

 wholesale and transporting the ma- 

 terial inot their own country. The 

 wondrous system and marvelous 

 organizing powers of the Germans 

 make the reason of this procedure 

 fairly obvious. Not only are thev 

 thus restricting fellings in their 

 own magnificently managed woods, 

 which fellings du reste are naturally 

 restricted owing to the want of la- 

 bour; but we may assume that they 

 have already correctly guaged the 

 position, and that they are, in all 



probability, in preparation for the 

 great demand for timber which they 

 foresee must be the outcome of the 

 present destruction, storing up the 

 material so removed in depots for 

 future use. 



The Germans in Control. 

 Germany and Austria sent us 

 small amounts only of forestry 

 products, timber, etc., in the past. 

 They own immense tracts of forest. 

 It is scarcely too much to say that, 

 without care, at the close of the war 

 they will have the timber market at 

 their mercy, and with the Allies 

 competing against one another in 

 this market they will be able to force 

 up prices to an unprecedented level. 

 Nor can we reasonably expect Nor- 

 way and Sweden an dother countries 

 not to take advantage of such a 

 golden opportunity. It will be con- 

 tended that our Colonies will come 

 to the rescue. Doubtless, but for the 

 most part this will not bring down 

 or keep down prices owing to the 

 extra freight on the materials iin- 

 ported. For it must be remembered 

 that most of the easily accessible 

 timber of the world — i.e., that grow- 

 ing alongside 'rivers and streams, 

 and therefore transportable by 

 water^ — has been cut and utilized. 



Russia's Position. 



Wt come back to the point then. 

 What will be Russia's position and 

 what her action? With her enor- 

 mous forest resources it should be 

 possible for her to throw a consider- 



