CHAPTER n. 



FLOATING DEBTS. 



In the present generation when the stump- 

 age owner, logger and millman are nearly al- 

 ways the same individual, it takes much more 

 capital to operate the lumber business than it 

 did in the old days. The timber holdings must 

 be very large to warrant the construction of 

 the modern mill, and supply it with cutting ma- 

 terial for a sufficient number of years. The log- 

 ging equipment comprises steam railways, loco- 

 motives and cars in addition to the woods 

 tackle. All this gear costs heavily for every 

 mile of road built and every thousand feet of 

 timber taken out. The logging and milling 

 crews are larger, the commissary more exten- 

 sive, the pay rolls heavier, the liabilities of 

 every nature more pressing. The cost of stump- 

 age is tied up for a long term of years and can 

 be collected only in small portions as the land 

 is logged off. The money spent in the cut- 

 ting of trails, building of railroads and con- 

 struction of mills is a permanent investment 

 that practically can never be reclaimed. The 

 operator is forced to extend credit to the peo- 

 ple who buy lumber from him and he carries 

 them for any length of time from ten days up 

 to six months. He must pay freights in cash, 



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