A Decexxial Record 129 



even here it is doubtful if the cut of hardwood lumber can be materially 

 increased for any great length of time. The scarcity of high grade 

 oak, poplar, ash, hickory, walnut, and other standard hardwoods is 

 now confronting manj^ industries with a difficult situation. 



One-half of the timber remaining in the Continental United 

 States is in three states bordering the Pacific ocean. Sixty-one per 

 cent of it lies west of the Great Plains. Since 1894 western timber has 

 been filling gaps in the eastern and middle western markets. Within 

 the past year it has assumed a dominating place in the principal mark- 

 ets of the Lake States and has largely replaced southern pine at many 

 consuming points in the Central States. It is estimated that within 

 the next decade the shortage of nearer timber will compel the Eastern 

 and Central States to increase their annual consumption of western 

 timber by eleven and one-half billion board feet. 



The true index of timber depletion is not in the quantity that is 

 left but its axjailahilitij . This is shown partly in the cost of trans- 

 porting the average tliousand feet of lumber from the sawmill to the 

 user. Piior to 1850 when the great bulk of our lumber was manufac- 

 tured near the points of use, the transportation cost averaged less than 

 $3.00 per thousand board feet. Today it is probably $10.00. In 

 another decade, at the freight rates now prevailing, it will reach $15.00 

 per thousand feet. But aside from rising freight costs, the exhaustion 

 of nearby supplies of timber imposes upon the consumer all the disad- 

 vantages of being dependent upon distant and restricted manufactur- 

 ing regions. These include congestion of transportation, the effects of 

 labor shortages and bad weather in limited regions, and a narrowed 

 field of competition. 



Xot only is tlie quantity of timber left in the United States being 

 used up much more rapidly than wood is being grown ; the availability 

 of the remaining timber to the average consumer is steadily decreasing. 

 The situation which confronts us now will be different only in degree 

 if we allow the western forests also to be exhausted and are compelled 

 to import most of our lumber from Siberia or South America. 



Doubtless the extreme conditions of the present lumber markets 

 will ])e relieved in no great length of time and more moderate prices 

 will prevail. Tlie outstanding fact remains, however, that lumber price 

 levels liigher than those existing before the war must be expected be- 

 cause of the depletion, or approaching depletion, of our forest regions 



