308 PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 
THE WASTE OF THE LOGGERS. 
The farmers of Oregon, together with a large number of prominent citizens, 
oppose the forest-fire bill, mentioned elsewhere, very largely from their dislike of 
the timber owners and their methods. 
It is a well-known fact that for a score or more years the timber land has been 
accumulating in the hands of a comparatively few wealthy operators, until the vast 
tracts of forest in the Northwest have come into their possession. While some 
of the present owners have come honestly into these possessions, yet in very many 
cases there have been grossly fraudulent methods employed to secure the valuable 
timber from the government. 
High officials have connived at these transactions, and are believed to have 
profited by them. These various facts are current topics among the public and 
by legislators, many of whom say they would rather see the entire forest burned 
over than that the present svstem of lumbering should continue. 
Others affirm that the sooner the timber is destroved by fire, the more speedily 
will the land come into cultivation and sustain a denser population. 
It is evident that a breach exists between the rural population and the lum- 
bering interests, and that it is of broad proportions. 
Strangers visiting the Pacific Coast see the terrible waste which is practiced 
in the lumber camps, the fires which are never quenched at every sawmill, and 
along the various routes of travel where fire is used to destroy vast quantities of 
timber, in the first instance to facilitate logging operations, in the second case to 
burn slabs and timbers of lesser value, and the latter instance to clear the land 
for crops which will never equal in value the trees destroved, and with one accord 
all condemn the pernicious practice. 
These adverse interests combine to prevent the perpetuation of Oregon's 
forests, and unless 4 more patriotic sentiment can be aroused, the future of Ore- 
gon will be a dark one. 
The sawmills, logging companies and timber land owners are fast cutting 
their own throats. Lumber is sold at a ridiculously low price, so great is the 
competition. Fear of losing the timber by forest fires becomes the incentive to 
force the product upon the markets as rapidly as possible. Export lumber brings 
from $8.00 to $9.00 for carload and cargo shipments. Lumbermen publicly assert 
that logging and milling costs $7.00 per thousand, which is approximately correct. 
They claim that this is an income to the State because it is expended for labor. In 
one sense this is true. 
Besides there are many expenses for office work, taxes, interest, commissions 
