TIMBER DEPLETION, LUMBER PRICES, LUMBER EXPORTS, AND CONCENTRA- 

 TION OF TIMBER OWNERSHIP. 



REPORT ON SENATE RESOLUTION 311. 



The following report Is submitted in compliance with Senate 

 resolution 311 (66th Cong., 2d sess.), introduced by Senator 

 Capper and considered and agreed to by the Senate on Febru- 

 ary 21, 1920. The resolution provides: 



Whereas it has been reported that the forest resources bf the 

 United States are being rapidly depleted, and that the situa- 

 tion is already serious and will soon become critical; and 

 Whereas these alleged facts are either largely unknown to the 

 public or are in dispute : Therefore be it 

 Resolved, That the Secretary of Agriculture be, and he is 

 hereby, directed to report to the Senate on or before June 1, 

 1920, on the following matters, using what information the For- 

 est Service now has available, or what may be obtained readily 

 with its existing organization : 



1. The facts as to the depletion of timber, pulp wood, and 

 other forest resources in the United States. 



2. Whether, and to what extent, this afEects the present high 

 cost of materials. 



3. Whether the export of lumber, especially of hardwoods, 

 jeopaMlzes our domestic industries. 



4. Whether this reported depletion tends to increase the con- 

 centration of ownership in timberlands and the manufacture of 

 lumber, and to what extent; and if such concentration exists, 

 how it affects or may affect the public welfare. 



A comprehensive and fully adequate report on these matters 

 would require an exhaustive survey of the forest resources of 

 the country, their ownership, the industries dependent on them, 

 and the general related economic conditions. No such survey 

 has ever been made. Nevertheless, data already available or 

 secured throw much light on the subjects of inquiry. 



Depletion and the effect of depletion on prices are so interre- 

 lated that sections 1 and 2 of the resolution are considered 

 together. 



EFFECTS OF SCARCITY AND HIGH PRICES OF FOREST PRODUCTS UPON REPRESENTA- 

 TIVE INDUSTRIES. 



To illustrate the general situation, the salient facts regard- 

 ing a few representative industries are first presented. They 

 are chosen because of the extent of their raw material demands, 

 their basic character industrially, and the way in which they 

 touch, directly or indirectly, the life of our entire population. 

 They are: General building and construction, farming, the 

 railroads, the furniture, veneer, handle, vehicle, and agricul- 

 tural implement industries, and the newspapers. 



A shortage in housing accommodations that is almost world- 

 wide has brought home vividly the close relation of building 

 to the comfort, health, and general welfare of the public. When 

 for any reason construction falls below normal, overcrowding, 

 high rents, lowered standards of living, and other evils follow. 

 Therefore first place will be given to a discussion of conditions 

 in the general building and construction industry. 



GENERAL BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION. 



More lumber is used in the United States for general building 

 and construction than for any other purpose. In normal years 

 probably 28 billion board feet is used in this way out of an 

 average annual cut of 40 billion. 



For the five years before the war, 1910-14, the average annual 

 building bill of the country shown by building permits was 

 approximately $670,000,000. After dropping to $445,549,493 in 

 1918, it rose in 1919 to $1,826,986,702 ; but with building costs 

 Increased 100 per cent or more, actual construction did not 

 much, if any, exceed the prewar average. Apparently all con- 

 struction work in the United States is behind requirements, but 

 the deficit is greatest in dwelling houses. 



The building permits issued in 21 cities of various sizes widely 

 distributed over the country show that, in values, housing con- 

 struction formed 86 per cent of all building in 1913, 21 per cent 

 in 1918, and 27 per cent in 1919. Housing construction in 1913 

 was exceeded in 1918 in only two of the 21 cities, and in 1919 

 in only 6, in spite of the " build-a-home " campaign. The falling 

 off in house construction generally appears to have been par- 



ticularly marked since the latter part of 1919, when the greatest 

 upward movement of lumber prices began. 



The United States Housing Corporation states that normally 

 SO per cent of the number of buildings constructed are dwellings ; 

 that in 1919 dwellings were only 15 per cent; that 1,000,000 

 families in the United States desired houses even before the 

 war ; that the shortage has since Increased very rapidly ; that 

 there were but 70,000 houses built in 1919, when to have met the 

 requirements there should have been 500,000 ; and that in 1890 

 an average of llOi families occupied lOO homes, but to-day 121 

 families occupy 100 homes. The construction of houses in 1918 

 was less than in 1919. 



A part of the reason for delayed house construction, particu- 

 larly in the latter part of 1919 and in 1920, is abnormally high 

 .lumber prices. The Pittsburgh home builder of 1913 paid $27 

 per thousand board feet for his No. 1 common dimension 2 by 4 

 framing $72 in 1920. Sheathing lumber. No. 2 common yel- 

 low pine, cost him $26 in 1913 and $80 in' 1920. Yellow-pine 

 finishing lumber increased from $42 to $140. If he used plain 

 oak finish instead of southern pine, he paid $85 in 1913 and $260 

 In 1920. Yellow-pine siding rose from $36 to $120, B and better 

 flat-grain, flooring from $88 to $142. Plain oak flooring cost in 

 1918 $70 per thousand feet and in 1920 $290, and quartered 

 oak rose in the same period from $102 to $352. 



The total cost of houses has increased proportionately. A 

 frame house built in Washington, D. C, in 1917 for $6,250 is 

 now being duplicated from original plans at a cost of $12,250. 

 A St. Paul architect reports that a house was built for $4,240 

 in 1915, not including plumbing, heating, and wiring, and that 

 a house built from the same plans in October, 1919, cost $7,724, 

 while for identical plans in February, 1920, the cost rose to 

 $11,820, or 179 per cent over the 1915 price. The lumber and 

 millwork costs in 1920 were $5,039, or $799 more than the total 

 cost of the house in 1915. All of the items increased in 1920 

 over 1915, but with the exception of an insignificant item for 

 a bond the percentage increases for lumber (304 per cent) and 

 millwork (222 per cent) were the highest, On a six-room frame 



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