204 Proceedings oe the 



which oak timber now grows — that is, in the Southern 

 States and the eastern part of Texas — and seeing that 

 it has been reduced to so small an area, it is undoubt- 

 edly very important and necessary to the welfare of 

 the country in general, and the industry that we are 

 engaged in particularly, that the scheme of reforesting 

 this section on comprehensible and intelligent lines be 

 instituted as early as possible." 



What I have touched upon thus far relates most 

 closely to the tight-barrel feature of the cooperage 

 business, which is really the least important branch of 

 the industry, in volume, if not in dollars. The slack- 

 barrel department comprises the manufacture of barrels 

 to contain loose or dry products, such as flour, sugar, 

 cement, lime, fruit, truck, and other things far too 

 numerous to mention. It is to this branch of the 

 cooperage industry that we must charge the annihila- 

 tion and destruction of our elm forests. Their hand 

 is stayed in that direction at present, to some extent, 

 simply because there are now no forests of elm to 

 conquer, and all of this havoc has been wrought in 

 about twenty-five years. Up to that time the slack- 

 barrel people were at work on a contract to destroy all 

 the red oak in the country, as at that time oak was the 

 chief timber used in slack packages, especially for flour 

 and sugar. Owners of elm timber, purchased for a 

 song, taking advantage of the advancing market for 

 oak, sought to prove to the barrel men that elm was, 

 at least, as good as oak for their purpose, but the 

 innovation was looked upon with little patience. 

 Finally, however, it was proven conclusively that elm 

 was a better timber for this purpose than oak, and for 

 twenty years and upwards it has been practically the 

 only timber used for slack-barrel staves and hoops. 

 The supply, however, is about exhausted, and now the 



