the pine lumber, but which hardwood now has nearly all 

 been cut and removed. The use of lumber within the past 

 several years has reached the actual amount of nearly 600 

 feet per capita, although counted at only 500, as a large 

 amount is cut that is not reported. The use of substitutes 

 like cement, iron, steel, bricks, stone or paper for purposes 

 where lumber was formerly used, has not apparently re- 

 duced the demand materially. The great activity has kept 

 the demand and supply up to the former amount. 



The inherited conditions pertaining to the remaining for- 

 ests bring with them the same difficulties for the continuance 

 of forest destruction that have caused waste in the past. 

 The carrying charges on the standing timber in the way of 

 local taxes and the large stumpage cost and heavy interest 

 on investments, the competition, especially on the Coast 

 States, with a large stock of British timber, the long haul, 

 the high freight rates for bringing the timber from the 

 West to the central or eastern markets, the excessive de- 

 mand for finishing lumber or upper grades which now ex- 

 ists, and which has, to an increasing extent, continued for 

 many years past, combine to furnish a strong inducement 

 for the continuous denuding of the forests to secure the best 

 returns from the timber before it is practically consumed 

 or confiscated by carrying charges. 



The Government should have retained the title to the tim- 

 berland. A comparatively large stumpage price should 

 have been fixed by the Government, and the timber should 

 have been sold only as rapidly as the actual needs demanded 

 when the lumber was used economically and without waste. 

 The forest should have been protected against damage and 

 destruction by fire. As fast as old forests were cut over, 

 reforesting should have taken place by protecting smaller 

 growth and cultivating a new one. A sufficiently protec- 

 tive tariff, much larger than the one which now exists, 

 should have prevailed in order to make it possible to con- 



