FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 283 



will not exceed 5,000,000,000 feet. Hence, if the present rate of cutting con- 

 tinues this species will be exhausted in fourteen years, and with it, also, the pine 

 and hemlock. 



I am aware of the well known fact that timber lands are very apt to hold out 

 better than the estimates; but after allowing for this peculiarity, it is evident that, 

 aside from the timber on the State Preserve, the end of the spruce supply is 

 plainly in sight. 



To suggestions of this kind many will point complacently to the supply of timber 

 in the Canadian forests, from which a large amount of pulp timber is being shipped 

 annually to the pulpmills of this State. But when the supply of spruce in New York 

 and New England is exhausted the Canadian government will be at liberty to place 

 an export tax on spruce timber or pulp to compel the paper manufacturers to build 

 their mills and carry on their industries in that country. The Canadian press is 

 already demanding an export tax on pulpwood and saw logs; but such a tax will not 

 be levied, probably, until the supply on the American side is exhausted.* So, the time 

 may come when the large timber reserve on the State lands may not only supply the 

 raw material for certain industries, but may prove an important factor in regulating 

 the lumber tariff. 



* Since the above was written, the Canadian government has authorized an export tax on logs. 



