2 CIRCULAR 21, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



a little farther on. In spite of gradually increasing costs of trans- 

 portation as the principal source of supply receded from the centers 

 of consumption, the competition of this free timber kept prices in 

 most parts of the United States below the cost of growing new 

 forests. It has generally been assumed that this condition would 

 continue and that when our virgin timber was gone other countries 

 would supply us. It has also been pointed out that many substitutes 

 for wood are coming into use, and that wood is being used more 

 sparingly as prices rise. The fear has been expressed that there 

 would be no market for timber after it was grown and that reforesta- 

 tion of denuded acres consequently would not pay. 



Is such a fear well founded? If we are going to consider the 

 situation only in terms of America's woodpile, ignoring the possible 

 effect of conditions in other countries upon our future supplies and 

 assuming that the world's woodpile will always be ample to replenish 

 our own, then we may well fear the possibility of an overproduction 

 of timber. But such a view constitutes a misapprehension of the 

 facts. A survey of the world's forest situation will place our own 



3ILU0NS OF CUBIC FEET 

 10 iO 



20 10 10 20 30 



Fig. 1. — Wood consumption of United States and rest of world 



prospects in a very different light and should suffice to dispel any 

 doubt that there will be a ready~market for all the wood that can be 

 grown in the United States. 



THE UNITED STATES IS LIKELY TO REMAIN THE WORLD'S 

 CHAMPION V/OOD USER 



More wood is used in the United States than in any other country. 

 We consume as much timber from trees large enough to saw out 

 lumber as all the other countries combined — 13,000,000,000 cubic feet 

 in all. Of the world's total wood requirements, including firewood 

 and similar small material, the United States takes two-fifths or 

 22,000,000,000 cubic feet. 



The United States leads the world in the manufacture of many 

 products made wholly or partly of wood. With only 6 per cent of 

 the world's population, this country has 35 per cent of the railway 

 mileage, and for transportation industries alone, including railroads 

 and automobiles and other vehicles, we use nearly as much saw 

 timber per capita as is required for all purposes in Great Britain, 

 Germany, or France. For the extensive long-distance shipments of 

 food ancl manufactured products that are so characteristic of Amer- 

 ica, enormous quantities of wooden (or wood-fiber) boxes, crates, 

 and barrels are utilized. The United States consumes more paper, 



