Maple sugar, forest fruits and nuts, Christmas trees, and decorative 

 materials, though minor forest products, are of great economic importance 

 in certain areas where they are produced. 



In supplying raw materials for industries, forest products furnish a basis 

 for trade and exchange. Financing of forest-land holding, logging opera- 

 tions, sawmills, pulp mills, and other wood-processing plants involves 

 tremendous capital. In addition, the trade and exchange in forest products 

 between localities and nations is the basis of considerable commerce. 



Since 1926 the West has produced most of the lumber in the United States. 

 The South is second in production. The long haul necessary to get lumber 

 to the Central and Eastern States accounts for a large part of the freight 

 tonnage of the railroads, although it substantially increases the cost of 

 lumber. 



Exports and imports . — The United States imports large quantities of pulp- 

 wood, but exports lumber to those countries lacking in forests and to those 

 countries that do not produce certain kinds of wood for which they have 

 need. The United States ranks fifth as an exporter of lumber— the Union 

 of Soviet Socialist Republics, Finland, Sweden, and Canada being ahead 

 of us in 1935. Tropical countries may have an abundance of hardwood 

 but have to import softwoods for construction purposes. These tropical 

 countries in turn supply the United States with certain hardwoods, such as 

 mahogany, that do not grow in our temperate climate. At the same time 

 we export other hardwoods, such as oak, walnut, gum, ash, and hickory. 

 It is necessary, then, not only to maintain our forest resources for domestic 

 needs but also to maintain our foreign trade in forest products. (See table 

 2, p. 42). 



About 80 percent of the total trade in forest products is softwoods 

 (conifers), principally for construction and paper pulp. Temperate hard- 

 woods used for staves, railroad ties, furniture, finish, cabinet work, and 

 other special purposes, make up about 18 percent, and the other 2 percent 

 is made up of tropical hardwoods, which are exported almost entirely as 

 furniture, cabinet, dye, and tanning woods. 



Most of the trade and exchange in forest products is between Europe and 

 North America. The great exporting countries of Europe are Sweden, 

 the Soviet Union, and Finland. Imports greatly exceed exports in The Brit- 

 ish Isles, Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, and Denmark. Japan is the 

 leader in Asia in exports of forest products, whereas China has been 

 stripped so bare of forest growth that she must import timber, especially 

 of the higher grades and larger sizes. (See The Supply in Foreign Coun- 

 tries, pp. 31 and 32.) 



How Do Forests Help Provide Gainful Employment? 



In the woods. — Forestry and the lumber industry alone employ an average 

 of 650,000 regular workers in the United States. The woodlands also 

 provide a large amount of part-time work to 2,500,000 farmers who cut 

 wood and timber from their own lands and work it up for their own use 

 or haul it to market. 



In forest industries. — Another 650,000 persons are employed in wood- 

 working plants of various sorts and in the pulp and paper industry. Persons 

 employed in transporting and merchandising lumber and other forest 

 products are not included in these figures. The 1935 United States census 

 shows 20 industries directly dependent on the forest for raw materials. 



20 



