To permit stock-piling of timber on the stump 
for emergency needs, annual timber growth should 
be higher than peacetime requirements. 
Foreign Markets and Supplies 
In setting long-range goals for the United States 
it is necessary to ask: will there be a world surplus 
of timber? If so, part of the United States’ supply 
can continue to come from imports. Or will the 
rest of the world have less than it needs, so that 
there will be opportunity for larger export from 
this country? 
The softwood forests of the North Temperate 
Zone, which comprise less than one-third of the 
world’s forests, are by far the most important 
sources of the world’s timber supply. Before the 
war almost 40 percent of the world’s output of 
sawn timber was produced in the United States, 
and a little more than that in Europe. The rest 
of the world, mainly Canada and Japan, sawed 
only about 15 percent. 
Furthermore, the war taught the importance of 
accessibility—having timber of the right size and 
right kind available at the right place for imme- 
diate use. Spruce was cut and brought from 
Alaska because accessible supplies in the Pacific 
Northwest were insufficient; large timbers and pil- 
ing that should have been available for use in 
the South were cut and shipped there from the 
Pacific Northwest. Railroad facilities, urgently 
needed to haul food, equipment, and other war 
material, were too often tied up in transporting 
from distant regions lumber and other forest prod- 
ucts that might have been grown closer to the point 
of consumption. 
The bulk of the world’s timber output is con- 
sumed in the countries where it grows. Only 
about 15 percent of the industrial timber (mostly 
sawn) has ever been exported in any one year. 
In 1935-38 the annual volume of international 
trade in sawn timber was about 12 or 13 billion 
board feet, 90 percent of which was softwood. Al- 
though historically an exporter of sawn timber, 
the United States imported more than it exported 
during both world wars. Considering wood in all 
forms, including pulp, the United States has im- 
ported more than it exported for the last 30 years 
or more. 
Timber for general construction purposes is 
scarce throughout most of the civilized world. ‘The 
more densely populated foreign countries have no 
prospect of fully supplying their own needs. World 
Forests and National Prosperity 
demand for softwoods will increase as industriali- 
zation spreads and living standards are raised. 
There is no indication that tropical hardwoods 
can take the place of the softwood forests of the 
North Temperate Zone. They will continue to 
be used primarily as special-purpose woods. In 
this situation the United States can count on export 
markets in the future for as much surplus general- 
purpose timber as she may be able to grow, pro- 
vided this is made available at prices that foreign 
buyers can pay. Conversely, it will not be safe to 
count on imports to the extent that we have in 
recent years. 
Canada has been the chief source of imports by 
the United States. In Canada, as in this country, 
the supply of operable timber has been diminish- 
ing in volume and deteriorating in quality for 
many years. Nevertheless, her own timber needs 
are expanding and she may increase her output. 
The bulk of Canada’s lumber export goes to the 
United Kingdom, but part of her surplus will 
doubtless come to the United States. Furthermore, 
for perhaps 20 years it should be possible to get 
somewhat more pulp and paper, especially news- 
print, from Canada. 
Some consumers in the United States have turned 
to Central and South America for timber, but ship- 
ments from this direction are not likely to be large 
and will be chiefly hardwood. Industrial develop- 
ment in Central and South America is sure to in- 
crease domestic markets for timber. Only Brazil, 
which has extensive forests of araucaria (Parana 
pine), and Mexico have much softwood timber to 
export. Brazil’s export to her neighbors and to 
Europe and South Africa is likely to increase. But 
other countries to the south are likely to look to 
the United States for more softwood lumber than 
in the past. South America will, however, con- 
tinue to export tropical woods for specialty uses. 
Europe, which as a whole was self-sufficient in 
timber before the war, will need to import heavily 
for a long time. The needs for reconstruction are 
great and output on the whole is likely to be less 
than before the war. Sweden, Finland, and Rus- 
sia are the only countries with resources to permit 
an increased cut. Sweden’s output of logs and 
pulpwood was curtailed during the war by lack 
of shipping and the productive capacity of her 
forests was raised by increased cutting of fuel 
wood, chiefly in thinnings and improvement cut- 
tings. The similar in Finland, 
where prewar cut was less than sustained-yield 
situation was 
37 
