WHY GROW TIMBER? . 7 
every ton of coal mined requires timber in the mines or at the mine 
mouth. ‘The coal mines of this country alone consume a billion board 
reet of lumber a year. ‘The experience of England during the war 
afforded most convincing evidence of the dependence of her indus- 
tries upon an adequate supply of timber for her coal mines. Even 
the petroleum industry requires a large volume of timber for 
derricks. Brick and concrete dwellings as ordinarily constructed 
use much lumber for interior work, and a great deal of wood is re- 
quired in concrete construction. Cement and steel can not be made 
without coal, and hence, indirectly, wood. 
Another factor which tends to maintain our timber requirements 
at a high level is the constant broadening of the uses for wood. 
The manufacture of paper and other products from wood pulp, which 
consumed practically no wood 40 years ago, now takes the equivalent 
of more than 2,000,000,000 board feet from our own forests, besides 
an equal or greater amount in the form of imported wood, pulp, and 
paper. (Fig. 3, A.) 
As increasing numbers of people become concentrated in urban 
industrial centers, and more and more food and other goods have to 
be shipped to greater distances, the consumption of wood, either 
as boards or staves or in the form of fiber board, for boxes, barrels, 
and crates tends to increase. In 1912 more than 5,000,000,000 
board feet of saw timber was used for this purpose. (Fig. 3, B, C.) 
Fifty years ago no wood was used for telephone poles and but 
little for telegraph hnes. The manufacture of carriages and wagons, 
which consumed a large volume of wood, has suffered a sharp decline 
with the growth of the automobile industry during the last 20 years, 
but this decline has not resulted in lowering the consumption of 
wood. According to figures compiled in 1912, approximately 
750,000,000 board feet of lumber was used in the manufacture of 
vehicles, including automobiles; in 1923 it was estimated that the 
automobile industry alone consumed well over 1,000,000,000 feet. 
MODERN INDUSTRY DEMANDS AMPLE SUPPLIES 
Except for regions of exceedingly rapid population growth, such 
as portions of the Central States a few years ago, and portions of 
the Pacific Coast States, and perhaps Florida at the present time, 
the highest per capita rates of lumber consumption prevail in the 
more industrialized parts of the country. The rate for Chicago is 
reported to be almost twice that for the country as a whole, and 
Pittsburgh uses still more. While the per capita consumption of 
sawed lumber for the United States apparently decreased from over 
500 board feet in 1906 to 300 board feet in 1922, that for New 
England has been practically at a level of about 280 board feet for 
50 years or more, except for a somewhat higher point just before 
the World War, indicating that modern industrial development 
is not, as is commonly supposed, normally accompanied by a decline 
in the rate of timber consumption. 
The low rate in European countries is not the natural result of the 
maturity of their civilization, but is rather due to their inability 
to obtain sufficient timber at: prices they can afford to pay. Although 
timber prices in the European countries are not greatly above those 
prevailing in some portions of the United States, they are very much 
