Timber Depletion and the Answer. 5 



reserve of hardwoods is in the Southern Mississippi Valley, and even 

 here it is doubtful if the cut of hardwood lumber can be materially 

 increased for any length of time. The scarcity of high-grade oak, 

 poplar, ash, hickory, walnut, and other standard hardwoods is now 

 confronting many American industries with a critical condition. 



Since 1909, the United States has ceased to be self-supporting in 

 newsprint paper. There are large quantities of pulp timber in the 

 Western States and in Alaska, but industrial and transportation 

 conditions prior to the war largely rendered them unavailable to the 

 user of paper. The depletion of pulpwoods in the Eastern and 

 Northern States is reflected to-day in the importation of two-thirds 

 of our newsprint or newsprint materials from Canada. 



A similar situation prevails in the naval-stores industry. It has 

 moved from State to State throughout the southern pine belt, ex- 

 hausting the resources of each in turn. In 1919 the production of 

 turpentine and rosin had fallen off 50 per cent. Within 10 years the 

 United States will lose its commanding position in the world's markets 

 for these products. As yet the vast resources of the western conif- 

 erous forests have not been touched because they have not been 

 commercially available. 



One-half of the timber remaining in the continental United States 

 is in three States bordering the Pacific Ocean. Sixty-one per cent 

 of it lies west of the Great Plains. Since 1894 western timber has 

 been filling gaps in the Eastern and Middle Western markets. Within 

 the past year it has assumed a dominating place in the principal 

 markets of the Lake States and has largely replaced southern pine 

 at many consuming points in the Central States. An experienced 

 lumberman has estimated that within the next decade the shortage 

 of nearer timber will compel the Eastern and Central States to in- 

 crease their annual consumption of western lumber by Hi billion 

 board feet. 



The true index of timber depletion is not quantity but availability. 

 It is shown partly in the cost of transporting the average thousand 

 feet of lumber from mill to user. Prior to 1850, when the great 

 bulk of our lumber was manufactured near the points of use, the 

 transportation cost averaged less than S3 per thousand board feet. 

 To-day it is probably $10. In another decade, at freight rates now 

 prevailing, it will reach $15 per thousand feet. But aside from 

 rising freight costs, the exhaustion of nearby supplies of timber 

 imposes upon the consumer all the disadvantages of being dependent 

 upon distant and restricted manufacturing regions. These include 

 congestion of transportation, the effects of labor shortages and bad 

 weather in limited regions, and a narrowed field of competition. 



Xot only is the quantity of timber left in the United States being 

 used up much more rapidly than wood is being grown; the availability 



