11 



Lumber manufacturing is the first among the industries to feel the 

 blight of an exhausted timber supply. When the local supply ceases 

 this industr}^ must stop. Most other industries which use hard- 

 woods can go on, bringing their supplies from a distance. Only with 

 the failure of the entire supply are they seriously damaged. 



COOPERAGE. 



In much the same way the cooperage industry must be near the 

 forest. Slack cooperage employs a great number of hardwoods and 

 is distributed through many States. Tight cooperage makes use of 

 the best grades of white oak almost exclusively and centers in Ken- 

 tucky and Tennessee. The pressure of the timber supply is already 

 heavy on this industry. If the oak supply should fail, the tight coop- 

 erage industry will largely cease, and some other container for liquids 

 will have to be found to replace wood. As yet little progress has been 

 made in securing substitutes for the oak cask and barrel. 



FURNITURE MAKING. 



The manufacture of furniture probably calls for more hardwood 

 than any other industry, and employs hardwood ahnost exclusively 

 as raw material. In 1905 there were 2,482 furniture establishments 

 in the United States, with a capital of $153,000,000 and an annual 

 product valued at $170,000,000. In reports made to the Forest Serv- 

 ice 538 of these establishments reported the annual use of 580 million 

 feet of lumber. It seems probable that the industry requires upward 

 of 20 per cent of the entire hardwood production. The public is so 

 much accustomed to hardwood furniture that furniture of any other 

 material would not be acceptable. Failure of the hardwood supply 

 would doubtless terminate the furniture industry as it is now car- 

 ried on. 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 



As in furniture, hardwood is the chief material in the manufacture 

 of musical instruments, especially pianos and organs. Maple, poplar, 

 elm, oak, chestnut, and basswood are most largely used. Foreign 

 woods are used only for veneers, for which purpose large quantities 

 are not required. 



VEHICLE MANUFACTURE. 



In 1905 there were in the United States 5,143 establishments for 

 the manufacture of vehicles, with a capital of $149,000,000 and a 

 yearly product of $155,000,000. No industry stands in a more threat- 

 ened position, so far as supply is concerned, than the manufacture of 

 wagons and carriages. It requires the best hardwoods, and even now 

 these are obtained with extreme difficulty. Hickory and oak are 



[Cir. 116] 



