14 



affect industrial conditions for a few years — a failure in the hardwood 

 supply would be a blight upon our industries through more than a 

 generation. 



The situation in brief is this: We have apparently about a fifteen 

 years' supply of hardwood lumber now ready to cut. Of the four 

 great hardwood regions, the Ohio Valle}^ States have been almost 

 completely turned into agricultural States, and the Lake States and 

 the Lower Mississippi Valley are rapidly following their example. 



In the Appalachian Mountains we have extensive hardwood lands 

 which have been culled and greatly damaged by fire. These are prac- 

 tically all in private hands, and while they contain a large amount 

 of inferior young timber, the}^ are receiving little or no protection, 

 and even such young timber as exists is making but slight growth. 

 Even if these cut-over lands be rightly managed they can not greatly 

 increase their yield of merchantable timber inside of from thirty to 

 forty 3^ears. 



The inevitable conclusion is that there are lean years close ahead in 

 the use of hardwood timber. There is sure to be a gap between the 

 supply which exists and the supply which will have to be provided. 

 How large that gap will be depends ujoon how soon and how effec- 

 tively we begin to make provision for the future supply. The pres- 

 ent indications are that in spite of the best we can do there will be 

 a shortage of hardwoods running through at least fifteen j^ears. 

 How acute that shortage may become and how serious a check it Avill 

 put upon the industries concerned can not noAv be foretold. That it 

 will strike at the very foundation of some of the country's most im- 

 portant industries is unquestionable. This much is true beyond 

 doubt, that we are dangeroush^ near a hardwood famine and have 

 nuide no provision against it. 



THE SOLUTION. 



If it is true that the hardwood supply is approaching a condition 

 of shortage which would paralyze many of the great industries and 

 gravely affect the entire country, then it is important to seek dili- 

 gently the best means to avert it, or if that is not wholly possible, to 

 reduce its injuries to the minimum. 



The belief is common that the substitution of softwood, metal, 

 and concrete for hardwood will gradually take place as the supply 

 of tlie latter is reduced. Already the substitution of metal has made 

 much progress. It has replaced hardwood to a considerable extent 

 in the manufacture of implements, furniture, and cars, and even in 

 the interior finish of office l)uildings and in general construction work. 

 Concrete lias also come into wide use in construction. Yet, promi- 

 nent as these materials have become, they seem not to have reduced 

 the demand for hardwood, which, besides being retained for the 

 greater number of its original uses, has also found new ones. There 



[Cir. IIG] 



