THE TIMBER SUPPLY OF THE UNITED STvVIES. 



FOREST PRODUCTS. 



The lavish manner in which the United States has consumed the 

 products of its forests and the rapidity with which our timber supply 

 is melting away are wholly unappreciated by those who have never 

 given the matter more than passing consideration. Familiar as all 

 are Avith the use of wood for every purpose and in every industry, 

 it is only Avhen the various items are added that there begins to come 

 a realization of the indispensable place the forests fill in the national 

 economy. A conservative statement of the present yearly output of 

 the forests is shown below, the values given being those at the point 

 of production : 



Table 1. — Annual output 



of forest products. 







Quantity. 



Value. 



Lumber 



board feet.. 



35, 000, 000, 000 

 100, 000, GOO 



$560,000,000 



350,000,000 



30, 000, 000 



Shingles and lath 



Hewed cross-ties 



70,003,000 



30,000,000 



Cooperage stock '. 



25, 000, 000 



Turpentine and rosin . .. ... 





25, 000, 000 



Pulp wood 





3,000,000 



15, 000, 000 





10,000,000 

 30,000,000 



1,075,000,000 







Total 









The total quantity of wood cut to obtain the products listed in the 

 table was not less than 20 billion cubic feet. 



Rapidly as the population of the United States has increased, the 

 lumber consumption has increased still more rapidly. In round num- 

 bers, and allowing for incomplete reports, the lumber cut in 1880 was 

 18 billion feet; in 1890, 24 billion feet, and in 1900, 35 billion 

 feet. The increase in population from 1880 to 1900 w^as 52 per 

 cent, but in lumber cut 94 per cent. The United States is noAv using 

 annually 400 board feet of lumber per capita, while the average for 

 Europe is but 60 feet per capita. 



Table 2 affords a better understanding of the vast amount of 

 lumber used. This gives the lumber cut of the principal States 

 since 1880. The figures for 1880, 1890, 1900, and 1905 are those 

 compiled b}^ the census; the total cut is estimated by assuming 

 an average cut between census dates. This brings the total cut 

 since 1880 to more than TOO billion feet — a trul}^ astonishing 

 figure when Ave stop to consider it. This quantity of lumber Avould 

 make a floor 1 inch thick over Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, 

 Rhode Island, and DelaAvare, or an area of 25,000 square miles. 



[Cir.97] (3) 



