ECONOMIC ASPECTS, 



117 



Even if, instead of tlie value of the wood article, ready for marketing, we refer only to the 

 stutnpage, i. e., the royalty which the wood consumer pays to the land owner for the j>rivilege of 

 taking the valuable material from the land, we will find it ten times as large as the royalties paid 

 for coal, and twenty-five times as large as those paid for iron ore. 3STay, even compared with farm 

 rents, the sturnpage value of an acre of forest exceeds its farm value. 



We can then assert that next to the soil and climate itself, the basis for agricultural produc- 

 tion, our forest resources are the most important at the present time as producers of the most 

 needful materials of our civilization. Nay ? if we realize that in addition the forest cover as a mere 

 surface condition of the earth affects our local climate, and, still more, acts favorably upon the 

 distribution of our water supplies — the most essential factor in agricultural production — we can not 

 easily overrate its value, either as a factor of production or as an element of protection 5 its prod- 

 uct and its protection are as much necessaries of life as air and water. 



It has furthermore this advantage over all other resources, that by the mere manner of exploi- 

 tation, without much human labor, it can be reproduced; it is a restorable resource which can be 

 utilized without deteriorating or exhausting it, provided the exploitation be carried on rationally 

 and with due regard to the laws of tree growth. 



The truth of the assertion that the forest, next to agricultural resources, furnishes a larger 

 product than any other resource, and that the industries relying on wood supplies employ more 

 capital and labor and produce more values in their product than any one other industry or group 

 of like industries, will appear from the following statement: 



Leading industries compared. 

 ["Data from Census 1890, in round numbers.] 



Articles. 



Capital 

 involved. 



Employees. 



Wages. 



Haw mate- 

 rial. 



Products. 





Millions. 

 $15, 982 



Thousands. 

 8,286 



Millio7i8. 



Millions. 



MUU0718. 



$2, 460 

 1,044 











502 



-1- 



543 



348 



+ 



513 



$102 



+ 



294 



$245 



446 



ITorest products, not enumerated (estimated) ....... 



598 





442 



907 





1,951 













610 



Coal .' 



343 



486 

 134 

 414 

 102 

 118 

 297 

 354 



300 



57 



34 



176 



48 



186 



219 



222 



109 

 40 

 16 

 96 



25 



oo 



77 

 70 





360 



Gold and silver 



99 





110 

 327 

 136 

 153 

 203 

 155 



146 



Iron and steel manufactures 



479 





178 



Leather manufactures 



289 





338 





268 



From this table it appears that agriculture, standing first in capital, persons employed, and 

 value of products, the industries relying upon forest products stand easily second, exceeding in the 

 value of products the mining industries by more than 50 per cent. The industries relying directly 

 or indirectly on forest products employ readily more than one million workers (enumeration being 

 imperfect), producing nearly two billion dollars of value. The manufactures relying on wood 

 wholly or in part more than double the value of the lumber or wood used, giving employment to 

 more than half a million men and about equaling the combined manufactures of all woolen, cotton, 

 and leather goods in persons employed, wages paid, and values produced. 



Census statistics of the employment of capital, persons employed, and wages paid in the 

 minor forest industries are absent The fact that many people are only temporarily or incidentally 

 and for a part of the year engaged in the exploitation of the forest would make such enumeration 

 well-nigh impossible. Besides the lumber industry and such kinds of exploitation as can be, at 

 least, approximately enumerated — always remaining below the truth — a large number of industries 

 and manufactures rely upon wood as the principal material, others employing it to a greater or' 

 less extent. An attempt has been made to classify these according to the estimated percentage of 

 wood entering into their products and assuming that capital, labor, and value of products add the 

 same proportion to the total as the raw materials used, and these figures have been employed in 

 the preceding table. As a matter of fact, there is probably more labor employed in shaping wood 

 than this percentage would indicate. 



