Show 31 N e 4 1 1 Vs en Z W Z 4 I 1 11 4 A 0 2 elim Z t WW 74 azy by JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN UE center of 0 the lumber industry within the lifetime ot of many persons now non living has moved from new angland rn gland to pennsylvania to the lake states to the gulf states the southern pine association asso clation now 4 reports that within eight years 3 big sawmills r will be junked bunked and that the output will ill be reduced 50 per cent that leaves us the virgin forests of the pacific couet already lie pacific toast lumber with nith a 2 2000 or 1000 nillo mile haul Is to be found in the larger cities of the fast 10 so the lumber industry lias tins made ita its last jump the united states bu rein re iu of corporations aches us sixta scars cars to use up all he the log lumber at the present rate of con r when the pacific coast lumber begins to run hort we uc can import lumber or we can con do without it if we ne dont like either of these alternatives u P can grow gron some more er and pulp wood and cooperage and box stuff and trees to yield tupen turpen line ad resin and tannic and acetic add acid and boj cooj alcohol and airplane propellers and lead pencils and nd clothes pins and ax handles and such things which come from the forests and nowhere else whenever Allbe never we get ready we can con grow all the limber timber we ue want growing groning timber Is a simple at af fair it if we ue go at it right vie can put it another wy way and bay say that brigl origl sally there were acres of virgin for ests in the d states there are now only ZOO acres or 25 percent per cent of this left the hoodoo acres that are gone were depleted in jie the last geenty icv enty years unless something Is done about it the united states will some time be a treeless land its vast rignal forests laid low those of its industries depend upon timber for their existence rippled or broken there are healthy signs that a good many peo pie are of the opinion that something should be done about it and one of the things to be done abolt it would seem to be a practical and corn com policy of reforestation all interests eem seem to agree on the necessity of reforestation are now two reforestation bills before congress one of these Is the capper bill anti the Is the snell bill the former alms at federal encouragement of state action the latter provides rode al regulation of forestry in the states and pio pi poes for the next five years to increase the governments appropriation tor for forestry to a year another indication of the general feeling that something should be done about it Is the hearings held lu in various parts of the country by a I 1 national ro forestry or estry policy committee appointed by the united states chamber of commerce this committee began operations in new york it then went in succession to chicago minneapolis spokane seattle portland and san francisco david L Good lle a chicago box Is chairman the other members of the committee are am charles S keith president central coal coke company kansas city mo P F C knapp president peninsular lumber company portland oregon george L curtis curtis corn com panics inc clinton iowa john fletcher vice president fort dearborn national bank chicago til III charles F quincy president Q and 0 corn com pany lew new york city dr henry 8 drinker merlon station pa dr hugh P baker secretary nd treasurer american paper pulp association few york city harvey N attorney bos dos ton mass junius 11 browne vice president pacific lumber company new york city dr IV B Uel president B D heinemann Uel lumber corn com pany wausau wis W dub brookings secretary of the committee chamber of commerce of the united states washington D C TL committee has gone into the subject in a broad way seeking to get every viewpoint before making a report on which it Is hoped a policy can be formulated the chairman appointed several subcommittees of the original committee to deal specific subjects coming under the general beading heading of forestry some of these subjects are government regulation private holdings ual versus public right fire protection and ex tures acquisition of land national forest sur ey taxes and taxation utilization of wood and forest conservation reforestation and national forests As an tin example of how serious a problem our forestry ro restry problem Is let me point to the well known fact that in seven years 50 per cent of the saw mills of the south nil nill be out of business gays says mr Goodwll lle what this means means la Is better realized when we e consider that the sawmills of the south now produce SO 30 per cent of all the lumber used in the country these meetings are simply to get at all the fact facts to live give ua us ft a tn orough grasp of the problem to inform us fully of its scope when we have Onra lied we will make a report and recommendations to the board of directors of the chamber and they will consider cont ler what action Is 1 necessary kisee si see 4 sa s1 31 N VOODOOS taxation Is a big ductor in this problem it if we ue exempt certain timber lands from taxation as they have seen wise to do in some of the older countries 11 t will encourage the seeding of that land to timber As it now stands millions of 0 acres that might and really should be yielding timber are sown to other products and bringing a dig gardly return this Is simply because this Is timber land and timber should be on it the farmers however consider that since it Is taxed they must sow something which will bring an immediate return there are acres of land in illinois alone we hae have in the united states acres of what hat Is called denuded and and more than acres of what we ne call land denuded land is land on which forest fires have occurred and where the fire has eaten its way so deep into the soil as to destroy the seedlings that might spring up land te Is land from which umber timber has been taken and on which r second growth Is possible and often times springs up such land will make forests in a period of some forty years if it Is taken care of taking care of such land Is another phase of the forestry problem the rational national forests created in 1003 1005 now con tain acres of forest and grazing land they are managed by the forest service a bureau of the agriculture department col W B greeley Is forester presumably mably he la Is well informed on forestry conditions here arc are some figures he gives which show how the changed and changing conditions have affected a particular part of the country says colonel greeley chicago Is the greatest lumber market in the world since 1890 1800 an average of over 2 feet of lumber has come into chicago every year in 1 1020 2 the figure was nearly 2 feet GO 60 per cent of which bent w ent into local construction and manufacturing industries in 1000 1900 the average freight paid on lumber coming into chicago was ivas less than 3 per thousand feet since that time the local sources of supply for this territory have been exhausted one after another lumber shipments have traversed greater and greater dis ances and the average freight bill paid by the chicago has steadily risen to more than 12 per thousand feet in other words the tile increased transportation charge on lumber shipments into chicago as a result of the exhaustion of the forest regions surrounding it represents a toll of an dually and while this has happened there have accumulated in the central and lake states nearly acres of logged off forest land which Is producing neither farm crops nor timber Is the yearly tax aich the wood using to in destries dust dus rles tries and home builders supplied through chicago pay for the idleness of a large part of the soil in the surrounding states which should fur nish the natural supply for this district this sum would plant every year acres of land with forest trees this illustration may be extended to cover the four states of illinois indiana wisconsin and michigan these states consume annually between 4 OW and 5 feet of timber in furniture factories sash and door mills fac tories tortes manufacturing agricultural implements wood turning establishments and other wood using industries sawmills are excluded from this estimate also the requirements for general construction and find housing and the consumption of lumber on farms the manufacturers referred to represent nn invested capital of and enroll skilled employees this great manufacturing industry was built up on the softwood forest of the lake states and the hardwood forests of the ohio and upper mississippi valleys whose products were available at a low transportation coat cost in W 44 X A 1 t LIP V G these four states enough forest land to supply la in full the needs of these industries now stands standi idle concerning the general situation he says ve ue are cutting our timber probably four times as fast as timber Is being grown it Is useless to decry the generous use which american industry has tins made of our forests it has contributed pow to the industrial development and coin mercial supremacy of the united states state the tile for eberl ehor problem docs does not result from the liberal use ure of our forests but from our failure to use our forest growing land there Is an ample aren area of land in tills this country which Is not tillable to sup port all of our timber require requirement mentz nil all of our wood manufactures all of our home building and agricultural use of lumber indeed an tin even larger export trade than at present if that land can call be ile kept at work growing umber timber reforestation has not been taken seriously by the average business man man in the united states reforestation has been looked upon as a fad quite removed from the practical interests of the manu fac na as something more concerned with parks or shade trees or rose bushes nevertheless re forestation has now become a commercial feces SHY of the united states here Is how a particular state Is affected says prof P 8 lovejoy of the forestry faculty university of michigan A third of michigan virtually Is bankrupt nn un able to pay its way nay with ith schools and roads get ing poorer instead of richer from year to year pro dicing less and less of value this third of michigan takes acres or so the most of it being in the northern part of the lower peninsula the rest in the upper peninsula nula the bulk of these bankrupt lands were ere originally in pine for est from 1870 to 1900 1000 michigan led the world in the quantity quality and value of its timber exports today michigan Is a tremendous im porter of timbe and other forest products this Is unusual but not in itself a proof that anything Is radically wrong ohio also was covered originally with timber and Is now a great im porter and Is nevertheless prosperous and ing but in the case care of ohio the removal of the forests was fol followed loed promptly by intensive agricultural developments the land went ment from a lower to a higher kind of use michigan grown hemlock shipped mites miles sells at the same price in detroit as does fir grown on the pacific coast and shipped 2 2000 miles the hickory for the wheels of michigan automobiles Is coming from arkansas and mississippi the oak for grand rapids furniture Is being cut la in loussi ana and tennessee michigan does not even supply itself with enough telephone polea poles and railroad ties but imports poles from idaho and ties from virginia much of the paper on which our newspapers are being printed la Is made from canadian spruce box boards are being shipped in from pennsylvania and arkansas and california the state imports much more timber than it cuts and cuts much more timber than it grows grons constantly grows gros and cuts less and constantly imports more the freight bill on imported lumber alone la Is costing michigan around a year and each year the freight bill Is due to increase greatly as the sources of supply recede with the steady devastation of the forests of the south and west wesl meanwhile michigan continues to support acres or so of idle lands which a few yeara years ago were ere producing the most generally useful kinds of timber the world ever had white pine lumbes practically Is out of the market there Is not a town of in the state which h does not import yellow pine from the gulf states forest fires tires in the united states annually destroy more than feet of timber more than forest fires have occurred in the united states during the past five yeara years 89 per cent of which were due to human agencies and therefore preventable these conflagrations burned over acres an area greater than that included within the states of ohio and pennsylva lra ala ond and destroyed SM worth of timber aoa property artt j jr |