Show A record year in timber output the production of lumber lath abid shingles in the united states in 1906 waa the largest ever recorded A census bull 1 etin recently issued gives 37 i billion feet as the actual cut for the mills which made reports this is seven billion feet more inore than the cut reported 4 in 1905 these figures at first seem to point to a very alarming con cl elusion anat the country had A in the ole last year out cut more than 23 per cent more than in 1905 in the face of the fast waning supply the rile d difference ference if is however chiefly due to the fact that concerns have reported their cuts cuta as against less than a year ago 1 I 1 the gain is the result of ro bosron cespon s ses s from the smaller mills is made because the runk ran and kand the file fie of the lumbermen lumber men now appreciate that these ret returns urtis are important to the trade and that their value depends upon everybody helping to m make ake them thein as complete as possible if the returns were complete thuy they would probably show a cut of forty billion feet for lix lumber aber alone the ilic out cut of lumber forms perhaps 40 per cent of the total timber consumption for all purposes th tho 0 figures are alarming arming 1 enough 0 taken in connection with our avail available ablo supply of wood the total amount of merchantable timber in the united states is believed to be less than 2 2000 1000 billion feet if the flie demand damand could be kept stationary and no timber were burned up by forest fires we should have twenty years from froin now DOW 01 only ily what our oui forests 4 would have grown in ill the inter vill val three fourths of the lation of the country is east of the mississippi but more than liala of the timber supply is west of it tile the west has in its forests mat material ersal to last it for f fifty years if its per capita consumption is no greater than that of the country at larre large 0 and if it can call hold itself down to the same saine annual total this however takes no account of the deni demands ands which a developing country makes but the east lias has not enough saw timber of its own to last fifteen years in point of fact the east is already drawing so HO heavily upon the nort northwest for lumber that the railroad railroads ds have trouble to handle the traffic tile the position which douglas fir holds illustrates illustrated tile the bests rapid progress towards becoming the principal source of supply of saw timber and the falling off in the production of eastern states which forni formerly erly held first place douglas fir now ranks second only to yellow pine in total cut and yields about one half as much lumber never before has it outranked out ranked while pine which for many years stood first and later second just as aa white pine had to give civo way to sout southern hern yellow vellow pine pille this in its turn will be superseded by douglas fir f ir which is also known its as red fir and oregon pine it is found nowhere east of the rocky mountains and by fa far r the greatest quantity of it is in in i oregon l cloel and washington the passing of the white pine of the lake states is emphasized by tire the statistics gathered by the census which in 1870 1880 1890 and it in 1890 showed midi mich igan lie hie leading state in total production of lumber in the census of 1900 1000 wisconsin had passed to LQ first place with michigan second and Minno minnesota sota third this relative posit position was not changed until 1904 when washington Vas hington appeared imp eared at the top of the column it and 11 d louisiana was third with wis concill goes down fl from second to third ali i rd and minnesota sota from fourth fourt li to lo seventh mississippi and arkansas have haire moved up tip to fifth and sixth places while michigan 11 goes to fourth t now new york in 1850 led till all states in ill the production of lumber pell pennsylvania vidilia rose 1080 1 to LO first place ten years litter later and new york dropped to second in the period following the civil war the rapid exton extension sion of rail loads brought into market the great greal white pine forests of the lake states and a lid the chief ell ie source of supplies moved thither michigan Mich igon goll first then wisconsin went to the bont front when washington supplanted the latter the leadership it had ad had bad crossed the continent in ill fifty years it passed from an atlantic to a pacific coast state the holding of first rank in production by a state slate does not hot locate count rys chief source of supply washington now stands first among the states yet the south is supply supplying illg nore more lull lumber than the west but the magnificent yellow pino pine forests of the south tire are being rapidly cut an and marketed just its as was done with the white pine forests michigan raid minnesota during the thirty years following 1870 but the pacific coast will soon he be the chief source ol 01 ciup cupply ply the policy of the government in creating National forests th in the west taken in connic connection with the favorable climatic and topographical bacal condition for the growth of trees insures a future supply which will be aret itly to the to the bests advantage when the inevitable time or of timber shortage arrives the cost of transportation tn the long haul across the continent will aid the west in supplying its own need first the national forests must be first of all for the su supply p ply of western needs the east had originally the bulk of the counti count ys rys forests it lias has largely wasted them the west lias has now a considerable provision for the future the rile presence of the national forests will insure for till all time it a permanent supply of material for wood using industries i in 11 the west although the actual holdings of the alie federal government in ill themselves by n no 0 means sufficient to furnish till all the timber which will be needed they will also have an influence in encouraging IT private ho holdings dings of timber land to take care of them iu in a way thal thac vill keep them thein in it a productive state tile the question what to do for timber that connot be had li id in needed quantities i h 3 likely to become acute in iii the east |