The Future of The Lumber Industry

By R. A. Long Chairman of the Board of Directors, Long-Bell Lumber Co.

I am decidedly optimistic regarding the future of the lumber industry. Perhaps this optimism is due to my long and intimate acquaintance with the industry; but even when I try to view it from the standpoint of the lay mind, and compire ours with other great industries, my optimism does not wane. And why should it wane ?

There have bgen many false rumors circulated which are unfavorable to the lumber industry. Those who accept such rumors as being sound perhaps have been misled by certain statistics. Statistics are like knowledgenot enough is dangerous.

Briefly, the success of any industry depends upon the manner in which that industry can adapt itself to fundamental economic principles, some of which are:'

1. The needs of the people;

2. The wants of the people (there is a difference between needs and wants);

3. Population;

4. Per capita wealth;

5. Transportation and distribution facilities;

6. Labor;

7. Source of supply of raw material.

Of course, the economics of the lumber industry is a subject which cannot be covered in one short article; consequently I am passing up the first six principles just stated by saying that all of them, generally speaking, are favorable to the success of the industry.

And what of No. 7?

The source of supply for any industry is like the keystone of a great arch. If our forests should be taken away from us suddenly, and the lumber supply of our nation cut oft, the effect would be immediately disastrous and farreaching. Every man, woman and child, and every industry, would suffer; and in all probability the final outcome would be little short of national disintegration.

Space does not permit giving the statistics necessary to illustrate the above statement, but let me quote briefly from Nelson Courtland Brown, in "Forest Products-Their Manufacturg xnd fJgs"-

". Shelter-next to food- is the most important commodity in human economy. According to Fernow, over one-half of our population live in wooden houses and two-thirds of the population use wood as fuel. Besides wood, which constitutes a large part of the total utilitarian value of our forests, they supply the following:

Bark for tanning, medicines, mattings, etc.

Resinous products, such as turpentine, rosin, tar, pitch, etc.

Chemical products, such as wood alcohol, pyroligneous acid, charcoal, creosote, etc.

Seeds, Oak and Beech mast, walnuts, chestnuts, etc.

Pasture, especially in the West.

Game and fish (of great importance).

Recreation and health, summer playgrounds, etc.

Fruits and berries (of minor importance).

Moderation of temperatures and climate.

Regulation of the water flow, prevention of erosion, etc."

A glance at the above uses of the forest and a consideration of the vast number of persons directly and indirectly dependent upon the lumber industry and those industries affected by the utilization of our forest products make it easy to realize why the future of the lumber industry is'a subject of national importance---+specially in the face of rumors questioning the life of our lumber supply.

Lumbering is one of the great primary industries of our nation. Like agriculture, mining, fishing and herding, it is close to nature and is largely dependent upon nature for its sources of supply. The secondary industries, such as manufacture, commerce and transportation, depend upon the primary industries for their source of supply.

Industries, and especially the primary industries, have been and always will be subjected to the criticism of conservationists and various other factions from time to time. And frankly, I am of the opinion that while some of these criticisms and attacks may hurt us at the time, eventually they will benefit us. 'Whenever we are falsely accused, it is human nature to exert every effort to prove to the world that we are right; if we are justly criticised, and if we are broad minded, we will take steps so as ,to profit by the criticism.

Many criticisms are the result of too little knowledge of the business, industry or person we are criticising; and when the subject under criticism is of national prominence and importance, it behooves the criticised to give the public the true facts of the case.

We have been told, from time to time, that the end of the supply of such minerals as coal, iron, copper and petroleum is in sight. Perhaps it is, to those who can see far enough ahead; but certain geologists, metallurgists, engineers, and others who should know, tell us that the present generation as well as several generations to come need not worry-that many of the Ueposits being worked now are of sufficient extent to take care of our demands for years to come-that as many more undeveloped deposits are known to exist-that many new deposits are being discovered each year and are being held in reserve-that science is finding ways and means bf reclaiming that which has been passed up as waste-that new discoveries and new inventions are effecting economies and bringing to light new fuels and new means of deriving power-a.nd even synthetic minerals are being made in chemical laboratories.

Now then, if the mining industry is safe, insofar as sources of supply are concerned, I can say most emphatically that the lurirber industry ls safe, and will give a few of the principal arguments supporting my contention.

Of all the primary industries, perpetuation is least aided by Nature in mining than in any others. Of course, Nature is continually forming mineral deposits, but the process is one which I imagine is at least a thousand times slower than the present rate of consumption. In other words, the deposition of the mineral deposits now being worked occurred during the early formation of the earth. I am told that certain deposits of gold, silver and copper occurred with the cooling of igneous intrusions and following volcanic activity; and other deposits of copper, iron, lead and zinc occurred only after ascending and descending steam and water dissolved the mineral matter scattered through the adjacent rocks and then precipitated it in veins, lodes and bodies. As to coal, it undoubtedly required hundreds of years to convert plant and vegetable matter into peat, thousands of years to deposit layer upon layer of limestone, shale, sandstone and clay upon the peat and convert the peat into bituminous coal; and perhaps a thousand or so more years for metamorphic processes to change the bituminous coal into anthracite. at a rate almost equal to the present cutting. Due to the progress being made in reforestation and fire prevention, it is thought that within a few years the new growth will equal the cutting, thus assuring a perpetual supply. is slow, very slow, and we peat will be changed into

In the South the lumberman is adapting some of the cutover land for purposes more valuable than the growing of timber; on other land he is encouraging a new growth and which, before many years have passed, will be ready for a second harvest. On some of.the older cutover land, Nature alone is doing an excellent job of reforesting.

No, there is no need to worry about the future of the lumber industry, especially as to any question of a depletion of our supply of timber, if Man will but aid Nature by harvesting the trees, protect the forests from fire and insects, and reforest where it is practical to do so. And these things the progressive lumberman of today is doing. He is working hand in hand with Nature, doing all he can to learn her ways and needs in order to produce lumber for all time. And the government and the public are co-operating and will co-operate more and more as a better knowledge of both the practical and utilitarian values of our forests become wide-spread.

There are numerous peat bogs scattered over the world instances where the peat today, and we can see ln some is being formed; but the process cannot guess when, if ever, that soft or hard coal.

But in lumbering, as in agriculture, it is different. Here we can see Nature at work, replenishing that which Man takes for his livelihood, and in many instances she has replenished faster than Man could harvest. With agriculture it is but a matter of a few months to produce new crops, instead of thousands of years. With lumbering, Nature requires a longer time, but even then it is but a matter of a few decades to grow harvestable timber, instead of hundreds of centuries. Truly, lumbering and agriculture will be the last, if any, of our primary industries to die, because of depleted sources of supply brought about through Nature's inactivity.

In the above paragraph I said that Nature often produced faster than Man could harvest. When this occurs in the grain fields or in the orchards and gardens, a great loss is incurred. All crops should be harvested as soon as they are ripe. The'results of over-ripening are rot, decay and poorer products, whether those products be wheat, corn, potatoes, apples or timber.

In the Pacific Northwest there is a magnificent stand of excellent lumber-producing trees and many thousands of them reached maturity years ago. They are being harvested, and, in most instances, in a thoughtful, painstaking and farsighted way.

On the floors of these forests of the Pacific Northwest which contain nearly one-third of all the standing timber of the United States, and lying dormant in the moist duff, are millions of seedlings awaiting the sunlight to warm the ground and hasten germination-awaiting that sunlight which will reach the forest floor only after thousands of big trees have been removed. Careful protection from ground fires is all that is necessary to insure their growth -growth which will be rapid. Under favorable conditions, a second growth Douglas fir tree on our company's holdings in Washington attained the following proportions in thirty-five years-height, 95 feet; diameter at base 21 in.; diameter at height of 50 feet above base, 16 inches. It is said that in less than fifty years a second growth Douglas fir forest will produce 30,000 board feet to the acre, a far heavier stand than is common in virgin forests in other sections of the United States.

The original stand of Douglas fir will produce lumber for some 100 years, and today the district is growing timber

Our government and lumber manufacturers are trying to bring about the maximum utilization of the felled tree; and if accomplished, the effort will result in worth-while economy for consumers, dealers and manufacturers. Some marked progress has been make but a great obstacle yet to be overcome is in'the form of an expensive buying habit of the lumber consuming public.

Nearly one-third of the lumber used by the building industry is finally consumed in lengths under 8 feet; ten per cent more is under 9 feet; or, a total of 43.6 per cent of all lumber consumed in building is in lengths under 9 feet. Yet, the consumer, from force of habit, demands lengths of. 14, 16, 18 and 20 f.eet and then, when the lumber is on the job, laboriously cuts it into shorter pieces. The result is waste, not only of the purchaser's money, but waste of our country's timber resources.

Trees cannot be changed-but, we can change our lumber buying habits. The lumberman can get out of a log only that which in it; this results in an accumulation of short length lumber at the mills.

Consumers, to enjoy the liberal use of relatively inexpensive lumber, must use short lengths cut at the mills whenever it not only is logical but less expensive to do so.

To reap the maximum benefits of a permanent supply of lumber we, the manufacturers of various species of lumber and the retail lumber dealer must cooperate in promoting the uses and advantages of wood. Lumber substitutes have, in certain instances, cut in on the lumber business, not because of merit but for the reason that the substituter manufacturers have given the public more information about their products than we have about our own. People are not buying any material or product these days becadse of sentiment-they want facts. And I am ashamed to say that we, the lumberman, not only have failed to provide the public with sufficient facts, but we have failed to inform ourselves as to the many advantages of lumber and lumber products.

But, we are coming out of it. We may still cling to the sentiment and romance connected with lumberjng; but we are now making strenuous efforts to avail ourselves of all possible information regarding otlr products so we can give reliable advice to the public as to the relative merits of the various species of wood and the advantages of wood as a dependable building material. The lurnber rnanufacturers and various associations are doing much to educate the public and will do much more within the next few years; and the retail lumber dealers are showing that spirit of cooperation in this campaign which will, without a doubt inmy mind, place our time-old and time-honored industry upon a permanently sound and profitable footing.