Conservative * 9
more equitably assessed as between
shippers , with a lower basis of rates
generally. The Sherman anti-trust act
and the anti-trnst legislation enacted by
various state legislatures have had , it
seems to me , just the opposite effect to
that which was desired. These laws
have prevented combinations or actual
consolidations of property. Competition
has been so severe , and the outlook so
cloudy that many manufacturers who
would have much preferred to have kept
their plants in their own families and
have handed them down to the next
generation , have been obliged to con
solidate with their competitors.
While concentration of railroad owner
ship is making rapid progress in the
East , the wave has not yet made much
impression west of the Mississippi. It
will undoubtedly come , and , while I am
in favor of it , I doubt if the western
country is yet quite prepared for it , and
advocate legalized pooling as a temporary
ary substitute. With permission to con
tract with each other for a division of
their tonnage or their earnings , there
will not be the pressure there is now for
joint ownership. The logical result of
unrestricted competition is the death of
competition or consolidation.
Prosperity.
Railroads are now generally prosper
ous , though there will not be much new
railroad built for some time owing to
the increase in the cost of material. It is
estimated that the increase in the cost
of supplies and material over that of a
year ago or more , amounts to about
$800 per mile in maintenance , or about
one-third. American railroad labor is
the highest paid labor in the world. It
has had more constant and regular em
ployment since the railroad business has
improved. There has been some in
crease in the wages paid , and if the
business continues as prosperous as it is
now , it is not unlikely there will be
demands made for further increase.
Labor and capital are now on a parity ,
both organized , and will deal with each
other in respect to each others' rights.
Both will be strong confederations ,
neither one having the upper hand.
Owning : Not Owing1.
The general situation in the railroad
world is at present satisfactory. The
advance in the price of supplies , the
prospective demands of labor , and the
prohibition of combinations to maintain
reasonable charges , are the only three
things in the transportation business
today which are discouraging. The
general condition of the country is the
best we have ever experienced. The
people of the West never owned so much
or owed so little.
TIMBER IS GOING FAST.
A valuable report on the lumber trade
is now being prepared for public infer
.mation by the bureau of statistics
which estimates that the standing tim
ber in the United States now covers an
area of 1,094,490 square miles and con-
ains a supply of 2,800,000,000,000 feet.
The states having the largest supply of
imber are as follows :
Bq. Miles.
Texas 04,009
Oregon 54,800
ilinnesota.i 52,200
Washington 47,700
Arkansas 45,000
California 44,700
Montana 42,000
Geortria 42,000
Missouri 41,000
We are cutting our timber at the rate
of about 40,000,000,000 feet a year , and
f the same average is continued our
supply will last about sixty years. The
following tables show the estimated sup
ply and the annual out :
Total supply , ft. Annual cut , ft.
Southern states. . 700,000,000.000 10,000,000,000
Lake region 500,000,000000 18,000.000,000
Mountain states. 100,000,000,000 2,000.000,000
Pacific states. . . . 1,000,000,000,000 4,000,000,000
In Minnesota , Wisconsin and Michigan
last year the lumber out amounted to
6.158,040,000 feet , which was a decided
falling off from the average during the
lost ten years. The maximum was
reached in 18Q0 , when the total lumber
out was 8,898,588,857 feet , but it has
been growing less annually until it had
reached the minimum in 1808 with a
total of 6,158,397,000 feet. The shingle
out in the lake region has been falling
off in a similar manner , the total in 1890
being 4,820,838,850 , which has fallen off
in ten years to 2.861,407,000.
Chicago and Cleveland are the great
lumber markets of the lakes. Last year
Chicago handled 878,546,000 feet and
Cleveland 899,704,000. If you add South
Chicago it will increase the total of the
Chicago district to 486,286,000. Although
the general trade has fallen off consider
ably during the last four years it has
been increasing in Chicago.
The export of lumber is becoming a
very important feature of our foreign
commerce , having nearly doubled within
the last ten years. The total exports of
wood and manufactures of wood lasl
year were valued at $50,598,416 , most of
the lumber having been sent from the
Pacific coast to South America and the
Asiatic countries.
Owing to the activity of the American
Forestry association the government has
at last inaugurated a systematic forestry
policy. Sustained by public sentiment
congress has passed laws to protect the
forest reserves by providing what
amounts to a self-supporting administra
tion. By this departure the permanen
interests of communities dependent upon
the forests are protected , the enormous
waste that has been going on for many
years is prevented and the oommercia
supply of timber is increased. There
has been considerable apprehension of a
timber famine. Industries whose de
pendenoe upon timber is direct have
looked upon the disappearance of ou
crests with fear for the future. Among
umbermen also there has appeared an
awakening as to the best policy to be
followed in the shrinkage of the tim
bered acreage.
This discussion has taken various
forms , but the newer policy is marked
by a far-sighted system of management
and the consolidation of properties into
tracts organized as large estates or as
corporations. They are based on the
belief it enhanced prices. Therefore
corporations and individuals are seeking
timber as an investment whose value is
destined to increase with the demand
and the reduction of the supply of lum
ber. This policy has found place in the
management of timber lands owned by
railway corporations in the southwest
and the northwest.
A recent volume by A. Melard , a
French official , on the lumber situation
in the world's trade , sounds a note of
warning at the astonishing rate at which
consumption is proceeding in the lead
ing countries. France , it is estimated ,
consumes about 20,000.000 cubic meters
for firewood and about 6,000,000 meters
of lumber , nearly half of which latter
requirement has to be imported. Eng
land , Germany and Belgium are in a
similar position , as in all these countries
the industries requiring lumber as
material of development are in a most
flourishing condition. For the present
these deficiencies in lumber supply are
made up from Austria-Hungary , from
Sweden and Norway , from Finland ,
from Russia , from Roumania , from
Bosnia-Herzegovina and from the United
States and Canada. These deficiencies ,
according to MMelard , are made good
by the continued destruction of forests.
The world as a whole , especially the
European and North American world in
the north temperate zone , is rapidly
exhausting its capital investment instead
of living on its yearly interest in the
lumber resources of these nations taken
as a whole.
In all these possibilities the lumber
trade of the United States has a more or
less immediate interest. That interest ,
however , does not center in our ability
to compete with other countries in the
sale of manufactured lumber , but in the'
capacity to foresee that in many respects
the United States has a monopoly of the
best available timber resources in the
world. Of course Canada is now to
some extent a competitor , but to a
greater extent a source of raw materials
for our manufacturers. If such fore
sight prevails in our lumber-trade policy ,
the United States will sooner or later
send less of her lumber and more wood
manufactures into the world's markets.
For the fiscal year ended June 80 , 1900 ,
the timber and lumber exports amounted
to $80,000,000 in value , compared with
$11,200,000 for manufactures of wood.
The wiser policy of the future is to put
the emphasis on the domestic consump-