trade is developed on a large scale, a conservative, practical
national forestry policy must be worked out, endorsed and lived
up to by every producing exporter.

The U.S. Forest Service reports that before the world war, we
were exporting annually 3,000,000,000 board feet of lumber and
sawlogs, not including ties, staves and similar material. This
material consisted of Southern yellow pine, Douglas fir, white
oak, redwood, white pine, yellow poplar, cypress, walnut,
hickory, ash, basswood and similar kinds of wood. The exports
were made up of 79 per cent. softwoods and 21 per cent.
hardwoods. The export trade consumed about 8-1/2 per cent. of our
annual lumber cut. Southern yellow pine was the most popular
timber shipped abroad. One-half of the total export was of this
material.

During the four years before the war our imports of lumber from
foreign countries amounted to about 1,200,000,000 board feet of
lumber and logs. In 1918, imports exceeded exports by 100,000,000
board feet. In addition to this lumber, we also shipped in,
largely from Canada, 1,370,000 cords of pulp wood, 596,000 tons
of wood pulp, 516,000 tons of paper, and close to a billion
shingles. Some of the material, such as wood pulp and paper, also
came from Sweden, Norway, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and the
United Kingdom.

As a result of the war, European countries for several years
can use 7,000,000,000 feet of lumber a year above their
normal requirements. For housing construction, England
needs 2,000,000,000 feet a year more than normally; France,
1,500,000,000 feet; Italy, 1,750,000,000 feet; Belgium and Spain
750,000,000 feet apiece. Even before the war, there was a great
deficiency of timber in parts of Europe. It amounted to
16,000,000,000 board feet a year and was supplied by Russia, the
United States, Canada, Sweden, Austria-Hungary and a few other
countries of western Europe. If we can regulate cutting and
replenish our forests as they deserve, there is a remarkable
opportunity for us to build up a large and permanent export
trade.

[Illustration: YOUNG WHITE PINE SEEDED FROM ADJOINING PINE TREES]

The Central and South American countries now have to depend on
Canada, the United States and Sweden for most of their softwoods.
Unless they develop home forests by the practice of modern
forestry, they will always be dependent on imported timber of
this type. South Africa and Egypt are both heavy importers of
lumber. Africa has l