[IMPORTANCE OF OUR FORESTS 
More than any other material, wood has contributed to the 
social, cultural and industrial establishment and expansion of the 
average community in the United States. Wood has been nearly 
as essential for life as food itself. Much of our national and local 
wealth may be credited directly to the vast industrial enterprises 
which are engaged in the utilization of our forests and their con- 
version into wooden articles. 
In early days, the rapid expansion of agriculture and industry, 
oredicated upon lavish use of wood, insured the permanence of the 
Colonies. Of wood the home was built, the furniture fashioned, 
and the implements of work modeled. In those days metals were 
scarce. Brick and stone construction was slow and expensive. 
Cement was unknown. On the other hand, wood was available 
everywhere, its supply unlimited, and its cost moderate. 
The era of industrial expansion, which started shortly after 
:he Civil War, created new material demands. The general appli- 
:ation of steam power to industry demanded metals. Railroad 
building and operation required iron. The budding electrical in- 
dustries demanded copper. Urban growth demanded skyscrapers. 
Ocean transportation outgrew the sailing vessel. The motor ve- 
hicle replaced the wagon and carriage. 
Technical advances in processes and lowering of relative man- 
afacturing costs made these modernizing steps possible. But in 
spite of greater use of metals and other materials, old established 
ases of wood grew tremendously, and new uses, as much a part 
of the modernizing process as the use of metals, swelled to greater 
proportions the total quantity of wood used by the Nation. 
In 1869, for instance, the United States used but slightly more 
than twelve billion feet of lumber. Practically all was supplied 
from New England, the Middle Atlantic and the South Atlantic 
Coast States. The industrial development which took place in 
the older communities, and the industrial and agricultural growth 
which occurred in the Middle West created tremendous demands 
for lumber during the last half of the nineteenth century. Between 
1869 and 1907 our lumber production and consumption increased 
nearly a billion feet per year. 
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