Our native supplies of hardwoods and softwoods are used for
general building purposes, for farm repairs, for railroad ties,
in the furniture and veneer industry, in the handle industry, and
in the vehicle and agricultural implement industries. On the
average each American farmer uses about 2,000 board feet of
lumber each year. New farm building decreased in the several
years following the World War, due to the high price of lumber
and labor. As a result of this lack of necessary building,
millions of dollars worth of farm machinery stood out in the
weather. Livestock lacked stables in some sections. Very little
building was done in that period in two hundred and fifty
prosperous agricultural counties in thirty-two different states.

The railroads consume about 15 per cent. of our total lumber cut.
They use between 100,000,000 and 125,000,000 railroad ties a
year. It used to be that most of the cross-ties were of white oak
cut close to the places where they were used. Now Douglas fir,
southern pine and other woods are being used largely throughout
the Middle Western and Eastern States. The supply of white oak
ties is small and the prices are high. Some years ago, when white
oak was abundant, the railroads that now are using other
cross-ties would not have even considered such material for use
in their roadbeds. The fact that other ties are now being used
emphasizes the fact that we are short on oak timber in the
sections where this hardwood formerly was common.

The furniture industry uses hardwoods of superior grade and
quality. The factories of this industry have moved from region to
region as the supply of hardwoods became depleted. Originally,