The Lumber Trust

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jul 18, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 28.

In the changes taking place in politics some facts are coming into evidence before the American people. Take, for instance, the great lumber trust, owning more than four fifths of the standing timber of the United States. A great deal of this was purchased from the Government at $2.50 an acre. This lumber trust is now in the control of less than 200 men, owning over 1,000,000,000,000 of feet of lumber. Less than 2,000 persons hold title to 88,579,000 acres. When that timber is gone, the land still remains averaging to each owner 49,000 acres. There is 77 square miles. It holds the standing timber of Florida, and sixty-five per cent in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. That is one of the reasons why they are opposing the reciprocity plan of the President. They wish to compel the people of this country to purchase lumber from them, with prohibitive duties on the lumber which might come from the north.