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tain more of these so-called acid plants. This has been the situation in Pennsylvania and it is very likely that more wood alcohol plants will be installed to utilize hardwood waste in the Adirondack region. This means efficient and therefore close utilization and is consequently considered good forestry. Wood alcohol plants, however, are expensive affairs; a modern oven plant for initial installation costing at least $50,000 and from this figure an 80 cord plant will cost in the neighborhood of $200,000. At the present time acetate of lime is bringing 312 cents a pound whereas last spring it brought as high as seven cents a pound. Wood alcohol is also bringing about 45 cents a gallon and charcoal 6 cents a bushel. Under these conditions the operation of wood alcohol plants is highly successful and if the demand for the products continues, this will provide a possibility for the utilization of all of our Adirondack hardwood waste.

It is an old story how New York has dropped down from her position in 1860 as the leading lumber producing state in the Union. In 1908 the total forest products of New York amounted to about 1,226,000,000 bd. ft., whereas, in 1913, it had dropped still further to 851,000,000 feet. While New York compared to the great timber producing states of Washington, Louisiana, Oregon, etc., is not an important lumber state, yet in the consumption of forest products it is truly the Empire State. The following list shows the total amount of forest products annually consumed in New York. This has been compiled as a result of personal investigation and records obtained from a great variety of sources. It shows conclusively that there is undoubtedly a better market for lumber and other forest products in New York than in any other state in the Union.

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600,000,000

18,000,000

Rough lumber, structural and dimension
timbers, (based on usual proportion
of rough lumber to that further
manufactures)
Miscellaneous, including shingles, lath,
wood block paving, portable mill
products not included in above, etc. 10,000,000

5,003,165,000

200,000

$107,189,225

PRESIDENT OSTRANDER: I am sure we all feel indebted to Professor Brown for his valuable time spent in preparing this article which he submits as his report for this committee and it will be preserved and made available to all our members as a part of the proceedings. Is Mr. Kellogg here? Mr. Kellogg seems to have disappeared. There are no reports to be made by the Transportation or Finance Committees. The Committee on Nominations has not yet been nominated. I wish to nominate Mr. V. K. Kellogg, Mr. R. W. Higbie, and Mr. Frank A. Cutting. That committee is expected to make its report at the close of the afternoon session. The next is a paper which Professor Tryon has kindly consented to read for us. The subject being one of intense interest to all woodland owners at the present time. One receiving more attention at the present time than it has in the past.

MR. BROWN: Professor Tryon has just stepped out.

MR. OSTRANDER: All right, the treasurer will present his financial statement now.

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PRESIDENT OSTRANDER:

Respectfully submitted,

(SIGNED) W. Clyde Sykes, Treas.

Professor Tryon will be avail

able directly. He made loan of his paper to a newspaper reporter.

PRESIDENT OSTRANDER: Professor Tryon has rescued his paper and we will now be pleased to hear him.

PROFESSOR TRYON: I am very sorry to have caused you this delay, but I have rescued the precious thing at last.

Mr. Ostrander, and members of the

State Forest Products Association:—

Until comparatively recently in this country, the term "insurance of standing timber" has meant the establishment and maintenance of a more or less effective fire-protective system, rather than any form of true insurance. The lack of development along this line of actual insurance has probably been due to the following reasons.

First, the fire hazard, which is of course, uppermost in the minds of all timberland owners.

Second, the need of protective measures, both public and private, which are adequate for the "spotting" and immediate extinguishing of incipient fires, as well as for combating the large ones.

Third, the meagre supply of accurate data in respect to

the proportionate loss per year, and the scarcity of dependable means of obtaining such data.

Fourth, the difficulties attendant upon meeting successfully the legal requirements and restrictions imposed by the majority of state legislatures upon insurance organizations in general.

All these obstacles are exceedingly real ones. There is not a lumberman in the country who is free from a sincere horror of forest fires; and further, no one can properly maintain that we have anything approaching adequate fire protection for our forests. Such information as we possess in regard to the proportionate annual loss by fire is very scanty, has only recently been compiled, and applies but to a few scattered areas. The legal difficulties to be overcome include the securing of satisfactory reserves, the obtaining charters from the legislature, and the conforming to the restrictions generally placed upon agencies doing interstate business, together with innumerable other requirements.

At the present writing, the replies to these objections appear to be:

First, that a number of small, individual risks should be selected. These may be widely distributed, over a wide area, among numerous owners, and possibly under differing climatic conditions. This scheme of scattering the blocks of timber, together with the ever-increasing settlement of the country and the consequent broken state, makes yearly more remote the possibility of a general conflagration.

Second, a capable system of patrol, communication, and notification, coupled with the prompt apprehension and extinguishing of small fires, will obviously reduce greatly the annual loss. All this, is of course, palpable; yet it is indeed interesting to note the gratifying results that have been shown thru five years of practical work by some twentyodd fire protective associations, fifteen state departments, the federal government, town assistance and co-operation, improved field methods, etc.

Third, data from the work of the three sources first named above show conclusively that, during this five-year period the average yearly loss by fire was well under one-half of one per cent; and this figure may, without doubt, be yet

more reduced by increased protection. Sixteen protective associations have furnished figures to support this; and during the period of 1910-1915 inclusive, the minimum loss was zero, the maximum was one-half of one per cent. This last figure was supplied by twelve western Forestry and Conservation Associations for the year 1910, when their holdings suffered from extraordinary fires.

Fourth, we already have numerous inter-insurance exchanges and associations, showing no record of failure. These are chiefly among lumberyard, sawmill, cotton and flour mill owners. They are conducted at cost; individual subscribers are thereby benefited thru the practice of crediting back, yearly, to each and every account, the unused balance of the premium. One mutual agent acts as Att'y-in fact, for each subscriber separately. A board of directors, or supervisors is chosen, together with a treasurer to audit the managing attorney's accounts. No outside business for profit is undertaken-hence the exchange, for such it isis far less subject to the attentions of state supervisory boards.

This figure for the risk, i. e., one-half of one per cent-is, of course, very low. The usual rate charged is from one and one-half to two per cent. This usually suffices to cover the running expenses of the organization, and at the same time gradually builds up a reserve fund which should in time. be ample to enable the subscribers to receive insurance at cost.

The possibility of insuring a tract of timber will render it possible to offer the tract as security, thereby liquidating capital. The net profits resulting from the use of this capital should offset the original insurance cost.

Now, the general plan of organization requires first the assembling of a number of representative timberland owners sufficiently large to furnish the required reserve and premium. These members are, at their meeting, to exchange among themselves insurance, at cost, on certain restricted, chosen areas offering approximately equal risks. The details of management would be handled by the attorney-infact, who would be empowered to act for each and every member. As I said above, it would be highly desirable to have the risks distributed over a large territory in order to take advantage of climatic variations. Each subscriber is

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