Forest Within the memory of men still living more than one hundred billion feet of white pine stood in Wisconsin's splendid forests, in addition to great quantities of oak, maple, birch, elm, basswood, spruce, cedar and ash. To-day the white pine forests exist chiefly in memory, and the other timber resources have been squandered with lavish hand. Neverthe less the lumbering industry, until within a decade the State's leading one, still remains im portant, even in decline. The absolute output of lumber products first assumed large propor tions about 1870. It increased by leaps and bounds until 1890, remained at a maximum for a little over a decade, and has since steadily declined. Although the absolute production of lumber was slightly greater in 1890 than in 1900, not until the latter year, with the subsi dence of the lumber output of Michigan, did Wisconsin take foremost rank as a lumbering State. This primacy was retained until 1905, when it was yielded to Washington. At the height of the logging industry (1890-1900) the value of the lumber produced annually reached well toward $70,000,000, more than the averagi annual value of the gold mined in the entire country. The value of the present output of rough lumber is about $30,000,000 annually.
The commercial fishing indus try of Wisconsin in 1915 produced almost 24, 000,000 pounds of fish, valued at about $850,000. About three-fifths of the total output came from Lake Michigan and Green Bay, and the city of Green Bay is supposed to be the leading fresh water fishing centre in the world. About one tenth of the State's total output came from Lake Superior, and the remaining three-tenths from the Mississippi River and the interior waters of Wisconsin. The most important fish in the two lake districts are herring and lake trout; in the Mississippi River, carp and buf falo. The indirect returns to the State from the pleasure fishing of the summer tourists is several times as great as the direct value of the commercial fishing industry; for the year 1916 this was estimated by the State Conserva tion Commission to amount to $5,000,000.
The centre of population and of manufacturing in the United States has moved westward along the 39th parallel of latitude. Wisconsin lies from 200 to 500 miles north of this line. Moreover the State has no coal deposits; due to its position west of the Great Lakes it is off the main continental routes of traffic from east to west; and the population is still in either the agricultural or the lumbering stage of development. From these facts it might be supposed that manufac turing would have made little headway. How e\ er, these disadvantages are counterbalanced by certain factors favorable to the development of manufacturing, so that in 1910 in per capita value of manufactured products Wisconsin out ranked every other State west of Ohio. Among the factors contributing to this result may be noted proximity to raw materials, the transpor tation facilities and water power afforded by the waters and rivers bordering and traversing the State, and finally a progressive and aggress ive attitude on the part of the population, lead ing to a vigorous utilization of the potential resources of the State. Unlike the older east ern communities, manufacturing in Wisconsin is still prevailingly shaped by the State's natural resources. Thus the lumbering and wood prod
ucts industry far outrank all other branches of manufacturing in Wisconsin, the decline in value it: recent years of the annual output of rough lumber being more than counterbalanced by the increased attention paid to more advanced and specialized manufacture of forest products. In 1914 the total value of the wood products of the State exceeded $109,000,000, made up of lumber, rough and finished, $55,000.000; pulp and paper, $31,000,000; furniture, $22,000,000.
The foremost manufacturing industry is dairying, already treated in connection with agriculture. The manufacture of foundry and machine-shop products comes next after forest products, having enjoyed a remarkable growth In recent years. The figures for 1914 show an annual output of over $60,000,000. The chief centre of this industry is Milwaukee and the other cities along the southern coastline of Lake Michigan. Their location on Lake Michigan within easy reach of the network of railroads centring at Chicago affords them superior 'transportation and marketing advantages. The dairying industry is, of course, widely diffused over the State, although even here a tendency toward centralization is becoming manifest. Next in importance is the manufacture of leather, the output in 1914 being worth over $42,000,000. The development of the leather industry is due to the abundant supplies of oak and hemlock bark provided by the forests of the State. The tanneries, formerly widely dis tributed, are now largely centred in a few cities in the eastern part of the State. In output of leather Milwaukee leads all the cities of the United States. Malt liquors closely follow after leather, the output in 1914 being valued at al most $41,000,000. Flour and grist mill products in 1914 were worth nearly $29,000,000. In both these industries a high degree of centralization prevails, modified to some extent by the exist ence of numerous small mills and breweries scattered over the State. Milwaukee produces more beer than all the remainder of the State and ranks as the second brewing centre in the country. Popular opinion to the contrary, how ever, brewing is not Milwaukee's first or even its second Industry in point of importance. Slaughtering and meat packing has grown rap idly in recent years, the industry being centred chiefly at Milwaukee and other neLrby cities. The output for 1914 was valued at $32,000,000. The paper and wood pulp industry is increasing rapidly. In 1914 the output was valued at 331. 000,0O0, and ‘Visconsin ranked fourth among the States with respect to this industry. Flour and grist mill products arc slowly declining in importance; their %Ale in 1914 was $&,700,000, about $3010,000 less than in 1909. Other im portant and growing manufacturing industries are those of agricultural implements, in which Wisconsin ranked second in 1914, automobiles and bouts and shi.)es. Over one-third (in value) of the manufactured products of the State are made at Milwaukee, and fully four fifths of the total in the southeastern quarter of the State. has become one of the chief manufacturitnz centres of the rank ing first in leather, second in liquor and malt. third in foundry and machine-shop products, and tenth in total salve of manufactures.