One-half of the total export was of this material.
During the four years before the war our imports of lumber from foreign countries amounted to about 1,200,000,000 board feet of lumber and logs.

In 1918, imports exceeded exports by 100,000,000 board feet.

In addition to this lumber, we also shipped in, largely from Canada, 1,370,000 cords of pulp wood, 596,000 tons of wood pulp, 516,000 tons of paper, and close to a billion shingles.

Some of the material, such as wood pulp and paper, also came from Sweden, Norway, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
As a result of the war, European countries for several years can use 7,000,000,000 feet of lumber a year above their normal requirements.

For housing construction, England needs 2,000,000,000 feet a year more than normally; France, 1,500,000,000 feet; Italy, 1,750,000,000 feet; Belgium and Spain 750,000,000 feet apiece.