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Industry and Commerce i-j^

the question of free tolls for vessels passing through the Isthmian Canal.

Similarly, these states have a direct interest in the termination of the European war, for it seems certain that when peace comes the demand for lumber to rebuild portions of devastated Europe will tax the production capacity of the Northwest for a number of years. Arrangements are now being made, in anticipation of the new demand, for increasing the producing capacity of existing plants, while many new ones are being erected and still others planned.

From what has already been achieved and from the reasonable expectation of the future, it may be assumed that lumbering in this section wall pioneer the way for a general manufacturing development, as it has done in other sections of the United States. It is giving rise, gradually, to the manufacture of furniture and other finished products into which lumber enters, and it will probably result in building up a considerable group of inland cities having a permanent economic support in such manufacturing industries. At the sea-ports an extraordinary interest in the building of w'ooden ships, stimulated by the war, promises to reproduce on this coast some of the features of the noted centres of that industry on the north Atlantic coast.

Manufacture of paper. One of the significant secondary products derived from the forests is paper, which at some points, notably at the falls of the Willamette (Oregon City), is manufactured in large