262 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



The work toward the building of wooden ships is pro- 

 gressing rapidly, and many keels are being laid, and many 

 more are soon to be added to those now building. 

 Oregon builders have already arranged to build forty 

 wooden ships, and are preparing to turn out completed 

 ships of 1,500 tons each in six months, and 3,000-ton 

 vessels in eight months. Ten new shipbuilding plants 

 may be located at Portland alone, with many others at 

 Puget Sound and Gray's Harbor points. Similar contracts 

 are being made on the Gulf Coast, and all along the Atlantic, 

 with the Maine shipyards getting a new Isase of life. 



The big task is to get the men to build the ships. There 

 will be seen in hundreds of American shipyards scenes 

 not unlike those which once were common in Maine 

 before the steel ship all but preempted the seas. That 

 every shipbuilding yard in the United States will be 

 running at full capacity, right up to the minute, when the 

 German government is forced to its knees is fully realized. 



The foresight of the men in the lumber industry in 

 preparing for all eventualities months ago is proving of 

 great aid to the shipping board. More than 900,000 men 

 are engaged in the lumber trade, two and a third billion 

 dollars are invested in it, and the most recent Government 

 census showed that there are 49,738 lumber plants in the 

 country. Since the great war's first guns were fired in 

 August, 1914, lumbermen have been casting about to study 

 the lumber markets of the world and to fill their orders. 



Before the war Germany was the second greatest 

 exporter of lumber in the world, being exceeded only by 

 England and her colonies. German efficiency- the com- 

 bination of manufacturing, shipping and banking interests 

 was responsible for this. When the Federal Ressrve law 

 was passed and national banks began taking on foreign 

 branch banks the lumbermen saw their opportunity for 

 expansion. Then came the war with the total elimination 

 of Germany as a factor and the curtailment of English 

 activity in foreign lumber sale. 



So lumbermen of the United States began to get 

 strongly in the market. In 1916 42,000,000,000 feet were cut, 

 and then only one-third of the sawmill capacity of the country 

 was used. With this fact in mind the shipping board 

 knows that lumber for the wooden vessels can be supplied, 

 the domestic trade cared for, and plenty left for export. 



Cooperating with the Shipping Board to facilitate deal- 

 ings between the Government and the producers is a 

 committee of lumbermen composed of R. H. Downman, 

 of New Orleans, president of the National Lumber Manu- 

 facturers' Association, chairman, Henry S. Graves, chief 

 forester of the United States; D. O. Marion, South Caro- 

 lina; E. T. Allen, Portland, Oregon; E. A. Selfridge, San 

 Francisco; George B. Lewis, Holyoke, Massachusetts; 

 W. M. Ritter, Welch, West Virginia; G. S. Long, Tacoma, 

 Washington; Charles S. Keith, Kansas City ; J. F. Gregory, 

 Tacoma, Washington; C. H. Worcester, Chicago; W. H. 

 Sullivan, Bogalusa, Louisiana; and W. R. Brown, Berlin, 

 New Hampshire. 



That the forests of the United States will not only 

 furnish the lumber needed for the new ships but will also 

 take care of the domestic demand and allow the sawmills 

 of the country to accumulate a surplus for reconstruction 



Ln Europe when the war is ended and without noticeably 

 depleting these forests is the belief of this committee. In 

 fact, it is known that there is an over-production of lumber 

 to-day and its increased use is badly needed. 



If the plans of the Shipping Board and the lumbermen 

 are carried out there is little doubt that the object of the 

 submarine campaign wUl be defeated. In the part the 

 United States is to take in helping its allies to victory, 

 nothing is of so much importance as helping to combat the 

 European food-shortage, for food ranks ahead of men, 

 money and munitions. Plenty of ships will not merely 

 fend off the enemy, but will smite him down by assuring 

 the transportation of the necessary supply of food. 



Observers see in the efficient manner in which lumber- 

 men have taken up the task to which the President of the 

 United States has called them an impetus which will last 

 long after peace is declared and as an outgrowth of this 

 activity a large merchant marine to care for America's 

 peace overseas trade and carrying out America's foreign 

 trade ambitions. 



But the big task right now is to supply ships. The 

 Shipping Board has $50,000,000 at its disposal immediately. 

 It has the brains of the best lumbermen in America and 

 these two agencies have set about determinedly to do 

 the work assigned. 



The standard ship, the Shipping Board announces, 

 will be about 280 feet over all, with a 24-foot depth of hold 

 and with two full decks, and will be capable of develop- 

 ing about 1,500 horsepower. 



Bidders may propose to furnish completed ships or 

 hulls only. Any firm desiring to submit proposals to build 

 completed ships from their own plans may do so, but such 

 plans will have to be approved by the Board's engineers. 

 Scores of shipbuilders have assured the Board that 

 they will take contracts up to the limit of their capacity, 

 and many of them at this writing have sent inquiries as 

 to how soon specifications would be submitted and bids 

 accepted. It is understood that some of the delay has 

 been due to revisions made at the suggestion of the visit- 

 ing war missions, particularly in regard to means of pro- 

 tecting the vessels from submarines. On that feature 

 of the construction the naval consulting board also is 

 giving advice. 



To permit buUders to make tentative plans, it was 

 announced that the standard dimensions would be about 

 as follows: Length between perpendiculars, 260 feet, over 

 all, 280 feet ; extreme beam, 46 feet ; moulded depth, 26 feet ; 

 depth of hold, 24 feet; two full decks, forecastle, midship 

 bridge house and poop and house on bridge for officers, 

 power, steam; 1,500 horsepower, single or twin screws. 



SPRING planting plans for the Pennsylvania State For- 

 ests, allotting 3,800,000 forest tree seedlings for this 

 year's reforesting operations, have been approved by 

 Commissioner of Forestry Robert S. Conklin. In addi- 

 tion to these trees for the State Forests, about 1,750,000 

 will be distributed free of charge to private individuals 

 and corporations interested in reforesting. Almost 

 400,000 of these trees will be used by water companies 

 in reforesting barren water-sheds upon which boroughs 

 and cities depend for their water supply. 



