MANUFACTURING PROBLEMS. 25 



versally admit that they consider it an excellent timber and deplore 

 the conditions which prohibit its use. There are three main reasons 

 for this state of affairs: 



(1) The prejudice of the consumer, who condemns Hemlock without 

 trial because of its name. 



(2) Hitherto Fir and Spruce have been so cheap that there has been 

 no necessity for using- Hemlock. 



(3) Hemlock is heavy when green and apt to give trouble in driving 

 and in ponds. 



To overcome the prejudice against the name will be difficult, for to 

 introduce an unknown timber to the market usually requires years. 

 The practice of selling Hemlock as Fir when manufactured into floor- 

 ing, siding, and dimension stuff, and as Spruce in the form of box- 

 shooks and woodenware, has grave drawbacks. If detected, as he 

 frequently must be, the mill man must either lose a customer or bring 

 satisfactory proof of the excellence of the Hemlock. If he is able to 

 accomplish the latter, he might as well have done so originally and the 

 problem would thus have been solved. A mill which makes the substi- 

 tution also furnishes a weapon of revenge to rivals and to employees 

 with a grievance. It works a hardship to timber owners ; for, with 

 no recognized price for the timber, they are at the mercy of the mills. 

 Some individuals have decided that, as the name is the drawback, it 

 should be changed; and an attempt has been made to introduce Hem- 

 lock as Alaska Pine. This has been successful to some extent, and if 

 it had been attempted earlier might have solved the problem. 



The second reason no longer exists. The standing timber of the 

 Northwest is going into the hands of large holders, either mill compa- 

 nies or speculative syndicates, and the da} r of the small logger, who 

 moved from claim to claim, taking only the best timber, will soon be 

 over. Under the old system, when the logger bought the stumpage, 

 he found it most profitable to take only the best Fir and leave a fair 

 merchantable grade uncut. An apparently unlimited supply enabled 

 him to continue this wasteful system. Under such conditions it was 

 not surprising that Hemlock was neglected. As a rule, it furnishes 

 less clear lumber than Fir, and when only the best of the latter species 

 was taken at a cost to the mill but little more than that of logging it, 

 the utilization of Hemlock was out of the question. It was never 

 cruised, and was loft as entirely unconsidered in the buying and selling 

 of timber land as though it did not exist. Now, however, it is becom- 

 ing more and more tin 4 rule for timber to be. cut by its owner, or, if 

 not, to be sold by the acre, and it is to the interest of the logger to cut 

 all he can from the land. In the case of Fir, lower stumps and shorter 

 tops are put on the Landing which would not have been looked at ten 

 or even five years ago. The owner also realizes that a log of Hemlock 

 used i- a Fir log saved, and tin 1 only question is how to dispose of it. 



