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HARDWOOD RECORD 



August 25, 1919 



unprejudiced facts unimpeachable by the ignorant or unscrupulous, 

 is aiding us not only to put our own house in order but also to be 

 better understood by government. If the industry will but react to 

 this opportunity; order, strength and understanding will demark our 

 future. 



Permit a personal word, in conclusion. My greatest handicap in 

 Washington during these critical days is lack of authentic data. The 

 information issued by associations, although valuable, is ex-parti and 

 not always accepted. Our experience with the government during the 

 price fixing period should teach us this. The data furnished by the 

 Federal Trade Commission may or may not be reliable. Here, how- 

 ever, government comes to us and urges us to assist in getting at 

 the truth. 



No secrecy, no arbitrary, illogical methods! All in the open! The 

 sole desire is to have light and more light. 



It is to be hoped that some official compilation of this information 

 may be had to bring out general economic conditions without injury 

 to any individual tax payer. Certainly we can take such step our- 

 selves if necessary. 



With a record made as a result of this type of effort — that is it 

 we do our part — in our hands, we would be thrice armed in urging our 

 cause before congressional committees and government agencies. For 

 example, if the facts were knowii, this industry would never be open 

 to the charge that price levels are due to combination. 



This is not the time, however, for fault-finding and complaining. 

 The hour is big with the need of truth. The road lies open before us. 

 Have we the courage, the patience, the industry to travel it. I say, 

 yes! An industry that achieves as mightily as did this industry for 

 the cause of right during the dark days of war, has the vision and 

 understanding to meet any emergency. 



Settlement of the shopmen's strike, which tied up transportation 

 facilities throughout the Memphis and valley territories to an un- 

 usual extent, has imj^roved the situation considerably throughout 

 this territory. The effects of the strike have not yet been entirely 

 liquidated for the reason that repairs of engines and cars have not 

 been completed and for the additional reason that there was vast 

 congestion of freight traffic which has not yet been cleared up. 

 However, officials of the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association 

 say that the movement of logs, bolts and billets to the mills in this 

 territory is steadily increasing and that there is likewise some gain 

 in the outbound movement of hardwood lumber and forest pro- 

 ducts. Cars, however, are being withdrawn from the southern 

 hardwood region to help move the crops of the West and Northwest 

 and both the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association and the Ameri- 

 can Hardwood Manufacturers' Association are of the opinion that 

 there is a rather rocky road ahead for hardwood lumber interests 

 in the matter of transportation facilities. Gondola cars are being 

 used for loading both logs and lumber and stock cars are being 

 pressed into service in handling outbound shipments because of the 

 scarcity of box cars. The two organizations already quoted express 

 the view that the shortage of cars will become much more intense 

 during the next thirty to sixty days, during which period the cotton 

 and sugar cane crops will be finding their way to market. Produc- 

 tion of hardwood lumber is increasing somewhat in the Memphis 

 territory as a result of the settlement of the shopmen's strike. 

 The Valley Log Loading Company says that it is operating all of 

 its loaders on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley line of the Illinois 

 Central system and that it is returning to work on the Missouri 

 Pacific where it was tied up for a while because of embargoes, 

 caused by the strike. This company loads a large percentage of the 

 logs sawn by mills at Memphis and elsewhere on the two roads in 

 question and the increased activity on its part means that the mills 

 themselves are able to accomplish more. The Memphis Band Mill 

 Company and some other firms in Memphis have been able to start 

 up their machinery within the past few days because of the larger 

 log supjily and they regard the situation as very much improved. 

 Companies which do their own loading, principally on spur tracks, 

 are getting very good results, and, all in all, the supply of logs is 

 better than it has been at any time this year. 



Still, the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association is authority for 

 the statement that it received complaints from eighty sawmill 

 firms during the last four days of the past week regarding shortage 

 of cars for moving logs and lumber. Thus it is quite difficult to 

 make any general statement that Accurately reflects the situation. 

 It is admitted at the offices of the American Hardwood Manufac- 

 turers' Association that production is increasing somewhat. Its 

 forecast for the current sixty day period, beginning August 1, calls 



for a gain of about 10 per cent in output. It admits, however, with 

 equal frankness, that tlie tendency of stocks is still downward and 

 that the strained relations between supply and demand are being 

 little if any changed. 



Outlook for Timber Supply 



The secretary of the National Lumber Manufacturers' Associa- 

 tion, Chicago, has sent out statistics intended to show that this 

 country still has lots of timber. According to this showing, with 

 the addition of the present growth of new timber at the annual 

 rate of approximately 20 billion feet, there is now standing in the 

 United States enough timber to secure a supply of raw material for 

 the lumber industry for over 1.50 years. He adds that the excess 

 of exports over imports may somewhat increase the annual drain 

 upon our forests but he thinks it exceedingly doubtful whether the 

 total domestic consumption will, much if any, exceed today 's figure, 

 which is less than 33 billion feet a year. 



Because lumber production is below normal and stocks are low, 

 many persons make the mistake of supposing that the timber re- 

 sources of the country are fast failing and that they must look about 

 for some substitute material for wood. 



With the diminishing of the timber supply is the not less impor- 

 tant fact that not so large a supply as formerly will probably be 

 needed in the future, as standards of wood utilization and methods 

 of living change and demands vary in different generations. 



Before worrying over a timber famine and demanding that more 

 trees should be planted, public and private interests should both 

 look to the conserving of the timber resources they now possess. 

 There should be more adequate public protection from fire and in- 

 sects, and private care in preventing animals from uprooting seed- 

 lings, and in not injuring trees by turpentining and similar pro- 

 cesses. 



Many years ago in the Senate there was predicted-an early timber 

 famine and among other scare-inspiring things it was said that the 

 white pine of the northern forests would not last more than ten 

 years. There is still some white pine left and there is now more 

 timber standing than those senators believed existed in the whole 

 country at that time. 



The reason for present higher prices of lumber is the high rate 

 of transportation added to decreased production and scarcity and 

 incomplete assortment of stocks, and this is caused largely by wages 

 and other higher costs of production. In 1918 lumber production 

 was only 72.7 per cent of what it was in 1913 and it will probably 

 not be much more than this in 1919. Increased production should 

 follow a settlement of labor difficulties, especially if the industry 

 does not then have to bear a big increase in transportation costs. 



