24 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Septemher 25. 191S 



Southern Car Supply Fifty Per Cent Off 



The car situati().ai is proving quite variable in the southern hard- 

 wood field, aceording to J. H. Townshcnd, secretary-manager of 

 the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association. It is variable in the 

 respect tliat tliere are no days exactly alike and also in the respect 

 that there are no two railroads which are giving like service. It is 

 still further variable in the respect that periods of improvement 

 are followed hy periods during which the service is well nigh 

 unbearable. 



Mr. Towushend returned from Washington where he appeared 

 before the U. S. Railroad Administration. He came back with 

 the feeling that he was going to be able to secure relief for his 

 shippers. He announced, in fact, that they had been able to secure 

 such relief and was feeling quite cheerful over tlie outlook from a 

 transportation standpoint. 



On September 20, however, he said that he had not received the 

 promised relief of the car shortage on the Frisco System, which 

 was not furnishing more than 13 per cent of the cars required by 

 lumbermen; that the Southern Railway was not furnishing more 

 tlian 20 per cent; that the Mobile & Ohio was not furnishing more 

 than 30 per cent; that the Texas & Pacific was not, despite the im- 

 ]irovement shown thereon, furnishing more than 40 per cent, and 

 liiat the other roads of the South, taken as a whole, were not fur- 

 nishing more than i50 per cent of the needs of the lumbermen for 

 li.'indling inbound and outbound traffic. 



"The situation looked much better a few days ago," he said 

 (111 September 20. "In fact I was feeling pretty cheerful over the 

 outlook. But there has been material falling off in car supply since 

 that time and just now it looks quite bad for the lumbermen. I 

 believe it safe to say that there is a shortage of quite 50 per cent 

 in the quantity of equipment needed by the lumbermen, with the 

 result that output is being cut down at the mills to a serious degree 



and that outbound shipments are not getting away anything like 

 as promptly or in as large volume as they should." 



The Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad, which is one of the 

 heaviest timber-bearing lines in this part of the country, is, for- 

 tunately for the lumbermen, furnishing a better supply of cars than 

 any other road in the valley territory. The Valley Log Loading 

 Company is operating four loaders on the main line of that road, 

 or more loaders than it has previously used at any time this year. 

 The Missouri Pacific is furnishing rather more cars than lately buf 

 the situation is reported unusually bad on the Frisco System ami 

 on the Southern Railway. 



Owing to the very low stage of the Mississippi at Memphis, and 

 owing to the inability of towboats to make their way through the 

 canal here into Wolf river, several of the large mills along the lat- 

 ter stream in North Memphis are threatened with having to close 

 down in the next few days. The Anderson-Tully Company says 

 that its saw mill will cut out all the logs it has on hand by the 

 end of next week, and that it will have to close down for the reason 

 that it has no other means of getting logs to the plant. The Anchor 

 Sawmill Company, too, reports that it will be hard hit by this con- 

 dition, as it brings in most of its logs and rough material through 

 Wolf river. Moore & McFerrin, box manufacturers, are also facing 

 a shortage of logs for much the same reason, as are also the Ten- 

 nessee Hoop Company and the Memphis Stave Manufacturing 

 Company. There are other jilants in North Memphis which usf 

 Wolf river as a means of bringing in part of their timber, hut they 

 will be able to supplement arrivals by means of railroads and will 

 not, therefore, suffer as severely as tliose indicated. 



Efforts are now being made to deepen the canal, but until these 

 higher, there is little prospect of improvement in the situation .so 

 are successful or until the stage of the Mississipjii is m.-iteri.-illy 

 far as these mills are concerned. 



Tri-State Forestry Conference 



The tristate forestry conference, representing Ohio, Indiana, 

 and Illinois, which is scheduled to meet at Indianapolis October 22 

 and 23, has, by its representatives, sent invitations to timber own- 

 ers, operators, and users to be present in full force. Private for- 

 estry' is not meeiing the demands in those states. Trees are being 

 cut faster than they are growing, and few are being planted. It is 

 believed that the meeting will advocate the adoption of a policy 

 calling for state forestry, and those who attend may expect that 

 to be the keynote of the meeting. A number of well-known authori- 

 ties on forestry and wood utilization are expected to be present, 

 and this invitation has been extended to all who feel an interest 

 in the problem of timber for the future. 



Timber Workers Plan to Strike 



During the second week of September representatives of timber 

 workers of North Central states met in convention at Rhinelander, 

 Wis., in conjunction with representatives from adjacent portions of 

 Canada, and discussed wages and hours. They represented what 

 they designated as District No. 2, "including the lumber and tim- 

 ber district east of the Missouri river." They adopted a report 

 and a series of resolutions in which they advocated a minimum 

 wage of $4 a day for unskilled men and $2.50 for unskilled women. 

 They opposed piece work and bonuses, as being unfair to the rank 

 and file of timber workers, and advised their members not to en- 

 courage it. But the work of the meeting on which they laid most 

 stress related to the movement for an eight-hour day. They advo- 

 cated a conference with employers to discuss this matter, and in 

 case the eight-hour day were not granted by a certain date, not yet 

 fiTed. ti,„ -c-nrkers would call a strike at the plants or works of 



such operators as refused to agree to the eight-hour day. The 

 opinion of those who attended the meeting was that the union was 

 not prepared at this time to carry out a strike, but that propaganda 

 work should continue till next spring, and then the strike would 

 take place, if the eight-hour day had not been previously put into 

 effect. It developed that many of the members were in favor of 

 bonuses and piece work. 



Waterproof Glues in Automobile Manufacture 



Some of the new waterproof glues developed primarily for air- 

 craft purposes during the war offer the possibility of overcoming 

 a difficulty that has proved very annoying, both to the automobile 

 owner and to the manufacturer, wherever linoleum is used on the 

 running boards or as a covering for the floor of the car. Ordinary 

 glues which are soluble in water are not very effective in cementing 

 linoleum, and most automobile owners have soon discovered that 

 the glue disintegrates and the linoleum comes loose after the car 

 has been washed a few times. 



Casein glues are admirably adapted to this purpose, and if the 

 quality is right and they are properly applied the linoleum should 

 give no trouble during the life of the car. Casein glues are ex- 

 ceedingly resistant to the action of water and retain a very high 

 percentage of their original strength, even after long immersion 

 under water. They are comparatively inexpensive, and the ma- 

 terials from which they are made are readily available in the 

 market. They are applied cold and will set without the application 

 of heat. 



Information on casein glues and their application may be 

 obtained from the Forest Products Laboratory, of the U. S. Forest 

 Service, at Madison, Wis. 



