November 25, 1916 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



19 



covers the ground when fires are kept out. This brush will become the 

 future forest if it continues to escape visitations from fire. In 

 districts which have been logged off, down to the last crosstie and 

 pit prop, and left clear of all tree growth, the ground is speedily 

 clothed again, if left unburned ; and it is encouraging and surprising 

 in how short a time a new hardwood forest is under way. Land 

 owners are not slow to see the growing value of such tracts, and every 

 owner of cutover land of that character soon becomes a committee 

 of one to spread the gospel of fire protection to forest lands, and to 

 stand up for those who advocate forestry on general principles. 



The government has purchased considerable tracts of land among 

 the Appalachian mountains. Most of it is cutover land or land of lit- 

 tle present value. It was predicted some years ago that the mountain 

 people would assume an unfriendly attitude toward the acquisition of 

 those lands by the government, because they feared that their liberty 

 to hunt, fish, dig ginseng and travel through the woods would be inter- 

 fere! with by government agent's. That prediction was wrong. The 

 mountaineers generally are in com- 

 plete sympathy with the land pur- 

 chases by the government. 



Why You Should Join the 

 Oak Association 



Hardwood Lumber's 

 Need of Preparedness 



THEY ARE GETTING HEADY 

 for the campaign which has for 

 its purpose the sales of American 

 lumber in Europe after the war has 

 come to an end. An address at 

 Portland, Ore., October 25, by E. E. 

 Pratt, chief of the Bureau of For- 

 eign and Domestic Commerce, went 

 pretty fully into the details of what 

 the government is doing, in co- 

 operation witli himbermen, to get 

 ready to sell lumber across the sea 

 as soon as conditions will permit. 

 As is well known, it is proposed to 

 send five commissioners to Europe, 

 under authority of the Department 

 of Commerce, to spy out the land 

 and stake off the places where Amer- 

 ican forest products may be sold. 



Hardwood lumbermen should not 

 overlook their opportunities in that 

 direction. It is well enough to put 

 trust in what the trade commission- 

 ers may be able to do when they 



reach Europe ; but hardwood men should take necessary steps to look 

 after their own interests. The Douglas fir people have a selling 

 agency in Europe, and the southern pine people will likely use a 

 similar method to push their products into the markets overseas. 

 The hardwood men should seriously consider doing the same. That 

 will make them independent, in a large degree, of everybody else. 

 They will not be at the mercy of sales agents in Europe who have 

 lumber from all parts of the world to sell and who push the stock 

 that pays highest commissions. The commissioners who will go abroad 

 will not push hardwoods specially; and, besides, it is well enough not 

 to expect too much of those commissioners. They will look around 

 and see what is wanted and where; but they will probably not send 

 many signed orders back to this country to be filled. They will 

 concern themselves more with generalities; but it will take more 

 than generalities to actually sell much hardwood. Lumbermen 

 should look after the matter themselves and push into the market 

 and get the orders. It appears that the best way to do that is to 

 have a sales agency ou the ground, or sales machinery of some 

 sort, that will secure buyers for hardwood products. 



If a sewing machine agent should content himself with driving 

 at high speed up and down the country roads, with flaming adver- 



There are several reasons why every oak manu- 

 facturer should be affiliated with a national asso- 

 ciation of oak producers. In the first place anyone 

 will concede that with the successful propaganda for 

 other competing woods, oak's sponsors must exert 

 concerted action or their markets will be perma- 

 nently crippled. 



That a successful propaganda for oak is entirely 

 possible is illustrated by the success which similar 

 efforts in behalf of other woods have had. 



It is perfectly apparent that every man behind the 

 new oak association is acting sincerely for oak as a 

 whole — that there are no politics and no desire be- 

 hind the movement other than to forward the in- 

 terests of oak. 



Tt is assured that accurate statistics on cut and 

 shipment and stock on hand will be available 

 through this organization. As no progress toward 

 better prices or more sustained markets can be made 

 without these statistics, it is evident that oak manu- 

 facturers to secure such information and to make its 

 compilation more representative should become 

 members. 



The main thing is not the circumstances surround- 

 ing the formation of the association, but the fact 

 that a means is hereby provided whereby oak manu- 

 facturers can work unitedly. 



tisements on the sides, front and rear of his wagon, and do nothing 

 farther, he would not sell many sewing machines. That is about 

 what the commission will do in Europe. It will travel the high- 

 ways, and announce that there is lumber for sale in America. That 

 is good as far as it goes (and the commission cannot be expected 

 to do much more), but there must be a follow-up. Lumbermen must 

 take advantage of the parade-advertisement and push their sales. 

 It seems particularly necessary for hardwood people to do so, or 

 they will not get what is coming to them. 



Dr. Pratt's address at Portland pointed out the extent of the 

 probable demand in Europe for lumber after the war, and it is large 

 enough to be worth the best effort that American lumbermen can 

 put forth. There will be competition. Europeans will not be com- 

 pelled to come to us for lumber. They can buy it elsewhere. 

 Scandinavia and the provinces about the shores of the Baltic have 

 much spruce and pine; Canada has much; Siberia has vast quanti- 

 ties. Africa, South America, Japan, the islands of the East Indies 



have hardwoods. If American lum- 

 bermen do not strike while the iron 

 is hot, they will miss their chance, 

 for lumber sales will not come to us 

 unsought ; but they will come if well- 

 planned methods are employed to 

 bring them. We have the best and 

 cheapest hardwoods in the world, and 

 advantageous sales opportunities are 

 before us. 



Artificial Building Re- 

 strictions 



lUILDING HOUSES is forbid- 



B' 



except by special government per- 

 mission, and the restriction is caus- 

 ing more or less complaint among 

 persons who are willing to erect 

 houses but are not allowed to do so. 

 Everything else is sacrificed that 

 the war may go on. Wood which 

 ordinarily might go into buildings is 

 taken for military purposes; labor 

 which during times of peace is em- 

 ployed in the erection of houses, is 

 now occupied in the production of 

 munitions or other war supplies. The 

 government has discouraged all occu- 

 pations which have a tendency to 

 hinder the prosecution of the war, and the people have generally 

 consented to it, though occasional complaints are heard from persons 

 who are prepared to erect buildings for their own use. The govern- 

 ment agents justify the non-building order on the claim that materials 

 and labor are so high that no private building is possible; but on the 

 other side, it is asserted that some such work could be done in spite 

 of high prices. 



The logical conclusion is that when the war restrictions have 

 been removed there will be a period of phenomenal building activity 

 in the British Isles. American lumbermen should be in a position 

 to make the most of the opportunity when it arrives. England and 

 Scotland by that time will be stripped of native timber, and there 

 will be no stocks of lumber on hand there. The material must come 

 from the forests of other lands. The Scandinavian countries can 

 furnish considerable amounts of softwoods, mostly spruce, but the 

 chief supply of hardwood must come from America. At least, it 

 will come from America if the Americans prepare for the trade. 

 It will be possible, however, for the British builders to procure 

 hardwoods elsewhere than in America, and for that reason, lumber- 

 men in this country should not deceive themselves into the belief 

 that the trade will come, whether we reach out after it or not. 



