14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



March 10, 1917 



cover their future needs, at least for a reasonable period ahead, and 

 should not hesitate to do so when they are offered the opportunity 

 at terms that appear at all favorable now. 



The Cover Picture 



AEBORVITAE OE NORTHERN WHITE CEDAR is often a 

 waste land tree. It may flourish in swamps where its most con- 

 genial companion is the tamarack, or it may betake itself to stony 

 land and the brows and faces of steep cliffs or to the talus that 

 accumulate at the bases of precipices. It is a tree, therefore, which is 

 able to suit itself to eircumstanees, but in making choice of situations 

 it almost invariably selects the worst and keeps away from the best. 

 However, if these trees can secure a foothold in good soil, and if 

 they are protected there against the aggression of intolerant trees, 

 they thrive to perfection. In view of that, it is apparent that arbor- 

 vitae does not occupy poor ground because it prefers it, but because 

 it is safer there from crowding by stronger species which cannot 

 grow in such unfavorable situations. 



The picture illustrating this issue of Hardwood Record represents 

 an arborvitae thicket near Syracuse, N. Y. The growth is dense, as is 

 shown by the deep shadows below and the strong contrasts where light 

 penetrates from above. Few forests are more nearly impenetrable 

 than one of this cedar where the soil is suitable and is well stocked. 

 In less favorable situations, such as ledges and rocky escarpments, 

 the growth of this cedar may be scattered and dispersed, forming 

 only a tuft, dump, or solitary tree here and there. 



The species has a wide geographical range. Its northern limit lies 

 some hundreds of miles north of the Canadian border, and it follows 

 the mountain ranges southward to the high country of western Caro- 

 lina and eastern Tennessee; but in those mountains the trees are 

 scattered and small, of no value for commercial purposes and of little 

 interest to anybody. In the north country arborvitae is of great value 

 for telephone poles and fence posts, and of somewhat less value for 

 cross-ties. It resists decay well, but the wood is so soft that rails cut 

 into the ties. It is of peculiar value for skiffs and light boats, because 

 of its lightness and toughness. 



It was formerly popular as paving blocks and hundreds of mUes 

 of streets in northern cities were paved with it. Round poles from 

 five to eight inches in diameter were crosscut to proper lengths for 

 blocks and they were put down without creosoting, and lasted well, but 

 this wood has nearly passed out of use as paving material, having 

 given way to rectangular blocks of creosoted pine and fir. 



Arborvitae is extensively planted for ornament in yards and parks. 

 As a hedge it is not surpassed by any evergreen tree of this country. 



British Lumber Prohibition 



AMERICA WILL SUFFER LITTLE from the complete prohibition 

 of lumber imports by Great Britain, as foreshadowed by the 

 speech of Lloyd George in parliament, February 24. Imports of 

 lumber are to be prohibited as a part of the policy of the British 

 government to release ships to carry other commodities which are of 

 greater necessity than lumber. 



The announcement was received in some quarters in this country as 

 though it were a matter of great importance to American lumber 

 exporters. Our lumber interests wUl not be hit much harder than they 

 were hit before. Our lumber trade with the British Isles was cut down 

 to a low figure months ago, and the further restriction cannot hurt 

 much, for the reason that our shipments to those ports are now rela- 

 tively small, and their complete elimination cannot entail much more 

 loss. 



It may surprise some people to learn that during the year 1916 the 

 island of Cuba bought half as much lumber from us as we sold to 

 the British isles. Our lumber sales to the British did not exceed a 

 mUlion dollars a month. That is hardly a drop in the bucket compared 

 with our entire lumber business, and its loss will not affect us much, 

 one way or the other. 



The British order will hit Norway and Sweden much harder than 

 it hits the United States. The English intend to cut their own 

 forests and make them go as far as possible. If the war goes on 



another year, it will cause the practical cleanup of all the timber in 

 England and Scotland. Never before was there such" a search for 

 resources as there is now. France is cutting its forests, also, and is 

 helping to supply England. 



Our timber may be shut from European markets at present, but 

 when the war is over the demand wiU make up for all slackness 

 durino- war times. In the meantime, other world markets are open 

 to us and a good deal of former competition is gone. We ought to be 

 able to make up in Central and South America and West Indies, and in 

 the Orient, more than we have temporarily lost in Europe. 



Injustice in New Tariffs 



FROM THE STANDPOINT OF HANDLING and expense involved, 

 and of necessity for such action, the new reconsignment charges 

 promulgated in recently issued railroad tariffs surely do not seem to 

 be justified, no matter what the railroads' purpose behind them 

 may be. The concrete and final result of such new charges would be 

 merely that the ultimate cost of lumber to the man who writes the 

 final check will be raised in direct ratio to the amount of the charges. 

 While it is true that the reconsignment privilege has been abused 

 and, in fact, that it has been detrimental in many cases to markets, 

 it has its proper application and its proper place if taken advantage 

 of with due regard to stable markets in the commodities thus handled. 

 The immediately drastic effect which the institution of these new 

 charges would have on certain branches of the lumber industry would 

 certainly not be justified by whatever plea the railroads could make 

 as to the necessity for the now tariffs. It would be quite impossible 

 for them to prove that these added charges are at all necessary. 



Killing Was Justified 



A BAD BILL HAS BEEN KILLED IN TEXAS. The legislature 

 did the job. It was a bill introduced into that body and 

 intended to make unlawful the laying of any wooden roof in that 

 state. The fact that such a measure had backing enough to get 

 into the legislature and reach a committee before it was killed 

 is proof th^t the substitute roofing interests have both gall and 

 power in the Lone Star commonwealth. To have written into the 

 statutes of the state a measure which at one stroke would have 

 outlawed the material which perhaps eight}' per cent of the people 

 use for roofing, would have been a remarkable illustration of the 

 power of the "interests." The legislature is to be commended for 

 its alertness in discovering and knocking out so pernicious a 

 measure before it emerged from the committee room. 



The lumber associations and the Texas carpenters' unions quickly 

 came to the front to oppose the passage of the bill and to them is 

 due much of the credit for its defeat. Eternal vigilance is the only 

 way to guard wood against the substitutes which seek to crowd it 

 from places which it has held always and for which it is well fitted. 

 It has been no uncommon thing for campaigns against wooden roofs 

 to be carried on in cities and towns; but Texas seems to be the first 

 state that has been attacked as a whole, including rural communities 

 as well as cities. Had the measure gotten by, the whole state of 

 Texas would soon have smelled like tar paper. 



High Price of Cement 



MANUFACTURERS OF SUBSTITUTES INTENDED TO TAKE 

 THE PLACE OF LUMBER have been more than once accused, 

 justly or unjustly, of spreading reports among the people to the 

 effect that lumber is too expensive to use and that substitutes can 

 take its place. Just now, however, it is cement and not lumber that 

 is on the defensive. The case to the point is in West Virginia. The 

 people of that state were liberal at last fall's elections and voted 

 $15,000,000 in bonds to build roads in numerous counties. The 

 newspapers there claim that the cement people thought big sales 

 were certain, and in order to make the most of the opportunity, 

 raised the price of cement 16 cents a barrel, putting it to $2.26. 



It develops that the large sales were not so certain as some 

 people supposed, for it is now proposed to postpone the road building 

 untU cement comes down within reach. Contracts have not yet 

 been let. 



