i2 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



passenger car; the increasing use of steel and concrete poles ami 

 posts; the gradual elimination of wood in vehicles; the concrete 

 silo- and kindred other commodities where wood once held com- 

 plete sway. Of course, the counter-argument is that although the 

 use of substitutes is increasing, so is the country, and the demand 

 for wood will remain strong enough for it to maintain at least its 

 present status. Were I a lumberman I should prefer not to be 

 blinded by such optimism. The demand for high-grade lumber will 

 probably always be with us, as is indicated by the character of our 

 lumber exports; so the by-products plant, which is primarily 

 adapted for waste and low-grade material, will not annihilate the 

 sawmill, but simply supplement it." 



There is another phase of the situation that must be considered 

 bv the lumberman who contemplates the construction of a plant 

 to utilize his by-products, and that is that there must be a sufficient 

 amount of material with which to work and this material must be 

 available for the future as well as the present. It is entirely possi- 

 ble for a company to erect a sawmill for a ten years' cut and then 

 dismantle the plant. The by-product industries mentioned above 

 are too costly for temporary operation. It is largely because of this 

 fact that a greater number of forest-products plants are not in 

 operation, and if thq number of such plants is to increase, there 

 must be an assured supply of raw material for years to come. That 

 this will eventually be the case no one familiar with conditions in 

 well-managed forests abroad can deny. In Germany, for instance, 

 the sawmills and associated products plants are permanent struc- 

 tures with a perpetual supply of timber. When the time comes 

 here that the lumberman considers his forest as a definite and 

 permanent part of his plant to be maintained as such, the objection 

 just cited will cease to exist. 



"We will admit,'' says Mr. Weiss, "that enormous wastes are 

 takinir place, but these wastes can never be utilized until the 

 thousands of scattered holdings are combined into' efficient working 

 units and hundreds of inefficient sawmills now operating and fur- 

 nishing lumber to the open market are exterminated. * » * i 

 do not advocate and am by no means in favor of depriving these 

 little backwoods sawyers of a living. They have as much right to 

 live as any of us; but what I do believe is that in general their 

 operations should cease with the conversion of the standing tree 

 into logs and delivery at a marketable point. There is no more 

 reason why such little operators should send lumber to the general 

 market than there is for farmers to send dead pigs to Chicago. On 

 the other hand, there is just as good a reason why these little 

 fellows should make lumber for their home consumption as there is 

 for the farmer to kill his pigs for home consumption. I realize 

 the monopolistic danger of the scheme advocated, but monopoly 

 can and will be overcome. There is a sharp distinction between 

 efficient operation and monopoly. If our forests are to be efficiently 

 used and not ruthlessly destroyed, we must have them combined 

 into sufficiently large working units, so that conservative utilization 

 is practical. To do this the actual purchase and ownership of the 

 land by large holding companies may not always be necessary. 

 But the increased efficiency of utilization would make it impracti- 

 cable for the destructive and inefficient mills, whether large or 

 small, to operate, because they could not compete with the efficient 

 mills, and would consequently be undersold. Kot until this is 

 accomplished can forest utilization ever approach the efficiency 

 with which other big resources are now used. ' ' 



There is no reason to suppose that it will not be done ultimately, 

 but it will take time. 



\;;^ia^;»awroimwTOTOmi)iTOTO : i>tm:^^^ 



The Export of Round Logs 



Round logs of numerous sizes, various kinds, and for many 

 destinations leave the United States yearly. Until a year or two 

 ago the customs house records kept few details as to kinds of 

 wood and even now little information as to sizes is obtainable. 

 The article is called a log whether it is the little dogwood billet. 

 with the bark on, that is bound for a shuttle factory in Scotland, 

 or a pine tree a hundred feet long "to be the mast of some great 

 ammiral. " There are all kinds and sizes between. Formerly 

 there was only one class in export statistics, and that class was 

 simply "logs," except that round logs were never mixed with 

 hewed timbers. At the present time there are four kinds of 

 round logs recognized, hickory, oak, walnut, and "all other." 

 Occasionally the "all other" class is subdivided in certain reports. 

 It is very much larger than the three other classes combined. The 

 export of hickory logs during the year 1912 is shown in the follow- 

 ing table, and also the value as given in the invoice at the point 

 of shipment. Comparison with former years cannot be shown 

 because separate statistics were not kept prior to 1912. 

 Hickory Log Exports in 1912. 

 Country— Feet B. M. VmUk' 



Belgium 218,000 $ 8.260 



France 668,000 24.66.'j 



Germany 998,000 32,356 



Netherlands 870.000 30,794 



Norway 9.000 240 



England 4,370,000 144.867 



Scotland 638,000 20.014 



Ireland 188,000 (5.933 



Canada 69,000 2,917 



Panama 1,000 20 



Uruguay 3,000 200 



New Zealand 2,000 237 



Portuguese Africa 3,000 219 



Total 7,974,000 ,f273,722 



The foregoing table shows no exports to South Africa, yet a 

 recent consular report from that country speaks of the presence 



of tlie wood there, imported at a value of si.\ty-yine cents a cubic 

 foot, witliout the added freight. It may, however, be some form 

 of the wood other than round logs, as the reports are not explicit 

 ou that subject. Consul K. A. Wakefield, at Port Elizabeth, who 

 made the report, made a statement which American dealers in 

 hickorj- ought to carefully consider. "Australian hickory is 

 cheaper than the American product," says he. "The invoice 

 prices average about sixty-two cents per cubic foot, while the 

 American is invoiced around sixty-nine cents." Every American 

 lumberman knows that no hickory grows in Australia. The crow- 

 foot elm of that country is palmed off as hickory where the trick 

 can be turned, but it is a long way from hickor}'. Apparently an 

 American consul, whose business in the foreign country is to look 

 after this country's interests in trade, has been deceived as to 

 the "Australian hickory," and he seems to think that it is the 

 same thing as the liickory from this country, except cheaper. 

 Kvidently the fact has not yet been widely-enough published that 

 liickory grows nowhere except in America. Those who claim to 

 sell this wood from another country are palming off something as 

 a substitute. 



Consul Samuel H. Shank, stationed at Fiume, Austria, reports 

 that dealers in that part of the country are willing to handle 

 hickory but are unable to get it except by the round-about way 

 of Germany, which causes much delay and expense. Exporters 

 of hickory might bear that statement in mind and see if the people 

 who want to buy the wood cannot be accommodated. 



The export of logs is only a part of the hickory that goes to 

 foreign countries. Much crosses the sea in a manufactured or 

 partly manufactured condition, as vehicle stock, handles, and 

 articles of various kinds. 



The average invoice value of round black walnut logs exported 

 to foreign countries is about $66 a thousand feet, log measure, 

 which is supposed to be approximately the same as board measure. 

 More walnut goes to foreign markets than is used at homo, but the 



