14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



August 10. 1922 



effort to bring about a needed reform BY CHANGING THE RULES 

 OF THE GAME; and every man is entitled to say, and nearly all 

 conservative men will say, ' ' the old rules are best. ' ' Every one of 

 us knows the unscientific character and clumsiness of the English 

 system of weights and measures. Nevertheless scarcely one of us 

 would vote for or assist in the adoption of the metric system in our 

 own business. We will think and work in inches and feet forever 

 amen. 



Tlie Second Position 



At the Chicago conference, there was offered an advance over 

 the situation which developed in Washington. A meeting ground 

 was offered by using the studies of the United States Forest Serv- 

 ice, as to uniform grading rules for soft woods. Whether this new 

 basis will be generally acceptable is decidedly a question. At all 

 events the Chicago conference was not sufficiently representative of 

 the Lumber Industry to be a criterion. The possibilities are very 

 great. 



The Missing Factor 



The missing factor in all these deliberations, so far, is summed up 

 in the word utility. Whether or not standardization of lumber and 

 other commodities is a constructive or destructive program depends 

 entirely upon the relation of such program to utility. Like fire, 

 standardization is a good servant, but a bad master. Any standard- 

 ization which does not clearly serve a sound economic purpose is 

 always dangerous and probably vicious. Furthermore, the burden 

 of proof rests upon the proposed standardization, rather than upon 

 existing practices. This burden of proof must be met not only with 

 respect to the project as a whole, but also with respect to the par- 

 ticulars of the project. The utility, the uet usefulness to the com- 

 monwealth, is the Court before which every standardization project 

 must he haled and tried. 



To illustrate how far the Lumber industry is from this basic re- 

 quirement, I recall that a large part of an afternoon session of the 

 Chicago conference was spent on the question of whether a finished 

 one-inch board should be 25 or 26 thirty-seconds of an inch in thick- 

 ness; 80 to speak, whether 25 or 26 angels could stand on the point 

 of a needle. Not once was the question broached as to whether the 

 whole question of thickness was not arbitrary, and whether a check 

 up would not show that neither thickness was soundly utilitarian 

 and economic. 



In the same class, comes the noise made so loudly by the archi- 

 tectural fraternity against the standardization of millwork. It is 

 not improbable that a careful analysis of the demand for mouldings 

 — let us say — will show that architectural specifications which run 

 outside the established designs for mouldings may be as much as 

 five percent of the total footage annually consumed. The writer 

 sign an original and meritorious special moulding. The truth about 

 tnese and thousands of similar questions will not be found by swap- 

 ping opinions, but by rigorous scientific investigation of the actual 

 doubts that it is as much as two percent. Furthermore, some 

 veteran millmen claim that not one architect in a hundred can de- 

 facti. 



The Missing Viewpoint. 



Not less striking than the "missing factor" of utility as the 

 guide of standardization, is the relatively complete absence of the 

 economic viewpoint. I do not mean to suggest that the economic 

 point of view is not present in the minds of business men. How- 

 ever that may be, it is certain that few realize that back of this 

 attack upon the problems of marketing lumber — of which the nam- 

 ing and marking of clearly determined lumber grades is only 

 a detail — is the irresistible urge of a new economic age. For lum- 

 bermen, this new economic age is appalling. We face reserves 

 fast diminishing both in quality and quantity; we face new and 

 permanent higher levels of cost from stump to paid invoice. Wal- 

 lace and his forest service. Hoover and his "simplifications" divi- 

 sion, and so on down the line arc not responsible for this attempt 

 to adjust the program of the lumber industries so that they will 

 conform to economic law and escape destruction. They are but 

 watchmen warning us before it is too late. To quote Grover 



Cleveland, "Gentlemen, we are confronted by a condition not a 



theory. ' ' 



What Is the Matter with the National Hardwood Grading Kules? 



The writer raises this question with regard to the National 

 Hardwood Inspection Rules, because they represent probably the 

 highest development of lumber inspection rules, to the best of his 

 knowledge and belief. The answer to the question, "What is the 

 matter with the National Hardwood Inspection Rules?" can be 

 put in a few words. The National hardwood inspection rules send 

 to the junk pile at least four boards out of every ten that fall 

 from the saw. All of No. 3 common and part of No. 2 common 

 are locked behind economic barriers which did not exist when this 

 great system of inspection rules was developed. It is with a 

 feeling of profound regret that truth compels us to accept the 

 verdict that the hardwood inspection rules are in direct opposi- 

 tion to economic law, and that their operation under new condi- 

 tions has brought the hardwood industry into a position of ex- 

 treme jeopardy. Furthermore they develop now such an enormous 

 waste of lumber that federal interference would probably be legal 

 as well as justified. It was a monumental bridge which the Na- 

 tional hardwood inspection rules built between the producer and 

 consumer the world over. It used to carry all the traflSc originated 

 by the hardwood mills of all America, but now it sags under the 

 load, and can only carry 60 per cent of that load. So the old 

 bridge must progressively make way for one that will handle the 

 traffic of the new era, and make way without interrupting that 

 traffic. 



Rebridging Niagara Gorge. 



Eight or ten years ago it became necessary for the Grand Trunk 

 Railway to remove the famous suspension bridge over the Niagara 

 Gorge, to make way for a structure which would carry modern 

 rolling stock. The new structure was not a suspension bridge,, 

 but a cantilever. Nevertheless the new type of bridge was built 

 in and around the old, beautiful structure in such a way that 

 traffic was never interrupted. One day the new structure was com- 

 plete and the old bridge was gone; but the commerce of the world 

 flowed on uninterrupted during the great transition. 

 Rebridging the Market Gorge. 



Most of us are agreed that the old bridge between producer, 

 and consumer, built of our sundry and various systems of lum- 

 ber grading rules, is antiquated and unsafe, and must be replaced. 

 This bridge has been tinkered and repaired to the limit, and must 

 be junked. But the process of installing the new structure and 

 tearing out of the old must go on, at equal pace, in order that 

 the commerce of the world may flow on uninterrupted during this 

 Kieat transition. 



A Task of Years of Scientific Work. 



It has taken us fifty years to complete the old bridge, which 

 the new world-wide economic situation made obsolete almost over- 

 night. Its replacement is no job for hasty hectic conference of 

 jealous, alarmed, and suspicious lumber groups. It is a task of 

 years of scientific work. Each member of the new bridge must 

 lie a proven member, shown by test to be able to carry its share- 

 lit' the great load, before it is placed in position. Is it not obvioua 

 that the adoption of any ready made or hastily made standard 

 inspection rules for all lumber products should be regarded with 

 su,spicion? Is not the job too big, and the hazards too great to- 

 warrant the acceptance of summary proposals along this linef 

 Have we not already in hand all needed evidence to convince us 

 that the structure which we must now erect must be a new type^ 

 .uid that the plans of the old bridge cannot be revamped for thi» 

 structure? 



The Basic Engineering Problem. 



Like many another major operation, the basic problem of this- 

 -Iructure is very simple and easy to understand; while the ap- 

 i'lication of the principles will task all available skill. The final 

 ^iilution of the problem of lumber standardization reqsires no more 

 :m(l no less than for the lumber producer to furnish what the lum- 

 1" I lonsumer requires, subject to such conditions as are necessary 

 (Co»tiiiur(t oti jtatjc 20) 



