34 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



the cost. In the southern Appalachians the 

 logging problem is of first iniportanec. The 

 river is giWng placo to the railroad as a 

 carrier of logs and this means an increase in 

 costs, which umst necessarily give permanency 

 10 the market and cause values gradually to 

 increase. To my mind, the hardwood indus- 

 try east of the Mississippi river occupies a 

 position almost imique among industrial op 



orations of anything like relative size and 

 importance. The difficulties surrounding pro- 

 duction more effectually control the supply 

 than any agreement or understanding possi- 

 bly could. A heavy fall of snow, a landslide 

 ur a washout will do more to curtail prodnc- 

 liou than any human agency, and that is the 

 feature of mountain logging which every op- 

 erator iTuist take into account. 



The policy of the Hardwood Manufactur- 

 ers' Association of the United States is not 

 changing, but we are endeavoring to broaden 

 our work so as to take in all approved mod- 

 ern metliods of educating ourselves and our 

 customers, realizing that as soon as w-e all 

 know we will be able to do business with 

 greater satisfaction and on a more profitable 

 basis. 



Influence of Veneer Industry on the Lumber Trade 



The subject of the effect on the lumber 

 trade of the widening scope of the veneer 

 business is one which offers opportunity for 

 volumes to be written, for in every direction 

 one finds that the use and manufacture of 

 veneers touches the lumber business. Inas- 

 much as twenty-five years ago the veneer busi- 

 ness, one may almost say, was in its infancy, 

 it is evident that the new phases which it 

 has developed in the lumber trade have been 

 created within the past quarter of a century. 



To say that the available supply of timber 

 is getting smaller is to repeat a well known 

 fact; yet that, of course, is one of the prime 

 factors in the increased consumption of 

 veneers. As timber has been used up and the 

 work of getting out logs has become more 

 diflScult, the average .size of the log has been 

 reduced in direct proportion as its quality has 

 deteriorated. 



As long as there was plenty of excellent 

 limber, easily obtainable, the necessity for 

 the use of veneers was not so apparent; but 

 with good timber scarce and high and poor 

 logs flooding the market, the use of veneers 

 has solved an industrial problem that would 

 otherwise have assumed tremendous propor- 

 tions. 



By enabling inferior wood to be used as the 

 center or core for tops and panels, an outlet 

 for low-grade material has been found, while 

 the cutting of the finer logs into veneers has 

 enabled clear and beautiful stock to be used 

 generally in the manufacture of furniture, 

 doors and other veneer-consuming articles. 

 Thus the veneer trade has made a real contri- 

 bution to the wealth of the world — one which 

 I believe has not been fully realized. 



Beginning at the beginning, that is, at the 

 tree, the veneer man is of course the com- 

 petitor of the lumberman. In order to make 

 the best, the manufacturer of veneers and 

 panels must buy the best. The log market 

 knows him as a "bull," therefore, because he 

 least ■ of any can afford to accept inferior 

 logs. The lumberman can buy a round lot of 

 logs, grading and selling the lumber manu- 

 factured from them, without a qualm; while 

 for the veneer man, to attempt to do likewise 

 immediately involves him in difficulties, unless 

 he has a sawmill which can manufacture the 

 logs thrown into the discard for veneer manu- 

 facturing purposes. Some manufacturers 

 have found it advisable to do this; but that 

 is another story. 



While the growing scarcity of timber has 



By D. E. KLINE 



thus created an immensely widened market 

 for veneers, and apparently multiplied the 

 opportunities of those in the trade for profit- 

 able operations, that is only one side of the 

 case. The other is not so encouraging. 



Eeferences to the files of more than one 

 veneer concern, my own included, would show 

 that the veneer manufacturer, at all events, 

 has not been adjudged a laborer worthy of 

 his hire. Instead of getting the increased re- 

 turns on the investment of capital, experience 

 and labor which the increased contributions he 

 has been making would seem to warrant, his 

 returns have been steadily diminishing. 



The veneer man necessarily has been a con- 

 sumer of high-grade timber. He has there- 

 fore had to pay the highest prices in a rising 



D. E. KLINE, PRESIDENT LOUISVILLE 

 VENEEK MILLS, LOUISVILLE, KY. 



market. Good logs have been hard to get 

 even under these conditions, so that it is no 

 wonder that we are paying from 66% to 100 

 per cent more than was the case twenty or 

 twenty-five years ago, if, indeed, one need to 

 go back that far. 



Reference to prices being paid for veneers 

 and panels today does not show that anything 

 like an adequate increase in the seUing price 

 of veneers has followed this enormous ad- 

 vance in the cost of logs. As a matter of 

 fact, there has been little or no increase in 

 the prices of most items on the stock list. 

 As the cost of timber enters into the pro- 



ducing cost to the extent of nearly 50 per 

 cent, it does not take one skilled in higher 

 mathematics to reach the conclusion that the 

 veneer manufacturer, in spite of his larger 

 output and the increased consumption and 

 demand for his product, is getting a smaller 

 return now than he did twenty-five years ago. 



There is ground to believe, however, that 

 more scientific methods of manufacture, in- 

 cluding better systems of accounting, more 

 careful estimating, greater efficiency in the 

 mill, etc., will aid in improving conditions 

 in this respect. Inasmuch as the demand for 

 \eneers inevitably will continue to increase, 

 as the cost of timber advances, the veneer 

 trade should see to it that it is in a position 

 to take advantage of this situation. 



At first glance, the growing consumption of 

 \eneers would indicate that the lumberman 

 had been losing business. 



As the furniture manufacturer of today is 

 veneering the major portion of his output, as 

 contrasted with the far greater use of solid 

 material by the manufacturer of a quarter of 

 a century ago, it might be asked, is not the 

 veneer trade definitely injuring the lumber 

 business? 



The obvious answer to this is that a large 

 \olume of the furniture manufactured is not 

 veneered, containing solid material; wliile 

 even that portion which is made of veneered 

 stock contains a big percentage of lumber 

 \\hich is not veneered. And, on the other 

 hand, with the supply of high-grade lumber 

 as it is today, it would be impossible to sup- 

 ply material of that description in sufficient 

 ciuantities to turn out the present volume of 

 furniture, if it were all made of solid material 

 and of good lumber. 



It is thus apparent that the use of veneers 

 lias conserved the lumber supply. It has made 

 a good white oak log serve in the manufac- 

 ture of hundreds of pieces instead of a score. 

 It has made the available supply enough to 

 go around, so that instead of there being a 

 tremendous shortage of lumber there is a 

 supply sufficient for the needs of the market. 

 At this time, unfortunately, lumbermen might 

 be inclined to say that they would prefer 

 that conservation be not so carefully prac- 

 ticed, and that the only shortage that they 

 can see is a shortage of demand. However, 

 that is a temporary condition which does not 

 affect the general economic proposition in- 

 volved. 



Besides preventing the consumption of high- 



