20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



April 



white oak. The present consumption of gum (by this we mean the com- 

 plete product oi the gum log, sap as well as red) Is probably as great, or 

 greater, than that of all other hardwoods combined, and the grade 

 you have selected — Is and 2s red — constitutes probably not to exceed 2Vi 

 per cent of the entire log run product. The decline in the price of this 

 grade, since January, 1020, has been 50 per cent and from the peak 61.9 

 per cent, but you will observe that this is the smallest percentage of 

 decline on any gnido produced from a gum log. On white oak, the other 

 southern hardwood which you selected, you also base your calculations 

 entirely on the grade of Is and 2s. This grade in white oak constitutes 

 about 10 percent of the log product. You will note that while the decllni' 

 in price on this grade has been 55.9 per cent from .Tanuary, 1020. and 

 05.9 per cent from the peak, this decline is still less than in the other 

 grades of this wood. 



When Profits Are Not Profits 

 With all due respect for your opinbm, and realizing that you have had 

 years of experience in the field that you occupy, we cannot help but feel 

 that «ven if your information as to prices was correct, that you are pro- 

 ceeding on the wrong basis in making your analysis, when you limit your 



consideration to the grades that constitute such a small percentage of the 

 total product. 



We can conceive a siluation when due to a subnormal i)roduclion, and 

 an abnormal consumption of Is and 2s, the price on this grade would be 

 exceedingly high, and still due to the fact that there would be a surplus of 

 the lower grades, the average price to the producer would not yield a 

 profit. Under such circumstances, the prices on the lower grades might 

 really be below their intrinsic value, and still your opinion, being based 

 entirely on Is and 28, would doubtless be that prices were too high, and 

 in the issuance of your bulletin this would naturally be thought by your 

 clients to apply to all grades. 



It seems to us that a correct analysis of the lumber situation must 

 embody : 



(1) Accurate information as to prices, based on actual sales. 



(2) ■ The inclusion of all grades, and consideration of the average price 

 realized. 



(.3) The gradual lowering of the average quality, and the necessity 

 therefor for constantly increasing prices on specific grades. 



(4> The constantly increasing cost of production, under the same labor 

 and supply costs. 



Milling'tfi'Transit Battle Is Won 



Tlie Southern II.Trdwood Traffic Association lias scored anotlur 

 triuiniili in securing from the interst;ito coinmorcc coininissiou an 

 order to the carriers to put into efl'ect, at Memphis and Louisville, 

 Ky.. not later tlian July 20, 1921, transit arrangements vphich will 

 enahlc lumber interests at those two points to manufacture, yard, 

 dry, assort and otherwise rehaudlc forest products and then reship 

 them, within a year, on the through rate point of origin to desti- 

 nation, with a reasonable charge for the stop-over privilege. 



Anuouncemont of the decision came to Memphis in a telegram 

 from the commission and officers of the association arc elated over 

 the ruling. There are certain transit arrangements at Memphis 

 and Louisville now, voluntarily installed by the carriers, but these 

 ari' hedged about with restrictions which impose a considerable 

 handicap and they are nothing like as broad or as workable as those 

 to be installed under the new order of the commission. 



J. H. Townshend, secretary-manager of the association, estimates 

 that $5,000,000 will be invested in new mills and woodworking 

 plants in Memphis within the next year as a result of the decision, 

 that there will be rapid increase in the number of yards opened 

 here, and that tremendous impetus will be given to the establish- 

 ment of plants for dressing and resawing as well as for the manu- 

 facture of flooring, boxes, cooperage stock, veneers, handle, wheels, 

 spokes and other wood products. He points out that transporta- 

 tion costs are now so high that every pound of waste possible must 

 be eliminated, thus furnishing an unparalleled opportunity for 

 plants engaged in dressing, resawing and fabricating forest prod- 

 ucts of all kinds. He likewise predicts that the decision will re- 

 store Memphis to its position as the leading hardwood lumber 

 m;irkct in the world, which it occupied from 1900 to 1909. In the 

 l.-ist-named year transit arrangements were withdrawn and yard- 

 ing interests began an exodus from Memphis which continued until 

 only four or five are left. 



James E. Stark, a former president of the association and the 

 principal witness in the transit hearing at Memphis in March 1920, 

 is authority for the statement that transit arrangements are both 

 a " conimerei.'il and economic necessity" and declares his belief 

 that there will be rapid establishment of assorting yards in Mem- 

 phis for taking care of all kinds, grailcs and thicknesses of lumber 

 produced by the smaller mills throughout the southern hardwood 

 producing territory. He also emphasizes that further treatment 

 than that given by the smaller mills is absolutely essential, thus 

 preparing the way for unusual activity on the part of fabricating 

 plants. He regards the decision as a vital factor in assuring the 

 permanence of Memphis as a lumber manufacturing, yarding and 

 fabricating center. 



C. A. New, assistant secretary of the association, characterizes 



the decision as "epochal" in tliat it marks a new ''milestone" 

 along the tariff way. 



Although the order calls for tariff by .July 20, 1921, the associa- 

 tion is of the opinion that these will become effective before that 

 date, some of them probably within the next thirty days. 



Louisville jobbers will now be in a position to buy up the outjiut 

 of manj' small mills in Kentucky, Tennessee, the Virginias, Arkan- 

 sas, Louisiana, etc., shipping the lumber to Louisville to be graded, 

 sorted and finished, then reshipping in straight grade, car lots. : 

 This will aid the small mill operator especially. 



J. S. Thompson, manager of the Louisville division, has .just' 

 gotten out a letter to members, calling their attention to the salient , 

 points of the decision. 



Have Days of Cheap Lumber Gone Forever? 



"There can be no cheap lumber in the future," declared R. W. 

 Hibberson of Victoria, B. C, in addressing the Associated Boards 

 of Trade in Vancouver recently. Mr. Hibberson gave warning 

 that a timber famine was inevitable in British Columbia, as well 

 as in other less fortunately situated countries, unless adequate 

 measures for conservation were adopted. He held that to meet 

 the requirements of the situation the provincial forest branch 

 should be reorganized. 



"To the average man in the street," said Mr. lIihl)erson, "Brit- 

 ish Columbia is all timbered. He travels by train through the 

 interior of British Columbia, or by steamer up the coast, and every- 

 where looks green; therefore, it must be timbered. If you told 

 him there is every danger of timber famine in British Columbia 

 within fifteen years you would be ridiculed. But there is a very 

 decided danger of a timber famine, and before many years lapse 

 we will all begin to feel it. 



Ten years ago the center of the logging industry was within a railius 

 of fifty miles of Vancouver. Today it is from one hundrp<1 and fifty to 

 two hundred miles from Vancouver, and in some cases operators arc tow- 

 ing logs as far as six hundred miles to their mills, and an average tow 

 of two hundred miles is quite common. Ten years ago the average cost, 

 of logging was .$5 per thousand feet: today it is nearly ?20 per thousand 

 feet, and in some of cedar camps last year the cost was over this figure. 

 Ten years ago most of our logging was done within a mib' of the salt 

 water ; today we are hauling by railroad ten to twenty, and in some cases 

 more, miles by railroad, to salt water, before we commence to tow logs 

 to the mill. 



Timber Supplies Are Receding 



The interior of British Columbia has the same condition,-. Where for- 

 merly sawmills were built in the heart of the timber, today logs are 

 brotight distances up to seventy miles by water and by rail. This means 

 heavy expense, and conditions are getting worse every day. The general 

 iContintivtl on patjc 21) 



