16 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



June 10, 1921 



their business ethical and systematic. This resulted iu National 

 Rules for Insjiection, which the members of the association are every 

 year striving to bring nearer to perfection, just as statesmen con- 

 tinually endeavor to jierfeet their instrument of government. 



This has dignified the hardwood lumber industry by giving it 

 standards around which its members might rally and stand for 

 something that they could make others respect. 



This is real statesmanship, strong statesmanship, such as buildcd 

 America and all its characteristic institutions. This explains why 

 the officers of this association report year after year a substantial 

 growth in membership. The association is growing with the Ee- 

 public. Long life to it, and may it always so well reflect the strength, 

 the courage and the intelligence of the men who compose the hard- 

 wood industry! 



The Improved Transportation Outlook 



THK TKANSPOKTATIUN SiTl.'ATlUN presents a more hopeful 

 view to the lumber industry today than it has at any time 

 since the increases authorized under Ex Parte 74 went into effect. 

 There are two matters that particularly contribute to this more 

 hopeful aspect. The first is the 12 per cent reduction in wages 

 authorized for July 1, and the second is the joint conference be- 

 tween railway executives and lumber manufacturers and con- 

 sumers held in Washington on June 2. The first incident mentioned 

 means that the railroads' contention that they can not reduce 

 rates and pay expenses has been greatly weakened. The potential 

 saving of $400,000,000 on the annual wage budget, putting back 

 around where it was before the last wage increases were granted, 

 will certainly be a forceful argument for those who contend that 

 rates are too high. Then, in the second place, the arguments pre- 

 sented by the lumber representatives at the "Washington conference 

 are so conclusive that it does not seem {)Ossible the railway execu- 

 tives can further hold out against reductions on lumber, particu- 

 larly hardwoods. 



It is easy to understand the hopeful attitude of J. H. Townshend, 

 secretary-manager of the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association, 

 expressed in other columns of this issue. Such testimony as the 

 following, which the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association 

 reported as having developed at the conference, seems inescapable: 



It was (lovnloped at this meeting that over 80 per cent of the hardwood 

 mills of tile south, southwestern and .-Xppalachian regions were closed 

 and that owing to the tremendous increases that had liecome effective on 

 the inbound logs and outbound manufactured lumber, these mills would 

 not be able to operate until the freight rates hurt been adjusted so as to 

 enable them to compete with lumber and substitutes produced at the ver.v 

 doors of the consuming trade. A reiiresentative of the Michigan hardwood 

 territory stated that when the logs he had on hand were manufactured 

 he would close his mills, as he could not afford to cut at a continued loss. 



In reply to a direct intjuiry frttni the railroad executives as to how 

 present prices of hardwoods compared with those of lOK*. the lumber- 

 men stated that current average prices were in some instances as much 

 as 30 per cent lower than prices prevailing in lliKi. 



Such mills as are operating are taking the very cream of the logs in the 

 forest, resulting in a grave economic loss to the country, because over 56 

 per cent of the timber is not hauled to the mills for manufacture, and 

 will result in a total loss to the lumbermen and to the railroads as ton- 

 nage. 



Such large consumers of hardwoods, ns representatives of the Dodge 

 r.rothcrs and the International Harvester Company, and other large users 

 of hardwood, testified that they were obllgcil to abandon the use of bard- 

 woods from the soutii and sultslitute steel or the lumber produced in the 

 immediate vicinity of their plants. It was further shown that Xo. 3 

 common oak was selling around $4 f.o.b. mill, was being burned as fuel 

 wood, but under a railroad readjustment of the rates the mills would be 

 able to ship this material to the consuming markets. It was shown that 

 in some instances hardwood lumber was paying the railroads over $75 

 per day per car for transportation. In other words, the total freight 

 rharges on a car of hardwood lumber for the nnmlier of days in trans- 

 I (irlatioii averaged about ."ilTo per car per day. The hardwood repre- 

 sentatives did not seem atlverse to a very high minimum weight, provided 

 ihey could arrange substantial reduction in their rates. 



Part of the evidence presented by the Houthern Hardwood Traf- 

 fic Association was the chart prepared by May Brothers, published 

 in this journal, showing the terrific shrinkage in the money-making 

 species and grades of southern hardwoods. This should prove the 

 strongest argument yet presented for lower rates on the common 

 grades of hardwood lumber. It renders exceedingly graphic the 

 injustice of the present tariffs. If the value of a product is to be 

 considered in fixing rates, no further argument is necessary for 

 i-lieaper t ransjiortation. 



Where Hoover Might Help 



CONSIDERATION of Secretary of Commerce Hoover's plan 

 to gather and disseminate lumber statistics monthly, sug- 

 gests what a great boon it would be to the hardwood lum- 

 ber industry if the Secretary of Commerce should be called before 

 the Supreme Court to testify at the rehearing of the American 

 Hardwood Manufacturers' Association case. Mr. Hoover could 

 give the Court his broadmiuded, constructive view of the lumber 

 statistics question. He could, no doubt, make it clear that to deny 

 an industry the privilege of gathering statistics on conditions in 

 its field W'Ould be equivalent to plunging it into perpetual chaos. 

 The description of his plan might suggest to the Justices of our 

 supreme tribunal, should they not already be thinking to that 

 effect, that total prohibition of statistical work is so drastic as to 

 violate strict justice, and that whether or not, as the judgment of 

 the court may be, some of the practices under the Open Price 

 Plan were illegal, statistics can be gathered and used without vio- 

 lation of the law. 



No one would be so brash as to suggest what a decision of the 

 V. S. Supreme Court should be, but there is no harm in expressing 

 the hope that the hardwood judgment will be constructive, in that 

 it will instruct the members of the Open Competition Plan of the 

 American Hardwood Manufacturers' Association how they may 

 proceed with their statistical endeavors according to the exact 

 letter of the law. 



Table of Contents 



REVIEW AND OUTLOOK: 



General Market Conditions IS 



The National Hardwood Lumber Association 15-16 



The Improved Transportation Outlook 16 



Where Hoover Might Help 16 



SPECIAL ARTICLES: 



Problems in Standardization o( Dimension Stock for the Wood 



Using Industries 24-26 



The Vanishing Upper Grades— With Chart 32 



Grand Rapids May Stabilize Prices 35-36 



The Madison Laboratory on Casein Glues 38 & 48 & SO 



Many Executives Overlook Equipment Needs 40 & 42 



POWER LOGGING AND LUMBER HANDLING: 



A Conservator of Human Energy 30 & 33 



NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL CAPITAL: 



Miscellaneous 28 



CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS: ^ 



Miscellaneous 28 



National Hardwood Lumber Association's Annual 17-Z3 & 26 



Taylor Warns Against New Endeavors 20-22 



Fish Chronicles Year of Success '. 22-23 & 26 



HARDWOOD N EWS . . 56-60 



HARDWOOD MARKET 66-65 



CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS 68-70 



HARDWOODS FOR SALE 70-72-74 & 75 



ADVERTISERS' DIRECTORY 67 



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