32 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



June 25, 1921 



ness conditions with particular references to conditions in the 

 veneer and plywood industry. "In our particular business, 

 veneer and plywood, and it is no exception to the general rule, 

 the demand for our product during the past six months has been 

 at the lowest point in the life time of the men who are here today," 

 he said. "During a period of twenty-nine years in which we have 

 been actively engaged in the manufacture of some product from 

 timber, that the past nine months is the only time in the twenty- 

 nine years of our experience that we have been unable to sell our 

 product at some price. And 1 am quite sure that there are men 

 here today representing other mills who have found the same con- 

 ditions to contend with that we have. The principal reason there 

 has been no greater demand for our product is that during the 

 time our product was scarce and prices abnormally high, the buyers 

 of our stock seemingly bought everything in sight, regardless of 

 price, and piled their warehouses to the top with this high priced 



material, and when the slump in prices came as we all knew it 



would come — they were unable to dispose of their finished prod- 

 uct at a price based upon the cost of the raw material that would 

 let them out without an enormous loss, consequently their ware- 

 houses are still stocked with high priced veneers and panels, and 

 being unable to realize profit based on the 

 cost of their material, many of them are 

 closed down. 



"I feel sure that some of us during the 

 past few months have quoted prices far be- 

 low the cost of production in an effort to 

 dispose of our output and keep our plants 

 in operation, and have met with but little 

 belter success than those of us who asked 

 a fair price for our product, as in either case 

 but a very small per cent of our normal 

 product has been sold." 



Mr. Home said the foremost reason for 

 the adverse condition of supply and demand 

 in this country is due to the inability of 

 Europe to take our surplus. This situa- 

 tion can not be remedied, he said, until ar- 

 rangements are made to finance Europeans 

 so that they can buy to fill their really very 

 great needs. For this reason he declared 

 his opposition to a "prohibitive tariff on the 

 products of the old world." He said: "We 

 have almost one-half of all the gold in the 

 world and as has been said by one of our 

 leading financiers, there is such a thing as 

 having too much money. It is not so much 

 that we want their gold, but we want them 



to buy our products, and they can only buy them as we are will- 

 ing to take their products from them, and 1 am sure right here is 

 where I get into trouble with some of you men when I state that 

 I do not believe the United States needs to put a prohibitive tariff 

 on the products of the Old World, and while it might help us as 

 manufacturers to have a tariff on lumber, I am not in favor of it, 

 for the reason that we need now in America millions of new 

 homes." 



In closing his address, Mr. Home admonished the members in 

 the following terms: "If we leave this meeting with our mind 

 fully made up, each of us, that we are going back home and do 

 our very best to give employment to every man that we possibly 

 can; that we are going to co-operate with every other industry in 

 so far as we are able; that we are going to apply the golden rule 

 to business; that we are going to play the game squarely, by the 

 time we meet here in December I am sure that many of the dark 

 clouds that now hover over will have rolled away and we will all 

 return here with a more optimistic feeling than we have today." 



Conditions by Sections 



Further first hand information on conditions in the veneer and 

 plywood industry was given to the association by representatives 



G. O. Worland, Evansville, Ind.; Chairman of 



Committee to Direct National Advertising 



Campaign 



of various sections who were called on by President Home. The 

 gist of the reports was that the great majority of the mills in 

 every section are closed, that there is little veneer timber cut in 

 any section and virtually none being cut. Speaking for the south- 

 western section, G. W. Sparks of Des Arc, Ark., said that so far 

 as he could ascertain there are only some 727,000 feet of veneer 

 logs in the south. Of these, ten mills have about 327,000 feet, 

 and one other mill 400,000 feet, which they are not going to cut. 

 There are practically no veneer logs in Arkansas, he said, and no 

 logging is being done for veneer logs anyvvhere in the south. 

 Virtually all mills in the south are down. 



Reporting for the southeast, President Home said he made in- 

 quiries at twenty-six plants in the southwest and southeast and 

 of these only one mill had 400,000 feet of veneer logs sunk. 

 Virtually all the mills replied that they w^ere down or would be 

 down within the next few w^eeks. He did not know of one mill 

 in central or southern Alabama that is logging for veneer purposes. 

 Mills are all down, all without logs and nobody is cutting fresh 

 timber. 



Relative to the states of Michigan and Wisconsin, Mr. Hemming- 

 way said that while most of the birch cutting mills of the north 

 have a fair supply of logs on hand, due to 

 the winter logging custom, practically every 

 mill is down and has been down for several 

 weeks. Some plants that have the facilities 

 to do so are turning their veneer timber into 

 lumber. Mr. Hemmingway called attention 

 to the fact that w^hile the northern mills h^ve 

 a good supply of veneer logs cut these will 

 not deteriorate as rapidly as they would in 

 the south and consequently can be held much 

 longer w^ithout loss. 



J. H. Ross of Medford, Wis., confirmed Mr. 

 Hemmingway's report of conditions. 



F. C. Rice reported that conditions in the 

 northeast are just about as they are in the 

 south and other sections. 



Fred C. McCracken of Louisville, Ky., 

 called attention to the fact that the cost of 

 veneer logs has advanced and said that when 

 the members of the association try to replace 

 the timber that they have recently cut they 

 will find that it will cost them more th^n 

 formerly. 



The discussion of conditions was capped 

 off by B. W. Lord of the Chicago Veneer 

 Company, Chicago, who w^arned against the 

 damage that accrues to the industry by try- 

 ing to force demand. "When there is small demand and large 

 supply, w^hat good does it do to force your goods on the market?" 

 he asked. "It is not good policy to force business. A great 

 deal of veneer and plywood stock is being sold at less than cost 

 or replacement cost. You must remember that the veneer and 

 panel business is done on a generally rising market, owing to the 

 continual decrease in supply of raw materials. Therefore, if every- 

 one keeps as quiet as possible it will be a benefit to all." 



Mr. Lord told his audiences that they must get down to an efficient 

 and economic basis if they want to stay in business and compete 

 with European manufacturers of veneer and plywoods, who are 

 efficient and economical. Then he gave three rules by which 

 improvement might be made: "1. Don't force business. 2. Get 

 your business down to the most economical and efficient basis 

 possible. 3. Co-operate with your fellow men in all lines *and 

 help to improve all business." 



Mr. Lord said demand for manufactured products is slow in 

 returning because the retailers are holding up liquidation. They 

 are stocked up w^ith high priced goods, which they are not willing to 

 mark down to replacement levels. They are holding this stock 



(Continued vn payv 4<il 



