22 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



October 25, 191S 



right to cut timber in Idaho and Nevada respectively for agricul- 

 tural, mining or other domestic purposes. 



According to a statement by Assistant Secretary of War Crowell 

 there was sliipped to the American engineer troops abroad up to 

 August 31, 57,000 tous of lumber including railroad ties, bridge 

 stringers, piles and the like, the balance used being purchased in 

 Europe. Up to June, 1919, it is estimated by the department that 

 the tonnage of construction material purchased in Europe will be 

 12,352. 



The E. A. Long properties of Kansas City have purchased Wood- 

 ley, the home of the late Senator Newlauds of Nevada, in the out- 

 skirts of Washington, as a home for Capt. Hayne Ellis, U. S. N., 

 and Mrs. Ellis. The latter is a daughter of R. A. Long. Woodley 

 is an historic mansion, having entertained Gen. Washington, Gen. 

 Winfield Scott, Presidents Buchanan, Tyler and Cleveland, and 

 others. 



On October 28 the navy department bureau of supplies and ac- 

 counts will -open bids for furnishing various lots of ash, oak, 

 spruce, birch and other lumber, also some thousand handles, brooms 

 and swabs. 



The general supply committee of the treasury department is 

 opening bids this month for furnishing hundreds of packing boxes 

 of many sizes and materials for use by government departments in 

 Washington. 



The war and conservation program of the furniture industry has 

 not yet been issued in its revised form. It has been delayed some- 

 what by the absence of Mr. Ware, a furniture man of the conserva- 

 tion division, War Industries Board, who has been studying the 

 question of conserving space and materials and shipping facilities 

 in the packing of furniture. 



The new war service committee of the furniture industry is at 

 work with W. H. Coye in charge of the Furniture Industries War 

 Service Committee office. 



.J. K. Van Hoff of that office is wearing two gold stars on his 

 sleeve, being in mourning for the recent death of his two sons, 

 both of them lieutenants in the army, one having diedl from wounds 

 in France, the other from pneumonia at Camp Devens, Mass. 



The War Industries Board is planning to use some of the new 

 wooden ships to bring wool from Argentina and other countries to 

 sujiply part of the civilian needs for wool in the United States. 



Of interest to lumbermen, it is believed, is the announcement that 

 a committee on allocation of wire rope has been formed in the 

 War Industries Board and charged with the duty of controlling 

 the placement of all orders for wire rope for the shipping board. 

 Tliis applies only to wire rope to be manufactured. Present stocks 

 arc exempt from tlu^ rule. 



Government Building Activity 



Cliairman Baruch of tlie War Iiidustiies Board has supplemented 

 his original report to the Senate on the building situation by sub- 

 mitting a statement of his modification of the building curtailment 

 order so as to permit farm construction work up to $1,000 in cost 

 without special government license. 



Building restrictions do not apply to work for the government, 

 of course, and many new projects are being undertaken. The War 

 Department needs experts for construction work and the Civil 

 Service Commission has been asked to supply them. 



Here in Washington barracks for several thousand enlisted men 

 of the army who are detailed for clerical duty in the government 

 departments are being constructed. They are in units to accom- 

 modate 66 men each. Another local project is the construction of 

 a housing unit to accommodate 2,300 war workers in the capital 

 city. The housing bureau chief has testified that a cost plus per- 

 centage profit basis for constructing government dormitories here 

 is satisfactory and fair and does not permit profiteering. 



Among the housing operations of the government are the follow- 

 ing: 



Duiigalows. barracks and otlior accommodations for munitions workers 

 in connection with the picric acid piant at Grand Eapids, Michigan, which 

 liuildings will cost .f4r)0,000. The plans rail for twenty-six 5-room bunga- 

 lows, thirty G-room bungalows, five barracks for 100 men each, a welfare 



house with seating capacity of 150 people and hospital. The work will 

 be done imder the direction of the construction division of tlie army. 



Contract for 100 houses, 3 dormitories and 1 school and utilities at 

 Indian Head, Md.. awarded to Wesley B. Torch, Atlantic City, New 

 Jersey. 



Conti-act to James Stewart & Co., New Yorl;, tor 332 buildings at hous- 

 ing pi-ojcct Erie, Pa. 



Contract to II. P. Cummings Construction Company, Ware, Mass., for 

 constructing dwellings, utilities and town planning, 64 buildings at New 

 London, Conn., 10 buildings at Groton, Conn. 



Contracts to Itodd Company, Pittsburgh, for ofBce building, cafeteria and 

 garage at Neville Island, Pa., where the big government gun plant is 

 located. 



Contract to R, F. Jones, Hartford, Conn., for twenty four 2-taniily, ten 

 1-family lion->cs. and town planning at Newport, R. I. 



Contract to Kdwatd B. Lee. Erie, Pa., for apartment house there. 



Bids were received on October 11, 1918, for the U. S. Housing 

 Corporation's project at 23d and B Streets, N. W., Washington, 

 D. C. The contract which was let on a lump sum basis was awarded 

 to Moss, Taylor & Crawford, 701 No. 63d Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 



This development consists' of 10 residence halls, 28 apartment 

 buildings, 1 infirmary and a combined administration, cafeteria and 

 power building. 



Waddy B. Wood, of Washington, D. C, is the architect for this 

 project. 



Other government construction work has been announced as fol- 

 lows: 



Worli has started on the conversion of Ft. Sheridan, III., into a base 

 hospital which, when finished, will have 4,000 beds. It will be one of the 

 largest in the country. The estimated cost of the new buildings and the 

 alterations to the present buildings to tit them for tlioir new purpose Is 

 !P3,423.0no. The worli will lie done under the supervision of the Con- 

 struction r>ivision. 



Plants for the manufacturing of shells are being erected in connection 

 with the Laclede Gas Light Plants in St. Louis, Mo. They will he finished 

 in about four months. The estimated cost for the two is $3,830,300. The 

 contract has been awarded to The Austin Company, Cleveland, O. 



The work of rebuilding the wrecked T. N. T. plant at Morgan Station 

 has been gotten well under way. At present it is impossible to estimate 

 fully the cost of reconstruction, but It will be between .$."(,000,000 and 

 5110.000,000. The work will be done under the supervision of the Con- 

 struction Division. The erection of a T. N. T. plant at Giant, Cal., has 

 been authorized. Estimated cost is $1,438,000. The plant is to be located 

 on land adjacent to the nitric acid plant of the Giant Powder Company, 

 located at that place. The construction work is to be under the super- 

 vision of tile Construction Division of the army. 



Two sulphuric acid plants are to be erected in Pennsylvania under the 

 supervision of the Construction Division of the army. Tlie estimated 

 cost for both plants is $3,000,000. 



One plant will be located at Emporium while the other will be erected 

 at Mt. Union. 



From Europe comes the report that England and France are 

 much interested in American ready-built, knockdown or portable 

 houses. They are wanted for reconstruction purposes in devastated 

 regions and for other purposes. Lumber Trade Commissioner John 

 R. Walker, representing the department of commerce here in Eng- 

 land and France has intimated that he could use to advantage 

 catalogues of American manufacturers of such houses who are in- 

 terested in the foreign market, as they would enable him to better 

 answer inquiries. 



Over 1,000 buildings have been constructed, remodeled or bought 

 by the Y. M. C. A. for army entertainment and help purposes in 

 connection with army camps in this country and in Europe, it is 

 announced by George W. Perkins, financial director of the Y. M. 

 G. A. 



Carpenters to Enlist 



Charles A. Bowen of Detroit, secretary of the National Retail 

 Lumber Dealers' Association, has established headquarters in the 

 Southern building, Washington, and is keeping in touch with the 

 lumber situation as related to government activities. He is co- 

 operating with James R. Moorehead of Kansas City, secretary of 

 the Southwestern Lumbermen's Association, who also is in Wash- 

 ington. Mr. Moorehead has arranged with Judge Parker of the 

 ju-iorities committee and with the U. S. Employment Service for 

 a plan under which retail yards will advise carpenters out of work 

 where and how they can obtain work under the government which 

 needs their services. The idea is to have carpenters practically 

 enlist and agree to respond to government calls for their services 



