34 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Octobpr 25, 1918 



watprcd to the limit and has bccu and is being paid more per thousand 

 for transportation than the service is' worth? 



It is about time we got real representation at Washington, not onlj' 

 ill the legislative sense, but as a consolidated industry, to protect us 

 from theoretical legislators and war boards who are not big or broad 

 .enough to see tlie other fellow's side of it. You can always count on 

 the lumber trade to support President Wilson, or the machinery which 

 Uncle Sam needs to meet his problems, but for heaven's sake we want 

 a fair show like the dear farmer and the pure, unadulterated, honest 

 laboring man. If the son of toil is the Pnritan — and this includes 

 tlie farmer — the business men are angels, because nothing is ever 

 pulled off in America but that they are called upon first and more 

 often, and they respond with that patriotism that is characteristic of 

 a liroad-ganged honest man. 



The Marketing of Spruce 



A committee from the Pacific coast aircraft production section was 

 in Wasliington last week and was received with open arms, because 

 of the splendid efforts put forth to secure the greatest production to 

 supply the aircraft factories with spruce material. The Washington 

 Iniards were well pleased. Through the same committee, really sup- 

 poi'ted by the war purchases board, the spruce industry has asked for 

 relief on account of the large stock of siding and dimension left on 

 tlieir yards, dne to the fact that the government wants only straight 

 grained spruce for the airplane factories, which is only about 20 per 

 cent of the product. The eighty per cent of the best cut of the trees 

 in the forests must therefore be utilized for some other purpose. 

 Tliere is, therefore, some justice in the request that spruce be favored, 

 but it opens up the big question which is being faced by other lumber 

 manufacturers in other sections. As an instance; with a consumption 

 of the upper grades of gum practically down to 40 or 50 per cent of 

 the production of that material, what is the gum lumber manufacturer 

 to do? Carry his stock or shut down the mill? In many cases the 

 mills are being shut down, or not running over 50 per cent of normal 

 capacity, and that condition prevails with every producer of stock who 

 has been supplying the furniture, automobile and planing mill trade, 

 which are practically declared non-essentials, and therefore consuming 

 the minimum of hardwoods produced. 



We have no doubt that the war board is endeavoring to help wher- 

 ever it can, as illustrated by this body urging box manufacturers to 

 utilize this spruce. But what can the box men do? They have more 

 lumber on hand now than they ever had before, with the idea of assist- 

 ing the transportation situation and being ready to meet the govern- 

 ment's demands for 100 per cent boxes for foods and other essentials 

 for overseas. Has the Treasury Department made any provisions with 

 the bankers of this country to aid in the carrying of this extra stock? 



One happy thought in connection with this program is the endeavor 

 to purchase 60,000,000 feet of birch logs in order to meet the demand 

 for airplane stock, and this will be largely built-up wood, and will 

 balance production better than in the case of yellow pine, fir or other 

 sjiecial woods. But in order to bring the matter to your attention we 

 cite this spruce case, as it will affect other woods more or less, and 

 tliere should be provision made either for curtailment or utilization 

 that will jirevent choking of an industry and sending some of our 

 manufacturers into the bankruptcy courts, because it takes a lot of 

 money to carry two-thirds of any production in lumber. 



This article is not wi-itten in the spirit of criticism but rather to 

 suggest co-operation between government and industry that will help 

 work out the problems confronting all factors concerned. 



Essentials 

 If oil, coal and ore permit of building of values for the lands and 

 its product, why should the war boards discriminate against timber 

 when computing values on an investment which has taken years to 

 accumulate, and the owner should benefit by present-day values? It 

 seems to us that values should be figured from costs from time to 

 time rather than be computed in the manner in which the war board's 

 committee on costs has placed timber, which is on a different basis 

 from other products that come out of the earth instead of on top of 

 it. The logging equipment as well as the plant are just as repre- 

 sentative and should be wiped off the books, because when the tim- 



ber' is gone they are not worth ten cents on the dollar, and the lum- 

 bermen and timlior owner suffer that mucli from lack of ajqiropriate 

 representation. 



It is hoped that the conference in Washington on Monday of next 

 week of the timber interests of the country will demonstrate to the 

 legislators at Washington that this is an error that should be remedied. 



It Pays to Be Near Washington 



The transjiortation companies of this country are responsible for 

 a loss of business to lumber operators in far distant markets, and 

 while Congress keeps on making laws and giving sujiport to the 

 President in his war program to meet this condition, it is to be hoped 

 that when the railroads are turned back to their owners there will be 

 a provision making it necessary for said railroad owners, if they are 

 to keep their property they must provide proper transportation for 

 the needs of the country. 



Illustrating what I mean. All the munition plants are largely in 

 the East, owing to their proximity to the seaboard, thus reducing 

 transportation facilities to the minimum. If a man is manufactur- 

 ing lumlier in North Carolina and Virginia, or anyivhere on the coast, 

 he naturally gets the best of all orders, because he is only one or two 

 days' run from the shipyards t>v the other utilization plants where 

 materials are necessary without danger of being embargoed or de- 

 layed for lack of engines, or some other reason, which has caused the 

 business people of America millions of dollars, owing to the fact that 

 the railroad men liave not been big or broad enough to meet the needs 

 of the growth of our industrial conditions. 



We don 't believe in government owiiersliip, but we do realize that 

 there should be some degree of equity that would insure the public 

 being benefited by corporations who claim to be operated for the bene- 

 fit of the dear people. E. H. D. 



Encouraging News of Government's Attitude 

 Toward Embargo 



Much misapprehension in regard to the effect of the embargo re- 

 imposed lately upon hardwoods, among other kinds of freight pass- 

 ing especially over the Southern railroads on the way north, seems 

 to prevail, and is only now being dissipated to a considerable ex- 

 tent. A representative of a Baltimore firm who went to Washing- 

 ton recently to see the traffic committee of the division of opera- 

 tions of the car service section, and obtain information as to the 

 chance of getting shipments of hardwoods through, came back 

 with the report that the import of the embargo had been largely 

 misconstrued, and that there was no intention to interfere with 

 bona fide business, even though it had nothing to do with war 

 activities. The chief purpose of imposing some restrictions was to 

 prevent speculative shipments for which buyers were not in sight, 

 and which might be expected to lumber up sidings and keep cars 

 out of service for an indefinite length of time, and thereby bring 

 about a return of the congestion which prevailed last winter. The 

 ear service section aims, by means of the regulation issued, to keep 

 control of the situation, so as to be able to take a hand in relieving 

 tie-ups whenever they occur and threaten to block the movement 

 of essentials. The Baltimore hardwood man was assured that not 

 a single permit remained in the office of the section unattended to, 

 and that they were issued as soon as received, the only requirement 

 being that the firm or corporation asking for a permit should 

 certify that the lumber intended to be moved was really needed 

 for a legitimate purjjose, and that it would be readily handled on 

 arrival at destination. Even the stocking up of yards is not inter- 

 fered with, officials said, it being the purpose of the authorities to 

 give every encouragement possible to such trade as might develop. 

 This will be news to many members of the trade, who had enter- 

 tained the belief that no permits would be issued except those de- 

 signed to facilitate the delivery of hardwoods for some one of the 

 uses related to war industries. In this connection it was men- 

 tioned by the Washington officials that the Potomac yards were 

 not at present taxed to their capacity by a good deal, and that 

 there was nothing in the way of shipments from the South to the 

 North going through without any real delay. • 



