Novcmlifi- m. V.>-Jl 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



15 



Northern Shipments Increase 



Quarterly Meeting of Northern Hemlock and Hardwood Manufacturers' Associa- 

 tion Reveals an Improved and Improving Condition in 

 That Branch of the Industry 



The position of tho Xortlieni liardwouil lumber industry has 

 materially strengthened in the last sixty days. This is a fact which 

 was clearly and decisively expressed in every item of the discussion 

 of conditions which took place at the meeting for the autumn quar- 

 ter held by the Northern Hemlock & Hardwood Manufacturers ' 

 Association at the Athletic Club in Milwaukee, Wis., on October 27. 

 It was shown that since July the production of hardwood lumber has 

 fallen lower in the Lake States than dm-ing any period in years. 

 In the face of this unusually low production there has been all along 

 a good average movement of the FAS and No. 1 common grades, 

 while during September shipments ran higher than the cut and 

 (luring the last four weeks orders have exceeded production fully 25 

 per cent. It is evident, according to a statement made by Al Klass 

 of Oconto, Wis., chairman of the committee on statistics, that the 

 supply and demand of the upper grades is not far out of balance, 

 and that while there has been a great accumuhition of the lower 

 grades, they are again beginning to move. 



Another hopeful sign is that the estimated log input for the period 

 of October, 1921, to April 1, 1922, is only a little over one-third of 

 normal, or 290 million feet of hemlock and hardwoods, as compared 

 to 672 millions in the winter of 19191920 and 606 million in 1920- 

 1921. 



Shi]iments are increasing daily, according to a statement made 

 by O. T. Swan, secretary of the association, and both September and 

 October have witnessed a reduction in stocks. 



The heaviest problem which the northern manufacturers have to 

 face in the next few months is the marketing of their No. 2 and 

 No. 3 grades in hardwoods, but the outlook in regard to these grades 

 is more hopeful than at any time during the year, because of the 

 increased activity in the box making industry ami in the demand 

 of the furniture industry for crating. 



While the biggest demand is for the FAS grade, there is now every 

 evidence that No. 1 common will from now on steadily increase in 

 value. 



Edward Hines, head of the great Edward Hiues lumber interests, 

 who had just returned from a ninety-day tour of Europe, was present 

 .-Ht the meeting, and declared that he was amazed at the change for 

 the better in the lumber industry that he found upon his return. In 

 fact, he discovered an "amazing improvement" in all American 

 industrial groups. He landed in New York and later visited Pitts- 

 burg and other industrial centers, where he discovered that ' ' every- 

 thing is going up," that "everybody is broadening out and increas- 

 ing activities" and that buyers are watching these activities and 

 increasing their purchases accordingly. He cited the fact that the 

 railroads are out trying to cover their needs for ties and the very 

 significant fact that the furniture industry in all centers is buying 

 more crating than for months. "When the furniture industry is 

 buying crating, you know that it is shipping furniture, ' ' he said. 



"I am mighty optimistic about conditions in this country," Mr. 

 Hines asserted, summing up his reactions to the remarkably changed 

 ciinditions. 



President Fox's Address 



M. J. Fox of Iron Mountain, Mich., the dynamic president of the 

 association, said that conditions have undergone a marked improve- 

 ment in the past ninety days. But Mr. Fox regretted the fact that 

 [■rices being secured for lumber are still so low as not to allow a 

 [irofit. He said it ap{)eared that the industry is paying more for 

 wages than perhaps it should. The consensus of opinions which 

 he had gained from business friends and acr)uaintanccs who have 

 recently returned from Europe, he said, are to the effect that Ameri- 



can maiiiifacturcrs must get their costs down and produce their com- 

 modities cheaper in order to meet the comi)ctition which has de- 

 veloped abroad. It appears, Mr. Fox said, that the only way to do 

 this is to reduce wages, though this is a thing which a good American 

 always regrets to do. 



This led Mr. Fox to a reference to railronri labor wages and he 

 declared that railroad rates and wages are too high and must come 

 down. 



Mr. Fox opened the meeting with a most thoughtful and instruc- 

 tive discussion of the value of trade association activities. He 

 said that if the association which he headed had never added a 

 dollar to the profits of the members, it had been worth all that they 

 had contributed to it, because it had enabled them to know one 

 another well, and to tackle their common problems together. 



Trade association work is to the business man, Mr. Fox said, what 

 post-graduate work is to the physician or the lawyer, or other pro- 

 fessional man. This is the only kind of "post-graduate" work that 

 the business man does, he said. 



Associations are necessary, he said, in order that the business men 

 of the country may solve the industrial and commercial problems 

 that our complex civilization brings. 



Mr. Fox ihought it a most happy fact that his own association had 

 brought together and made friends of men who formerly looked upon 

 one another with suspicion and dislike. "The spirit of the times is 

 live and let live, and that 's the spirit of association work, ' ' said Mr. 

 Fox. He said that the lumbermen had best understand one another, 

 as they have enough to do to fight the elements and to contend with 

 "banking and bankruptcy," let alone fight one another. The hard- 

 ships of the lumber industry had made its members a ' ' rugged sport- 

 ing class," he said. 



President Fox paid a generous compliment to the trade press, 

 declaring that the lumber trade papers had done as much for the 

 lumber industry as anything outside of association work and "are 

 the best friends we have. The trade papers have been a great 

 factor in helping to take the slivers out of the lumber industry," he 

 said. 



He closed his talk by urging that now is the time to "Do Some- 

 thing and Buy Something." 



Special Forestry Meeting 



One of the most important actions taken at tlie meeting was the 

 adoption of a motion put by E. A. Hamar to hold monthly instead 

 of quarterly meetings for the next four month.s, and to devote one 

 of these meetings chiefly to a discussion with Chief Forester Greeley 

 and the foresters of the Lake States of forestry problems. 



This motion was the culmination of two suggestions, one made by 

 Mr. Hines and the other by B. B. Goodman of the Sawyer-Goodman 

 Company. Mr. Hines said that he thought that during this period 

 of violent flux in the lumber industry, when new problems arise 

 almost over night, the members of the association should come 

 together more frequently than every quarter. Mr. Goodman urged 

 the necessity of giving more attention to the problem of forestry 

 management. These two ideas were discussed and in conclusion 

 embodied in the one motion. 



Mr. Goodman's suggestion was made as a preface to liis usual 

 valuable discussion of Federal revenue and other legislation. He 

 started out by saj'ing that the association should devote an entire 

 day's session to the question of forest management, because there 

 is no blanket method that can be applied to the diversity of forestry 

 problems encountered in the Lake States region. The varied char- 

 (Continued on page 20) 



