20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



May 10, 1917 



Locust, Magnolia, Hard Maple, Soft Maple, Plain Sawn Oak, Quarter 

 Sawn Oak, Red Birch, Sycamore, Quarter Sawn Sycamore, Tupelo and 

 Willow. 



Sap is no defect unless so stated under tlie caption of the respective 

 woods. 



Inspection must be made from the good side of the piece. 



In lumber 5/4 and less in thickness, 20% of the quantity may grade 

 not below No. 2 Common on the poor face, provided it will work 80% 

 sound. 



Selects must be 4 inches and over wide, 6 feet and over long, admitting 

 30 per cent under 12 feet long and 5 per cent of 6 and 7 feet lengths. 



Pieces 6 and 7 feet long must be clear one face ; the reverse side sound 

 and not below the grade of No. 1 Common. 



Pieces 4 inches wide, 8 feet and over long, must have one clear face 

 and two good edges, the reverse side not below the grade of No. 1 

 Common. 



Pieces 5 inches wide, 8 feet and over long, must have two good edges 

 and may have one standard defect in pieces 12 feet and over long; the 

 reverse side not below the grade of No. 1 Common. 



Pieces G inches and over wide, S feet and over long, must grade not 

 below Seconds on the best face, and not below the grade of No. 1 Common 

 on the reverse side. 



Will admit pieces 6 inches and over wide, 10 feet and over long, con- 

 taining defects which do not cause a waste of more than 1/12 the length 

 of the piece in one cross cutting, the clear face cuttings to be 3 feet and 

 over long ; the reverse side sound. The poor side of the piece must not 

 be below the grade of No. 1 Common. 



Will admit pieces 7 inches and over wide containing defects which 

 do not cause a waste of more than 1 inch in width by the full length 

 of the piece, or its equivalent at one or both ends the reverse side must 

 not be below the grade of No. 1 Common. 



Will admit pieces 6 inches and over wide, with one clear face; the' 

 reverse side sound and not below the grade of No. 2 Common. 



No. 1 Common F.ice 



No. 1 Common Face to be inspected from the good side of the piece 

 In the same size and number of cuttings allowed in the present rules 

 for No. 1 Commons. One face of the cuttings to be clear, the reverse 

 side sound. 



No. 2 Common Face 



No. 2 Common Face to be inspected from the good side of the piece 

 In the same size and number of cuttings allowed in the present rules for 

 No. 2 Commons. One face of the cuttings to be clear, the reverse side 

 sound. 



The association appropriated $300 in order that experiments might 

 be conducted in the branding of the association 's wood at various mills 

 of the members and a report be submitted on the subject at the next 

 convention. A committee of tliree members, namely George Foster of 

 Mellen, J. D. Mylrea of Antigo, and R. B. Goodman of Goodman, was 

 appointed to confer with the Wisconsin conservation committee and 

 the United States foresters looking to working Out a plan for forest 

 fire control by co-operative effort. 



A paper written by I. B. Hanks, an organization expert and indus- 

 trial economist of Chicago, was read and treated the subject ' ' The 

 Manufacturer and the Retailer," of which the central thought was 

 summarized as follows: 



The retailer is the logical distributor of your products. If tbere is a 

 man in the world whose interests should be yours, it is he. He is 

 essentially a lumberman. He takes no particular joy in selling cement, 

 asphalt shingles and prepared roofings, metal lath and the hundred and 

 one substitutes for lumber with which he is being bombarded. Then see 

 to it that his interest in your products is maintained by keeping in close 

 personal touch with him, endeavoring to get his viewpoint of the prob- 

 lems that confront him and then turn in shoulder-to-shoulder with him 

 and buck the line together. 



A very able address on the lumber market condition was given by 

 Edward Hines of Chicago, who also reviewed the present economic 

 situation and the problems lumbermen are facing due to " increasing 

 costs of material, labor shortage, increasing freight rates and chang- 

 ing markets. Mr. Hines showed how the southern mills were being 

 handicapped by tendency of negro labor to migrate northward, how 

 production was being greatly curtailed by car shortages and how in 

 most cases the terms of sale are unbusiness like and the cause of big 

 financial leaks. A general discussion of the subject followed. The 

 question of terms of rate was referred to the bureau of statistical and 

 educational information for early action. 



C. P. Winslow, the new head of the Forest Products Laboratory at 

 Madison, Wis., was present and was called upon to discuss ' ' War 

 Time Uses of Lumber." He stated that ho had no official information 

 as yet on the subject but stated that in a general way lumber will be 



needed for barracks, aeroplanes, army escort wagons, tent poles, pegs, 

 saddle trees, ships, launches, submarine chasers, trench timber and 

 that there will be an increasing demand for wood chemicals of the 

 birch, beech and maple and other trees for the manufacture of ex- 

 plosives and turpentine. 



Fifteen Per Cent Advance Rates Filed 



The Interstate Commerce Commission has granted the railroads' 

 petition to file rates averaging fifteen per cent over those now in 

 force. This does not mean that the advance has been or will be al- 

 lowed. Permission to file the rates has been granted in order to save 

 time and expense ; but the commission will decide the question on its 

 merits, as to whether the advance wOl be allowed. The proposed rates 

 will be subject to protest, suspension, complaint, investigation and 

 correction, if in conflict with law, and reasonable opportunity will be 

 afforded for the presentation and consideration of protests. Ad 

 erroneous report has gained circulation to the effect that the allow- 

 ance of the fifteen per cent increase had been determined upon by the 

 commission; but such is not the status of the matter. 



Conditions Better and Worse Around Memphis 



Owing to the rapid fall in the Mississippi and its tributaries, and 

 owing to the more favorable weather now being experienced throughout 

 the southern hardwood producing region,, the situation is gradually 

 improving with respect to logging conditions. There is still much 

 water in the low lands and this is interfering with work in the woods, 

 but thfire is much less than heretofore. In the hill lands it is possible 

 to make excellent progress and those companies that own and operate 

 their own loading equipment, .as well as their own cars and motive 

 power, are getting along splendidly with the cutting and hauling 

 of timber. They are able, in fact, to secure pracfically all the logs 

 they need and are likewise able to operate their miUs at capacity 

 except in instances where so much lumber has accumulated, through 

 shortage of cars for shipping out, that they are temporarily blocked. 



The situation, however, is not so encouraging from the standpoint 

 of those firms which depend upon the railroads for cars and motive 

 power for the handling of their logs. In fact the latter are h.aving 

 a pretty hard time of it, including a number of the mills at Memphis. 

 As giving some idea of the general situation, it may be stated that 

 the Valley Log Loading Company, which loads for mills on the 

 Yazoo & Mississippi Valley line of the Illinois Central and on the 

 Memphis-Marianna cut-off on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern, 

 is not receiving more than fifteen to sixteen per cent of the number 

 of cars it requires for the handling of log shipments. This means that 

 the mills for which it loads are not receiving anything beyond a small 

 percentage of the logs that this company would be, under normal 

 conditions, loading for them. Some of the Memphis mills are closed 

 down while others are operating intermittently. The railroads say 

 they are unable to furnish any more equipment than they are furnish- 

 ing and there is nothing suggestive of a change for the better in the 

 immediate future. In fact most authorities agree that conditions are 

 getting rather worse instead of improving and that the end of the 

 present troubles is still some intangible distance aw-ay. 



This difficulty of securing logs is necessarily interfering with the 

 production of southern hardwoods and between this condition and 

 that created by inabUity to ship lumber out freely, hardwood produc- 

 tion is being substantially curtailed. There is an excellent demand 

 for hardwood lumber of every kind and there is every inducement 

 to produce up to maximum capacity, but the lumbermen are up against 

 conditions they are unable to control and they are simply trying to 

 do the best they can under the circumstances. The outbound move- 

 ment of hardwood lumber is extremely light as compared with the 

 amount actually awaiting shipment. Demands are made repeatedly 

 upon tho railroads for equipment with which to handle shipments, 

 but this is not forthcoming except in a very limited manner. Thus 

 lumber interests occupy the unhappy position of having a profitable 

 market on which to do business and but limited means of taking 

 advantage thereof because, forsooth, the cars are not available. 



