July 23, 1917 



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Great Progress by Oak Association 



An increase of 200 per cent in its membership since the organization 

 meeting last November is regarded by the American Oak Manufac- 

 turers' Association as its most brilliant achievement so far. Addi- 

 tions made to the membership roll in July bring the total to 102, but 

 the good work is still going on and the association attributes its 

 success in this direction principally to the active and intelligent efforts 

 of the membership committee, to the persistent manner in which mem- 

 bers keep liefore non-members the benefits accruing from identification 

 with this organization, and to the splendid results it has been able to 

 accomplish in behalf of oak lumber during its rather brief career. 



Until the first of the year many consuming lines that had formerly 

 been extensive users of oak had almost forgotten this wood because of 

 the stagnation in demand therefor among ultimate consumers. This 

 condition, however, is being corrected with such vigor and enterprise 

 on the part of the association that furniture factories and other man- 

 ufacturers are now seeking to work out designs that will satisfy the 

 new demand that has set in for this wood. The advertising campaign 

 is bringing results and, with this well under way, the association be- 

 lieves that oak has a splendid opportunity of resuming its former 

 position in the American market. 



The association now has all the activities planned in the beginning 

 in full operation and the members are congratulating themselves that, 

 under such rapidly changing conditions in the lumber industry, they 

 have such a perfectly organized bodj' to look after their interests. 

 New situations are having to be met almost daily and the association 

 is able to arrive at a correct knowledge of what is happening of in- 

 terest to oak manufacturers in a way that would be impossible if indi- 

 viduals and firms had to depend on their own efforts. 



The association is also performing excellent service in co-operating 

 with the National Council of Defense at Washington, through the sub- 



committee on lumber. Just now information regarding oak is consid- 

 ered of particular value to the government because of its important 

 use in the manufacture of materials for use in the war. The associa- 

 tion, through the co-operation of its members, is materially assisting 

 the government in making adequate war preparations. 



Another feature of its work is the compilation of information re- 

 garding actual sales and stocks. A correct knowledge of market con- 

 ditions is considered essential to lumber manufacturers in general and 

 to manufacturers of oak lumber in particular. 



Oak is recognized as the most abundant hardwood of the country, 

 but the association fully realizes that it must be advertised and 

 pushed just like any otlier product if maximum results are to be 

 obtained. 



It is now recognized that the organizers pursued a far-sighted 

 policy in establishing the American Oak Manufacturers' Association 

 to represent the oak industry in every legitimate manner and to 

 specialize in its behalf. 



In this connection Hardwood Eecokd desires to make a distinct 

 apology to the oak association for an item appearing on page 34 in 

 the last issue. Because of an oversight, a little item was placed in 

 tliat page which had been in type for several months. In fact, it 

 was written before the organization of the oak association and the 

 printers overlooked instructions to kill it. The item, of course, was 

 obviously meaningless under the circumstances as it was a suggestion 

 of and a plea for the organization of an oak association. 



Hardwood Record makes this explanation to obviate the possi- 

 bility of anyone having the wrong impression as to the activity of 

 the association which has since been organized. The above story 

 lets the work of the association speak for itself. 



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Cars More Plentiful in Memphis 



Although there was rather marked shortage of equipment for han- 

 dling outbound shipments of lumber and limiber products some days 

 ago because of the failure of northern and eastern roads to return 

 cars they had used to the lines in this territory owning them, the 

 situation at present is considerably improved and most of the lum- 

 bermen at Memphis are able to secure all the cars they need for the 

 handling of their shipments. The same is true of lumbermen on the 

 main lines of the roads operating through Mississippi, Tennessee and 

 Arkansas. But there is still quite a considerable deficiency in equip- 

 ment on some of the short roads in Mississippi and Arkansas, with 

 the result that shipments of lumber are being delayed even yet to a 

 material degree. There is distinct complaint from official sources 

 regarding the shortage of cars for handling lumber shipments on the 

 Southern Railway in Mississippi and on several of the short lines in 

 Arkansas. The Southern Hardwood Traffic Association is, as usual, 

 looking after the interests of shippers of hardwood lumber and other 

 forest products and it reports that, when the shortage developed some 

 time ago, it appealed directly to the car service commission at Wash- 

 ington, with the result that soutliern-owned cars are being rapidly 

 returned where they belong. 



Generally speakiiig, there is a better movement of logs to mills at 

 Memphis and to other mOling points in this territory, but there are 

 instances where some of the largest mills are forced to operate inter- 

 mittently because of their inabOity to secure the necessary box cars. 

 It seems that the mOls which own or buy logs which can be handled 

 into Memphis on two or three lines of railway are getting enough 

 logs to keep their plants going on full time. But it appears to be 

 equally true that where a film omis all of its timber on a single line 

 of railway, it is practically impossible to secure enough timber to 

 justify operating its plant at anything like capacity. This applies 



to Memphis and to other points in the Memphis territory. The flat 

 car situation, however, is gradually getting better and a rather more 

 optimistic view is entertained regarding output during the remainder 

 of the summer. It is noteworthy, however, that even those firms 

 which are able to secure large quantities of timber are not in a hurry 

 about moving it to Memphis. They are willing to keep enough ahead 

 to enable them to keep in operation, but they are fighting shy of any 

 accumulation because of the fear of deterioration at this particular 

 season of the year. Thus, manufacturers of lumber at Memphis would 

 find themselves in a rather awkward situation with respect to imme- 

 diately available supply of logs should the car situation take a sudden 

 turn for the worse. 



Reports indicate that logging is making better progress than at 

 any time since the first of the year. There have been numerous 

 showers in the valley territory during the past few days, but these 

 have not interfered with either the cutting or hauling of logs. 

 Furthermore, there is rather less complaint on the score of labor than 

 there has been recently. This is due in part to the return of negroes 

 from East St. Louis and other points north and in part to the close 

 approach of the laying-by of crops in this territory. Some firms 

 report a plentiful supply of labor and, generally speaking, there are 

 less complaints on this score than for some time. 



Bulletin Concerning Ash 

 The Forest Service has published bulletin 523 by W. D. Sterrett, 

 "Utilization of Ash." It is a pamptilet of fifty pages, filled with in- 

 formation relating to the supply and utilization of this valuable wood 

 in this country. Particular attention is given to various uses, and 

 the list of such uses includes over 300 articles made of ash. The 

 bulletin contains much historical and statistical information which 

 should prove valuable to the manufacturer and users of ash. 



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