22 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



August 10, I'JIT 



States Forester Henry S. Graves is now iu France paving the way 

 for several regiments of American foresters, lumbermen and other 

 woodsmen and engineers who are going abroad to cut timber in 

 the French forests of the Vosges, Alps and Pyrenees mountains and 

 other parts of the country. But it is thought that there will proba- 

 bly be some opportunities for American hardwoods to be shipped 

 and used behind or in the battle fronts. 



Besides all the above opportunities presented for American hard- 

 wood lumbermen to "do their bit" at this critical stage of world 

 history, it is believed that there are various other items among the 



lists of tens of thousands of different articles bought by the army 

 and navy departments for war purposes into the production of 

 which hardwood materials enter, while the normal government 

 demand for hardwood and other materials for peace purposes, 

 and to meet the great regular needs of Uncle Sam, runs on about 

 as usual. 



Note — Since this article was written, General Goethals and Mr. 

 Detiman Jiave resigned, heing succeeded by Edward N. Hurley of Chi- 

 cago, wlw recninmcnds steel .iMps except for eoastuise service. 



New Rules Do Not Help Export 



At first glance the announcement made last week that the British 

 government had relaxed its import rules and was willing to admit 

 without license deckloads of lumber and dunnage, as well as cargoes 

 brought in by sailing vessels, appeared to be a great concession, and 

 the members of the lumber trade who formerly figured more or less 

 in the foreign trade were highly gratified at the information. A 

 number of them promptly communicated with Harvy M. Dickson, secre- • 

 tary of the National Lumber Exporters' Association, requesting him 

 to see the representatives of the steamship lines and ascertain about 

 how much lumber they would be able to carry on deck. Unfortunately 

 for the high expectatiojis entertained, the results of his inquiries 

 proved to be very disappointing. Every one of the steamship lines 

 replied that it could get all the cargo it was able to liandle for loading 

 between decks, the freight offered being of such a character largely 

 as to run to weight and leave plenty of space between decks even 

 after the vessel was down to her load line or even below it. Mr. Dick- 

 son was unable to obtain a single iiromise that a foot of lumber would 

 be carried on deck. As for the quantity of lumber that might be 

 sent out as dunnage, this also is certain to liavc little or no effect 

 upon the general situation. Much of the freight handled by the steam- 

 ship lines stows well and reduces the dunnage to a minimum. Fur- 

 thermore, the conditions under which dunnage is received render 

 profits exceedingly doubtful. The steamship lines will guarantee 

 neither delivery nor condition of the dunnage after cargo has been 

 discharged. It may have preserved all tlie dunnage in good shape 

 or none of it may be found valuable for other uses. The vessel may 

 be able to supply practically every foot of tlie dunnage or it may 

 have used the lumber for other purposes, and the concern that sup- 

 plied the dunnage has no redress, being obliged, besides, to pay half 

 the regular freight rates, which are around .$3 per 100 pounds and 

 therefore practically prohibitive. As for shipments on sailing vessels, 

 the outlook is equally unpromising. In the first place, there are no 

 such vessels to be chartered. Almost the only nationals that still 

 operate sailing vessels are the neutrals, and their craft are generally 

 on the other side. Secondly, even if it were possible to obtain a sliiji 

 and several exporters got together to load here, she could not obtain 

 insurance with the United States War Risk Bureau and would have 

 to go for insurance to England, which again puts the venture prac- 

 tically out of the question. For these reasons what appeared to be a 

 great concession that promised a considerable amount of business to 

 the exporters is proved to be really an empty i>roposal, virtually barren 

 of all benefits for the exporters of American woods. 



Mr. Dickson has explained the real situation to the members of the 

 N. L. E. A. in his oflScial communications, in order that no false hopes 

 mav be raised. 



The Logging and Car Situation Around Memphis 



Further improvement is reported in the ear situation in the Memphis 

 territory during the past few days. Manufacturers and distributors 

 of lumber and lumber products at Mcnqjhis are securing pretty well 

 all the cars they need for handling their shipments. Those on the 

 main lines of the principal railroads operating through the Memphis 

 gateway also report a quite favorable situation with respect to cars 

 for handling outbound shipments. There are complaints, however, 

 that there is a decided shortage of equipment on some of the short 

 roads in Mississippi and Arkansas and that lumber shipments from 

 mills located on these are quite disappointing. But there is indication 



that there will be some improvement even on these branch or short 

 lines in the near future as the car service commission at Washington 

 has ordered something ilke 70,000 cars delivered to southern roads for 

 handling hardwood timbers for the ship building yards and yellow 

 pine timbers and lumber for ship building and for the construction of 

 army fantonments. One of the firms in Memphis, with mill on a 

 branch road in Mississippi, said today that more cars had been prom- 

 ised and that relief was expected very shortly. The firm in question 

 owns two mills but has been operating ouly one for some months 

 because unable to secure enough cars to keep even one plant going at 

 anything like capacity. The improvement in the ear situation, gen- 

 erally, is resulting in a much larger movement of hardwood lumber, 

 though as a rule most manufacturers are still behind on their deliv- 

 eries by a considerable margin. 



There is also some increase in the number of Hat ears available for 

 handling logs to the mills and most of the plants here and elsewhere 

 in this territory are able to operate on pretty full schedule certainly 

 on fuller schedule than for a number of months. Some of the branch 

 lines are still woefully deficient and there are complaints regarding 

 the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern in Arkansas because of the 

 lack of cars for liamlling logs. Memphis mills are securing a more 

 evenly distrilmted sujiply of logs than for a \i'ry long while, and 

 they are practically without exception working on single shift, with 

 a few of them going night and day. 



Meantime, there is a distinct change for the better in logging con- 

 ditions as a result of the cessation of the recent heavy rainfall. There 

 has been little precipitation in the valley territory during the past 

 week and the ground is drying rapidly. It looked at one time as if 

 there would he serious interference with the cutting and hauling of 

 timber through excessive precipitation, but this danger has apparently 

 lieen averted, at least for the present. There is a rather better supply 

 of labor available for work in the woods and it may be statx-d that 

 extraordinary efforts are being made by owners of timber lands and 

 operators of hardwood mills to insure a full supply of logs for the fall 

 and winter cut. Good progress is being made now and, with the sup- 

 ply of labor increasing, nothing but unfavorable weather or a recur- 

 rence of serious ear shortage will be allowed to interfere with this 

 work. 



The railroads are enjoying the hearty co-0|ieratiou of shippers of 

 lumber and are reciprocating by speeding up their ow-n part of the 

 business of transportation. As evidence along this line, it may be 

 stated that the Illinois Central handled through the yards at Non- 

 connah, just south of Memphis, a daily excess of more than 1000 cars 

 for the entire month of July as compared with the same month last 

 year. 



The band rip saw is neither a novelty nor an experiment now, 

 but a decided faetor where lots of work is to be done; and it is a 

 factor that brings with it that economical (|uality of saving in 

 kerf. 



Bookkeeping systems that are too elaborate have their objections, 

 but every woodworking institution should have a comprcliensive 

 system of keeping account of everything sold and everything done, 

 for the sake of comparison of cost, values, and keeping an exact line 

 on business generally. 



It is not the looks of a dado head so much as the looks of the 

 work it does that tells of the condition it is in. 



