October 10, 1917 



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Tlie lumber industry is now making the acquaintance of the war 

 power of the govermnent to commandeer facilities of production and 

 the products of the manufactures of the country. The shipping board, 

 or rather the Emergency Fleet Corporation, exercising the extraor- 

 dinary powers granted by Congress, has recently issued an order 

 requiring yellow pine mills to turn over to government order every 

 stick of timber measuring 12 by 12 inches 24 feet long and up, and all 

 timber 30 feet or more long. 



One effect of the order, it is said, will be to keep wholesalers from 

 getting such timbers. Another effect vrill be very largely to stop 

 construction work for private interests. Thus the government de- 

 mands will become more than ever the backbone of the lumber 

 market in the United States. The order will be enforced with the co- 

 operation of the priority committee of the War Industry Board, of 

 which Mr. Demsey, the well-known southwestern lumberman, is execu- 

 tive secretary. 



After a preamble the commandeer order, which is signed by Rear 

 Admiral W. S. Capps, chief constructor of the navy and general 

 manager of the fleet corporation, reads as follows; 



That you place at the disposal o£ the United States Shipping Board 

 Emergency Fleet Corporation all longleaf yellow pine lumber produced by 

 you of sizes 12" by 12" or larger by 24 feet long or longer, or any sizes 

 30 feet or longer, and deliver the same or parts thereof, in such quantities 

 and at such times and to such persons as may be specified in orders here- 

 after to be given you, and that you do not sell or dispose of said lumber 

 or any part thereof unless you first obtain authority from the United 

 States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation or the priority com- 

 mittee of the War Industries Board. 



Copies of the order were sent to all yellow pine mills cutting ship 

 schedules and to such mills as were understood to have the capacity to 

 cut them. 



Efforts are being made to liave the commandeer order modified, as 

 it is believed by lumbermen here that the government's purpose could 

 be served as well if the terms of the order were not so broad, and 

 that in its present form it wotUd work hardship upon the lumber 

 industry. However, it is claimed that 50 lumbermen advised the fleet 

 corporation to issue the order in its present form. 



Lumljermen appealing to the corporation for information and 

 exceptions have been informed by F. K. Paxton, assistant purchasing 

 agent in charge of the hardwood purchases for ship material, that 

 shipments they contemplated can not be made for other than govern- 

 ment shipbuilding purposes. One man is reported to have declined 

 an outside order for 3,000,000 feet of timber on account of the state- 

 ments made to him. 



It is understood that lumbermen are endeavoring to reach Assistant 

 Purchasing Agent W. J. Haynen, of the fleet corporation, to obtain 

 modification of the commandeer order. Speaking personally for 

 Kansas City lumber interests, L. L. Chipman, in charge of the 

 Southern Pine Emergency Bureau here, has appealed to the fleet 

 corporation for such modification. Outlining defects in the order, 

 Mr. Chipman says in a statement given out: 



Since any of the mills cutting ship schedules can manufacture the 

 items under 12", in advance of the material over 12", it may be said that 

 the time required to complete a schedule depends altogether upon the time 

 required to manufacture the large sizes. Hence the mills will produce 

 an excess of sizes under 12" in which the shipping board holds no interest 

 even though the size and grade conform to certain items contained in ship 

 schedules. Further, mills will at all times manufacture items 6x6 to 10x10 

 30' and longer square edge and sound, same being unsuited for boat con- 

 struction on account of excess sap, and knots. It is therefore my 

 thought that the government's embargo notice should permit the mills to 

 ship commercially all sizes and lengths under 12" of government grade, 

 provided they have first manufactured all similar items called for in any 

 ship schedule on which they may be cutting for the Emergency Fleet 

 Corporation. .\lso ship at any time items of any length provided the grade 

 will not meet with the fleet corporation's standard, however, such items 

 to be shipped commercially only in case the.y cannot be reduced in size to 

 cover an item due the government without sacrificing the log to do so. 



The commandeer order does not directly affect hardwood timbers, 

 but it is of special interest to hardwood men who are dealing with 

 the government or intending to do so, as indicating the policy to be 



]iursued in obtaining the products of American forests for war needs. 

 Developments along these lines will be awaited with interest. If there 

 should be any delay about supplying hardwood timbers for wooden 

 shipbuilding, or if a scarcity of such timbers should become apparent, 

 it is regarded as a foregone conclusion that there wUl be no hesitation 

 about aj)plyiug the commandeer power to the hardwood industry 

 as' it has been applied to the softwood industry. Prominent lumbermen 

 at Washington fear that there will be delay in obtaining necessary 

 hardwood timbers for shipbuilding purposes, as a result of the policy 

 adopted by the officers of the Emergency Fleet Corporation in ordering 

 hardwood ship schedules from numerous wholesale and manufacturing- 

 firms in the hardwood line, instead of doing business, as recommended 

 by the committee on lumber, Council of National Defense, with or 

 through an emergency bureau organized in the hardwood industry. 



No secret is made at the fleet corporation's office that the govern- 

 ment's organization for building a fleet of merchant vessels for the 

 war carrying trade has refused to recognize or deal with the Southern 

 Hardwood Emergency Bureau, an organization created by manufac- 

 turing luirdwood men at the suggestion of government representatives, 

 it is claimed, with a view to supplying the government with hardwood 

 ship stock and other hardwood material. 



Instead, it is stated at the fleet corporation olfiees that many 

 orders for hardwood ship schedules have been placed with individual 

 hardwood concerns at prices lower than those asked by the Southern 

 Hardwood Emergency Bureau. On that point, it is said in behalf 

 of hardwood manufacturers that the average price of $105 per 1,000 

 feet asked by tlie emergency bureau was considered reasonable by 

 the committee on lumber, on account of the scarcity of large oak 

 timbers and the difficulty of getting them. 



Many orders for hardwood ship stock have been placed with mem- 

 bers of the National Hardwood Lumber Association, who seem to be 

 bidding against members of the Hardwood Manufacturers' Associ- 

 ation, who constitute chiefly, it is said, the membership of the Southern 

 Hardwood Emergency Bureau. It is stated at the office of the fleet 

 corporation that Frank Fish, secretary of the National Hardwood 

 Association, has submitted offers of hardwood ship stock to the fleet 

 corporation. 



At the offices of the Imnber committee no secret is made of the 

 disapproval felt of the policy adopted by the fleet corporation in 

 buying hardwood schedules. The opinion is freely expressed that 

 the corporation will experience difficulty getting its orders filled and 

 that there wUl be delay and dissatisfaction growing out of the policy. 

 It is claimed by lumbermen affiliated with the government that it 

 would have lieen simpler and more satisfactory to deal directly with 

 the hardwood manufacturers co-operating in an emergency bureau. 



In view of the attitude of government officials, the Southern Hard- 

 wood Emergency Bureau has adopted a waiting policy. It opened 

 an office in Washington to get in touch with the numerous hardwood 

 needs of the government. Perhaps the most pressing was the demand 

 for hardwood ship schedules. Having failed to satisfy the govern- 

 ment with respect to that matter, the bureau, it is understood, has 

 dropped activities and is waiting to be called upon by the government, 

 which wants quantities of hardwood timber, lumber, partly manu- 

 factured stock, and manufactured products of hardwood. 



One of the interesting phases of the hardwood situation touching 

 the government is the need for treenails in wooden shipbuilding. 

 J. W. L. Arthur, of AshevOle, N. C, has been in Washington recently 

 in connection with the matter. He is understood to be filling con- 

 tracts for large quantities of locust treenaOs. Mr. Arthur says he 

 has been in the treenail business for thirty- -five years when wooden 

 shipbuilding was not a very flourishing industry. He got in touch 

 here with the International Sales Corporation, which is also supplying 

 treenails for government wooden ships on a large scale. This concern 

 is operating the Liberty Woodworking Co., on K street, in the west 

 end of this city, where locust stock is being received chiefly from 

 Virginia woods and made into treenails. As a method of preventing 

 waste and saving money the International Sales Corporation has been 



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