1 8b 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



October 



1017 



Uniform Handling of Freight Tax Desirable 



SIXCK THH I.MI'OSITIUX li.v the K'ovfininent of tlie three per cent 

 tax on all fieijjht bills there has been considerable discussion as 

 to who would be directly responsilde for its payment. It is quite ob- 

 viously fjood policy to establish uniform practice in this regard ami an 

 equally good idea to have such practice defined before the law goes 

 into effect on November first. To this end the lumber industry should 

 take advantjige of every gathering in the near future to give this im- 

 portant point discussion. Some recommendation from a national 

 body would unddubteilly be extremely helpful to the end that both 

 the shipper and the pnrcha.ser may be saved annoyance and possible 

 controversy to as full an extent as possible. 



The question has umloubtedly been considered carefully Ijy most 

 individual shippers, but the point is that the practice decided upon 

 must be the same in all cases or endless trouble and confusion will 

 result. 



It does not appear that there shoulil be any great ilifliculty in com- 

 ing to an understanding. The law clearly states that the tax shall 

 be paid by the jiarty to the transaction paying for the freight service 

 rendered. This would not seem to gibe with the announced intention 

 of tho southern shijiper to sell goods " freight, allowed to Chicago." 

 This clearly puts the shijijier in the position of jiaying for the freight 

 sen-ice and requires that he also pay the tax. On the other hand, it 

 does meet with the plan of one northern shipper who will pay the tax 

 on all f. o. b. mill shipments and let the buyer pay on all f. o. b. point 

 of destination shipments. It is because uncertainty is already ap- 

 parent that the final solution should be arrived at as early as possible. 



Hardwood Prospects Abroad 



THE DEPAKT.MKNT OF COMilEECE HAS ANNOUNCED 

 that the four American lumber commissioners, Messrs. Sim- 

 mons, Brown, Walker and Oxholm, have reached their destinations 

 where they will begin their investigation of markets for, American 

 lumber. Mr. Simmons is in Russia, Oxholm in Norway, Walker 

 in England, and Brown in Spain. 



It has taken about two years to find the commissioners a A get 

 them at their respective posts ready to begin work. It is now- 

 proper to discuss just in what way the hardwood lumberman may 

 expect to profit from the work of these investigators. It may 

 be taken for granted that the bulk of the gain, if there is to be 

 any gain, will go to the softw-ood lumbermen, particularly to the 

 Douglas fir and yellow- pine interests; but the hardwood men ought 

 to get something out of it, too. 



Of the four hundred kinds of American hardwoods, scarcely 

 more tlian a dozen have any earthly show of selling abroad in 

 anything like paying quantities, and only about half of that dozen 

 woods will amount to much in any foreign trade that we may 

 expect. The lucky half dozen will probably be black walnut, oak, 

 red gum, ash, yellow i)oplar and maple. 



Walnut will compete with the European and Circassian walnut; 

 but the old countries are about stripped of these, and if anybod.v 

 over there w-ants walnut, he must take our black walnut or nothing. 

 Therefore, the chance of increasing the sales of our w-alnut ap- 

 pears good. 



Our oak must compete abroad with high-class European and 

 Japanese oak. It is as good as they, Vnit we can hardly claim 

 that it is better. It cannot keep Japanese oak out of our own 

 Pacific coast states, and there has always been some English and 

 Austrian oak sold in our eastern states. When our oak competes 

 with European oak in Europe, and Japanese oak also, it will have 

 a fight if it gains much. Its chance, w-hatever chance it has, will 

 depend upon capturing the markets before the old world oak 

 lumbermen get on their feet again after the war. For that reason 

 it is hoped that our commissioners abroad w-ill drive the entering 

 wedges quickly and firmly. 



Our red gum should have a relatively easy road. It has no com- 

 petition of importance over there. Walnut was formerly a com- 

 petitor, but it can hardly be so any more. The chance of increas- 

 ing our exports of gum seems promising. 



Ash will have to compete with European ash, but it has been 

 able to do that during the past two hundred years, and it should 

 have no trouble in doing it now. Native ash must be pretty 

 scarce in Europe by this time. 



Yellow poplar has no direct competitor in Europe or anywhere 

 else; but it is not indispensable. The European linden, which 

 corresponds to our bassw-ood, is the closest competitor, but it is 

 not so desirable for fine panel work as yellow poplar. Our poplar 

 ought to sell well over the sea, as it has alw-ays done. 



Possibly our maple will have the largest sales in the form of 

 flooring; but it will not have the field all to itself. There is maple 

 in Europe, and there are also several other woods which make 

 good floors. 



Our hickory has no competitor there for certain uses, but for 

 others it must meet keen competition, and it can scarcely be ex- 

 pected to show largely increased sales. 



We have several other woods which have gone to Europe in the 

 past and for some of them there is a chance of increasing the 

 sales. Europe has so much birch and beech that ours cannot gain 

 much ground. The same holds true of elm. Locust that makes 

 excellent treenails must compete in Europe with satisfactory w-oods 

 from Australia; besides, it is doubtful if we shall have much 

 locust left when we have built our own wooden ships. Dogwood 

 and persimmon for shuttles, and red cedar for lead pencils will 

 likely hold about the trade they enjoyed before the war. At 

 least, no likelihood of greatly increasing their sales is now ap- 

 parent. 



Segregation of Costs 



OPERATORS SHOULD ENDEAVOR to get actual costs in each 

 department of their logging and milling operations in Order 

 that totals may be dependable, and may supply valuable data by 

 which to compare present with past operations, and present with 

 future figures in years to come. To attain that object, the cost 

 sheets should show, separately, the actual cost of cutting, of hauling, 

 and of delivering the logs at the plant. To this could be added 

 the cost of manufacture, of sales, and of the -overhead; and from 

 these items the profit on the whole transaction can be figured and 

 the w-hole .system should so far as possible cover each wood 

 separately. 



It is true that one man 's cost may not always be compared with 

 another's, on a similar basis; but the man who knows accurately 

 his own cost has a basis on w-hich to work. The situation of oak 

 is a case to the point. The present price of that wood seems 

 entirely too low, when compared with other timbers. It costs as 

 much as they to log, to manufacture, and the standing timber shows 

 the same increase in price as they. Yet no one hears serious com- 

 [daint on the subject from the operators. Is it because they fear 

 that competition is threatening the volume of their business, or 

 because they cannot see the true situation? If this is the case, 

 what would it mean if oak slumped five dollars a thousand? How 

 w-ill that slump compare with a similar slump in gum, birch, maple, 

 or ash whose present prices are relatively higher than oak's? 

 When this view of the matter is taken, it brings out the necessity 

 of accurate and complete figures on costs so that each item can 

 be examined separately. 



We usually think of mahogany either in the form of standard 

 lumber or veneer, but a lot of mahogany is marketed in the form of 

 dimension stock, and likewise it is (juite an item in the dimension 

 stock business. 



Some of the mill yard surroundings were made to look like farm 

 yards this year, and we may add in passing that the gardening spirit 

 is a good thing to keep alive and working every year. 



I 



While lumber has advanced some in price, a bushel of wheat or of 

 corn will buy considerably more lumber now than it would three 

 years ago. 



