i8d 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



November 23, I!)!" 



broader than the lumbormon at Jirst contcmiilatcd, if the view of 

 J. H. Hiiynen, liiiubcr purcliasiiig agent for the board, prevails. Tlie 

 order placed an embargo on the shipment, cxeejit for the board, of 

 material having a face of 10 inches or more and lumber more than 

 2 inches thick, any length. Mr. Haynen is reported to have decided 

 that this operates to shut off private shipments of anything more 

 than 2 inches thick, of any width whatever. Lumbermen have laid 

 the question before the priorities committee. 



It is reported that wooden shipbuilding is to be dropped Ijv 

 this government after the completion of the 300 or 400 vessels 

 of this typo now under construction. This is an official decision 

 by the shipping board, it is reported, but unofficially announced. 

 While hardwood ship material for the shipping board has been 

 ordered and is said to be delivered satisfactorily, government 

 officials charge that tlierc has been too much delay in delivery of 

 softwood materials, especially yellow pine. 



Some time ago a Mr. Eichberg, representing certain lumber 

 interests, was here agitating the proposition to substitute oak for 

 pine in certain big ship timbers, as he claimed the oak pieces 

 could be gotten out readily by gangs of hewers. After consulta- 

 tion with the shipping board officials, however, it was determined 

 that such substitution should not be generally made. Technical 

 (picstions of the relative weight of oak and pine, and other mat- 

 ters are involved in the projiositiou. 



However, it is reported that the substitution of oak for pine in 

 thirty or more items of the ship schedule being followed on con- 

 tracts for a small group of wooden ships under construction in 

 Florida, has been allowed by the shipping board authorities, pre- 

 sumably for good reasons. Further substitution now appears to 

 be permitted under the new schedule. 



The fact that many of the large timbers are needed at the very 

 beginning of the construction of a wooden ship makes delays un- 

 fortunate, as work cannot go ahead on the rest of the vessel 

 naturally until the peel, flitches and ribs are put together. 



The most recent specifications point out to what extent hard 

 woods may be substituted for pine and fir and sizes are shown for 

 various items. 



Demand for Various Articles 



E.xpansion of government activities in many lines incident to 

 the war has caused a big demand for various articles of hardwood. 

 Furniture is being l)Ought in large quantities by the various gov- 

 ernment departments. An example is a recent order for $68,000 

 worth of furniture for the War Department offices here, and that 

 is by no means all even for that one department. Field desks are 

 being bought in 10,000 lots by the quartermaster corps of the army, 

 chiefly at the depots in Philadelphia and New York. Each officer 

 down to the rank of captain is entitled to a desk and they are 

 being made in quantities for the army at the various camps in 

 this country and France. 



Over 100,000 lockers for officers and men of the army have been 

 contracted for by the quartermasters, and they are said to use 

 hardwood in their makeup. The engineer corps of the army is re- 

 ported to be buying handles and other hardwood materials. The 

 medical corps has bought furniture, beds, chests, stretchers, and 

 other equipment for hospitals, sanitary, veterinary, medical, 

 dental, ambulance and hospital contingents of troops required for 

 an army of a iriilion men. 



Purchases of these materials and o(pu]iment for the medical 

 branches of the service are mostly made through the New York, 

 Washington and St. Louis supply depots of the medical corps. 

 The engineer corps buys chiefly through its depot in this city, 

 the quartermasters department through depots at a dozen or more 

 cities, but principally at Philadelphia, St. Louis and Jeffersonvillo, 

 Ind. The ordnance bureau of the War Department is also buying 

 furniture and other hardwood manufactures and supplies at its ten 

 division headquarters throughout the country, about a dozen 

 arsenals, and through ordnance inspectors at army camps and 

 munition factories all over the land. Sixty sets of standard wood 

 and metal filing cases were recently purchased for the quarter- 



master corps. Six hundred and fifty thousand cots have been 

 liouglit for the army cantonments and it is .stated that "a few 

 more" will [irobably be needed. Most of these cots are steel, 

 it is said. 



The lumber industry is being drawn upon quite freely by the 

 engineer branch of the army. A recent report describing the work 

 of that branch contains the following statements touching the 

 industry: 



.Nine railroad regiments an<l one forestry regiment have been 

 raised as part of the National Army. The engineer equipment 

 order included four miles of pontoon bridges. Shipments to the 

 army camjis here totaled 48,000,000 pounds in 64,000 separate 

 cases and boxes. Railroad equipment bought for American mil- 

 itary purposes abroad included half a million ties, "a vast quan- 

 tity of timber" and other su])plies. 



Woods for Special Uses 



Manager Pritchard of the Southern Hardwood Emergency Bureau 

 says that he understands that gum, ash, hickory, oak and pine are to 

 be used in making the bodies of 10,000 standard army motor trucks 

 recently contracted for by the War Department for delivery by 

 next . I line. 



Mr. Pritchard expressed satisfaction with the new ordnance 

 bureau's specifications for ordnance ecpiipment packing boxes. 

 They permit the use of many hardwood lumbers, and Mr. Pritchard 

 says there will be plenty of room for them all, as it is believed that- 

 probably hundreds of mill inns of feet of box lumber will be re- 

 quired. 



Henry Ford, the Detroit motor car manufacturer, who has joined 

 the .shipping board's staff as an expert on standardization, says 

 that the production of pleasure cars has to be curtailed, which will 

 mean that the lumber used for car bodies will largely be available 

 for other purposes, such as the manufacture of airplanes. 



In view of the impetus recently given to the proposition for a 

 big fleet of government freight cars to be used in relieving the war 

 time congestion of traffic, and the announcement that a bill will be 

 introduced in congress next month to provide $100,000,000 for 

 freight car building, lumbermen are urging that the proposed gov- 

 ernment cars be built of wood, owing to the scarcity of steel and 

 the many other big demands for it. 



About 53,000 cars of lumber have been shipped for government 

 war purposes, the orders for it being placed through the old lumber 

 committee or the director of lumber. 



The large number of hard and softwoods used in the manufac- 

 ture of airplanes will be increased by adding cypress lumber, if the 

 idea of Britisli purchasing officials here works out. They have been 

 prospecting with a view to placing an order for 15,000,000 feet of 

 high grade cypress for aircraft stock. 



It is announced that the American Bed Cross service is planning 

 to operate experimental units in the line of portable barracks, 

 standardized in sections, so that they can be set up for hospitals, 

 rest stations, canteens, etc. These portable structures are made 

 of wood very largely, and the same material, it is understood, is to 

 be used in an American Bed Cross artificial limb factory in France, 

 which will supply the French government, at cost, with an im- 

 proved type of artificial leg, to be used in lieu of the European 

 type, which is said to be much heavier than the American artificial 

 limb and not so well fitted. 



The development of national- forest reserves in the Appalachian 

 Mountains is being delayed by the action of the Georgia legislature 

 in enacting a law forbidding the government to acquire land in 

 Georgia by condemnation without the consent of the owners. Of 

 course, there is no necessity for condemnation if the owner con- 

 sents to the acquisition of the property. 



, The purpose of the legislature, it is believed by the Forest Service, 

 was to head off a plan under which the government sought to ac- 

 quire considerable tracts of land owned by lumber companies in the 

 Savannah and Georgia forest areas. The policy of the service will 

 be to decline to purchase except at reasonable prices, and it is not 

 believed in official circles here that the owners can find other pur- 



