l>i'<'t'iiib(T 25. 1917 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



lumber Imlustr.r it bus Iiiiil tbr cooperation o( the Bureau of Forelen nnd 

 Domestic Commerce and tbe Forest Service. .\s a result of tliis l.iliit 

 Investigation tbere was created In .April. 1917. an advlsor.v council nn 

 forest industries to stud.v coiilliniousl.v tbe i>rolilems of timber usinn 

 industries and to determine a rational public pollc.v witb respect to stanil- 

 Ing timber resources. On tills council are represented tbe forest service. 

 tbe bureau of foreign and domestic commerce, and tbe fetleral trade com 

 mission. Conferences and heariiiKs with other government agencies and 

 with represenlatlvi's <•( the industry liavi' been continued. 

 Differences in Housing Program 



.\ complete investljiallnn of tbe shipping board and the shipbuilding 

 program was recently ordered by the Senate, wlilcb instructed its com- 

 merce committee to make an inqulr.v. The probe will cover the wooden 

 ship program and other operations of the board. Its fleet corporation, and 

 other phases of the situation. 



The Investigation resolution followed tbe latest shakeup in the board, 

 which Included tbe resignation of Rear .\dmiral Harris as general man- 

 ager of the licet corporation, the promotion of Charles Piez as his suc- 

 cessor, and other changes. Chairman Hurley announced that James Hey- 

 wortb would remain In charge of wooden shipbuilding, and that Admiral 

 Howies would have an important place in the new organization. 



The retirement of Harris after only about a month's service as suc- 

 cessor to Admiral Capps was due In part to differences he had with the 

 board over the question of housing. Mr. Hurley said Harris wanted to 

 embark Immediately upon a housing program to cost ?12. 000,000 to take 

 care of workmen at shipbuilding yards. The board is working on the 

 bousing question. J. R. Flannery being in charge of the work. The board 

 is reported to plan lending money to shipyards so that they can build 

 houses for their employes. It may have to buy or build houses itself; or 

 it can cooperate with states and cities in providing housing. It is reported 

 to be planning alternate rows of frame and brick houses in shipbuilding 

 towns so that the fire risk will not be so great as though all wooden 

 houses were erected. 



Planing Mills Put on War Footing 



A company under tbe iiariit' <>r the St. Luuis Wuinl Products Company. 



St. Louis. Mo.. comp<>s»'d ut" scventfen sash, door and inillwork interests. 



has recently been incorporated under the Delaware laws, with a capital 



vtock of ?2.j,oO0. The object of the corporation is to consolidate facilities 



for securing contracts from the government for material In the constnic- 

 tlon of cantonments, war emergency buildings and the manufacture of 

 cases and boxes for the shipment of supplies and ammunition. 



The oflicers of the new company are : President, E. T. Bradbury, Ulddle- 

 Uehbeln Manufacturing Company ; vice-presidents, Geo. U. Fox, Kox Bros. 

 .Mauufacluring Company; Christ Bcckemeyer, Gravols Planing Mill Com- 

 pany, and \V. K. Hay, Wellston Pinning Mill Company, who Is also director 

 of sales; secretary, J. P. I.arsnn, manager of the I'laniug Mill Listing 

 Bureau: treasurer, Charles K. Itels. Ciirondelet Planing Mill Company. 



Personal Mention 



Joseph Lang was here recently on a tour of shipbuilding yards, which he 

 is visiting for the Southern' Pine Emergency Bureau to sec how the wooden 

 ship and shipyard construction work for which It Is furnishing materials 

 Is going. 



Examiner Chantland of the Federal Trade Commission has gone West 

 to confer with persons connected with the complaint filed by the commis- 

 sion some time ago against a number of lumber concerns and others In the 

 Northwest and middle West, alleging unfair competitive methods In their 

 dealings with the mail order houses. 



A. E. Clarke of Edward Clarke & Sons, Toronto, and Gardiner I. Jones, 

 Boston, are among the hardwood men here this week In connection with 

 government business and other matters. 



Roy U. Jones, manager of the Northern Hardwood Emergency Bureau, 

 expects to spend Christmas in New York. 



Director of Lumber Downman has gone to his Virginia farm for the 

 holidays. 



C. H. Worcester, one of the hardwood men on Mr. Downman's staff, 

 has gone to Chicago for the holidays. 



Horace A. Taylor, the other hardwood advisor of the government, goes 

 to his home In Buffalo for Christmas. 



Other lumbermen in town are B. B. Burns of Huntington. W. Va.. and 

 K. L. Jurdcn. Memphis, a subcommittee in charge of the Southern Hard- 

 wood Emergency Bureau ; L. F. McAleer of the Natalbany Lumber Com- 

 pany, who represented wooden paving block interests In the east ; George 

 Dascomb of the Dascomb Lumber Company, Chicago, and others. 



<i^.<y!.i^ 



i^i&^i&i&s:^^x!)!mmi)i>!)^:mm^LW3!i3S!mi^^ " 



Lumbermen Are Coming Through 



Revelations at Washington since Congress reconvened strikingly 

 prove that the biggest opportunity for helping the nation in this 

 crisis lies not in money contributions but in the contribution of 

 (>er3onal services. The money can be secured. If it is not forth- 

 coming through appeal it will be raised through taxation and 

 similar means. But the country ■would be no better off had it 

 $")0,000,000,000 in its treasury if there were no organzation for 

 i-onverting that money into tlie means required to fight our battles 

 on laud and sea. 



The only personal service of any consequence or value is that 

 service offered by the unselfish busines man who is beyond the 

 point where he is looking for aggrandizement in honor or money. 

 The voluntary offering of brain power by men whose brains have 

 lirought them to success in their own business is the highest duty 

 of the leaders in industry, commerce and business. So far as this 

 willingness to sacrifice has gone, the lumber trade may be proud 

 of its contribution. Leaders in the industry, men whose time is 

 worth untold dollars to themselves if applied in their own interest, 

 have laid aside thoughts of their personal organizations and have 

 entered into the work of helping whip into shape Uncle Sam's 

 big business so far as it concerns timber, lumber and resulting 

 products. 



As an illustration of the way business brains will help where 

 professional and political brains would not may be cited a little 

 incident which has been mentioned in Hardwood Becord before. 

 It concerns a representative of one of the allied governments who 

 was here to contract for purdiasc of millions of dollars worth 

 of material which would come from the lumber field. It seems 

 that this man's contracts were completed and that the conditions 

 under which he had worked them up provided that when the 

 transactions went through his personal gain would be a cool million 

 lollars. His figures, to the professional mind, would not have 

 Mgnified anything out of the ordinary. 



Frank F. Fish, secretary of the National Hardwood Lumber 

 Association, in telling of this incident before the recent veneer 



and panel meeting, stated that after the contracts had all been 

 signed up and were ready for delivery they were brought to the 

 attention of E. H. Downman, who now has entire charge of lumber 

 purchases for the allied and United States governments. Mr. 

 Downman, being a practical lumberman, immediately perceived 

 the camouflaged graft and took steps to stop the transaction, 

 thereby saving the Italian government on one order exactly 

 $1,000,000. 



Tliis, as stated, is just one instance showing why men who have 

 practical business experience in their respective lines should be 

 willing to give their services to the government and why the 

 government should rely in every way upon officials chosen from 

 the respective fields of industry and business. 



Mr. Fish in the same talk went on to tell about the work his 

 association is doing at Washington, mentioning the new War 

 Service Bureau of the association, organized two or three weeks 

 ago at the request of Mr. Downman. In this connection Mr. Fish 

 said he called at the offices of all the officials who might be in- 

 terested in hardwood purchases and tendered the services of his 

 entire corps of highly trained inspectors amounting to almost one 

 hundred men. His tenders were gratefully accepted in each case 

 and since his return from Washington he has had requests for the 

 services of about a dozen inspectors on government work. 



Lumbermen are coming through — they are coming through whole- 

 heartedly and voluntarily, with earnestness and sincerity behind 

 everything they do or suggest. If the efficiency and earnestness 

 with which lumbermen's efforts were co-ordinated and are being 

 administered characterized all branches of the work of the gov- 

 ernment itself, we would need to have no fear that the fullest 

 measure of results in the (juickest possible time would be .tcliieved 

 from the immense expenditure of money which the government 

 has contracted and will contract for. 



\Vlien the head of an institution is always on time in the morning 

 there is not a very imperative call for the use of the time clock. 



