January 10, 1918 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



19 



Occurrences at Washington Interesting to Lumbermen 



Personal Mention and the Activities of Various Boards and Committees 



The first government order received by the Northern Hardwood 

 Emergency Bureau was for 122,000 feet of red birch, so ealled, by 

 rhe government, to be used in making gunstocks. About 400,000 

 feet of this material is understood to have been purchased by the 

 ordnance bureau on the recommendation of the director of lumber. 

 It will be used if necessary when there is a temporary shortage of 

 black walnut owing to muddy country roads in winter. There is 

 no intention to replace walnut by birch as gunstock material. 

 There is an ample supply of walnut, but there may be temporary 

 shortage owing to the difficulties of rural transportation. 



The Northern bureau will distribute its birch order among its 

 menners as other lumber emergency bureaus have been doing with 

 orders placed with them by the government. The remainder of 

 the 400,000 feet of birch, which is said to be sufficient to make 

 .)0,000 gunstocks, was placed in a number of orders with lumber 

 concerns in Chicago, Buffalo, Philadelphia and other cities. The 

 material is thoroughly dry and therefore can bo used immediately. 

 It is 2Vj" stock, 8" and wider, 10' and longer, common and better. 



It is stated that the Southern Hardwood Emergency Bureau has 

 handled orders since Mr. Pritchard came here, for 2,300,000 feet 

 of lumHer for various purposes. 



H. A. Webster, representing the War Service Committee of the 

 veneer and panel industry, has taken room in the southern hard- 

 wood bureau offices. The industry is reported to be not yet fully 

 organized for war service and complete information is not at hand 

 as to what will be wanted of it. 



The walnut and pine industries are believed by lumbermen in 

 touch with both of them to be better organized for war work for 

 the government than almost any other industry of the country. 

 The pine people and hardwood bureaus are reported to be giving 

 real service to the government. 



E.vperts are busy with airplane specifications with a view to re- 

 ducing the numlier of parts and different kinds of materials needed 

 for the construction of air machines. The standard signal corps 

 machine requires thousands of parts including screws and nails, 

 and excluding them and the engine, 200 parts are required even if 

 built-up sections be taken as a single part. Among other things 

 •57 square feet of veneer, 244 feet of spruce, 58 feet of pine, 31 feet 

 of ash and IVt feet of hickory are required. 



Major Charles R. Sligh of Grand Kapids, Mich., who was form- 

 erly in charge of the wooden section of the signal corps in con- 

 nection with the production of airplanes, is to appear before the 

 Senate military committee in connection with the investigation 

 of the signal corps and the aviation program to tell what he knows 

 about the wooilen end of the job of furnishing airplane materials. 



It is reported that the Grand Rapids Airplane Company and the 

 St. Louis Aircraft Company are to get, if they have not already 

 gotten, government contracts for airplanes. 



There has been so much trouble about transportation that cer- 

 tain lumber concerns and woodworking plants are reported to have 

 adopted the plan of not cutting stuff unless assured of cars to ship 

 it in. Some concerns have had so much liifficulty getting materials 

 and shipping products that they fear they are considered unes- 

 sential. 



Prospective Ltunber Demand 



Under government railroad operation it is predicted that a great 

 many freight cars will be built, which should increase the demand 

 for lumber. Several bills have been introduced to provide for large 

 fleets of government-owned freight cars and several hundred mil- 

 lion dollars may be expended in this way. 



Another government demand for lumber is in sight as a result 

 of reports that .$50,000,000 is needed to build barges for handling 

 freight on the inland waterways and coastwise waters of the 



country. President Wilson and the shipping board are taking up 

 this matter, with a view to relieving the railroads. 



The Baltimore depot warehouse, Aberdeen, Md., army artillery 

 proving ground, Arcadia, Fla., aerial coastal station, Raritan River 

 ordnance depot, and various other new government military con- 

 struction projects have been absorbing millions of feet of lumber 

 from the i)ine bureaus. 



Government housing operations are being taken up in earnest. 

 Administration officials have drafted bills for submission to this 

 Congress authorizing the expenditure of government funds to pro- 

 vide houses for workmen employed in ship yards, munition fac- 

 tories, and other war production establishments. It is proposed 

 to create a housing commission which will coordinate with the 

 needs of the war, navy and shipping board in the matter of hous- 

 ing. The shipping board alone needs $3.5,000,000 to provide living 

 quarters for shipbuilding workers. 



The construction of houses here for government employes is 

 rumored, also the construction of more big buildings for the gov- 

 ernment departments and of $90,000,000 worth of warehouses and 

 munition plants for the ordnance department at various localities. 

 So zealous have lumbermen been in shipping material for govern- 

 ment construction that too much lumber has been shipped here for 

 building the War Annex. As it has been bought and the freight 

 and hauling charges on it paid by the contractor, the government 

 will reimburse him. 



Retail lumbermen from Philadelphia, Newark and other eastern 

 points haver been here recently talking with Mr. Edgar of the 

 Council of National Defense and the Federal Trade Commission 

 regarding their costs and prices on lumber bought by Uncle Sam 

 for emergency uses. The retailers are reported to ask $20 per 

 1,000 feet more than the manufacturers' bureaus have been selling 

 to the government for. The price paid will be based largely on the 

 cost, it is understood, and that is why the retailers have been re- 

 ferred to the trade commission, which is studying costs in the 

 lumber trade. 



Many million dollars more for aviation, the construction of avia- 

 tion fields, schools and stations, and of airplanes for guarding the 

 United States, the Panama Canal and American insular possessions 

 are asked of Congress by Secretary of War Baker in a recent 

 estimate. Millions of feet of lumber will be ordered for these 

 purposes wlien the proposition is approved by Congress. 



The United States Employment Service is being utilized to ob- 

 tain many lumber workers and wooden ship builders, it is an- 

 nounced. 



' Secretary of War Baker in his report for the last fiscal year says 

 that 450,000,000 feet of lumber was bought for the national army 

 cantonments. "Standardization of sizes saved from $5 to $6 per 

 1,000 feet on lumber and a further saving of from $3 to $11 over 

 prevailing prices was effected by the lumber subcommittee of the 

 Council of National Defense." 



The report of the quartermaster general shows that during the 

 last fiscal year he purchased 5,250 handles and 40,000,000 tent pins 

 and nearly 4,000,000 tent poles. 



Wooden Ship Matters 

 There have been developments of interest to lumbermen gen- 

 erally in connection with the shipbuilding situation recently. The 

 Senate committee on commerce has been holding hearings in an in- 

 vestigation of the shipping program and of the shipping board. 

 After several officers of the board on the witness stand banged 

 the lumbermen, and especially the southern pine manufacturers, 

 for alleged shortcomings in the matter of contracts for wooden 

 ship material. Chairman Hurley of the board announced that he 

 favored building wooden ships and he is boss; it was learned that 

 contracts for thirty more wooden ships are under negotiation in 



