January 10, 1918 



Hitting the Sawdust Trail 



Waiting for Business 



As I visited the various operators in the big eities ami the manufac- 

 turing districts the past two or three weeks, I found business has been 

 very peculiar. On account of the lack of cars many operators are not 

 trying to sell anything because they cannot promise delivery. Gov- 

 ernment orders, of course, with a priority ticket, are being taken care 

 of, as Uncle Sam, in his own way, if he considers he wants a car 

 he gets it. I was talking to one operator recently who made a special 

 appeal and got a bunch of cars, but before they could load the cars. 

 Uncle Sam's right of way man came along and said these cars belong 

 to Uncle Sam, and bang go the cars. 



However, everybody is looking forward to benefiting from the 

 elimi.iation of priority orders, and the letting up of the stormy weather 

 will help business, and there is scarcely anyone wlio does not believe 

 that 1918 will consume as much lumber for manufacturing purposes 

 as under ordinary circumstances, with the jiossible exception of the 

 sash and door trade, and I think we will wake up some morning and 

 tind that the cities will begin a speculative building game. It may be 

 a few montlis and it may be only a few days when spring opens up. 



By looking at the bank statements, the indications are that in the 

 large centers the deposits periodically drop, but that is an indication 

 in most cases of utilizing cash for stock in liand and stock en route, 

 and this reminds me further that stock en route and stock in the 

 yanl, ready for shipment, has tied up a good deal more money than 

 people imagine. Last spring when we iigure<l what would come to 

 us, the actual laxity in the movement of lumber due to lack of motive 

 power, we discussed the matter with several bankers, and they at that 

 time figured on being in shape to take care of their customers because 

 of the then depleted car supply. 



Car Shortage Costs Money 



In checking up the annual statements, several things have developed 

 to show that most people did not have any cost sheet. The over- 

 heail anil handling bills have increased because of not being able to 

 maintain a full log supply to keep the mill running on regular sched- 

 ule, and in this connection must be considered the impossibility of 

 getting an adequate supply of cars, particularly box cars. These 

 conditions have resulted in various losses, which are added to the 

 regular expense account, such as the regular inspection force — men 

 who draw from $125 to $200 per month, who have nothing to do; 

 then, too, when the miU is not running steadily, the best pUers and 

 the men of long experience get scattered. Naturally, there isn't so 

 much work for every one, and the men do not have regular work in 

 their proper position where they had a particular niche to fill in the 

 handling of lumber, which all adds to the cost. 



This shows up pretty clear in one place, and tliat is oak, where 

 the present prices, with the exception of thick oak and car material, 

 are not what the)- .should be. It costs many mills from .$2.50 to $.'i 

 to yard this lumber, and it shows a big increase over a year ago. Some- 

 liody has got to pay for this. It seems that the oak folks in many 

 cases have overlooked this as they have paid the money out, and it 

 lowers the margin of profit. Of course, the car stock and thick lumber 

 has been in unusual demand, and the prices advance accordingly, but 

 FAS plain oak, for-instance, or even quarter-sawed oak, is selling en- 

 tirely too cheap. Of course, there is not much demand for quarter 

 sawed material, but I do not think there is much stock. There are a 

 lot of peo]de who quit quarter-sawing. Sooner or later someone will 

 wake up and find that firsts and seconds are in good demand. 



Concerning the Wisdom of Knowing What You Should Cut 



There are a lot of folks who went to sleep on their rights this past 

 fall, although Hardwood Record particularly has been proclaiming 

 from the housetops that prices were too low, that there was a big 

 demand, and that there would be a larger demand. This is particularly 

 true of the large number of orders for green stuff. Several operators 

 were discussing tlie situation of the fiiturc, after this unusual govern- 

 ment demand slacks up a bit for thick himber and the result. You are 

 taking a gambler 's chance probably in letting your stock run lop- 



sided to thick hunl>cr, but this demand will keep up for some time yet 

 unless the allied governments know a great deal more than the plain 

 citizens do, and the war is to be over within a short time. 



The more develoi>ment there is in the airplane and shipbuilding, 

 the more clear it becomes to the hardwood operators that the original 

 idea that little hardwoods would be utilized has turned out to be a 

 myth. In the first place, more walnut is being bought and used than 

 ever before. Of course, they are losing a great deal of time as to 

 what they are going to use because of the necessity for a lot of red 

 tape in order to get appropriations through, not only in Congress, 

 but after the money has been put to the credit of the department, 

 the specifications cliccked, and even after contracts have been awarded. 

 The veneer demand, for instance, in checking up the list of stock to 

 be figured on, shows a demand for 400,000,000 surface feet to be 

 utilized for ships alone. Local planing mills and sash and door and 

 panel plants should get mighty busy on this stuff. The facts are this 

 is a Godsend to the sash and door fellows who have been running 

 short on Inisiiu'ss for quite a wlule. 



An Enterprising Hardwood District 



Helena, Ark., U. S. A., located on the Mississippi river, with trans- 

 portation facilities not excelled by any internal manufacturing town, 

 including the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R. (I. C. R. R.), St. L., 

 I. M. & S. and M. & N. A. railroads, has more real timber adjacent 

 to it than practically any other hardwood manufacturing town in the 

 South. It has become such an active center that they have decided 

 they would present their card to the consumers of hardwood through 

 the columns of Hardwood Record. The first card is in this issue on 

 another page. They will tell from mouth to month all about their 

 timber facilities, and the fact that they are manufacturing more lum- 

 ber, veneers and wood products and more varieties than any other 

 market west of the Mississippi river. Like everybody else in the 

 South they are affected more or less by the short equipment of the 

 railroads in the Southwest, yet they have been able during this 

 unfortunate car situation to take pretty fair care of their customers. 

 The variety of the product of 150,000,000 feet of logs cut annually— 

 lumber, veneers, box material, cooperage stock, both tight and slack, 

 veneer panels, etc., makes it a most desirable market for the large 

 buyer to be in touch with, and a visit to Helena will convince any 

 one that it has become some lumber market, with its nine sawmills, 

 six cooperage stock operations, six veneer plants, four box factories 

 and two hoop mills. 



We had hoped to use a picture of Helena, but an illustrated story 

 at a later date will tell more of how the plants in that section are 

 located at Helena and West Helena. Within a hundred miles east 

 and west there are a hundred hardwood mills that ship logs from the 

 North, West and South, and some logs are shipped in from the East. 

 While gum and oak predominate, ash, elm, hickory, Cottonwood, cy- 

 press, holly and almost every hardwood grown in the South can be 

 had, and is nuuuifactureil in the market. Box shooks, elm hoops, 

 staves — oak, ebn and cottonwood, tight staves and heading and shooks 

 for export are manufactured, aside from the enormous prochiction of 

 figured liardwoods, veneers, etc. The timber holdings of the opera- 

 tors in this section probably amount to 2,000,000,000 feet. 



Helena at present has a population of about 15,000. It has improved 

 materially within the past few years, and while it is essentially a 

 l)usiness town, the people get a lot out of one another's society. The 

 streets are well ))aved, the city has a good water supply, and shows 

 a health record ecpuil to any city in the United States. Witliin the 

 past year two new depots have been completed. Helena is the one 

 town on the map, outside of Vicksburg, Memphis and Cairo, that has 

 the advantage of all the river tonnage going south, and the possi- 

 bilities of water transportation in so far as our large rivers are con- 

 cerned are better than any other part of the United States, and if we 

 ever utilize our rivers before we die, Helena's river advantages will 

 prove of great benefit for receiving raw materials, such as steel, iron, 

 coal anil otlnT |irnducts. 



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