March 23, lUlS 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



A survey of timber supply throughout the world is planned by 

 Col. House, the president's friend, it is reported. Dr. Zahm, a 

 Washington scientist, will supervise the work. Ho is said to be 

 desirous of finding men who are familiar with timber resources of 

 Africa, Latin America, Asia, and other distant lands. 



It is reported that after the shipping program has developed so 

 as to take care of necessary war needs abroad, the administration 

 will propose to cut down production of lumber and other things not 

 necessary for war and other unavoidable purposes, and to divert 

 labor now employed in those industries to the farms and shipyards 

 of the nation. 



The war trade board has issued instructions to railroads that 



xport shipments of ash, birch, oak, walnut, mahogany wood in 



^hooks, staves or other forms, and yellow pine lumber 12 by 12 



inches and larger and 24 feet or longer will have to have a special 



license. 



"With the arrival of March 10 the question of prices arose again. 

 Delegations representing the Southern Pine, Georgia-Florida, Ala- 

 bama-Mississippi, North Carolina and Douglas fir lumber associa- 

 tions were in Washington on the ground for some days discussing 

 the question among themselves and with various government offi- 

 cials, notably the federal trade commission. Price increases on 

 government business of $1 to $2 per 1,000 feet are wanted by the 

 several interests. 



The trade commission is considering data submitted by the lum- 

 bermen as to the cost of production and it will report on that to 

 a new price fixing committee of the war industries board, which 

 will fix prices voluntarily, but backed by such government au- 

 thority to commandeer and control fuel, transportation, shipping, 

 labor, food, materials, priority, capital, etc., that the committee's 

 work will doubtless carry great w'eight. 



The chief contest seems to be over the southern pine prices. 

 The Georgia-Florida and Alabama-Mississippi people are standing 

 with the Southern Pine Association on this matter. Their views 

 were presented to the trade commission at a hearing lasting all 

 day. President Charles S. Keith of the Southern Pine Association 

 was spokesman for the industry. He made out a good case showing 

 big increases in costs, owing to labor and materials advances. He 

 and Dr. Haney, economist of the commission, were far apart in their 

 figures to the extent of $4 per 1,000 feet on costs. Haney 's figures, 

 however, were from 21 mills, Keith 's from 200 mills. The lumber- 

 men felt that Haney selected certain mills to get his figures from, 

 which were not representative. After getting the actual cost of 

 production in efficient mills, Keith argued, a percentage should be 

 added to bring that figure up to the level of cost in inefficient 

 mills. Haney, on the other hand, contended for an average cost 

 figure. He finally admitted that his figures were jumbled. 



The chief difference was over the cost of stumpage. Haney 

 argued that the origiiftil cost should be taken with additions for 

 taxes, etc., since then. Keith argued that the present cost of 

 stumpage on the market should be accepted by the commission. 

 Commissioners Fort and Murdock appeared to agree with him. 

 Haney at one point charged that the lumbermen were camouflag- 

 ing. This was resented by Keith and others. Charles Edgar, act- 

 ing director of lumber, sat with the commission at the hearing. 



The North Carolina delegation, consisting of Mason Cooke and 

 G. L. Hume, conferred with Haney about costs and will continue 

 conferences in a few days. The fir delegation has conferred with 

 Mr. Edgar and J. H. Eansom, representing the Pacific Coast in the 

 lumber director's office. Their delegation included W. B. Nettle- 

 ton, G. T. Gerlinger, J. H. Bloedel, H. B. Van Duzer, and Howard 

 Holland. 



Mr. Keith presented an exhaustive brief to the commission in 

 which after arguing over various points at length, he gave a num- 

 ber of examples of how costs should be worked out by different 

 operations, and also many pages of tables showing that the costs 

 and government prices should be worked out on the basis indicated 

 for many sizes, grades, and dimensions of lumber. Mr. Keith and 

 other yellow pine men later appeared before the price fixing com- 



N 



mittee. The latter will consult Mr. Edgar and the trade commission. 

 The trade commission also gave a hearing recently to S. W. 

 Stratton of the New England Box Company, Cost Expert Eadewski 

 of the Chicago Mill & Lumber Company, Mr. Ames of the Pioneer 

 Box Company, and representatives of the fiber and corrugated box 

 makers on the subject of the cost of producing boxes used in 

 shipping canned goods and other food for the United States army 

 and navy and the allies. The commission is advising with the 

 food administration and representatives of other departments of 

 the government on ths subject. 



The Council of National Defense has issued a statement that 

 under the authority of the War Industries Board there has been 

 created a body to be known as the Price Fixing Committee with 

 its personnel composed of Eobert S. Brookings of the War Indus- 

 tries Board, chairman; Brigadier-General Palmer E. Pierce, sur- 

 veyor general of supplies for the War Department; Paymaster 

 John Hancock of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts of the Navy; 

 Dr. H. A. Garfield, Fuel Administrator; F. W. Taussig, chairman 

 of the United States Tariff Commission; W. J. Harris, chairman of 

 the Federal Trade Commission; Hugh Frayne of the War Industries 

 Board; and Bernard M. Baruch, ex-officio. Another civilian mem- 

 ber of the committee will later be appointed. 



The duties of the price fixing committee will be to pass upon 

 prices for all basic raw materials and to establish from time to 

 time a price fixing policy to be submitted to the President for ap- 

 proval. Any of the executive departments having difficulty in the 

 handling of price fixing matters will have the advice and assistance 

 of the committee when desired. 



The object is two-fold. First, it will be a separate body, quasi- 

 judicial in nature, for the purpose implied in its name and it will 

 serve this purpose through being made up of men separated so 

 completely from industrial interests that their motives and actions 

 in the determination of prices can be subject to no suspicion of 

 mercenary interest. Prices will not be made until after costs have 

 been passed upon by the Federal Trade Commission. With costs 

 as a basis, the price fixing committee will then consider problems 

 of production and distribution before arriving at its decisions. 

 The second object to be achieved is speed. The committee will sit 

 all the time and will thus eliminate unnecessary delay caused by 

 the consideration of price fixing problems in several different 

 quarters. 



The food administration has adopted the specifications of the 

 National Canners' Association for wooden boxes used in the domes- 

 tic and export trade. These specifications cover nailed wooden 

 boxes, lock corner boxes, and other styles of boxes, some of them 

 with strap metal around them. The woods permitted in one or 

 another or more of the types of boxes include many hardwoods, 

 such as aspen, Cottonwood, yellow poplar, chestnut, basswood, wil- 

 low, magnolia, buckeye, butternut, cucumber, elm, gum, ash, syca- 

 more, maple, beech, oak, hackberry, tupolo, birch, pines, fir, spruce, 

 larch, hemlock, cedar, cypress and other softwoods. 



The appointment of John H. Kirby of Houston, Texas, vice- 

 president of the Southern Pine Association, as the government's 

 lumber administrator for the South, and modification of the Ferris 

 type wooden ship to meet limitations of natural growth of the 

 southern forest stand, are announced, following a three-day ex- 

 change of views between representatives of the southern pine 

 lumber industry and the United States Shipping Board. 



Word has been sent to southern pine mills that the Shipping 

 Board would no longer insist on frame timbers wider than 24 

 inches. This is a reduction in size from a maximum of 34 inches. 

 Southern lumbermen have for months contended that the laminated 

 or built-up timber is entirely practicable for the framing of a 

 wooden vessel, and this view has been sustained by actual ship- 

 building operations recently carried out with great success in 

 private yards. This method of construction will at once be put 



