October 25, 1915. 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



wood in its proper place is superior to most substitutes which are 

 seeking to crowd it out. 



The western red cedar, the California redwood, the northern white 

 cedar, and white pine, not to mention other widely known shingle 

 woods, stand as high in their respective regions as cypress stands in 

 the South, and the unreasonable attacks upon wooden roofs may be 

 expected to show a decided weakening from now on. The hurricane 

 was a big blow, and it administered a hard blow to the unfair cam- 

 paign against wooden shingles. 



Stocks Are Actually Low in Some Woods 



POSSIBLY THE FOLLOWING BRIEF but significant communi- 

 cation addressed to a prominent sawmill firm in Chicago, which 

 operates mills in the South, is not a regular occurrence even with 

 this firm, and possibly this communication is not typical of the cor- 

 respondence of all other hardwood operators, but it does give an 

 indication of a condition that cannot justly be overlooked. The letter, 

 dated September 22, 1915, was addressed directly from a furniture 

 manufacturing institution to the above referred to firm, wliich is 

 not in a position to command this company's business, regardless 

 of conditions. In fact, it has not sold to this particular buyer for 

 quite a number of months. The consumer writes: 



"Gentlemen: Please rush one car 4/4 No. 1 common sap gum." 

 If this lumber company had the call on tliis business at all times 

 there probably would not be any significance in the above letter, 

 but considering the fact that the two firms are not linked with any 

 bonds of sentiment or any unusual personal friendship, the entire 

 absence of requests for prices or other conditions really shows that 

 the tendency is toward a seller's market. 



Those pessimists who cannot see very much light in the sky surely 

 will be given some measure of hope from the fact that large buyers, 

 whose purchases are made in an intelligent manner, are so anxious 

 to get their stock that they do not stop for price quotations, simply 

 specifying that shipment shall arrive as expeditiously as possible. 



Rated Too Low 



UNDEEESTIMATION OF OUR FOREST RESOURCES has been 

 common in the past. Now and then evidence of this comes 

 prominently to the front. A recent instance is seen in the case of 

 black walnut. It was generally supposed that the reason \\hy the 

 annual cut of this beautiful wood had fallen below fifty million feet 

 was its scarcity. Many persons believed that walnut was so nearly 

 exhausted that it could no longer be had in larger quantities. The 

 sudden revival of demand has disproved this. Walnut has poured 

 into the market during the past year. No one yet knows how much 

 has come out of the woods in the last twelve months; but doubtless 

 the cut has been three or four times as great as last year. If this 

 timber had not been in the woods it could not have been brought 

 out on demand. 



Walnut has not been the only wood whose quantity has been under- 

 estimated. Some ten or fifteen jears ago the government threw a 

 scare into the public by sending out maps of the principal forested 

 regions of the United States, with legends indicating that the timber 

 in one area would be gone in from ten to fifteen years, that in an- 

 other district might last twenty years, and in some other region the 

 end would come a little sooner or somewhat later; but the summary 

 indicated that the timber famine was right upon us. 



Well, the time is about up and the famine has not pinched yet. 

 It was simply an underestimate of the country 's forest resources. 

 It was not done intentionally, and the motive in spreading the alarm 

 was patriotic; but it was done on too little information. There was 

 much more timber in the country than the estimators supposed. They 

 guessed with good intentions but the guess was wild. 



It bore results in two directions, one of which was certainly not 

 intended. The alarm over the approaching timber shortage keened 

 the interest of the public in the matter, brought support to the 

 Forest Service and caused it to expand to a greater degree than ever 

 before. That result was good. The misinformation concerning the 

 supplies happened to accomplish desirable results by giving the 

 ■country a strong bureau of forestry. But there were other results 



15 



also. There can be no question that the same defective information 

 had much to do in giving the country free trade in lumber. Some 

 may think it was a good thing, but others do not think so. 



The free trade propagandist seized upon the government's figures 

 which foretold a famine in home timber supplies, and used these as 

 texts for free trade sermons, urging that since our timber was so 

 nearly used up we should admit foreign lumber duty free to relieve 

 the drain upon our own. The argument seemed reasonable to those 

 who did not know that we stiU have plenty of timber; and the tariff 

 was taken off. This discussion is not meant to be a plea for or against 

 protective tariff on lumber, but simply as another proof of the well 

 known proverb that 



"FuU many a shaft at random sent 

 Finds mark the archer little meant." 



There is danger in estimates which are too low as well as in those 

 too high. "Make it low and be on the safe side" is not always a 

 sane policy to follow. The government has published another volumi- 

 nous and almost interminable set of estimates of timber, of later date 

 than the maps above referred to. These later estimates were the 

 work of the Bureau of Corporations, showing the standing timber of 

 the United States. Though the whole work was never completed, and 

 the portions which were finished are very hard to summarize or un- 

 derstand, yet as nearly as their meaning can be squeezed out, the 

 figures show that at the present rate of cutting, there is enough mer- 

 chantable timber in the United States to furnish lumber for between 

 seventy and eighty years. This estimate may be and probably is pretty 

 wide of the mark; but it is evident that there is still a lot of timber 

 in this country and that it is well worth taking care of by means of a 

 protective tariff wherever its market is liable to be injured by the 

 admission of foreign forest products. 



English Criticism of Consignment Shipments 



EVIDENTLY AMERICAN SHIPPERS of lumber are not the only 

 ones laying themselves open to criticism in the matter of shipping 

 large quantities of stock of different varieties to English markets on 

 consignment. 



The Canada Lumhcrman recently received a letter from Liveipool 

 from a man in touch with the situation abroad. He very opeidy crit- 

 icized Canadian shippers of yellow pine for the error of judgment in 

 shipping to England, on consignment, large quantities of pine lumber 

 which even in normal times are unsalable, but at present cannot be 

 sold at all or at any rate not within a substantial margin of what the 

 shippers need even to get their money back. These goods are landed 

 in England on the war rate of freight to which must be added marine 

 and war risk insurance, canal tolls, storage charges payable in cash 

 with five per cent interest from date of arrival. In the case of the 

 item mentioned in the communication the shipper has standing to the 

 debit of these goods the considerable sum of ten pounds or about 

 fifty dollars based on the "standard" unit, which he has conceded 

 for the privilege of transferring his goods from his stock in Canada 

 to the storage grounds in Manchester. 



Records do not indicate that immediately succeeding the big fires 

 that have made their mark in history in this country, such as the San 

 Francisco disaster, the Baltimore fire, and others, lumbermen imme- 

 diately loaded up all the stock they could get their hands on and 

 rushed it headlong onto the markets regardless of its kind, grade or 

 adaptability. There is no more logic in shipping goods unintelligently 

 consigned to the English market than there would have been to have 

 loaded up the entire yard stock onto freiglit ears to be rushed into 

 San Francisco when the fire was over. 



While a good deal of the stock would be taken care of were there 

 an actual paucity of lumber in England, regardless of whether it 

 exactly fitted requirements or not, the incontrovertible fact remains 

 that there is, according to all indications, plenty of the usual runs of 

 lumber for the purposes demanding it. Much as some of the manu- 

 facturers on this side would like to see a few more empty piling 

 foundations in their own yards, it hardly seems good business or even 

 common sense to pay a premium for the sake of having their own 

 stock laid out at some English port without a buyer, merely for the 

 chance of getting it off of their yards. 



