November 25, 1915. 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



15 



argument might be offered in favor of it. Decay in wood is a disease 

 that may spread as smallpox spreads among the unvaccinated of the 

 human race. No wood will decay unless the germs of decay are 

 communicated to it from wood or other vegetable substance already 

 infected. Hot is not inherent in wood or in anything else. It is 

 communicated from subject to subject by the spread of the germs 

 from one to another. 



Decay in wood is caused by a plant growth that takes root among 

 the fibers of the wood and develops and spreads. The plant which 

 does this is called a fungus. There are many species, some preferring 

 one kind of wood, some another; some spreading rapidly through the 

 cells and fibers, producing rapid decay, others work slowly and do little 

 harm. The germ which furnishes the means of spreading the rot 

 from one piece of wood to another is called a spore. It is not exactly 

 a seed, but it amounts to the same thing. When it falls on a piece 

 of wood when the conditions of moisture and warmth are suitable, it 

 grows like a seed, and sends roots into the wood and dissolves its 

 substance, and that produces decay. The spores which do this are 

 usually too small to be seen separately without a strong glass, but 

 each microscopic speck may become a center of infection. Spores 

 develop and fly away through the air in countless millions, and fall 

 everywhere in the vicinity, spreading rot over the surface of sound 

 lumber if sufficient moisture is present. 



Suggestions have been many times made that decaying lumber 

 should not be shipped because of the probability that it will communi- 

 cate its own disease to sound lumber along its journey or at its 

 destination. Without doubt such a thing often happens. Formerly 

 persons afilicted with smallpox or leprosy were permitted to walk 

 a.bout as long as they were able to go, and in medieval times such 

 persons were whipped out of every town they entered, and were 

 thus kept on the go. It can be imagined how far and wide they 

 spread their diseases. Decaying lumber carries germs in the same 

 ■way and communicates them by contact or by means of wind and 

 water. No sanitary measures have as yet been taken to prevent this, 

 though architects are well aware that factory floors and other timbers 

 contract decay from rotting lumber brought in for manufacturing 

 purposes. Lumber shipments might have clean biUs of health the 

 same as is required in shipments of cattle from state to state. How- 

 ever, the cases are not parallel, for the germs of wood decay are so 

 abimdant and so universally dispersed that no quarantine could wholly 

 shut them out of any region. 



Opposition Not Yet Dead 



UNLESS NEWS FOBECASTS ARE AT FAULT, the enemies of 

 the Forest Service are beginning to unlimber their artillery for 

 another drive against that department of the Government when Con- 

 gress gets down to work. There will be nothing new about that. 

 Opposition which rose to the dignity of attack has developed against 

 the policy of forest preservation at every session of Congress for a 

 long time. The fierceness of these attacks has materially lessened in 

 recent years, but enemies are still in the field. 



The opposition to the Forest Service originates in a number of 

 places, but the scattered opponents always manage to join forces 

 before the final fight takes place. In the past it was found that the 

 principal antagonism came from the waterpower, the livestock, and 

 the mining interests, and it is probable that the sinews of war will 

 come from the same sources this time. In justice it should be said, 

 however, fhat there are men who do not agree in all ways with the 

 policies of the Forest Service, and are honestly convinced that they 

 are right. They have no axes to grind. But the bulk of the oppon- 

 ents are not so disinterested. They regard the national forest policy 

 as a sort of "Mordecai standing at the gate of opportunity." The 

 water power interests would have less difficulty in staking out hydro- 

 electric plants at strategic points on government land, if the Forest 

 Service were out of the way. These people have revived the ' ' state 's 

 rights ' ' doctrine, and they preach that public lands should belong to 

 the states in which they lie. 



That would strike the national forest policy dead at one blow, for 

 it would take the public land away from the government and parcel 

 it out among the states. Powerful syndicates believe that they would 



meet with more success in getting what they want if they could deal 

 with states instead of the general government. That is why they op- 

 pose the existing national forest policy. They would like to kill it. 



The opposition from stock men is not so strong as it once was; 

 but it is stUl a force to be reckoned with. The cattle and sheepmen's 

 active hostility in former years was due to their disinclination to 

 pay rent for pasturing their stock on government land. They once 

 had pasture free, provided they were sufficiently handy with Winches- 

 ters and six-shooters to drive their rivals off the range; but under 

 the national forest policy they are required to pay rent, and they 

 do not like it. However, they are beginning to think better of it. Ex- 

 perience has shown that the advantages of having the government's 

 protection when they have paid for pasture, more than offsets the 

 disadvantage of paying rent. The clashes of rifle and revolver where 

 rivals fight for range which belong to neither have ceased, and the 

 cattleman who pays rent can pasture his stock in peace. This has 

 greatly mollified the stockmen 'a opposition. 



The hostility from mine owners and speculators springs from the 

 same source as the opposition from water power syndicates. The 

 two may consistently join forces in attacking the government's 

 forest policy. They claim that mining development is handicapped by 

 useless red tape which is met with in complying with regulations 

 inside the boundaries of national forests. They would get rid of the 

 regulations by getting rid of the government's poUcy. 



The straw has all been thrashed before, and the anticipated re- 

 flailing at the approaching session of Congress is not expected to 

 develop anything new. There is some talk of dragging politics in 

 with the hope that it will help the opposition in its fight against 

 the Forest Service; but the opinion seems to be quite general that a 

 political scrap on that subject will not meet the approval of infiuen- 

 tial politicians belonging to the party in power. 



It Augurs Well for the Dimension Business 



EV^ERY HARDWOOD MANUFACTUEER interested in the pro- 

 duction of southern dimension stock, particularly in hickory, 

 ash and oak, should be interested in the effort being projected 

 by a manufacturer in Arkansas who is instituting the first steps 

 toward the promulgation of a dimension manufacturers' associa- 

 tion. The trials and ills incident to the dimension game are so 

 manifold and so well-known that their definition is hardly neces- 

 sary to the man who is familiar with this line of business. How- 

 ever, it is undoubtedly a fact that most of these ills can be reme- 

 died by the right panacea and surely the initial step toward this 

 end should be amalgamation or at least some concerted effort 

 among the producers of the different classes of dimension. 



Chief among the troubles is the misinformation and generally 

 wrong impression prevailing in purchasing circles where it is as- 

 sumed that a. product which has the physical possibility of being 

 made from sawmill refuse should command the price of ordinary 

 scrap. Basing the figures on the accepted principles of business 

 which normally provide for a return commensurate with the value 

 to the purchaser, the value of the dimension product sHould be 

 based on the worth of the same amount of clear material that the 

 buyer would purchase in lumber form with suitable addition for the 

 saving in the cutting-room cost. 



To effect a stable, satisfactory price situation, to standardize 

 inspection and to bring into closer communion the different factors 

 now involved in the manufacture of dimension stock, is a move 

 ahead and the efforts of the gentleman referred to should have 

 the support of everyone who is now making or would like to make 

 a little additional profit through the manufacture of dimension stock. 



Hardwood Record wiU have more to say on this score in the 

 future. 



Some idea of the relative use of wood and metal in shipbuilding 

 in this country may be had from the shipbuilding record for the fiscal 

 year ending with June, 1915. The figures show 1,150 vessels with a 

 total tonnage of 94,511 buUt of wood, and 76 vessels with a total 

 tonnage of 121,200 built of metal. Some wood work went into the 

 metal vessels, especially for interior finish. 



