HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



stimulated the demainl tor waluutmade articles, uii<l these iiiauufat- 

 turers are surely going to benefit Ijy the scarcity of the competitire 

 woods. 



Walnut can be given a plave among the most desirable of all 

 cabinet woods and is rapidly establishing itself in that place. 



Government Interested in Further Utilization 

 of Hardwoods 



THE i'OKEST PKODUCT« LABORATORY at Madison, Wis., has 

 been making plans for some time past to stimulate greater inter- 

 est among manufacturers of hardwood lumber in working up waste 

 lumber and low grades, and advocates finishing the stuff up at the 

 mill to actual finished sizes. 



This dimension stock proposition has been aired and re-aired in so 

 many different ways and on so many different occasions, seemingly 

 without materially changing the situation, that there really is room 

 for doubt as to whether the effqft of the Forest Service will succeed 

 no matter how worthy the object might be. 



Unquestionably, a great amount of sawmill waste could be worked 

 up, with profit, to special dimension. The restriction of this develop- 

 ment has come from two causes. In the first place, the average manu- 

 facturer is rather loath to change his methods of operating to the 

 extent that would be necessary were he to consider manufacturing 

 dimension stock. The most serious obstruction, however, has come 

 from the impossibility of operating dimension stock mills, at least for 

 the average manufacturer, on account of lack of standard sizes re- 

 quired and the great risk involved in making up orders ahead with- 

 out knowing absolutely that the stock will be marketable in the sizes 

 and grades in which it is manufactured. Further, the average con- 

 sumer has failed to realize the advantage in actual saving and in 

 buying dimension stock where possible, and believing that it, in a 

 measure at least, comes from what otherwise might be very poor lum- 

 ber or waste, he offers only enough money to pay for the bare cost 

 of the material without considering the labor involved. He forgets 

 that in buying dimension stock made from waste or from any other 

 product of the sawmill, if it is sold to him in good sizes, well- 

 manufactured and cured and in clear stock, it should be worth at least 

 the price of that much feetage in clear lumber. As a matter of fact, 

 it is worth more, but it should be sold for at least those figures. 

 It really should make no difference to the consumer if the manufac- 

 turer is progressive enough to utilize his waste in that way. As a con- 

 sequence he does not offer enough money to make the proposition prof- 

 itable for the millman, the result being that many a man has started 

 to utilize his waste in this way, but has eventually become disgusted 

 with the business and given it up. 



With due consideration of the merits of the plans suggested by the 

 Forest Service it really seems that the most logical method of pro- 

 cedure would be to educate the_ consumer to the advantages he would 

 realize were he to standardize his dimension wants and were he to 

 consider the ailvantages of dimension stock wherever possible. 



Results Must Follow 



HARDLY A WEEK GOES BY but that some new effort is launched 

 to attempt to fathom the possibilities of maintaining normal 

 production by the establishment of American-made goods and raw 

 material in markets in different quarters of the globe, which up to 

 now have been neglected entirely. 



Hardwood Record has occasionally mentioned these moves, the 

 latest of which is an expedition which will shortly start from New 

 York or Baltimore, and which will probably be the most comprehensive 

 and thorough-going of any of the efforts toward building up trade 

 abroad. . , 



The Chamber of Commerce of Baltimore has been instrumental in 

 chartering a vessel upon which .300 representative business men from 

 a variety of lines in the East will make an extended tour of the 

 eastern and western South American ports, the purpose being to 

 analyze in the most comprehensive way possible every necessary fea- 

 ture for the furtherance of the development of this trade. 



Local information bureaus have been established, as for instance 

 in Chicago, where a certain commercial body has perfected an organi- 

 zation, the purpose of which is to give advice on trade opportunities, 



and the best methods to pursue. Altogether the work is going along 

 surprisingly well and should bear fruits in the near future. 



While this question is so vividly and actively before us, there may 

 be a tendency to let it gain an ascendency over the thoughts of the 

 jjreseut limitations of our domestic markets, and the possibilities of 

 developing them may be given minor consideration. Our home eon- 

 sumption of raw material and manufactured products is so tremen- 

 dously in excess of what is shipped abroad that right at home there 

 is offered a great field for further efforts to stimulate trade. Of 

 course it will be argued that considering the matter from the stand- 

 point of the whole countrj', including every line of business, the 

 economic possibilities of the ease demand that the markets which 

 we are now denied, and which have heretofore taken very substantial 

 quantities of our goods, must be replaced by others equally 

 satisfactory. 



However, we should not let this thought so dominate our minds 

 that we forget the necessity for maintaining our home consumption 

 and for taking every possible advantage of increasing the home 

 rlemand. In the lumber business particularly this feature is apt to 

 be overlooked. There are any number of mills which, have manu- 

 factured almost exclusively for export, and there are even more which 

 have manufactured partially for export and partially for domestic 

 consumption. For the most part all of these mills have shut down 

 eutircl)-, seemingly because they have believed that the cessation of 

 orders from aljroad is so serious that it can not be overcome by 

 stimulation of demand in our own country. 



There is right here a tremendous field for increased utilization of 

 all kinds of lumber, and were efforts concentrated not only on taking 

 full advantage of known markets but on developing to as exhaustive 

 an extent as possible new markets, it would be a very short time 

 lefore there would be a very marked favorable development in lumber 



circles. 



A Case of Wood's Superiority 



'pHE STORRS AGRICULTURAL STATION, in Connecticut, is not 

 •'■ particularly interested in wood or in substitutes offered in place 

 of wood, but it is interested in conducting investigations to determine 

 how farms may be made to yield best returns. The silo naturally 

 came in for a thorough investigation, and various materials for its 

 construction were, studied. Brick, cement, tUe, stone, and wood were 

 tried, and it was found that silage that is cured in a wooden silo 

 will produce greater returns than from silos of any other known con- 

 struction material. 



That conclusion, which was reached by impartial and competent 

 investigators, should have nuich weight with farmers who contemplate 

 building silos. The farmer is not earing about the fight between 

 wood and its substitutes, but he does care when the question involves 

 profit and loss for himself. He wants his farm to pay, and to pay 

 as much as possible. The silo is his most valuable machine for 

 making money, and there is no economy in installing a poor machine 

 when he might as easily have the best. 



The sUo is becoming a tremendous institution in this country. 

 More than 250,000 of them are in use in the United States, and new 

 ones ard added as fast as farmers can build them. They are one of 

 the most potent influences in revolutionizing farm methods and farm 

 life. They are the greatest mortgage payers ever invented. By their 

 use thousands of farms have been changed from loss to profit. It is 

 said that there are counties in the Lake states where every farm is 

 equipped with at least one silo, and some have a dozen; and other 

 sections of the country, both east and west, are nearly as well pro- 

 vided. Soon after the silo becomes firmly established on the farm, 

 the automobile makes its appearance also — a pretty good sign of 

 prosperity. 



The point, however, which calls for most emphasis is that the silo 

 that pays best is the one made of wood rather than that constructed 

 of substitutes. It is fortunate that such is the case, because wood is 

 cheaper than any of the substitutes. It is convenient. Every lumber 

 yard has good silo material or can easily get it. No one wood has a 

 monopoly of the demand, but there are dozens which are highly satis- 

 factory for silos, and every region that produces lumber produces the 

 kinds suitable for silos. 



