HARDWOOD RECORD 



15 



to insure adequate carrying capacity. Under our laws steamship lines 

 operating from ports in this country come within the jurisdiction 

 of our own commissions. These commissions cannot, of cour.se sav 

 that steamship companies must accept the shipments of one commodity 

 or other, or must refrain from discrimination in the granting of 

 space to one line of trade in preference to another. However it 

 <an and should demand that the basis of rates be so regulated that 

 this discrimination will not occur. This statement is made in the 

 full realization that it does not offer a suggestion as to just how to go 

 about securing such action, but we have proved we are iiniply able 

 to regulate big corporations through the cheek on the promiscuous 

 advancement of railroad freight rates within our own boundaries. 

 There is no more reason why the foreign steamship companies obtain- 

 ing their revenue from carrying American gooils and taking their 

 revenue from the pockets of the American public should not be 

 amenable to control by this country. We would not for a moment 

 •countenance such drastic and arbitrary action on the part of our 

 railway systems under the stress of congested shijiments to American 

 ports for export if they were to result from the war. It is hardly 

 more reasonable then to allow steamship lines to draw such an 

 immoderate revenue from the United States, thus profiting so out- 

 rageously by the unfortunate circumstances in their own countries. 

 The United States has been criticized by the same country whose 

 ocean carriers charge such exhorbitant rates, for seemingly laying 

 undue stress on the pecuniary loss that would accrue through this war 

 to our own citizens. It hardly seems a consistent policy for that 

 power to countenance the maintenance of such an exhorbitant freight 

 rate which is existing simply because the shippers must and will 

 stand this loss. Just why this country has not fully investigated this 

 problem long before this is difficidt to even surmise. It is not yet too 

 late to institute a rigorous investigation and to relieve American ship- 

 pers, if possible, from such overwhelming oppression. 



The Menacing Carrying Charge 



T T HAS BEEN FAIKLY definitely established in a hundred aud 

 A one ways and on innumerable occasions that the average lumber- 

 man is pretty much at sea as far as having an intimate and accurate 

 knowledge of the actual cost of carrying on his business is con- 

 cerned. It is true that lumbermen as a whole have established them- 

 selves as substantial and successful citizens, and the opinion seems to 

 be prevalent that the bulk of money that has been made in con- 

 nection with lumbering has come from timber holdings. 



The upset conditions for the past few years have resulted in demol- 

 ishing many well-laid plans and have seriously altered the balance 

 between cost and revenue for a great many well established institu- 

 tions. This overthrowing of traditional methods of figuring has re- 

 sulteil most from that unfortunate peculiarity in the lumber business 

 which makes it necessary to carry raw material for a long period 

 of years, the result of which is not immediately apparent, and which 

 hence has had a tendency to make the average operator blind him- 

 self to the unpleasant possibilities. Of course, operating charges and 

 <;ost of supplies and machinery have advanced remarkably in the 

 last few years, putting an additional tax on the unfortunate manu- 

 facturer. He has also had to pay added outlays in increased freight 

 rates and other similar charges, and at the same time has found 

 his markets being encroached upon through the energetic and busi- 

 ness-like methods of manufacturers of substitutes for his products. 

 At the same time the dominant factor militating against his invest- 

 ments has been the carrying charges on his timber. The compound- 

 ing of interest in figuring such charges has rather upset his old 

 plans and ideas and the tremendous increase in taxation and unjust 

 application of tax laws has been an excessive burden hard to bear. 



Considering all these factors, it is astonishing that the question 

 has not been more seriously considered heretofore by duly recognized 

 organizations of lumbermen. The seriousness of the conditions pre- 

 sented was brought in an unmistakable light to the members of a 

 northern operators' association, which had the privilege of listening 

 to a most able paper on "Cost of Carrying Timberlands and Its 

 Relations to Markets," which was prepared by C. H. Worcester, a 

 prominent northern operator. 



T^ 



HakdwooI) Kecord will not analyze the paper in this editorial, but 

 will refer readers to the article which appears in full on pages 22-25. 

 0[ierators would do well to read what Mr. Worcester has to say. 



Planing Mill Oak 



'HE JOBBING PLANING MILLS throughout the country use 

 a large quantity of oak, yet the average hardwood sawmill man 

 manufacturing oak often finds the planing mill trade a difficult one 

 to serve and one in which there is a continual wrangle about grades 

 or some inherent objection to buying lumber on standard rules. 



Some idea of the magnitude of the planing mill demand for oak 

 may be had from the showing maile in Illinois. Among the wood- 

 working industries of that state the mantle, cabinet work, and interior 

 trim are (dassed under one general head; and, including both red 

 oak and white oak, there are consumed annually ri,r)00,000 feet in 

 this line in Illinois alone. In fact there is more oak than any other 

 when the cabinet and mantle factories are inclmled with the planing 

 mills. This does not hold in the jobbing planing mills scattered 

 through the country although all of them use some oak, and the quan- 

 tity of oak consumption has been on the increase of late years. 



Inquiry among planing mills as to why regular grading rules are 

 unsatisfactory and why there is difticulty about satisfying their 

 wants develops the fact that when the planing mill buys firsts and 

 seconds in oak strips and boards it wants lengths running 12, 14 

 and 16 feet. There is objection to shorter lengths even though 

 some of them can be used and some of the work is cut up into short 

 pieces. The objection is based on the ground that most of the interior 

 work in oak is for base boards, door and window facing, picture 

 moulding and hand rails, and it is diflicult to satisfy the builders 

 with short lengths. 



A quantity of No. 1 common stock is used, especially in two-inch 

 oak, for window framing, sills and cellar frames, and it seems that 

 a planing mill can use the regular run of stock in this line. When 

 it comes to the interior trim, however, those planing mill men who 

 have used oak in much of this work claim that it is not practical 

 for them to take common or low-grade oak and refine it like the 

 furniture factories do to get the clear cuttings, for they want 

 length in most of their stuff. Of course short stock is used for 

 door and window heads but some of this is naturally acquired in cut- 

 ting the sides of door and window casing. For baseboard, picture 

 moulding, etc., long stuff in firsts and seconds is preferred, and 

 even at a much higher price it proves more economical. 



When the planing mill makes hardwood flooring it is a peculiar 

 fact tliat there is an insistent call for long strips, even though 

 many of them may be cut up and worki'd into parquetry. The 

 planing mill men, aud even the hardwood flooring manufacturers, 

 find it more economical to buy firsts and seconds in clear oak strips 

 for this work than to buy to low-grade stock, because the low-grade 

 will not furnish the lengths required. 



There is, of course, room for much argument as to what might 

 and what should be short, and how much short stuff the planing mill 

 man can use advantageously. The stubborn fact remains, however, 

 that among many planing mill men interviewed, who are large users 

 of oak in interior trim, they are almost a unit in the assertion 

 that it is better and cheaper to i)ay more money and get what they 

 want. When they find a mill that will study their needs and supply 

 lengths and qualities desired, they not only give that mill the pref- 

 erence in their orders but pay at times as much as $5 more per 

 thousand feet to get what they want. 



After all, the purpose of the sawmill man is to serve the needs of 

 his trade and let them pay according to what they get. If the 

 planing mill man wants long stock and is willing to pay for it, it 

 is simply a matter of determining how much above the price on 

 regular lengths and grades should be paid for the special require- 

 ments. This planing mill is a growing factor and it has been one 

 of the best consumers of oak lumber during the past year and 

 promises to be even better this year. So it may well be studied 

 earnestly by millnien who are in a position to serve the trade, because 

 satisfaction in this trade is to be had only by making a close study 

 of the needs and desires of the consumers. 



