18 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



manufacturers who know what their costs are and who know that 

 the prices recommended will not allow them to break even, let alone 

 make a protit. If the government does not step in and set the 

 price, the outcome must be figures fair to the lumber producer as 

 he cannot be expected to voluntarily sell his stuff for less than it 

 fosts him to replace it and as he is strong enough to hold out for 

 such figures. Should the government step in and set the prices, and 

 this seems to be the likely course, the same final result is assured, 

 as the main producers of this material have their costs worked out 

 to such a point that they could clearly establish to the authorities 

 the reasonableness of their demands regarding prices. So the 

 wagon maker, furniture manufacturer, or any other woodworker 

 who has orders calling for this class of lumber would be wise in 

 arranging to place his requirements in the usual wa5' on the basis 

 of the market price asked by the lumber manufacturers. It must 

 be borne in mind also that dry stock or dimension in this case is 

 not available in sufficieut quantities to make it worth while seek- 

 ing it — that this stuff must be bought green in the plank and 

 worked up and kiln-dried at the factory. As it is in this material, 

 so it is becoming in all other lines. The dry stock between the 

 producer and the consumer is gradually diminishing and there is 

 no hope that it will be totally replenished so long as present labor 

 and other restrictions are in effect. 



Puts Woodstock Price Up to Committee 



THE ^YOODSTOCK COMMITTEE rcpresentins the National 

 Implement and Vehicle Association on war couti ints h:is issued 

 a statement dated April 20 referring to the contrciMisv omi prices 

 for wagon lumber. The statement refers to a remit |Kiiii|ililrt sum- 

 marized in the Ajiril 10th issue df Tlanlwuod Hecord as com- 

 piled by committee representing In ml mi iii;i nuiiicturers. The wagon 

 committee states that it has " rec I'lniii.n.lid through the regular 

 channels that the Price Fixing Committee of the War Industries 

 Board at Washington determine whether or not the prices recom- 

 m.ended by the committee meet the situation and give to the wood- 

 stock producer a fair return for his product. ' ' The statement then 

 goes on to tell of the difficulty encountered in purchasing dry plank 

 or dimension stock and states that facilities offered by small pro- 

 ducers have not been sufficient to take care of the demand for wagon 

 dimension and that the large producers have not as a body gotten 

 to the production of dimension material. 



The statement makes the interesting observation that while 

 dimension stock is easy to sell, it has not been possible to get suffi- 

 cient buyers for green plank. This observation rather leads to the 

 conclusion that the wagon contractors are purposely and collectively 

 refusing orders on thick green plank in the hope that by so doing 

 they may weaken the lumbermen's resolve to hold out for a fair 

 return on his product. They admit that dimension stock, so far as 

 it can be purchased, comes from the small producer. He does not 

 know his costs and is not aware that the committee's prices are 



not fair in comparison to cost advances. TIi.- \\ Isfofk committee 



also publicly admits that to fill the wagmi [iiM_;r,nn tli,- wagon con- 

 tractors must purchase green planks. Tins. |il:nilxs. on the other 

 hand, come in green from the more experienced and progressive 

 I)roducers who are aware of the cost of making their product and 

 desire a fair return. It is obvious therefore, that the vehicle people 

 are willfully holding up wagon production through refraining col- 

 lectively from purchasing planks, as they are fully aware that they 

 must buy green planks or go without their raw material, as it is 

 physically impossible to convert the large sawmills into dimension 

 mills in the time allowed. If the wagon people sincerely desire to 

 speed wagon production (and the need for speed is obvious) the}' 

 can best show their sincerity by seeing to it that the trade buys 

 the offerings of planks and does not wait for dimension production 

 which is everywhere conceded to be impossible of accomplishment 

 ;n sufficient quantities. With 200,000 and more wagons to be built 

 the demand for any form of raw material certainly exists. It is 

 the duty of the wood stock committee to see to it that the wagon 

 contractors use such raw material as is offered and do not wait for 

 a more finished form which 

 like the available time. 



inot possibly be produced 



Zone System in Coal Sales 



WAR HAy ONE MOBE PINCH COMING. It relates to the dis- 

 tribution of bituminous coal according to a zone system worked 

 out by the United States Fuel Administration and described in 

 detail in publication No. 21, a pamphlet of twenty-eight printed 

 pages dated Mai-ch 22. The crux of the new plan is that people 

 must buy their coal from the mines nearest them, and by that 

 means the overlapping of shipments will be prevented. The United 

 States is laid off in zones, and each coal mining region is told where 

 it can ship its coal and where it must not. It is largely a matter 

 of miles and not of markets. The mines of West Virginia, and 

 Pennsylvania, for example, must not send their coal into Illinois, 

 because Illinois has coal of its own. Eastern mines shall not send 

 coal to the Pacific coast, but the Coast must obtain its coal from 

 mines west of the Eocky mountains. 



There are, fifteen zones, each representing a mining region and 

 the territory which it may supply. By following that plan it is 

 figured that millions of car miles can be saved in transportation 

 of coal. One train will not carry coal in one direction while another 

 train of coal passes it, going in the opposite direction. The plan 

 t-eems to work out in theory beautifully; but it remains to be seen 

 how it will work out in practice. The theory resembles Bellamy's 

 "Looking Backward," which was the gospel of the socialists 

 twenty-five or thirty years ago, by which plan there was to be 

 no duplication of effort and every man was to do what the overseer 

 told him to do, and nothing else. The experiment with the coal 

 raining and shipment will be watched with interest, and witli the 

 earnest hope that it will work well. 



What seems to be the weakest place in the plan is the failure 

 to recognize that there are different grades, classes, and kinds of 

 coal, and that some furnaces have been built for burning a certain 

 kind and cannot successfully burn any other. If these furnaces 

 are prohibited from burning the only kind that they can burn, must 

 they shut dowai? Or what must they do? It is possible, no doubt, 

 by altering the grates and flues of most furnaces to adapt them 

 to a fuel different from that for which they were designed. Where 

 that can be done, no very serious obstacle will lie in the way of 

 the change; Imt there nre furiineps whieh cannot be so remodeled. 

 Those const iiirteil fUr Imniiiie tlie h.-ird, semi-smokeless Pocahontas 

 and Volca coals will f:iil if the soft, smudgy coal of some of the 

 Illinois fields is substituted. The present chimneys will not dis- 

 pose of the increased volume of smoke or give the necessary draft 

 to cause the softer coal to burn. 



It is not a matter of life and death. Each separate difficulty can 

 be overcome somehow, but the new order is bound to cause much 

 inconvenience, lots of trouble, and heavy cost to those who must 

 rebuild their chimneys and remodel their furnaces. But if it helps 

 put the kibosh on the kaiser, we will do our part cheerfully. 



300,000 Houses 



THE WORD FROM ENGLAND that she has great need for 300,- 

 000 houses to be built either during the war or directly after, 

 it, is a most interesting piece of news. It means more than the 

 fact that England is planning a colossal addition to her housing 

 facilities. The additional revelation is that England is alive to 

 the necessity for planning for after the war conditions. And Eng- 

 land's policy is duplicated by every other country with commercial 

 ambitions. 



Are we laying plans that will keep us to the forefront in the 

 coming trade contest? Already commercial reports from important 

 South American markets promise that buying after the war will 

 be redirected to former sources of supply and just because American 

 shippers refuse to learn their lessons in points of credit, packing 

 and selling methods. May the Lord have mercy on us when 

 peace finds us with billions invested in ships, with a tremendously 

 expanded manufacturing and agricultural capacity and with com- 

 petition for foreign trade which in the face of stern necessity will 

 fight for it without quarter, if we have not made more progress 

 than shows at present in our preparations to meet that competition. 



