April 2.-., 101.' 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Occurrences at Washington Interesting to Lumbermen 



Personal Mention and the Activities of Various Boards and Committees 



The ;,'uvtriiiii<-iit rlomaiids upi.ii the lianhvorHl Jn.Uistry are iiKTca.s- 

 ing. Having assumed control of much of tlio hardwood in tho 

 sountry and issued directions as to tho conduct of tho vonocr in- 

 dustry and curtailed tho production of musical instruments and 

 pianos, the government is now to take over a quantity of walnut 

 lumber ordered in the United States last summer by British timber 

 merchants. 



Bcpresentativo walnut lumbermen of this country have been hero 

 recently conferring with officers of tho ordnance and signal depart- 

 ments and with Mr. Chamberlain. Among tho lumbermen were 

 John Penrod, Fred Hoffman and Messrs. Hartzell and Pickrel. It 

 is reported semi-officially that the ordnance department had or- 

 dered them to release the material for gunstocks and that the signal 

 corps wanted it for airplane propellers, as walnut is said to have 

 first call for making laminated propellers. C. C. Wickliff, lumber- 

 man on the staff of the signal corps, took tho matter up with tho 

 walnut men, and the lumbermen understood that the signal and 

 ordnance ofliccrs would reach an agreement as to what should bo 

 done with the walnut lumber. 



The navy department is calling for proposals for 210,000 feet of 

 white oak, 1 inch selects and No. 1 common, for the Portsmouth, 

 N. H., navy yard. It also wants bids to be opened April 29 here 

 for white oak for the Puget Sound navy yard as follows: 



Oak. white, bonding, as follows : 

 50,000 feet B. M. IVj inches by 10 Inches and up by 14 feet and up. 



100,000 feet 4 Inches by C Inches and up by 8 feet and up. 

 30,000 feet 3Vj Inches by 4 inches and up by 8 feet and up. 



Oak, plain sawn, white, firsts and seconds, as follows : 

 30,000 feet B. M. 2 inches by 14 inches and up by 12 feet to 20 feet. 

 30,000 feet B. M. 2% Inches by 10 inches and up by 12 feet to 20 feet. 

 30.000 feet B. SI. 3 Inches by C inches and up by 20 feet and up. 

 25,000 feet B. M. 4 Inches by 12 Inches by 36 feet. 

 25.000 foot B. M. 2 inches by 12 inches by IS feet and up. 



Until April 30 the navy will receive bids on the following for 

 Maro Island navy yard: 



Class 79S. 55,000 ft. white oak plank, 10,000 ft. each of 1 in., lli in.. 

 1% in.. 2 In. and 3 in. ; 5,000 ft. 2% In. 



Class 799. 45.000 ft. white or red oak for bending, air dry. 25,000 ft. 

 1% in. by G in. and up ; 20,000 ft. 2% in. by 6 in. and up. 



Class 800. 70.000 ft. white oak, air dry, plain sawed. Firsts, 10,000 ft. 

 1 in. by 10 In. and up; 12,000 ft. IVi in- by 10 in. and up; 12,000 ft. 

 1% In. by 10 in. and up ; 15.000 ft. 2 in. by 10 In. to 12 in. and up ; 8,000 

 ft.'2',<. In. by 6 in. and up ; 5.000 ft. 3 In. by 12 in. and up ; 5,000 ft. 4 in. 

 by 10 in. and up ; 3,000 ft. 6 in. by 6 In. and over wide. 



Class 801. 21.500 ft. air dry laurel. Alternate bids on oak for shaft 

 logs, instead of laurel, will be acceptable. 



Owing to the uncertainties of the lumber market and other busi- 

 ness conditions, it is said, the general supply committee of the gov- 

 ernment announced the postponement from April 17 until May 15 

 of the opening of bids for furniture for government department 

 offices here and for certain government field services. 



The war department has announced that wooden box contracts 

 have been awarded as follows: 



Standard Red Cedar Chest Company, Altavista, Va., packing 

 boxes for 1.7 pounder gun smoke shell, and packing boxes for 1.7 

 pounder howitzer smoke shell. 



Edwards Manufacturing Company, Cincinnati, packing boxes for 

 155 millimeter howitzer gas shell. 



Victor Box Manufacturing Company, Quakertown, Pa., packing 

 boxes for 155 millimeter common steel shell. 



Additional wooden wheel contracts have been awarded by the 

 quartermaster department to the Prudden Wheel Company, Lanp 

 ing, Mich.; Bimel Spoke & Auto Wheel Company, Portland, Ind., 

 and Schwartz Wheel Company, Philadelphia. 



Tent pole contracts have been awarded to Hugro Manufacturing 

 Company and F. Medart Manufacturing Company, and a number 

 of additional shoe last contracts have also been awarded by the 

 quartermaster. 



Interesting developments are expected in connection with the 



ooMtnivcrsy over the priee of liar.lwoo.l veliiole .st.iok. K. R. Good- 

 man and Charles Bigolow have been roportcd as coming to Wash- 

 ington on the matter; also O. T. Swan, secretary of the Northern 

 Hemlock & Hardwood Manufacturing Association. 



Representative Caldwell of New York, defending the airplano 

 program, told the house recently that contracts or subcontracts 

 have been let to over 400 American firms for aircraft and parts. 

 Ho said that more than 1,000 acres of laminated wood made for 

 the fuselage of airplanes were during the past year. 



Wholesale and retail lumber dealers have been hero in some num- 

 ber recently to see how they stand under embargo orders recently 

 issued by the government. They could not get much satisfaction, 

 it is said, from the bureaus where they asked whether they could 

 have lumber shipped to replenish their stocks. 



Cypress has been rejected as airplane material by tho British 

 government after trial, it is reported. 



The transportation situation is worrying lumbermen a great deal. 

 The western mills have obtained a moiety of relief, under the plan 

 adopted of sending two cars to the Pacific coast to carry side lum- 

 ber milled in cutting ship schedules, for every car of ship timber 

 produced for the government. Yard stocks can be reduced under 

 this plan and the operation of the mills facilitated, it is said. 



While the lumber industry is seriously affected by the embargo 

 policy and other considerations, the fuel administration has an- 

 nounced a curtailment in production of clay products, including 

 important building materials and competitors of lumber, such as 

 brick, tile, etc., ranging from 15 to 50 per cent. Other so-called 

 non-essential industries are to be curtailed in like manner, in order 

 that labor and capital and fuel and materials can be released for 

 more important war work. 



Becent) government lumber orders placed include over 35,000,000 

 feet with the Southern Pine Emergency Bureau within two weeks, 

 5,000,000 feet with the North Carolina pine bureau; 1,000,000 feet 

 of flooring with the Alabama-Mississippi Bureau; over 5,000,000 

 feet with the Fir Production Board. 



Some of the pine orders are for material for army buildings at 

 Camp .Jones, Douglas, Ariz.; Del Rio, Tex.; Fort Clark, Tex.; Nash- 

 ville, Tenn., powder plant; navy yard stocks at Norfolk and else- 

 A'here; and for several of the series of 37 military warehouses 

 projected at Des Moines, Fort Wiley, Little Rock, and various 

 other points. 



The Priorities Board, Council of National Defense, has placed 

 wire rope factories on the fuel priority list. 



Fir timber, veneer and plywood of all kinds have joined ash, 

 birch, walnut, mahogany, oak, spruce lumber on tho export con- 

 .<!ervation list requiring license, also yellow pine timbers. Chestnut 

 and quebracho bark have been added, also ash, birch, hickory and 

 oak tool handles. 



The recent appointment of Charles M. Schwab as director gen- 

 eral of the Emergency Fleet Corporation has alarmed some lumber- 

 men, who have feared that the construction of wooden ships would 

 be stopped by the government, but there is nothing in this, so far 

 as can be learned. While Schwab, the steel man, will have charge 

 of building ships, Chairman Hurley of the shipping board, who 

 favors wooden ships, will control the policy as to kind of ships to 

 be built, and Charles Piez, vice president of the fleet corporation, 

 will make the contracts. ^ 



Recent rumors that the construction of wooden ships is to be 

 curtailed owing to the scarcity of facilities for making engines, 

 boilers and machinery for ships, are not confirmed officially. On 

 the other hand, it is understood that Hurley favors government 

 construction of 4,700 tons wooden ships like the Doherty type 

 launched at Orange, Tex. It is said that these vessels will not re- 

 quire any more motive power than the Ferris type wooden ships 



