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The Lumhermans Round Table M 



Still Plenty of Walnut 



The great consumption of walnut at present for war purposes, 

 coupled with the enlarged requirements of the furniture trade, 

 where this material is now a prime favorite, forces the observer 

 to wonder how all of the present needs are being supplied. A lot 

 of people had the erroneous idea, a few years ago, that walnut was 

 iust about over the horizon, gone for good, and all that sort of 

 thing. Even optimists, under present conditions, are started to 

 thinking about the supply question when the big footage being 

 used up every day is taken into account. 



The writer was discussing this subject the other day with one 

 of the best known walnut producers in the country, and he was 

 satisfied that there would be no trouble on this score. He estimated 

 the production of walnut last year at close to 60,000,000 feet, which 

 was pretty nearly a record for recent years, and seemed to believe 

 that this rate could be kept up for some time to come without 

 serious diflSeulty. 



The salvation of walnut appears to be in its scattered growth. 

 If it were possible for a producer to go into a forest of walnut 

 trees, and use up this stumpage until nothing remained, it would 

 probably not take long to bring the supply to the vanishing point. 

 But the trees are scattered; a great many of them are some dis- 

 tance from railroads, and transportation difficulties have prevented 

 them from being marketed; in other instances sentiment and per- 

 sonal feeling have saved the trees from commercial uses. Con- 

 sequently, even with a great deal of effort being expended to bring 

 as many trees as possible into the market, there always remains 

 a great many still to be cut down. 



This is a good thing, of course, for while it makes the difficulties 

 of the man who is buying walnut for gunstock or other important 

 and necessary purposes greater than they would be otherwise, it 

 also insures an adequate future supply of this splendid and iu many 

 ways unique wood. The war is cutting deeply into tljo supply of 

 walnut, but conditions are such as to justify the hope that there 

 will be enough left to take care of the normal needs of the trade 

 for many years to come. 



Encouraging Dimension Manufacture 



Not long ago a well-known furniture manufacturer made the 

 remark that he was having more trouble buying dimension lumber 

 than ever before. He had always been "sold" on the idea, he 

 said, and used material in this form whenever the opportunity 

 offered. But the available supply of dimension lumber appeared to 

 be below normal, for he had been able to get a comparatively small 

 amount of it during the past six to twelve months. 



The man who has indulged in the interesting business of manu- 

 facturing dimension lumber will have an explanation ready, and 

 it is that furniture men and others who have found this system 

 logical and profitable have never been willing to pay the dimension 

 manufacturer enough to justify him in the production of the mate- 

 rial. Hence a good many of them have gone out of the business, 

 and are making lumber without regard to sizes, and letting the user 

 do the cutting up and absorb the expense involved in this work 

 and in waste. 



Of course, war work in a good many instances has been a dimen- 

 sion operation. Cutting out gunstocks and aeroplane propellers 

 and wagon stock and material of this kind is essentially dimension 

 manufacturing; and by the same token some of those who have 

 been most successful in handling this business are those who have 

 studied the possibilities of the material from a dimension stand- 

 point, and have secured orders in sufficient variety to enable them 

 to work up as much as possible of the raw material, thus holding 

 down waste, always an important item on a dimension job, to the 

 lowest figures. 



But, even taking the offerings of these manufacturers into 

 account, the experience of furniture buyers such as the one referred 

 to goes to show that dimension men have lost enthusiasin, and have 

 —22— 



not found the business profitable enough to justify them in con- 

 tinuing to handle it. It is certainly true that the prices at which 

 dimension lumber has usually been sold are far below what they 

 should be, and have represented not merely a good buy for the 

 consumer, but often prices which he could not hope to duplicate if 

 he bought the lumber and cut it to size himself. Often, in fact, 

 the price of dimension has been less than would have been paid for 

 the lumber alone, without allowing anything for the expense of 

 manufacture. 



But it is not always correct to blame the buyer for low prices. 

 It is closer to the truth to say that uneducated competition has 

 been responsible for spoiling the situation. The user of dimension 

 lumber can figure out what he can afford to pay for it, and it is 

 something approximating the cost of lumber, delivered, plus han- 

 dling and manufacturing expense, and making due allowance for 

 waste. That a better proposition than necessary to get the busi- 

 ness has frequently been made is the fault not of the buyer, but 

 of the seller. 



Those who regard dimension as a by-product are in the habit 

 of selling it on that basis, instead of taking account of the intrinsic 

 value of the material, and its value to the user, in view of what he 

 would have to pay for it if he made it himself. A little more intelli- 

 gent study of these factors would establish the proper selling price 

 for dimension stock, and would also make it worth the while of 

 lumbermen to develop that branch of the business. 



Food Conservation at the Mills 



The number of men who are fed at the big sawmill operations is 

 large enough to justify interest in their co-operation in the impor- 

 tant movement for food conservation; yet not long ago the head 

 of a big hardwood company, which has a number of important mills 

 in the South, was discouraged to find that little or no attention 

 was being paid to the situation by his men. 



"I told them what was being attempted in the direction of sav- 

 ing wheat, meat and fats," he said, in relating his experience,, 

 "and the usual reply I got was, 'Zat so?' Nobody seemed to know 

 anything about it. I gave orders, however, that the meatless and 

 wheatless days were to be observed, and I hope that this is now 

 being generally done at our mills." 



The South, of course, needed no instruction on the subject of 

 the use of corn-bread, and nowhere else can one get the cakes, 

 pones and other forms in which eornmeal is prepared so deliciously. 

 But at mills where no special effort is being made to help the good 

 work, it is likely that wheat flour is not being conserved, and that 

 the consumption of corn products could be increased. 



Companies having their own commissaries are in an excellent 

 position to co-operate with the Food Administration, and should do 

 this with unrestrained zeal, because the further the war progresses, 

 the more it is realized that reduction in the consumption of food 

 products needed by the allies, as' well as our own soldiers and sailors, 

 is an essential feature of a victorious decision. 



War Service Committees 



When the history of the war is written, the work of the war 



committees in the various industries will be given its meed 

 of praise, which has been won by meritorious and unselfish effort 

 for the good of the country. In the lumber, veneer and allied fields 

 where such committees have been employed, the information and 

 service provided by the committees has been of the utmost value. 

 Men in these industries have given months of time to depart- 

 ments at Washington, and have extended every effort to insure 

 possession of all necessary information for the purchase of the 

 right material, and under conditions favorable to the government. 

 It is certainly true that as far as the lumber and veneer trades are 

 concerned, the help provided by the committees has enabled mis- 

 takes to be avoided, and has cleared up the material situation in ct 

 very effective way. 



