40 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



April 2.-,, 1918 



Will Extend West Virginia Line 



Director McAdoo's word to go ahead is all that is needed to begin work 

 of extending the lines of the Virginian Railway through Charleston, 

 W. Va., to the Great Lakes by way of Ohio points, according to recent word 

 from Charleston. Supplies for immediately getting under way are on 

 hand. 



The extension would open up valuable and needed coal and timber lands, 

 and for this reason it is contemplated that the necessary assent will be 

 forthcoming. 



Building Situation Improving 



Considerable improvement in the mid-west building situation, accord- 

 ing to the F. W. Dodge Company's March report of building contracts 

 actually awarded. This report shows a total of 1,382 contracts let during 

 March. The big items in this compilation were : Dwellings, 457 ; bridges, 

 317; stores and apartments in combined buildings, 105; mills, factories 

 and laundries, 91 ; apartment buildings, 77 ; garages, 47 ; bank and oflSce 

 buildings, 41 ; schools, 33 ; warehouses, etc., 30. 



Wood Exports for February 



Forest products exported from the United States during the month of 

 February, 1918, are shown in the following table : 



$ 143,420 Box shocks $ 326,011 



Barrel shooks 325,107 



Logs 



Yellow pine timber ss.istj 



Railroad ties 168,223 



Lumber 3,012,825 



Doors, sash and blinds... 43,126 



Furniture 248.310 



Handles 55.503 



Barrels 149,416 



Staves 158,226 



House finish 24.256 



Woodenware 6,532 



Wood pulp 221,950 



New Priorities List 



The government's fuel administration has slightly changed the list of 

 industries which will be favored in the distribution of coal and coke. The 

 preferred industries that use wood are those engaged in making airplanes, 

 cantonments and camps, farm implements, food containers, guns, mining 

 tools, railways, car and locomotive works, refrigerators, ships, tanners, 

 and tanning extracts. The industries on this list are considered neces- 

 sary to the successful prosecution of the war and for that reason will be 

 favored both in fuel and in transportation. 



Large Car Orders Probable 



Press dispatches within the past few days from Washington report it 

 probable that orders for 100,000 freight and coal cars containing a large 

 proportion of wood in order to save steel for shipbuilding and other war 

 purposes, will be placed shortly by the railroad administration with about 

 fifteen leading car manufacturers. 



The contracts will total about $300,000,000, representing profits te 

 manufacturers of probably 5 or 6 per cent, about half of the rate first 

 demanded by them In negotiations with John Skelton Williams, director 

 of purchases of the railroad administration. 



Quantity delivery of the cars will begin in .ibout four months, and all 

 j.robably will be completed in six months, when more will be ordered. 



Full Lumber Yards in Finland 

 Axel Oxholm, United States special lumber commissioner to the Scandi- 

 navian countries, has made a report on business prospects in Finland. He 

 estimates that Finnish lumber yards now have on sticks 3,000,000,000 feet 

 cf pine and spruce lumber which they hope to put on foreign markets at 

 the close of the war. He says that the fiuctuation in the rate of exchange 

 will play an important part for the Finnish exporter when the war is 

 over. The lumber accumulated in the Finnish yards waiting for export 

 is the main asset of the Finnish nation at the present time. Should the 

 value of the Finnish mark increase at the close of the war, the Finnish 

 exporter would lose heavily. Lumber operators are now figuring on a 

 price of at least 600 to 800 Finnish marks per standard, and have in 

 many cases operated at the cost of 450 to 500 marks. Finnish lumber is 

 always sold in foreign money, and if the value of the pound should de- 

 crease so that the Finnish exporter would obtain fewer marks for each 

 pound sterling, he will not realize any profit and may even lose on these 

 transactions. For the importer, on the other hand, the result will be the 



House Building Not Prohibited 



."Vu Interview which has been published In or commented on by the press 

 in all parts of the country, quotes Secretary McAdoo as saying that house 

 building should cease or be restricted to the least possible limits during 

 the continuance of the war. A great deal of adverse criticism was called 

 forth by the interview, and Secretary McAdoo has written a long letter 

 to Samuel Cuniii.Ts in which he explains his view of the matter, and 

 denies thai In mi. r\h ,'. advocated a policy of no building, but he adds: 



I have mi;! :: i' i liriu operations which are not required to protect 



the healtl Hie comfortable needs of our people, or to supply 



facilities ip i ih- proper conduct of business essential to the 



successful lu : Mi; ^var, should be postponed. As you know I 



have no am' i i. i ii.m Kiiilding operations be curtailed. I have 



merely suu- i i - n, ,. , ,-, work of that kind be postponed until 

 the end ni i, i, , iirment would, I am sure^ help win the 



in the ma 

 of a cent 

 suggestioi 



situation 



his 



I'ience 



The Liverpool Log Market 



The lumber market in England is reduced very nearly to bedrock con- 

 ditions. This is not only true figuratively, but literally. Take the Liver- 

 pool market as an illustration. Outside of what the government may have, 

 there were, April 1, not one mahogany log from America and only seven 

 logs of African mahogany ; not one cedar log ; not one walnut, and through- 

 out the whole list of foreign woods usually kept in stock there, only eight 

 logs were to be found, and they were koawood. Even the rather common 

 and plentiful woods, such as lignum vitae, boxwood, satinwood, padouk 

 and rosewood, were all gone. In fact only fifteen logs remained in brokers' 

 hands in the Liverpool market. It is doubtful 1£ that state of affairs has 

 existed there before, in the past thousand years. They are sacrificing 

 everything to win the war. There is something of terrible determination 

 in the situation. If the Huns think they can win in a fight with a people 

 like that, they will wake up with a jolt. 



Lumber Sales Investigations 



The Forest Service has published two reports on the distribution of 

 softwood lumber in the Middle West, wholesale and retail. The reports 

 were written by .Ovid M. Butler. It is not practicable in a brief review 

 to give an adequate idea of the scope of these investigations and the 

 manner of treatment. Persons in any way interested in the distribution 

 and sale of lumber will be well repaid if they read both reports. That 

 dealing with wholesale is Report 115, that with retail 116. The former 

 costs twenty cents, the latter fifteen cents, and they may be bought from 

 the superintendent of documents, government printing office, Washington, 

 D. C. Costs of carriage and sales are fully discussed, also methods. Charts 

 and maps explain distribution ; and localities where competition between 

 woods from different regions is keenest are shown. Each report covers 

 about 100 printed pages. Persons who are not interested in lumber will 

 find the reports dry ; but persons interested in the lumber business will 

 find them anything but dry. 



Hardwood Distillation Plant 



The government appears to be in need of more hardwood distillates 

 than private plants are supplying, and according to reports, it is building 

 a distillation factory at Sutton, W. Va., at a cost of .$320,000. About fifty 

 men will be employed in the plant and as many more will work in the 

 woods, cutting and bringing in material. The output will consist of char- 

 coal, alcohol, and acetate of lime, and most hardwoods of the region will 

 be used, except elm and chestnut. The latter wood is more valuable as a 

 source of tanning extract and will go to plants making that article. Elm 

 is of little value for the ordinary hardwood by-products, but that region 

 has little elm. The most abundant woods within reach of the new plant 

 are oak, beech, maple, birch, poplar, and basswood. Those most valuable 

 for extracts are maple, birch, and beech. Sutton is situated on the Little 

 Kanawha river about 100 miles above Parkersburg. 



Lumber for Field Hospitals 



Writing under the title of "Our War Hospitals in France," Edward F. 

 Stevens in the Architectural Record of New York, gives some interesting 

 figures and other details regarding this phase of our fight "over there." 

 His article is accompanied by drawings which show the portable wooden 

 hospital units that are being sent across the Atlantic from American 

 lumber mills to be the last word in war hospital construction. 



"When we consider what our two allies, England and France, have 

 already provided in hospitals, we realize what we must do" Mr. Stevens 

 says. "In the Spring of 1916 France had 600,000 beds and England 

 550,000 beds in field, base, private and public hospitals for the army 

 alone. The statistics go to show that there are 25 per cent of casualties 

 and sickness needing hospital care, so it is easy to see what we shall need 

 in our hospital divisions. How is our government meeting this demand? 



"Hospital unit after hospital unit is being sent over ; these units con- 

 sist of 87 buildings each and comprise all the essential departments of an 

 up-to-date hospital, all of demountable portable construction," 

 Prophets Again Miss It 



It was predicted that the subscriptions to government bonds, at higher 

 rates of interest than banks pay on time deposits, would drain such de- 

 posits from the banks for investment in government bonds. It seemed 

 reasonable that if a man had money in a bank and was drawing only 

 three per cent, he would take it out and invest in government bonds at 

 three and a half per cent. The government is as safe as any bank can 

 be, and some timid people who are suspicious of banks are not afraid 

 to trust the United States, and it was believed that such people would 

 quit the banks and loan their money to the government. 



It has not turned out that way. Billions of dollars have been invested 

 in Liberty bonds, without decreasing the total amount of time deposits 

 in banks one dollar. In fact, such deposits have increased since the war 

 began, in spite of Liberty loans and increase in living cost. A recent 

 circular sent out by the National City Bank of New York thus speaks of 

 the situation and assigns a reason for it : 



It is of interest to know that although all of these offerings pay higher 

 rates of interest than savings bank deposits, the latter are greater now 

 than at the beginning of the war. In line with this arc reports from 

 certain schools in the United States which have maintained a savings sys- 

 tem for some years that although these schools have been vigorously push- 

 ing this sale of thrift stamps the regular savings have continued to 

 increase. These facts prove what has been proved many times before, 

 that the habit of saving grows by cultivation, and therein lies the promise 

 of great benefits in years to come from the thrift campaign now being 

 carried on. 



