22 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



zr^———. — r- -——-—- 



May 25, 1918 



he said eighty-two traiuloads were shipped to the East in ninety 

 days with record speed of travel as part of the accomplishment. 



He told of the great record made in the production of aircraft 

 lumber, saying that the production so far has totaled 42,000,000 

 feet of spruce and 15,000,000 feet of Douglas fir, a total sufficient 

 for the production of 57,000 airplanes. This according to Mr. 

 Bloedel is sufficient evidence that if there is anything wrong with 

 the airplane program the responsibility does not rest with the 

 western lumbermen. 



Mr. Goodman maintained his already established reputation as 

 an apt chairman for such an occasion in his introduction of John H. 

 Kirby of Houston, Tex. He said that the convention had been lis- 

 tening to a discussion of various types of timber during its day 's 

 session and it would now have the opportunity of listening to a 

 man of senatorial timber. The prospective membership in the 

 United States Senate of John H. Kirby of Houston is so well 

 known that his name was called by the audience before Mr. Good- 

 man had completed his introduction. 



Mr. Kirby proved that his senatorial qualifications embrace an 



Mr. Kirby then went on to tell of the startling increases in pine 

 stumpage values within the memory of the present generation. He 

 said in his boyhood days his father was desirous of purchasing a 

 sewing machine from a traveling salesman and after lengthy nego- 

 tiations decided to give eight forties of fine timber in exchange 

 for the machine. In being criticised by a relative for giving eight 

 instead of four forties, which would have been sufficient, Mr. 

 Kirby 's father observed that he really thought he had been doing 

 a favor to himself to add on the additional four. 



Mr. Kirby said that in the memory of the most youthful listeners 

 present the value of pine stumpage has gone from one dollar to $95 

 an acre, and this in the face of the keenest competition not only 

 within the pine trade but with other competitive species. 



His talk along these lines was mainly directed at the question 

 of arriving at proper cost calculation. Mr. Kirby pointed that 

 a comparatively short time ago the entire land was covered with 

 a splendid forest area from Texas east with very few interrup- 

 tions. He said that now a large part of this has gone, with the 

 great areas of southern pine cut out, with the old northern white 



unusual ability as an orator. He can talk clearly and definitely to 

 a well-considered and well-defined point without sacrificing any of 

 the added strength which is imparted to his arguments by the grace 

 and the force of his delivery. 



He opened his talk in a way that won his audience, immediately 

 establishing two points with apt stories, one at the expense of 

 Edward Hines of Chicago. It seems Mr. Kirby was host to Edward 

 Hines some time ago at a deer hunt in the South. Mr. Hines was 

 handed an old style single barrel shot gun, "For," said Mr. Kirby, 

 "we considered that this would do him as well as any other' kind." 



An ample number of dogs and beaters were sent out to drive the 

 deer along the trail along which Mr. Hines was comfortably sta- 

 tioned. Within a short time a number of deer were driven before 

 Mr. Hines and the rest of the party waited anxiously for the report 

 of his gun. Seeing the deer go by without hearing any report 

 indicating their attempted execution they hurried up to Mr. Hines 

 and upbraided him for not shooting and asked him why he didn't 

 fire. Mr. Hines said: "I want to hunt all day and only have 

 one load." 



Thus, according to Mr. Kirby, he was forced to keep away from 

 a topic which he was slated to talk on at one of the future sessions 

 of the convention as he, similar to Mr. Hines, had only one load and 

 didn't want to waste it in the beginning. 



pine now a memory, and with other species being utilized just as 

 rapidly. He a'sked the question: "Since all this timber is gone 

 what now is the value of stumpage?" 



He ended with a fervent protest, citing as a violation of our 

 famous "Bill of Eights," and as a transgression of our constitu- 

 tional rights as American citizens the practice of fixing prices of 

 commodities for private use. He said that were the price of a 

 national commodity fixed so that the buyer would have to pay 

 more than its worth, the buyer would thus be deprived of a con- 

 stitutional privilege. He said further tliat were the price of a 

 national commodity fixed so that the seller was compelled to dis- 

 pose of it for less than its worth, the seller would then suffer in a 

 similar manner. He stated that while our Constitution and Bill of 

 Eights provide that private property may be seized for national 

 use, there is no word of any sort that makes it legal for private 

 property to be seized for private use. He denounced price fixing 

 for private use as anarchistic in its character. 



Here Chairman Goodman read a telegram from Washington stat- 

 ing that the Doyle-Mitchell case had been decided in favor 

 of the lumbermen. This case hinges on the question of proper 

 method of charging for stumpage in making tax returns. It was 

 maintained by the Mitchell interests of Cadillac, Mich., that timber 

 should be entered at 1913 valuations, whereas it was contended 



