18 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



September 10. lOlS 



it is only because centralized authority makes it possible to divert 

 an adequate percentage of available rolling stock into strictly 

 necessary work that lines not considered absolutely essential to war 

 jirosecution will have even more difficulty than formerly in getting 

 the desired number of cars. 



It is frankly promised by all those in a position to know that 

 ears will be very decidedly at a jn'emium, as there is much more 

 essential material than ever to move, and it is more necessary than 

 ever before to move it quickly. Therefore, every effort will be 

 made to swing the last possible piece of rolling .stock and motive 

 power into this work with the result that what is left for ordinary 

 industrial and commercial movements will be negligible. 



Many a lumber buyer may have convinced himself that he is 

 playing a wise policy in holding up his orders in anticipation of 

 broken prices. Time only will prove whether or not he is correct, 

 although it is probable that his policy will eventually have been 

 proven wrong. But regardless of price questions, the fact remains 

 tliat if lumber is essential to any man's business he had better 

 make his plans to get in what he needs now, because the price he 

 buys for will have nothing to do with his ability or lack of ability 

 to get stuff to his yard. There are cars enough now to handle the 

 situation and they surely should lie ]iut to tlie Vicst use before it is 

 too late. 



The Water Power Bill 



DURING MOKE THAN FIFTEEN YEARS a fight has been in 

 progress, in one form or another, having for its purpose the 

 development of water power on public lands, chiefly among western 

 mountains where numerous cascades and waterfalls exist. Congress 

 has finally passed a bill. It is not satisfactory to all parties, and is 

 objectionable to many; but it marks progress in a long battle 

 between forces which tried to obtain private control of the power 

 sites, and other forces which insisted that the government should 

 retain ownership and possession. 



One of the results of the long controversy has been the locking 

 up of many opportunities of development. The government has 

 not built power plants and private parties have been prevented 

 from doing it. The accusation has been made that the government 

 was pursuing a dog-in-the-manger policy by preventing others from 

 doing what it could not or would not do. The charge had enough 

 truth in it to win many persons. On the other side it was easy 

 to point out the danger in turning over to private ownership the 

 valuable power opportunities. In many large regions such a course 

 would have led to monopolies of power in private hands. Corpora- 

 tions, if they had become owners of the power sites, could have 

 exacted heavy toll from the public who would be compelled to use 

 the power or go without. The two camps were so evenly divided 

 that neither could win, and during years millions of units of power 

 went to waste in the streams flowing across government land. 



The bill which has just been enacted into law by Congress is to 

 some extent a compromise measure. The government will retain 

 ownership but will lease the power sites to private parties for long 

 terms, under strict regulations as to rates, profits, and other mat- 

 ters, with an arrangement that at the end of the period of lease, 

 the property and improvements shall revert to the government 

 with an understanding as to the amount the government shall pay 

 for the improvements. The leasing period shall be fifty years. 



This question has not attracted as much notice in the East as 

 in the West for the reason that all the power sites on eastern 

 streams long ago passed into private hands, while in the western 

 country the government still retains ownership of most of them. 

 Power is now carried by electricity over wires a distance of hun- 

 dreds of miles, and a water fallamong mountains almost inaccessi- 

 ble may supply power in cities far away. 



Great development is expected to result from the passage of the 

 measure by Congress. The far western country is more dependent 

 upon water power than is the East, because of coal's high price 

 in the West. In that region the cost of coal is prohibitive in 

 many industries; but power is cheap when it comes from mountain 



streams. Among many high western mountains the flow of water 

 in the rivers is much more dependable than in other parts of the 

 country, because snow melts all summer in the mountains. 



A Year or Two From Now 



B ELI El'' IS PRETTY STRONG in both this country and among 

 our allies across the sea that the war will end next year. 

 Whether the exact date of peace can be foretold or not, it is 

 ajjproaching and will arrive. 



In a business way that will be a momentous event. It will mark 

 revivals and beginnings in many things, and preparations should 

 be made in ample time and in adequate manner to take advantage 

 of every opportunity that shall be presented. 



It may be asked: In just what way will opportunities come to 

 men in the lumber business? Conditions may be expected to change 

 gradually and in several ways, and among them the following may 

 be looked for: 



The demand for war work will cease, releasing men, facilities, 

 and capital for other things. 



The peojale will not need to lay aside money for liberty loans and 

 stamps and will be free to direct their capital and savings into 

 industrial channels. 



The railroads and other means of transportation will be relieved 

 of the enormous burden of carrying munitions and troops, and 

 these released facilities will become immediately available. 



Business men by tens of thousands who have not been actually 

 enrolled in the army or navy, but who have given much or all of 

 their time to war service, many of them without pay, will be free 

 to return to their business and throw into it the energy which they 

 had been devoting to the war. 



Millions of officers, soldiers, and sailors will come back from the 

 ranks, ready to give their labor, brains, and energy to business. 



The men thus released for industrial work vnll return better than 

 they went. The discipline and co-operation which have been made 

 part of their lives in war will increase the value of the men in the 

 work of peace. Ideas wiU have been broadened by contact with 

 great events, and the returning army will be an industrial force 

 of tremendous possibilities. 



The lumber business will be one of the many industries that will 

 respond to the new conditions. Everything points in that direction. 

 The use of lumber for civilian purposes has been greatly restricted 

 since we entered the war. Building programs have been postponed. 

 Repairs have been reduced to the smallest figures. Factories have 

 cut out all products that could possibly be dispensed with. The 

 demand for repairs, buildings, and factory output will come to the 

 front with all the accumulations due to years of inactivity; and the 

 front with all the accumulations due to years of inactivity. 



The lumbermen are doubtless prepared for the demands that shall 

 be made upon them. Stocks may be low in some lines, but there is 

 plenty of mill capacity and there is abundance of timber, and no 

 shortage need be feared. No user of wood, whether a private buyer 

 who wants only a thousand feet, or a factory whose demand shall 

 be measured by millions, need go without. 



It is not' easy to prophesy just how the scale of wages wiU run 

 after the war. Supply and demand will settle that question accord- 

 ing to economic laws. If wages remain high, so will prices. If 

 prices fall, so will wages. No sudden and radical change need be 

 looked for. 



"Load Until It Hurts" 



THE NOW FAMOUS RED CROSS SLOGAN, "Give Until It 

 J Hurts," can be .aptly apjjlied to ear loading, as it seems there 

 is a little slackening down in the general interest in the question 

 of loading stock to absolute capacity. In most cases the maximum 

 loading is easily accomplished without inconvenience or hardship. 

 There are times though when one does not desire to load any more 

 fully than is required. But as everybody is in the same boat and 

 it is a question of give and take between competitors and also 

 between buyers and sellers it seems that sound patriotism should 

 dictate that everyone load "until it hurts." 



