22 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



September 25, 1918 



It adds that the housing corporation -will not expend government 

 funds to build war houses except upon request of that department 

 of the government which is interested in the products manufac- 

 tured in the community in question, and further adds that the cor- 

 poration will not be in position to lend financial assistance to pri- 

 vate enterprises. The corporation has worked out a policy under 

 which many local needs can be filled through co-operation on the 

 part of local authorities with the corporation, which, when the neeu 

 is fully demonstrated, will give priorities of transportation for 

 materials and such other assistance as seems proper. 



The statement says that all correspondence or requests for per- 

 sonal interviews on this subject should be directed to the United 

 States Housing Corporation, 613 G Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. 

 An interesting phase of the housing development is the plan 

 adopted by the government of regulating its own communities 

 through managers. The Bureau of Industrial Housing and Trans- 

 portation of the Department of Labor, selects these managers for 

 its various communities which are being developed. These man- 

 agers are especially selected for qualifications and training, as 

 the management of the government communities will involve not 

 only the collection of rents, supervision of repairs and maintenance 

 of buildings, but will comprise duties analogous to those of a mayor 

 and will involve matters of sanitation, fire, police protection and 

 the general health and welfare of the inhabitants. 



It has been demonstrated that the housing project involves far 

 more than the mere building of houses, and that the inhabitants of 

 the community must be maintained in their proper mental condi- 

 tion in order that the work may be carried on efSciently. 

 Requests for New Navy Bids 

 All bids received on a number of classes of items of oak lumber 

 for the Navy have been rejected and new bids will be opened on 

 them October 4. 



The requests deal with immense quantities of hardwood, running 

 mostly to white oak and from boards up to the heaviest kind of 

 timber, two feet square up to 42 feet long. Every conceivable pur- 

 pose almost is represented in the bids, a good deal of which is for 

 ship purposes, although some of it is for manufacture of finish, 

 evidently for ship interiors. 



Other woods mentioned are ash in large quantities and laurel. 

 The requests are far too voluminous to be reproduced here, espe- 

 cially as they are all issued direct to the trade through the various 

 association and war service bureaus, as they come from the Navy 

 Department and Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, and undoubtedly 

 copies can be secured by applying there. 



Lumber Now Officially Essential 

 As the lumber industry was not mentioned in the official prefer- 

 ence list issued by the priorities division of the War Industries 

 Board, Judge E. B. Parker, priorities commissioner, has issued a 

 supplemental statement entitled "Labor Priority Bulletin No. 1," 

 addressed to the United States Employment Service and all indus- 

 trial advisers, covering the industry. 



Charles Edgar, director of lumber. War Industries Board, explains 

 that this statement calls the attention of industrial advisers and 

 the district exemption boards to the essential nature of the lumber 

 industry, and to the importance of considering claims for exemp- 

 tion of necessary employes of lumber manufacturing plants supply- 

 ing lumber "necessary to the maintenance of military establish- 

 ments, or the effective operation of the military forces of the United 

 States or its Allies, or to the maintenance of national interest dur- 

 ing the emergency." 



This bulletin will be in the hands of district exemption boards. 

 It will be necessary for each lumber manufacturing plant to present 

 its case before the proper district exemption board (1) by showing 

 the amount of direct government orders on hand, (2) by showing 

 the amount of indirect government orders on hand, and (3) by show- 

 ing the amount of lumber supplied to others than the government, 

 which is of primarj^ importance in war work, or in essential civilian 

 requirements. 



It is believed by Mr. Edgar that this is a fair and impartial 

 method of handling the question of labor preference for the lumber 



industry, as it leaves each individual lumber manufacturing plant 

 to prove its own case. 



A statement by B. M. Baruch, director of the War Industries 

 Board, says that lumber has not been put on the preference list of 

 industries, but many individual mills are on the list and a special 

 circular of instructions has been issued to protect the labor of 

 necessary mills engaged in 'war work. Many mills have not ap- 

 plied for priority that may be entitled to it, it is understood. 



It points out that the board realizes the necessity for making 

 the preference listing elastic by changing or adding to lists of in- 

 dustries and plants entitled to preferential treatment in the sup- 

 ply of labor. It says that this will be accomplished through labor 

 priority bulletins issued from time to time, this lumber bulletin 

 being the first of the series. It adds that the initial preference 

 list took into account only the urgency of immediate demand and 

 says further that it should be constantly borne in mind that there 

 are industries and plants which may not require general prefer- 

 ential treatment and which are nevertheless important industries 

 and essential parts of the war fabric. 



Eeferring to the lumber business it says that the possibility of 

 using wood for fuel accounts for the absence of lumber plants or 

 the lumber trade as a whole from the priorities list in the way of 

 preferential treatment for its supply of fuel. The bulletin adds: 



Taking into account its very heavy tonnage, coupled with the necessity 

 tor supplying special priorities regulations for the movement ot govern- 

 ment shipments of lumber, as well as the necessity for placing embargoes 

 from time to time on commercial shipments into congested territory, it 

 was not deemed proper to accord to the industry as a whole preferential 

 treatment for its transportation service. 



"THE ESSENTIAL NATURE OF THE INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE IS, 

 HOWEVER, RECOGNIZED AND A 'LARGE PER CENT OF THE PRES- 

 ENT LUMBER PRODUCTION OF THE UNITED STATES IS REQUIRED 

 DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY IN THE PROSECUTION OF THE WAR." 



Therefore, because ot this importance of the lumber industry the dis- 

 trict boards are authorized in passing upon claims for industrial prefer- 

 ment, made by or in behalf of necessary employes of lumber manufactur- 

 ing plants supplying products necessary to the war, or to the maintenance 

 of national interest during the emergency. To give such claims considera- 

 tion substantially as would be given them if they appeared in Class 4 on 

 the preference list. 



THIS MEANS THAT SUCH LUMBER COMPANIES SHOULD 

 BE C41VEN THE OPPORTUNITY OF SHOWING THAT THEY 

 ARE TO SOME SUBSTANTIAL EXTENT SUPPLYING LUMBER, 

 THROUGH DIRECT OR INDIRECT ORDERS, TO THE GOV- 

 ERNMENT OR SOME OF ITS AGENCIES, INCLUDING RAIL- 

 ROADS, OR SUPPLYING TO OTHERS LUMBER OF PRIMARY 

 IMPORTANCE IN WAR WORK OR IN ESSENTIAL CIVILIAN 

 REQUIREMENTS. 



The bulletin then refers to the fact that the large majority of 

 the mills will for some time to come be largely engaged in filling 

 lieavy, direct or indirect, war orders. 



Charles Edgar, director of lumber, takes exception to the class- 

 ification of essential lumber plants in a letter dated September 18, 

 addressed to Judge Edward B. Parker, priorities commissioner. 

 Referring to the lumber priority Bulletin No. 1, Mr. Edgar says: 



Lumber manufacturing plants supplying lumber for the maintenance 

 of military establishments or the effective portion of military forces of 

 the United States or its Allies, are certainly entitled to a higher classifica- 

 tion on the preferential list than the lowest as provided in the third 

 paragraph on page 3 o£ the bulletin, and on behalf of the departments 

 of the government looking to this section for their lumber requiremeuts, 

 I most protest against this class of lumber manufacturers being placed In 

 the lowest class. 



W. M. Ritter of Columbus, O., is a prominent war worker with 

 the board at present in Washington, and has issued circulars in 

 blank form for the convenience of employers in the lumber and 

 other industries who desire to obtain deferred classification or in- 

 definite furlough from military duty for necessary workmen. The 

 forms and blanks show exactly what action must be taken in order 

 to get exemption for necessary employes. 



In order to obtain deferred classification for skilled labor on 

 industrial ground, the employer must establish a status as a neces- 

 sary industry with the district boards having jurisdiction over his 

 skilled employes. This is done through affidavit. He must at the 



