HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



sion of the various members would indicate that gum is going to 

 see a very active call in the not far distant future, which will 

 not only be the direct result of association work, but will mean a 

 decided gain to the association members. So far the organization 

 unquestionably has justified itself, and cpusidering its short period 

 of existence so far and the program ot work outlined for the 

 future, there can be no question but that a great deal will have 

 been accomplished before the first year of its existence has been 

 concluded. 



There is certainly no logical reason why failure to join the 

 organization, on the part of any manufacturer of gum lumber, 

 is not poor business judgment. 



Gum Stocks in Favorable Condition 



THE LIST OF GUM LUMBER on han.l May 1, as reported by 

 twenty-three members of the Gum Lumber Manufacturers' 

 Association at its recent meeting in Memphis, offers an extremely 

 gratifying evidence as to the probable future of that excellent 

 wood. The extremely slow condition as prevailing in red gum 

 for the last few D;ojiths has been a decided discouragement to 

 gum manufacturers; who where possible have been keeping their 

 timber in the woods and cutting other types of hardwood logs, 

 pending the resumption of more favorable trade. 



However, the figures as formulated by the secretary, resulted 

 in a surprised gratification and the renewal of decided expressions 

 of optimism as to gum 's future. The summarized report shows 

 tliat these twenty-three members who are probably about the largest 

 manufacturers of gum lumber in the country, had on hand May 

 1 unsold, the following stocks: 



l,31t),375 feet of lirsts and seconds quartered red sum ; 

 6i!'J,868 feet of So. 1 common quartered red giim ; 

 13,o00 feet of No. 2 common quartered red gum ; 

 lt>S,514 feet of lirsts ami seconds figured red gum ; 

 49,201 feet of .No. 1 common Mgured red gum : 

 7,341,391) feet of lirsts and seconds plain red gum : 

 9,056,966 feet of No. 1 common plain red gum ; 

 Sao.OoO feet of No. li common plain red gum. 

 In sap gum the report was even more favorable, this stock having 

 been strong property for some little time. The total stock of firsts 

 and seconds sap gum on hand May 1 was 10,821,008 feet; 

 5,S9T,367 feet No. 1 common; 

 .5,.j72.840 feet No. 2 common: 

 1,010,393 feet No. 3 common. 

 Thus it can readily be seen that the gum situation not onlj- is 

 good, but promises well for the future. In all probability there 

 will be a strengthening in gum prices within the next few months, 

 not as a result of a direct effort on the part of gum producers, 

 but because of the natural relation of supply and demand. 



The National Meeting 



THERE ARE VARIOUS FACTORS which go to make up a 

 successful convention. The first of these is loyalty and 

 enthusiasm on the part of the members of the association con- 

 vening, and the belief in the accomplishments of that organiza- 

 tion. The second is the preparation of an interesting and help- 

 ful program to be carried out during the convention session. The 

 third is pleasing surroundings at the convention city and interest- 

 ing points which will bring to the convention sessions a large 

 attendance. 



As the day for the seventeenth annual convention of the 

 National Hardwood Lumber Association, which is to be held at 

 the Hotel Statler, Buffalo, N. Y., June 18 and 19, approaches, it 

 develops that all three of these factors are favorable to a record- 

 breaking meeting. In the first place the National association now 

 has a membership of about 900, who are united in a strong bond 

 of loyalty to the organization. In the second place the program 

 already submitted by Secretary Frank F. Fish indicates that not 

 only the plans for business sessions, but the opportunities for 

 social enjoyment have been worked out on a basis that will occupy 

 the time of the attendants of the convention most satisfactorily 

 and pleasingly. 



There can be no doubt but that the various scenic and other 



features surrounding and situated within the' city of Buffalo 

 provide for adequate entertainment features, while the hotel 

 accommodations offered by the Hotel Statler are distinctly favor- 

 able to handling such a large congregation of business men. 

 Altogether the probabilities are that this convention is going to 

 be a record-breaker, not only from the point of view of attend- 

 ance, but from actual accomplishments and thorough enjoyment 

 on the part of the lumbermen and others attending. 



Conservation as a Local Question 



nnHE SITUATION WAS APTLY STATED at the recent meeting 

 A of the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association in Chicago 

 by Chief Forester Henry S. Graves when he said that many persons 

 still hold to the idea that there is something incompatible between 

 conservation and industrial development. There is always some one 

 ready to quote the old adage that "one cannot eat his eake and 

 have it." Fortunately, the adage does not apply in this ease'. 



The common mistake is made in looking at the conservation 

 problem at too great a distance; ia considering it from its national 

 rather than its local aspect; and in thinking of it as a theoretical 

 instead of a practical question. It should be treated first as a local 

 matter, and afterwards as nation-wide, because there can be iio 

 national conservation except such as is mtde up of local units. 

 Waste and abuse of resources hurt the immediate community much 

 sooner than their effect is felt in the country as a whole. 



In order to make it a concrete case, confine it to the lumber busi- 

 ness, and take the former pine lands of Michigan as an example. 

 The country as a whole is going ahead and has not been badly 

 crippled by the exhaustion of those splendid pineries, because lumber 

 from other regions is meeting demands, but how is that part of 

 Michigan affected? The stretches of waste sand and stumps, briars 

 and huckleberries, where industry was once phenomenal, are the 

 answer. The result strikes locally. The country as a whole used the 

 pine, and is now using other woods, but prosperity has departed from 

 the deserted mill sites and logging camps. Cause and effect are 

 more readily apparent at a near view and in a small area than 

 when the field is too large to be seen all at once. 



Take Massachusetts and its pine as another example of cause and 

 effect on a comparatively small scale. It was originally a land of 

 white pine, the same as parts of Michigan. Cutting began there 

 before civilized man had heard of Michigan, and has been going 

 on ever since. Though the state's area is only one-seventh that of 

 Michigan, it now furnishes more white pine lumber than Michigan. 

 After ftvo hundred and fifty years of cutting, the mills in Massa- 

 chusetts are still sawing white pine. The mill now stands where that 

 of six or seven generations ago was located; and the white pine 

 forest occupies the same ground that was occupied at the time of 

 King Philip 's war. Although the Massachusetts lumberman began 

 ' ' eating his cake ' ' centuries ago, he still has some left, and if he 

 continues to manage as he is doing now, he wUl have some in five 

 hundred years. 



That is local conservation. It is the kind that counts and that 

 pays. In cutting mature timber provision was made in Massachu- 

 setts for new growth; but no such provision was made when the 

 Michigan pineries were cut, and conservation and non-conservation, 

 as local questions, can be directly compared in those two cases. The 

 welfare of the district has been too often overlooked in lumber oper- 

 ation. A rushing business for a short time is poor recompense for 

 the long period of leanness which follows, after the mill has passed 

 on to new forests, and the stumps and charred snags remain behind. 

 By moving upon new forests when the old are depleted, the eoimtry 's 

 supply of lumber has been maintained up to the present, and may be 

 maintained for years to come; but the effect is depressing in many 

 localities where the forest resources are gone. 



It is well to preach and practice a policy of national conservation 

 of resources; but the most effective policy is that which centers its 

 efforts in a small area. When thus confined, the question is more 

 easily understood. The closer home it comes, the more friends it 

 will have. The whole is the sum of all the parts, and if the parts 

 are right, the whole will be right. 



