HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



of freight ears have been insistent and continual for some little 

 time, they being more emphatic since the government's advance 

 reports on the general crop which is to be expected this summer. 

 As a result shippers in all of the grain-producing sections or those 

 sections which are contiguous to the crop states, are genuinely 

 alarmed over the prospect for serious hampering of the move- 

 ment of freight on account of the excessive number of ears that 

 will be required to take care of the grain production. 



On the other hand, the report of car shortage on July 1, shows 

 that the greatest surplus in the last five years occurred on that 

 date. The surplus on July 1 was 220,875 cars, as against 70,740 

 cars on June 30, 1913. 



However, since June 15 of this year there has been a material 

 reduction in the surplus, and a substantial increase in the shortage, 

 which indicates that the grain movement is already beginning 

 to have its effect. This effect is unquestionably going to be more 

 apparent as the weeks go by from now until the time that this 

 movement is well under way. 



That it is going to result seriously there can be no doubt. 

 Hardwood Record is of the opinion that the present unusual 

 surplus of ears is going to be wiped out entirely by the demand 

 from the grain-producing sections. Hardwood Record further 

 believes that the vory hixity of shipments in other lines will mean 

 that the r:iiln.:i'ls \\ill l^ivc even greater attention this year to the 

 grain shiiiMi^iit, tli:iii I hoy would if they were deriving satisfac- 

 tory revenues irom tlieir other operations, and as a result greater 

 dilEculty is to be expected than under more normal conditions. 



The only logical deduction is that if orders for lumber are not 

 placed in the near future, lumber will be a hard thing to secure 

 promptly a month from now. This condition will be particularly 

 aggravating because of the very condition of the market, which 

 is based almost entirely on demands for immediate consumption, 

 the majority of orders being for quick shipment. The very fact 

 that but few consumers and lumber yards are equipped with any 

 reasonable amount of stock, is simply a further argument in favor 

 of their safeguarding their operations against the time when 

 lumber shipments will be an uncertain proposition. When that 

 time comes there will unquestionably be, as is suggested in the 

 communication above, a material augmenting of values, as this is 

 the only possible development of such a condition as threatens. 

 The only conclusion is that it would be mighty good policy to 

 buy lumber now to take care of requirements for the next three 

 or four months. 



A Thought on Grading Rules 



ONE OF THE OBVIOUSLY IGNORED POINTS which have 

 come up in connection with the consumers' attempted dis- 

 cussion of the grading rules, has to do with the distinct classifica- 

 tion of the different grades. Whether this point is designedly 

 neglected or whether it has simply not occurred to the men behind 

 the so-called consumers' declaration of independence, it is difficult 

 to ascertain. It is a fact nevertheless that the various literature, 

 both official and unofficial, and the verbal contentious of the men 

 behind this movement have not contained a single suggestion that 

 the obviously fair way of considering grading rules is that the 

 specifications for a certain grade represent the poorest board which 

 will go into that grade, whereas a car of lumber graded according 

 to those specifications will very likely average at least half way 

 between that and the next specifications for poorest board in the 

 grade above. A prejudice has been created by the agitators of 

 the question, who base their arguments on the assumption that the 

 best board in a ear conforms to the specifications for the poorest 

 lumber that will go into that grade. Arguments against various 

 grades have been worked out with this idea in mind specifically. 



It seems to Hardwood Record that this is but a further indica- 

 tion of unfairness as, considering the average shipment of hard- 

 wood lumber, there is absolutely no room for doubt that a grade 

 even approximating the poorest quality that could lawfully be 

 put into it is practically an impossibility. 



Just why the three or four men who have been most actively 

 pushing this grading movement have weakened their cases by 



unfair methods, is hard to determine, unless it is that the agitator 

 in any line recognizes that he can gain his point only through 

 misrepresentation if he is attempting to overthrow any well- 

 established institution. The very fact that any institution is 

 generally accepted and recognized by any considerable body of 

 individuals is sufficient proof that that institution is based on 

 sound and fair principle. There can be but one true side to anj' 

 case, and the agitators in this instance recognizing this fact 

 seemingly have been forced to combat sound, fair principles with 

 misrepresentations, which course is to be deeply regretted. 



Virginia Will Assist Nature 



DR. ALDERMAN, dean of the Univorsity of Virginia, 

 Charlottesville, is looking for a man to appoint as state 

 forester of Virginia. The forestry law, recently placed on the 

 statute books of that state, delegates the selection of a forester 

 to the university authorities. The delay in the appointment is 

 doubtless due to the careful efforts being made to find the best 

 available man for the new office. 



Virginia is late in coming to the assistance of nature in per- 

 petuating the forests of that fertile state. Although nature has 

 received little help from man in this work, she has done more to 

 save the Virginians from the results of their own shortsightedness 

 than for the people of any other state in this country. Forest 

 after forest was cut down in early years; the ground was exhausted 

 by excessive cultivation, and was then abandoned. Nature 

 promptly replanted it with trees, thus restoring its fertility, and 

 providing another crop of timber. Again the trees were cut, 

 again corn and tobacco exhausted the soil, and again the areas 

 were abandoned; but the hand of nature sowed tree seeds again, 

 and produced another forest. In some areas this process has been 

 repeated several times. 



Nature will be left to take care of the woods no longer : the forestry 

 department will assist in many ways. 



Lumber Is Hard Hit 



IT THE FOREIGN TRADE of the United States during recent 

 ■ months may be accepted as a criterion of business, lumber has 

 been hard hit. It has suffered far more than the average of all busi- 

 ness, although the total of aU exports and imports shows loss running 

 far into the millions in the past ten months. 



Records of the foreign commerce of the United States bear out this 

 statement, and to demonstrate tlie truth of it, there is no necessity for 

 overloading the argument with figures. 



For the ten months ending with April, 1914, compared with the 

 corresponding ten months ending with April, 1913, the foreign trade 

 of this country lost $37,699,526. The foreign trade includes both 

 exports and imports. 



Imports gained the sum of $24,399,410, but exports feU off $62,- 

 098,936, leaving a balance against the United States exceeding thirty- 

 seven million dollars. It has become necessary to ship gold to Europe 

 to square that balance. 



How has lumber fared in the trade loss? Poorly. There was de- 

 cline in both imports ami exports, but principally in exports. The 

 falling off in imports of lumber was $92,820, and in exports $7,985,- 

 065 during the ten months' period under consideration. The total 

 trade loss, therefore, was $8,077,865 in lumber. 



The blow fell with extraordinary severity on lumber, when its ratio 

 to the whole foreign trade is considered. A little less than four per 

 cent of this country's entire foreign trade consists of wood products; 

 that is, the whole trade for the ten months amounted to $3,618,210,- 

 839, and lumber amounted to $137,501,863. While lumber made up 

 less than four per cent of the whole foreign trade, it bore twenty-two 

 per cent of the whole loss. The figures for it are as follows: Whole 

 foreign trade loss, $37,699,526; lumber's loss, $8,077,885. 



That is more than five times the loss that lumber should bear, if the 

 aggregate decline were apportioned equitably among the various lines 

 of business which constitute this country 's foreign trade ; which dem- 

 onstrates that lumber has been hit hard in recent months. There are, 

 though, indications of a more favorable development in foreign 

 demand- 



