20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



not nearly so good as a wooden one from any point of view, save the 

 item of cost. The railroads are experiencing all sorts of losses 

 through the crushing of packages, breakages and damages, and they 

 are being urged to make a higher classification on goods shipped in 

 substitute packages in order to protect themselves. Of course, the 

 wooden package manufacturer would like to see this course pursued, 

 but the railroad." are apparently between the "devil and the deep 

 sea" in the matter. They can not determine as to the wisdom of 

 adopting this drastic measure in order to insure more safety of car- 

 riage in the freight they handle. 



With the present tendency to produce goods of all descriptions at 

 the lowest possible cost, without regard to quality, it seems that the 

 wooden package business must be a serious sufferer by the substitu- 

 tion process. In this country today the slogan of ' ' how good can 

 we make an article, ' ' seems to have been supplanted by the iniquitous 

 cry of ' ' how cheap can we make it ! " 



Students of lumber affairs have a big problem ahead of them to 

 figure out a profit on a reduction of the total stand of the remain- 

 ing low-grade timber area into the form of manufactured lumber. 

 If the average hardwood operator takes out only his choicest 

 timber, his forest and the principality of wealth it represents is not 

 being properly conserved and w-asteful methods ensue. If he cuts 

 his forest clean, the loss on the low-grade product eats up the profit 

 on the good end. It is certainly a dilemma! 



To the Record there seem to be but two possible solutions of 

 profit-making in low-grade hardwood lumber. One is to install at 

 points of production cut-up plants and produce not the ordinary 

 haphazard dimension stock that has usually been made there out of 

 slabs, mill-'culls and stick-rotted lumber, but to make it a logical 

 business that shall take out clean cuttings from green timber in 

 proper sizes, well-seasoned, well-cured and cared for, and deliver this 

 class of product to the manufacturers in the area and territory where 

 goods are made out of wood. This means that the consumers of 

 hardwoods in the territory now utilizing a large proportion of it, 

 i. e., in southern Wisconsin, southern Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, 

 Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and New Englanii -iiust be educated 

 up to the economy of purchasing dimension stock, u d still be willing 

 to pay for it a price at least within ten per cent of the cost of the 

 dimension they now produce from firsts and seconds and No. 1 com- 

 mon. With average freights on hardwood lumber from southern 

 distributing fields to manufacturiag points in Michigan, for example, 

 ranging well towards $10 a thousand, and the best of this low-grade 

 lumber only showing a fifty per cent cutting value, and consequently 

 a freight of well towards $20 a thousand, it would seem logical that 

 this dimension material could be cut at points of lumber production, 

 and shipped in its clean and clear volume of dimension stock with 

 an economy of $10 a thousand feet, which would not only pay for 

 the cost of producing it in this form, but leave a handsome margin 

 of profit besides. 



The alternative is that the furniture, interior finish and kindred 

 wholesale consuming trade of the districts named install their own 

 plants at or near points of hardwood production, and there manufac- 

 ture in their own way the stock they require for utilization. The 

 cut-up and seasoning division of a remanufacturing plant is but a 

 , small pant of the general aggregate of the institution, and requires 

 but comparatively few emj)loyes. Tentative efforts have been 

 made by some few furniture and interior finish manufacturers to do 

 this during the last few years, but up to this time they have not met 

 with much success. They have not had the hearty cooperation of 

 lumber manufacturers in their enterprise. They have not been able 

 to buy satisfactory stock at fair prices. Quite a number of them 

 have been discouraged and have abandoned their efforts. 



The utilization of the lower grade product at a profit for both the 

 producer of lumber and the eventual user of it resolves itself down 

 to a matter of mutual cooperation to attaining this end. If lumber 

 manufacturers enter into the making of dimension stock they must 

 first learn the requirements of the eventual user and be able to 

 deliver to him stock that is entirely suitable for his purpose, and 

 furthermore, the user must realize that high-class dimension material 

 can not be made out of slabs, mill culls and stick-rotted lumber, 



and that he must pay for it a price approximately the same as for 

 firsts and seconds lumber with the waste considered. 



Furthermore, he must standardize his sizes and tell the lumber 

 manufacturer in what relative quantity he can use the various pieces 

 that go to make up furniture, interior finish and other items of 

 manufactured stock. 



The problem can be worked out, and it is up to the manufacturer 

 of lumber and the user of it to effect a big economy, and make a 

 profit all along the line if they will work with intelligence and 

 harmony on the subject. 



The New Orleans Meeting 



The great meeting of the National Lumber Manufacturers' Asso- 

 ciation, held at New Orleans last week, resulted in an innovation 

 in the history of lumber association affairs. Selfish interest took a 

 ' ' back seat, ' ' and a dignified and earnest attempt was made to 

 nationalize the total lumber interests of the country. The trend 

 of every paper was an honest effort toward doing something for the 

 total good of the industry rather than for individual aggrandize- 

 ment. The number present at this meeting, being only delegates 

 from lumber manufacturing concerns, of necessity was small, but if 

 there was ever an association meeting at which the papers read and 

 the discussions prevailing were worthy of the earnest attention of 

 every lurabermaTi, it is the work that was done at this one. 



This issue contains only a digest of the proceedings, but appended 

 are several of the important papers delivered. The Record urges 

 upon every lumberman a careful perusal and analysis of these docu- 

 ments. Almost without exception they are "state papers," and 

 will have a lasting effect on the good of the industry. 



Conservation of the natural resources of tne country was the great 

 theme. Immediate profit was ignored in the discussion of this mag- 

 nificent propaganda of sensible and important w'ork for the benefit 

 of the future of the lumber ti'ade. 



Gathered at this meeting were the greatest minds and the most 

 successful men in the lumber industry in this country. They told 

 each other the truth. They reasoned matters out, and the permanent 

 result of their work will be of incalculable benefit to the lumber 

 business of thi.^ country as the years go on. These men, recognized 

 as authorities, spoke to each other as men of practical experience; 

 counseled, advised, recommended and acted. In the vast mass of 

 thoughtful and interesting matter presented in these speeches it is 

 hard to select the most vital and important, but special attention is 

 called to the address of John B. White of Kansas City on the 

 "Utilization of Waste in Forest or Mill Materials"; the invaluable 

 statistics presented by E. S. Kellogg on "Lumber Production in the 

 United States"; "The Problem of Private Forestry," from the 

 viewpoint of Prof. Henry Solon Graves, chief forester of the United 

 States; "The Future of Forest Stumpage and Lumber Values," by 

 that expert on this subject, James D. Lacey of Chicago. Mr. Lacey 

 made one especial point that probably has escaped the attention of 

 the average lumberman, and that is that there never has been and 

 never will be a decadence in timber values; that timber is a per- 

 manent investment and is not subject to the inexorable commercial 

 law of supply and demand as in the case of lumber. Timber repre- 

 sents investment, and it is not necessary to market it save when 

 values warrant its being put into the form of lumber. Mr. Lacey 's 

 document is well worth a careful perusal. 



There is a lot of good matter in the address of President Hines. 

 He carefully analyzed many phases of lumber affairs and laid 

 especial stress on the matter of magazine and lay press muckraking 

 on the suject of the lumber trusts. His analysis shows beyond per- 

 adventure that a lumber trust does not and can not exist, and that 

 there is no attempt on the part of lumber manufacturers to do any- 

 thing that bears the least resemblance to price agreements. The 

 only tiling that lumber associations do is to educate their members 

 on timber and lumber cost. Mr. Hines pays particular attention 

 and has shown marked interest in forest conservation and in the 

 perpetuation of the industry. 



Manager Leonard Bronson 's address was full of good material and 



