THE WOOD-FUEL CAMPAIGX 165 



production of wood by the farmers throughout the State. By agree- 

 ment with him, the dealers in Richmond and Norfolk guaranteed to 

 pay the farmers $9 per cord for 4- foot wood delivered in these cities. 

 A plan was further worked out with the banks of the State to finance 

 the farmers in their operations. A portion of the Fuel Administrator's 

 letter to the farmers is quoted below. 



"The majority of owners of wood, on the stump, throughout Virginia recog- 

 nize the call on them to turn their forest trees into needed fuel. Only a com- 

 parative few, however, have at their command the outlay of ready money re- 

 quired to cut, haul, and season this wood, and they must have the assurance of a 

 ready sale for their prepared wood at a price that will cover expenses and allow a 

 reasonable profit ^r their work. To cover the many cases in which the owners 

 of standing timber and wood, who are willing and desirous of turning same into 

 prepared wood, but are unable to finance the cutting, hauling, and seasoning of 

 this wood, the following plan will render effective and immediate assistance. 



"A contract drawn as per the sample copy enclosed, taken to a bank or financial 

 institution, by the owner of stumpage, deposited attached to collateral note, as 

 per enclosed sample copy No. 2, will, in cases where the responsibility and good 

 name of the producer are not questioned, enable the producer to borrow from 

 the bank or financial institution the amount of money necessary for the actual 

 cost of cutting and hauling the wood. 



"By this plan thousands of cords of wood will be obtainable that otherwise 

 would remain as forest. 



"We have a big task in Virginia to convert our forest resources into prepared 

 fuel, and have same accessible to the consumer, and a short time to accomplish 

 this task. It must be done." 



The Fuel Administration in making this proposition to the farmers 

 also offered to assist the dealers in finding plenty of wood, and agreed 

 that $14 was a fair price for the dealers to charge for stove wood, 

 delivered to the householders. Under this arrangement the items of 

 cost are estimated as follows : 



Stumpage $1 . 50 



Cutting : 2 . 50 



Hauling 2.00 



Wholesalers' gross profit i .00 



$7.00 



Freight $2 . 00 



Unloading and. storing 50 



Sawing i .00 



Delivering 2 . 00 



Retail profit, overhead, and shrinkage 1.50 



7.00 



$14.00 



The above arrangement would luidoubtedly have produced the neces- 

 sary amounts of wood for the cities of Richmond and Norfolk, which 

 was estimated as 100,000 cords. Unfortunately, complaint was made 



