576 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



lumber association secretaries and those 

 of many other related trades in their 

 home offices where their work and 

 problems were reviewed and the work 

 of the Forest Service correlated; he 

 has had the opportunity of studying 

 conditions through travel in every 

 State in the Union, and of discussing 

 with the leading men in the principal 



industries their various trade problems 

 in their broader aspects. 



Mr. Swan is a member of the Amer- 

 ican Forestry Association, Society of 

 American Foresters, the Committee on 

 Structural Timbers of the American 

 Society for Testing Materials, and the 

 Committee for the Standardization of 

 Shipping Containers, Boxes, etc. 



THE AMERICAN LUMBER MARKET 



(part ii) 



By E. B. Hazen 



[The first part of this article appeared in the March number of American Forestry and was 

 received with the attention it deserved. This, the final part, deals with the reasons for the 

 decline in the industry and the remedy, and is based upon conclusions following long and 

 careful study and wide experience. Editor] 



THE most important factor in the 

 decline of lumber consumption 

 is the encroachment of substi- 

 tutes, chief among which are 

 steel and cement. 



The output of iron has trebled since 

 1890, and that of steel bars for rein- 

 forcement has increased 72 per cent in 

 3 years. Cement increased 220 per cent 

 in 10 years, reaching the enormous 

 total of ninety-two million barrels in 

 1913. This output, reduced to board 

 measure, is equivalent to more than 

 one-half of the lumber cut. Brick 

 sales increased 50 per cent in 15 years; 

 patent roofing 200 per cent in 10 years. 

 Substitutes such as steel sash and trim 

 in imitation of wood, steel lath, fiber 

 containers, wall board and hollow tile 

 are sold in increasing quantities to 

 supplant wood. They are merchan- 

 dised by modern, aggressive methods, 

 well advertised and exploited, and in 

 many cases actually sold for the lumber 

 dealer by the manufacturers. No such 

 effort has been applied in the lumber 

 industry. The lumber yard of today 

 is a building supply depot selling 30 to 

 50 per cent of commodities which are 

 substitutes for forest products. 



A segregation of freight car construc- 

 tion in 1913 shows that 217,000 cars 

 were built more than in any year 

 since 1899 excepting 1906 and 1907. 

 Steel under-frame and wooden super- 

 structure represented 27 per cent; 



all-steel, except sheathing and decking, 

 15 per cent; and all-wood box cars 

 represented only 5 per cent of the total. 

 About 42 per cent, largely ore and 

 gondola cars, were of all-steel construc- 

 tion. The increase in the steel frame 

 type, covered by the 15 per cent item, 

 meant a loss to lumber of over eighty 

 million feet in 1913. 



Although wood block paving is recog- 

 nized as the best in such cities as 

 London, Berlin and New York, less of 

 it was laid in the United States in 1912 

 and 1913 than in 1911. Forest Service 

 statistics show that only 5 per cent of 

 the pavement of this country is of wood 

 block. Why, if wood blocks are better ? 

 Simply because wood block paving 

 is not sold as other paving is sold. 



"Safety First" has entered the lum- 

 ber market as a factor. Under its 

 guise the aggressive manufacturer of 

 so-called fire-proof materials has created 

 a strong public sentiment against frame 

 construction. This has been reflected 

 in the building codes and fire-limit 

 regulations of many cities and towns 

 with telling effect. Lumbermen have 

 allowed printers' ink and business- 

 getting methods to displace their prod- 

 uct with an often inferior product. 



OTHER REASONS FOR DECLINE 



The drift of population to cities, the 

 consequent decrease in rural population, 

 the temporary decline of pioneer land 



