MANUFACTUKING PROBLEMS. 25 



versalh' admit that they con.sider it an excellent timber and deplore 

 the conditions which prohibit its use. There are three main reasons 

 for this state of afiairs: 



(1) The prejudice of the consumer, who condemns Hemlock without 

 trial because of its name. 



(2) Hitherto Fir and Spruce have been so cheap that there has l)een 

 no necessit}^ for using Hemlock. 



(3) Hemlock is heavy when green and apt to give trou])le in driving 

 and in ponds. 



To overcome the prejudice against the name will be diihcult, for to 

 introduce an unknown timber to the market usualh'^ requires years. 

 The practice of selling Hemlock as Fir when manufactured into floor- 

 ing, siding, and dimension stufi', and as Spruce in the form of box- 

 shooks and woodenware, has grave drawbacks. If detected, as he 

 frequently must be, the mill man must either lose a customer or bring 

 satisfactor}^ proof of the excellence of the Hemlock. If he is able to 

 accomplish the latter, he might as well have done so originalh' and the 

 problem would thus have been solved. A mill which makes the substi- 

 tution also furnishes a weapon of revenge to rivals and to employees 

 with a grievance. It works a hardship to timber owners ; for, with 

 no recognized price for the timber, they are at the mercy of the mills. 

 Some individuals have decided that, as the name is the drawback, it 

 should be changed; and an attempt has been made to introduce Hem- 

 lock as Alaska Pine. This has been successful to some extent, and if 

 it had been attempted earlier might have solved the problem. 



The second reason no longer exists. The standing timljer of the 

 Northwest is going into the hands of large holders, either mill compa- 

 nies or speculative svndicates, and the day of the small logger, who 

 moved from claim to claim, taking only the best timber, will soon be 

 over. Under the old system, when the logger bought the stumpage, 

 he found it most profitable to take only the best Fir and leave a fair 

 merchantable grade uncut. An apparentl}" unlimited supply enabled 

 him to contimie this wasteful system. Under such conditions it was 

 not surprising that Hemlock was neglected. As a rule, it furnishes 

 less clear lumber than Fir, and when only the best of the latter species 

 was taken at a cost to the mill but little more than that of logging it, 

 the utilization of Hemlock was out of the question. It was never 

 cruised, and was left as entirel}^ unconsidered in the buying and selling 

 of timber land as though it did not exist. Now, however, it is becom- 

 ing more and more the rule for timber to be cut by its owner, or, if 

 not, to be sold by the acre, and it is to the interest of the logger to cut 

 all he can from the land. In the case of Fir, lower stumps and shorter 

 tops are put on the landing which would not have been looked at ten 

 or even five years ago. The owner also realizes that a log of Hemlock 

 used is a Fir log saved, and the only question is how to dispose of it. 



