The Lumber Industry in 1933

By \X/ilson Compton Monager, Nationol Lumber Monufacturers Association, and Acting Director, American Forest Products lndustries

As construction goes, so goes the lumber i.raur,.y, p"rticularly the softwoocl branch of it. Hardwoods are also materially dependent upon building, and they are vitallv affected by industrial activity.

A recent survey has inclicatecl that an increase of 20 per cent in residential building in 1933 over 1932 is not an unreasonable expectation. Potential dernand for residential space has been accumulating for a number of years, for it miist"'bb''remembered that residential buikling reachecl its peak not in 1929 but in 1925. In the current year honre blrllding has been tress than 40 per cent of 1931. The indluc'emeht of .low building costs is also to be taken into r..i. ;. con-iideration. Residential buildings may now be erected at costs about equivalent to those of the later'pre-war period.

There are indications that the ordinary channels of building credit are opening up again. and there are the neu' channels created by the Reconstru.ction Finance Corporation and the Home T,oan Bank systern. The practical effects of the latter u'ill appear in 1933.

The Modernization Market

In addition to neu' bui{ding, the renovation and nrodernization movement, rvhich has been growir.rg for several years, has attained great momenturn and it is possible that 1933 will be the period of greatest outlay for such rvork ttrat the country has ever kn.own. Modernization has been the largest single source of lumber demand in the last six months. Repairs and rebuilding are in particular harmonl' with times of enforced economy, and the first tendency of increased purchasing power for housing is in that direction more than for nerv structures.

New building and improvements of old buildings call directly for increased consumption of hardwoocl items and indirectly for furniture.

In the industrial field the furniture industry showed a notable improvement during the autumn months. Autornobile manufacture ranks after furniture as a corlsumer of hardwood lumber. The small volume of procluction in recent months is expected to be followed by increased output in the near future.

Financial Factors

The financial help the Reconstruction Finance Corporation has given to the railroads already has resulted in an increased demand for lurnber for freight cars and maintenance of way material. Normally more softwood lumber is used in freight car construction than for any other purpose except building, boxes and cratin$. There have been recent substantial orders for cross ties as a result of Reconstruction Finance Corporation assistance. The Corporation,s loans for various self-liquidating projects are stimulating the demand for lumber.

The lumber box and crate industry usually takes from 12 to 15 per cent of the total lumber cut, and is closely linked to the general trade movement. The volume of consumption of fruits and vegetables largely influence the demand for wood boxes and crates. A recent survey showed that there is no present need for increased production of box lumber but that stocks are not large.

The degree of progress of the lumber industry in 1933 rvill be largely determined by rural demand. Farmers and farm communities use, perhaps, 4O per .cent of the entire sofervood output-which in turn is ,over 80 per cent of the national lumber production. The farmers are ordinarily the most extensive wood-using group among the American people. About 90 per cent of farm building's are of lumber construction. The normal annual requirement of the average farm is over 1,500 feet of lumtrer. Rural prosperity would mean. therefore, an annual market for over 9.000,000,000 feet of lumber-a volume equal to three-fourths of the total national lumber used in 1932.

Federation of Forest Industries

The lumber industry, besides sharing in the general adversity, has its own peculiar problems of forest taxation, transportation, charges, foreign competition, forest regeneration, and in economic, marketing and technical research. To meet the general and particular problems the lumber assoCiations are reorganizing and readjugting tfremselves. At the initiative of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association a broad federation of the forest industries is now developing under the name of the American Forest Products Industries. Plans are being laid ahead not only to meet present emergencies, but to equip and to arm the forest products industries for future vigorous rnaintenance of their sectors of the group competition field.

East B.y Hoo Hoo Meet Jan. 16

The next regular dinner meeting of East Bay Hoo Hoo Club No. 39 will be held at the Athens Atheltic Club, Oakland, on Monday evening, January 16, at 6:09 p.m. As usual a good program will be provided. Dinner is 85 cents per plate. President Earle Johnson hopes there will be a large crowd of lumbermen present for the first meeting of the year. Earl Warren, District Attorney of Alameda County, will be the principal speaker. He will talk on the problems of his office. Music will be provided by an orchestra of five boys, all under 15 years of age.

Lumberman Severely lnjured

H. B. Chadbourne of the Salinas Lumber Co., Salinas, had his left leg severed in an automobile accident on the Pacific Highway between Gonzales and Salinas, December 17. Mr. Chadbourne rvas blinded by lights of approaching automobiles rvith the result that his car hit a guard-rail, breaking three of the 8x8 posts, and the 2x6 guard-rail driven through the radiator, past the engine, severed his left leg. The final amputation was made 2f inches below the knee. The car was completely destroyed by fire, Mr. Chadbourne and his companion being pulled from the wreckage by passing motorists.

Forms New Insulation Company

.{ new building insulation board will be offered the building industry early this spring by The C. E. Stedman Company, Chicago, headed by C. E. Stedman who for several years \l'as vice president in charge of distribution for The Celotex Company.

While complete details have not been announced, Mr. Stedman declares that his company will manufacture and distribute an efficient, all-wood-fiber insulation board that will have several exclusive and outstanding physical characteristics.

Mr. Stedman has been prominent in the affairs of both lumber manufacturing and retail associations and was a mefnber of President Hoover's Building Survey Conference and vi,ce chairman of the National Building Industries Bureau.

Fred \(/. Roblin

Fred W. Roblin, manager of the pine sales department of the Morrill & Sturgeon Lumber Co., Portland, Oregon, was instantly killed rvhen he fell nine stories from the window of his office on the 14th floor of the Yeon Building, to the roof of an adjoining building, December 19. He had been in poor health for the past two years.

Mr. Roblin, who was 49 years of age, had held his last position for seven years, and was formerly with the L. B. Menefee Lumber Co., and at one time was a partner in the SarriRoblin Lumber Co. He was a past president of the Portland Lumbermen's Club, and was a prominent Mason. Ife is survived by his rvidow and a son by a former marriage.

WHOLESALE LUMBER-!ffi"o

lY. R. CHAMBIRIIN & C().

California Salec Agcntr for

Defiance Lumber Company

Tacoma, Vash.

Polson Lumber & Shingle Co. Hoquiam, Vach.

Anderson a Middlaon Lumber Co. Abcrdeen, Verh;

Prouty Lumber & Bor ComPanY Varrenton, Oregon

Operrting Steamerc

W. R. Chamberlin, Jr. Stanwood ' Barbara C' Cric&et PhYllir

,- LOS ANGELES HEAD OFFICE OAKLAND * o-A,tcuncs fth Ftu, Ftrc Bundhr ti'ffi lrii PRaFci gtr 3u Fnnclaco

3EATTLE

PORTIJ\ND, OREG DOusLB SrzC Piar No I Alben DocL No. t