Lumber Moves Forward A Review of Lumbcr Industry Accomplishments in 1946 and Prospects for 1947

Bv R. A. Colgan, Jr., Executive Vice President National Lumber Manulocturers Association

In contrast to set-,backs sufiered during the year in many lines of business, 1946 was a year of comeback for the lumber industry, the National Lumber Manufacturers Association said today in a yearend review.

Plagued early in the period by an assortment of difficulties, including labor trouble and price ceiling paralysis, the industry shook itself free, buckled down, and turned out forecast-shattering production. Instead ol the 24 billion foot production anticipated in April, it ended the year with 31 billion feet of lumber cut.

The.year saw real progress being made toward the end of the lumber shortage.

It saw record-making numbers of logs cut and in the rivers.

It saw mills turn out boards beyond the capacity of railroads and shipping lines to transport them.

It saw the building industry scratch construction lumber off the list of its problems.

ft saw lumber producers demonstrate again that their industry has the capacity to meet the nation's needs, even under extreme difficulties.

Lumber Demand HeavY

For lumbermen, 1946 opened with a barrage of demand. The men planning the veterans' housing program in Washington set their sights high. It was houses by the millions they talked about. Heavy construction, freed temporarily from war-time controls, was booming along with amazing acceleration. There were big plans afoot. The eyes of the planners turned to the lumber manufacturers.

Could the industry come through needed? the quantities ft was a tough question. There were strikes in that great natural stockpile of trees, the Pacific Northwest. OPA-ism was strangling many producers. The hangover from war controls was complicated by new shots of channeling grders for the housing program.

It looked pretty tough-so tough in fact that in April the forecast for annual production in 1946 was the worst in years, despite the 40-bitlion-feet capacity of our mills.

A Year Of Difficulties

The demand for lumber was there and the response was rapid. But it was a response that had to overcome one set of troubles after another. While 1946 was a year of accomplishment, it was also a year of tribulations.

The list of troubles was long. First were strikes in produ'cing areas. Then the ever-present OPA-ism began to cut deeper. As demand rose, pricing difficulties increased. The pernicious "bulk-line" poli'cy of the OPA, holding that only 75 per cent of the industry needed to break even or make a profit, was a millstone around the neck of production. Relief was laggard.

Then came the bright-eyed ideas in the housing pfogram -thechanneling, the subsidies, the set-asides, the priorities and the welter of regulation that piled snow-drifts of government forms around the struggling mills. One bad decision from Washington was relieved by two worse ones, until logs that should have been going into lumber for scarce dcors were being cascaded into over-abundant plywood, the scarce oak boards that should have been manufactured into flooring were being used to shore sewer ditches or for concrete forms.

On top of this was the rumbling menace of the WagnerEllender-Taft general housing bill with its burgeoning controls and promise of a socialized construction industry.

Logs Start Moving

Time and an outworn public patience took care of many of these troubles. Despite the deadening hand of bureau- cracy, the. industry hammered away at its job and lumber came out. By mid-summer, record-bredking amounts of logs were moving to mills and the saws were turning out huge supplies of construction lumber. By fall, even Housing Expediter Wilson Wyatt declared that lumber production no longer was a problem. fn fact, the resurgence of construction lumber actually led to trouble in the housing program. Builders could get framing lumber, so they put up the shell of their houses, roofed them in and then got stuck because they couldn't get plumbing, soil pipe, electrical wiring, heating equipment or similar iterns. Millwork and trim also was short because of the complete pricing paralysis that had descended upon millwork manufacture with OPA. But by the year's end even this was improving.

Distribution still remained a trouble spot. Three major factors contributed here. One was the nation-wide shortage of iailroad cars that curtailed movement frbm mills to distributing yards. Contributing to the war-caused shortage were strikes that tied up the unloading of thousands of freight cars, and the dislocations resulting from basic industry walkouts. The west coast maritime strikes cut off completely the normal shipment of western fir to the east coast. But fundamentally, the hit-and-run OPA pricing policy and efforts by CPA to channel distribution made inevitable the breakdown of normal distribution through retail yards.

. Lumber Research Is Active

But all was not dark. In the field of research, the lumber industry forged ahead. The hardwood research program carried out by the NLMA and its affiliate, the Timber Engineering Company, developed an imposing list of new products and uses for hardwood products. In addition, it carried out lines of research in other woods that bear considerable promise for the future.

The NLMA set two major goals in its research program. One was to develop greater markets for wood by increasing the products that can be obtained from a tree. Here, emphasis was put on utilizing mill wastes. The highest goal in this approach is a variation of the well-knourn meat packing slogan about using everything but the squeal. Translated into lumbering terms, the slogan is "Leave only the Leaves."

The other general objective of lumber research was.to work out new processes on a scale that could be utilized by the smaller units in the lumbering industry.

Many New Products Started

Along this line, the NLMA research program developed wallboard and floor tiles obtained from hardwood wastes. It opened pulp operations as a new field for hardwood. Flitherto no one had developed a pulping process for hardwood wastes. Now ready for pilot plant operations, the hardwood pulp process offers an opportunity of great potential value for hardwood areas where wastes were just that and nothing more. Nitric acid pulping work also was put under way so that hardwood wastes might yield a product useful for high grade paper, rayon, cellophane and special synthetic resins.

Another project marked down for considerable use in the future was the development of laminated hardwood rolls for printing and other machinery. For the first time, the long, tedious process of seasoning solid rolls for printing wallpaper was short-circuited by building rolls from laminated wood. Not only is this significant for wallpaper producers, but has much meaning to many other industries using wood rolls, such as in agricultural implements, hitherto dependent upon hard-to-obtain solid rolls.

Swelling And Shrinkage

A big step was made in developing water resistance for wood. Prevention'of shrinking and swelling of wood is highly important as anyone with a jammed door or dresser knows. Now, thanks to TECO and NLMA research,,processes are available that will make wood a relatively stable substance in the presence of moisture.

Tlre practicality of this is shown by treatment of doors with a finish developed by TECO for navy flares dropped in the ocean. The finish made the flares impervious to the extreme moisture and heat of the South Pacific, and proved top-flight for doors, too. Samples of door construction treated with the substance turned out to be almost perfect even.after being submerged in water.

Colored Wood Coming

Among other research accomplishments chalked up by the inddstry in 1946 were cigarette burn proof table and furniture tops (you can snuff out a lighted cigarette on the high finish without the slightest mar); and quick setting glues that require no heating and gain woodstrength in less than 10 minutes. Compregnation and impregnation of wood to increase its hardness is the key here. And in the field of color, the lumber researchers now (Contintied on Page 27)

1946 Los Angeles' Greatest Buifding Year

Los Angeles' building permits for 1946 reached a recordbreaking valuation of $220,696,042, despite the many governmental restrictions, according to G. E. lVlorris, superintendent of building. The 1945 total was $85,212,656 by comparison.

The former all-time peak year was 1923 when building permits totaled $200,183,i81.

53,027 building permits were issued \n 1946. It has been exceeded only once in Los Angeles, 1923, when 62,548 permits werc issued, but Mr. Morris explained that in those days a building permit was required for any construction costing $20 or more, whereas today the minimum figure is $50.

"Construction of all kinds in Los Angeles undoubtedly will run into billions in the next few years, when the free operation of supply and demand, coupled with ample materials, and absenses of governmental interference, gets a chance," said Mr. Morris. "Housing of all types is acutely needed, as everyone knows, while in the industrial and mercantile categories the piled-up backlog is truly enormous."

The building department's year-end report showed that 23,052 family accommodations will be provided in the city through building permits approved last year for the erection of single homes and multiple rental structures. The 1945 total was 6.192.

The 1946 totals of permits issued for various classifications of residential construction f ollow: One-family dwellngs, 13,819 with a valuation oI $77,029,218; multiple structures, 1537 amounting to $5,135,212; apartments, 838 valued at $18,146,675.

Vetercrn Forest Service Ollicicl RetiresSuccessor Nqmed.

Chester B. Morse, assistant regional forester in charge of Recreation and Lands for the California Region during the past ten years retired on December 31. His assistant, Millard M. Barnum, has been named to succeed him.

The Division of Recreation and Lands supervises the development of recreational facilities in California's 18 national forests and all adjustments affecting national forest acreage and boundaries including purchase, exchange, or donation.

Expansion of \7ood Preserving Industry Expected in 1947

Chicago, Ill., January l.-The largest expansion in the history of the nation's wood-preserving industry can be expected to clccur in 1947, J. F. Linthicum, Chicago, president of the American Lumber and Treating Co., reported today. More new pressure-treating capacity will be placed in operation during the next twelve months than any previous year, he said.

Composed now of more than 180 plants, the number of new units now under construction indicates that the industry will grorv by the addition of at least 14 plants during 1947, Mr. Linthicum said. His own organization, which operates 10 plants thoughout the country, will put two of the largest new units into production next year-one at Baltimore, Md., and the other at Everett, Wash. The greatest previous growth occurred ln 1928 when 11 wood-preserving plants were opened.

Output of treated forest products in 1947 will probably top the preceding year, he said, if lumber production continues upward and treating chemicals, principally creosote, become more plentiful. Final figures for 1946 are expected to show that more than 3r/a billion board feet of wood was chemically-alloyed to resist fire, rot and insects.

IJnless the nation's coal situation is stabilized, however, railroads and public utilities may be unable to carry out long deferred maintenance and badly needed expansion for lack of vital creosote cross ties and electrical transmission poles, Mr. Linthicum cautioned.

The normal flow of creosote, a by-product of coke manufacture, from the steel industry to r.vood-preserving plants has been crippled by past coal strikes, he explained. In addition, foreign imports usually accounting for approximately 27 per cent of the United States creosote consumption, have fallen far below prewar levels.

Lros Angeles [Ioo-Hoo Dinner And Concatenation rlanuary 31.

Bob Osgood, vicegerent snark of the Los Angeles district, announces that a dinner and concatenation will be held at the Inglewood Country Club, 3424 West Manchester Blvrl., Inglewood, Friday evening, January 31. Dinner will ,be served at 7:AO p.m., and there will be an entertainment program. The concatenation will be held following the dinner.

The committee l,as a fine class of Kittens signed up.

Lumber Moves Forward

(Continued from Page 25) know holv to dye wood any color you would like startling results.

Outlook Good For 1947

The lumber outlook for 1947 is bright, the NLMA says. The supply of trees is in excellent shape, with new growth approximately equalling total drain. This significant fact, backed by U. S. Forest Service figures, has largely been lost to sight in the welter of conservation argument for more federal forest control. But, according to Forest Service studies, the growing of trees is increasing as an enterprise. The treating of trees as a crop has prdouced the "Tree Farm" movement sponsored by the American Forest Products Industries, Inc. "Tree Farms" are growing by leaps and bounds, and range in size anyrvhere from five acres to 700,000. The AFPI reports close to 13 million acres of tree farms in 15 states, with other states lining up to join the movement.

Plenty Of Trees For Tomorrow

The significance of the small woodlands movement, and particularly the growing of trees by farmers is seen in Forest Service figures showing that approximately 22 per cent of our lumber now comes from farm rvoodlands. Under the impetus of "Grow More Trees" and "Keep Green" campaigns carried on by the forest industries, the small holdings are on the increase and are making increasingly important contributions to the supply of lumber. The tree farm movement of AFPI, for example, was started in 1941 and has g'rown to the 13 million acre mark since.

The strides of the research prog'ram, the progress of tree farming, the healthy relationship between forest drain and forest growth, the one trillion, 600 billion feet of standing sawtimber, the relaxation of war and postwar controls, the ability of the industry to keep up with demand, all contribute to optimism on the part of lumber producers.

"The lumber shortage," says NLMA, "is over."

Welcome Bcby Boy

Mr. and Mrs. Don F. White, Alameda, Calif. are rejoicing over the arrival of a 6lb. 15 oz. son, Donald Frier White. Jr., on December 19. Mr. White is an executive of White Brothers, San Francisco.