NEEDED: Skill r Management r Genius

Lumber and Food Grow Exceedingly Scqrce

Two colored boys were talking things over. One of them said: "Ifow come you is allus lookin' fo' a job an' nevah findin' one?" The second said: "Dass skill, boy, dass skill." The first one said: "An' how come you nevah works but allus gits erlong?" The second one said: "Dass management, cullud boy, dass management." And the questioner insisted : "An' how come you allus keeps you' necktie tied so good?" And the other said: "Dass gertius, boy, dass genius."

And all those three, skill, management, and genius are things the retail lumber dealer is going to need and need badly from now on and for some tirne to come. I am writing this to tell my retail friends that it looks even more that way today than it did two weeks ago when I was punching out the suggestion "Damn the torpedoes ! Go ahead !" Things have grown tighter since then; or perhaps it would be fairer to say that the tightness of the situation has become more apparent with regard to lumber.

The retail end of the business has been hoping and trusting that when the Government got through building its hundreds upon hundreds of big training camps, storage units, etc., there would be a definite falling off in the demand for lumber to help win the war. It seemed reasonable in prospect. A few weeks ago there was issned an amended M-208 that appeared to offer the lumber dealer a much brighter chance to get some lumber for his civilian trade. There was considerable optimism evidenced in the trade immediately following that announcement. Dealers everywhere got busy ordering lumber under that amendment.

But today the facts are these, and to fail to face them and state them would be an unfriendly act toward those who are vitally interested in such information: LUMBER IS SCARCER RIGHT NOW THAN IT EVER WAS BEFORE; IT IS VERY LIKELY TO BECOME STILL SCARCER BEFORE IT GETS BETTER: THE OPPORTUNITY FOR SECURING LUMBER FOR CIVILIAN BUILDING IN THE NEAR FUTURE IS VERY REMOTE.

It's bad, but the doctor said take it. I sat the other day and listened while the sales manager f was visiting talked almost steadily over the long distance phone, telling retail friends courteously-but very, very wearily-how impossible it was for him to accept an order for lumber; any kind of lumber. And between calls he turned to me and said-and this was from the heart-: "It's no fun to say NO to your friends, is it?"

A few days ago the biggest crowd of lumber manufacturers in Southern history got together in New Orleans to listen to a group of Government men tell them the lumber situation from the Government standpoint; how vital and immediate is the need; how the program of lumber needs has changed but how, instead of receding, it is increasing. And in return the mill men told the Government men their troubles and tribulations-and surely the patient Job had nothing on them-in trying to supply the Gov-

By Jaclc Dionne

ernment with its war needs. It was a friendly, cooperative, helpful meeting, heavily tinged with patriotic enthusiasm; and in the end all who were there pledged to their Government their utmost degree of effort to increase the production of lumber to supply the war effort.

The short of it is that the Government men declared in vast detail that the winning of the war demands more lumber than the mills of the nation are now making, leaving nothing for any outside interest. The civilian situation was not mentioned; only the needs of war. But, since the war machine needs more lumber of every kind than the mills are producing, there was nothing else to dis,cuss. And that situation, said the Government men, applies to everl' district and every spe.cies of commercial lumber throughout the land.

A Government man (a swell lumber guy who is working in the lumber division) was asked what the revised and amended M-208 was, anyway, and he said it was a hunting license; but that no game was guaranteed. Which about describes it at the present moment.

There is only one product of the tree that I know of that is plentiful and available at the present moment, and that is Oak Flooring. You can get all you want of that. Otherwise the various agents of lumber procurement for the Government and the war effort are in the market in voracious fashion for every bit of lumber of any species as fast as it falls from the saw, regardless of kind, character, grade, size, or what have you. A few months since the Government demand included very little clear, high grade lumber. Now they want it all, for scores of different purposes. They no longer build training camps, but they crate and box everything they ship, from a bullet to a tank. The word went out not long since that dimension rl'ould not be in great demand for Government use because of the completion of the big building units; yet today dimension is just as hard to get as boards. No. 3 stuff, which .ivent to the dealer pretty strongly a few months back, is now grabbetl by the war uses. The dealer is glad to get No. 4 when it is available. f can remember when they used to load No. 4 Pine rvith a pitchfork, so they probably still do. That will give you an idea.

Yes, lumber is scarcer today than ever before in history, and will get scarcer before it gets more plentiful. The production of lumber is going to be increased, quickly and considerably. The lumber industry has a drive on that will force more production. AA-1 priority will be given sawmill needs of equipment, supplies, etc., to help them along. Intelligent efforts will be made at once to improve the labor situation. I predict that within 60 days there will be a rapid increase in the production of lumber all over the country. But in the meantime, Mr. Lumber Dealer, lumber is going to be harder to get than it is now.

What can the dealer do ? Well. it looks like the farm belt dealers-and they are the ones who are suffering the most now-have one possible chance for getting and selling lumber, and that is the farm situation. We have been hearing and reading how serious is the food situation' When they issued the ration cards the other day we found out for sure. Next to the battles in Africa and Russia, no subject is so foremost in the public mind-and the Government mind as well-right now, as the subject of food. From top to bottom the Government admits things are very, very serious. Even before you arm a soldier, you've got to feed him. And you've got to have food for the folks here at home. And we want to continue to send food to much of the rest of the world. And there are many alleged experts who are telling us in the public prints that it can't be done, and that we are running to a fall. At any rate we all know that producing more and more food this year is a most vital necessity. So we must help the farmer to produce more. The Government is not directly interested in assisting civilian building generally, but it is strong for helping the farmer. And the farmer needs labor, machinery, tires, gasoline, and housing. That last item is where the lumberman must help. He MUST help, and he must figure out ways and means for helping. The farmer is going in for more food, more hogs, more ,chickens, and all those things require more shelter, more housing.

It requires no gift of prophecy to predict that the seriousness of the food situation is very soon going to force the authorities to make special rules, special dispensations covering men who raise and produce food, giving them preceden,ce over others in getting the things they need. I believe it must come very soon. The air 4t this time is filled with a demand that the farmer must be given a break----or a lot of them. So the retail lumber trade is going to take a special interest in the farmer and. his problem. Hq is probably going to be able to get some lumber to sell the farm trade. He is probably going farther than that. He is probably going to have to not only sell the farmer material to build the shelter and housing his crotris and machinery will need, but, since labor is scarce and the farmer will spend all his time in the field, the dealer will probably have to do his building{or him, or get it done. And why not? There is room for a whole chapter on this subject.

And the dealer is going to have to go substituting on an intense scale, to keep his yard open, and his business going. He is going to have to merchandise as he never did before, with less to do it with. And definite reports indicate that those dealers who are doing so are getting by, and those who are not are going by-by. Late reports from many places and districts are distinctly promising. We hear of dealers who are fairly raising hades and putting a block under it, to find things they can sell, and then sell them. Finding that the lumber supply they have been hoping for is still in the dim distance, they are just going to sell other things. ft's the road to salvation. Not a royal road, by a heck of a lot, but what does it matter, if it tides you over the emergency?

Ask yourself this question every morning early, Friend Lumber Dealer: "What can I find to sell that will substitute for what my trade needs ?" A whole lot depends on the answer.