Foreign Hardwoods Used on the Pacific Coast

Bv C. H. White

\X/hite Brothers, San Francisco

An address made at the annual convention of the PaciFic Coast \ilholesale Hardwood Distributors Association, held at Del Monte, Calif., April 28,29 and 3Q 1938

Inasmuch as we have gathered here in this room many of the keenest minds, the most learned and finest brains in the lumber industry, it is unnecessary and would be presumptuous for me to go into a long description or history of foreign hardwoods. I will only skip lightly over a few spots familiar to us all. This may serve to stimulate our memories.

The Pacific Coast has always been a market for West Coast, Mexican, and Central American Woods.

San Francisco, i,n the early days had four hardwood sawmills, cutting Spanish Cedar, Mahogany; Primavera, Jenisero, etc. Due to lack of manufacturing facilities in the Tropics, logs were brought in and sawed here. This is now all changed. In the San Francisco Metropolitan Bay Area. there is nolv only one hardwood sawmill, and that an old broken down one which White Brothers sold to the present owner about fifteen vears ago. Los Angeles at one time had two or three sawmills. I believe there are none operating there now. I may be wrong on this. When Japanese Oak logs were imported, sawmills were necessary, now.the Japanese ship sawn lumber and there is no work for sal'r,'mills here.

Japanese Oak has always been a considerable item on this Coast, scaring the daylights out of the Eastern and Southern manufacturers. Their fear was unnecessary in most cases. We, out here, know that Japanese Oak never affected the price or consumption of American Oak to any appreciable extent. In the importation of Japanese Oak under the tariff act of 1930, a rather ludicrous situation has arisen: Paragraph 4O4-specifically mentions Japanese Oak, rough sawn, as subject to an ad valorem duty of 15%. Paragraph 1803, however, places on the free list all sawn lumber not further manufactured than planed on one or more sides. The result of this paradox-or shall we say sloppy tariff tinkering-is that our Japanese friends simply surface one edge of their Oak and it comes into this country free of duty.

Philippine Mahogany, of course, has the most spectacular history, and the most noticeable effect on the entire American market, as well as the Pacific Coast. The efforts of the genuine Mahogany people to stop it, you are all familiar with. There is no use in me going into a discussion of Philippine Mahogany.

In the last few years, the demand for exotic veneers, by the furniture trade and for trim of cocktail lounges, store fixtures, etc., has been an outstanding development. Apparently, any and every tree i,vhich has a figure, can be, and is used in producing the beautiful and bizarre effects in veneering now so much admired. There are hundreds of new names for these woods and it is difficult to classify any particular wood by its name. As an example:- We supplied for 4 fixture job in San Francisco, a wood specified by the architect as Yuba. We hunted up in New York a concern who carried this wood, and had it shipped out to us, and it made a fine job. Our customer wanted to know where the wood came from; what botanical family, etc. We looked it up and were surprised to find it was Eucalyptus, the ordinary Eucalyptus Globulus, Blue Gum. It came from California, from Marysville, Yuba County, hence the name Yuba.

Another exotic wood is known as Kelobra. Going into the botanical classification of this, we find it is Enterolobium Cyclocarpum, which we in turn find to be Jenisero, and also Juanacaste, and also Parota. All the same wood.

The nomenclature of these exotic woods is so confusing that the names come to mean very little. However, inasmuch as they are sold almost entirely by sample, one name is as good as another.

In England, what we call Sycamore, goes under the name of Maple, and what we call Maple, is called Sycamore. The English Harewood veneer, now very popular, is described by the English as stained Sycamore, whereas according to our name of rvoods, it is stained curley Maple.

The foregoing remarks apply to some interesting little phases of the hardwood industry of the present time. If we want to look forward to the probable future supply of imported hardwoods, my opinion is that it will be Brazil.

The Amazon Valley has millions of square miles of hardwood forests. Ichabod T. Williams & Sons of New York have a hardwood mill up on the head waters of the Amazon, so far up that it is in Peru. There they are cutting Mahogany and Spanish Cedar. It is good wood. We have had several lots of both. Also Stewart Smyth & Co. of Philadelphia have a sawmill at Manaos, Brazil cutting these same woods.

About ten years ago, there was a million foot cargo of Brazilian logs brought into San Francisco. The owners were two young Brazilians, who wanted too much for their logs. They were asking $200.00 per M ft., with the result there were no buyers. They had most of the logs sawed up into lumber in Oakland and finally sold the ma- terial off as distressed stock at very low prices. At these prices, the woods had a ready sale. There was a brown wood called Sucupiro which was used for cabinet work and flooring under the name of Brazilian Teak. There was Mahogany and Spanish Cedar of rather good quality. We bought the last of the lot, a wood called Macacahuba, or Monkey Mahogany. This was still in the log. It was considered the least desirable and therefore was the last sold off as a job lot. We got a hundred and thirty thousand feet, shortened the name to Macuba and sold itall. When it was gone, people called for more, but we could not buy it at the right price so Macuba went out of the market.

I believe that this vast Amazon Valley will provide the future stock of imported hardwoods of the world. Our grandchildren will be bringing it in from there-as for ourselves-let's not lvorry about it.

A. L. HOOVER MOVES TO NEW OFFICES

A. L. (Gus) Hoover, Los Angeles, has moved his offices to Suite 503, E. Clem Wilson Building, 5225 Wilshire Blvd. The telephone number remains the same, YOrk 1168.

Mr. Hoover is Southern California representative for The Pacific Lumber Company, Wendling-Nathan Company, and Smith \A/trod-Products, Inc.

MCCULLOUGH-FUQUA

A. R. McCullough was married to Miss Valentine Fuqua, of San Francisco, in Reno, Nev., on April 2. He is a salesman for the C. D. Johnson Lumber Corporation, San Francisco.

CoastLumber CarriersOrganize

Organization of the Pacific Lumber Carriers' Association, which includes in its membership steamship operators handling 95 per cent of the lumber moved by water on the Pacific Coast, was announced recently by Robert C. Parker, chairman of the newly formed body and an aggressive leader for the stabilization of lumber rates and the ending of the disastrous rate wars in this field which caused the disbandment of the Pacific Coastwise Lumber Confereuce last August.

Offices were ()pencd at 726 Robert Dollar Building, San F'rancisco, on April 27.

The United States Maritirne Commission has formally approved the by-laws, regulations, rates, and constitution of tlre uelv organization. A total of fifty-seven lumber carrying vessels, without an approximate carrying capacity of one hundred million feet of lumber per month and seventeen steamship lines will be represented in the new organization.

Member groups are as follows: Hart-Wood Lumber Company, McCormick Steamship Company, Sudden & Christenson, W. R. Chamberlin & Company, Fred Linderman Company, Schafer Bros. Steamship Line, Gorman Steamship Company, Hammond Shipping Company, A. B. Johnson Lumber Company, Paramino Lumber Company, Coastwise Line, Consolidated-Olympic Line, E. K. Wood Lumber Company, Capt. J. Ramselius, whose main offices are located in San Francisco, Burns Steamship Company and Lawrence Philips Company of Los Angeles and Wheeler Hallock Company of Portland.

Ilere's

Vapor-seal Lath! It offers quick, profitable sales becaase it meets latest bailding reqairements at louest cost. It is standard Celotex Lath, termite-proofed by the patented Ferox process-plus a special vapor barrier of asphalt and aluminum.

O@trlsht rg, fr. C.lob: Co@tloo

The May Queen

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson

You must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear: Tomorrow'ill be the happiest time of all the glad New Year,-

Of all the glad New Year, mother, the maddest, merriest day; For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

Business Success Is Not Everything

Business success, concededly, is not everything. If it were everything, in fact, it would be nothing. It might keep the race alive, but what would be the use of keeping a race alive if it had nothing more to do than to keep alive? It is culture and art and idealism, it is religion and spiritual aspiration, which give a meaning to life. Material success is important only because it makes all these other developments possible. Getting a living is imperative if we hope to achieve life; but getting a living successfully does not necessarily mean successful living.-Edward A. Fliene.

Brown Sugar

"Liza, you reminds me fo' all de world of brown sugah.', "How come, Sam?t' ttYou am so sweet an' so unrefined."

Some Little Bug Will Get You

In these days of indigestion

It is oftentimes a question

As to what to eat and what to leave alone I

For each microbe and bacillus

Has a different way to kill us, And in time they always claim us for their own.

-Roy Atwell

A comfortable career of prosperity, if it does not make people honest, at least it keeps them so.-Thackery.

CUT!

Movie Actress: "I'll endorse your cigarettes for no less than $50,000."

Magnate: "f'll see you inhale first."

The Clever And The Good

By Elizabeth Wordsworth

If all good people were clever, And all clever people were good, The world would be nicer then ever We thought that it possibly could.

But somehow, 'tis seldom or never The two hit it off as they should; The good are so harsh to the clever, The clever so rude to the good.

The Waiter And The Fly

"Waiter," demanded the irate customer, "what's the idea of this fy in my soup?"

"I regret, sir," said the pedagogic waiter, "that I cannot supply you with the desired information. I am supposed only to serve the soup, not explain its ingredients."

"But a dead fly, man," persisted the customer; "a dead fy. How did it happen?"

"f am sorry to say sir, that I have no idea how the poor insect met its fate. Possibly it had not taken food for a long time, and futtering near the soup, found the aroma particularly appetizing and, eating too heartily, contracted appendicitis, or gastritis, or some similar digestive malady, which, in the absence of an opportunity for the application of X-Rays and appropriate medical and surgical treatment, caused its untimely end."

The stomach is a slave that must accept everything that is given to it, but which avenges wrongs as slyly as does the slave.

-Emile Souvestre

Not Even Then

Insurance Agent (gloomily):-Madam, you should get your husband to take out a life insurance policy.

Young Wife: But he has a policy against firet Agent: , But fire insurance wouldn't help if he passed away.

Wife: (Anxiously): Not even if I had him cremated?

Mark Twain On Friendship

"The holy passion of Friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money."

\(/holcsale Sash and Door Dealers

Plav Golf

D. G. MacDougall was the low net winner at the golf tournament held by the Wholesale Sash and Door Association of Southern California at the Brentwood Country Club, I-os Angeles, Wednesday afternoon, May 4, and was awarded the trophy donated by the Association. To obtain permanent possession of the trophy, it must be won three times.

Merle Jordan won the low gross prize with a score of 84, and was awarded a $5 merchandise order. A number of other prize winners received golf balls.

Dinner was served in the Club House at 7:00 P.M., thirty being present. D. W. Teachout was master of ceremonies, and short talks were made by Glenn Fogleman, Ken Haley, Jim I-awler and Earl Galbraith. Glenn Fogleman presented the prizes.

The following played golf: D. D. McCallum, D. G. MacDougall, Tom Bassett, Paul Revert, Ken Haley, "Pick" Maule, Al Koehl, D. W. Teachout, Earl Galbraith, Marshall Deats, Bill Sampson, T. B. Hatton, Merle Jordan, Paul Baugh, Frank Gerhing, J. E. Valencourt, Harry Hart, Gene DeArmond, Glenn Fogleman and Ed Martin.

Golf prizes were donated by the California Door Company, Pacific Wood Products Corp., and E. U. Wheelock, Ihc.

Glenn Fogleman was in charge of the arrangements, and Ken Haley arranged for the tournament to be played at the Brentwood Country Club. The next tournament will be held in June with D. G. MacDougall in charge.

D. W. Teachout is president of the Association; T. M. (Ty) Cobb is treasurer, and Earl Galbraith, secretary-manager. The Association office is at 1004 Architects Building, Los Angeles.

S. F. Club^Elects Offtcers

Charles R. Wilson of the Long-Bell Lumber Company, San Francisco, was elected president of the San Francisco Lumbermen's Club, succeeding C. C. Stibich of the Tahoe Sugar Pine Company, at the weekly meeting held at the Engineers Club, San Francisco, May 9. Howard M. Gunton of MacDonald & Harrington, San Francisco, was elected vice-president, and Edward Tietjen of Sudden & Christenion, San Francisco, was re-elected secretary-treasurer.

Hearty appreciation was extended to Mr. Stibich, the retiring president, for his faithful service since the club's inception. He is leaving San Francisco to establish wholesale offices for his firm in Auburn. Calif.

Another motion picture of the lumber industry will be shown at one of the club's regular Monday luncheons in the near future.

Luncheon meetings are held every Monday at 12:15 p.m. at the Engineers Club, 206 Sansome (corner of Pine Street), San Francisco. All lumbermen are welcome.

S. F. VISITOR

C. L. Normoyle, sales manager of the Ingham Lumber Company, Glendale, Ore., was a recent business visitor to San Francisco.