THE CALIFOR}.IIA LUMBERMERCHANT

M. ADAMS Clmladm Mri_ac

How Lumber Looks

An arbitration award was announced May 20 at Portland l>y the arbitration board appointed by the representatives of 6000 loggers and their employers in the Columbia River district.

The award provided for removal from the old GramMarsh agreement of a compulsory arbitration clause, rvith the agreement substituting a provision eliminating "quickie" strikes, but allowing strikes when mediation machinery is exhausted; designation of the unions as sole bargaining agency for all employees, and retention of the neutral hiring hall with John Geisler in charge.

Pay increases of 1O per cent with a minimum ol 7t/2 cents an hour rvere provided in an earlier agreement outlined early in May by Chas. W. IIope, regional labor relations board director, and which served to bring together the Columbia Basin Loggers' Association and the Columbia River district council of lumber and sawmill workers' unions.

Several minor concessions were made to the loggers in the l4-point agreement u'hich was signed by Lewis'Mills, president of the employers' group and Al Hartung, president of the district council of unions.

Although building ".,iii,j i,J rf," Western states continued to register an impressive gain over the previous year, the improvement in April over March was negligible. The 25 cities reporting the largest volume of building permits shorved a gain of 47 per cent in April, 1937, over April, 1936, and only a fractional gain over March, 1937, according to the Western Monthly Building Survey prepared by H. R. Baker & Co., California Investment Banking Firm.

Permits in the 25 cities reporting largest permits totaled $20.611,148 in April, compared with $20,556,119 in March, ancl $13,943,,CI8 in April, 1936.

Reports from 89 cities in the 10 Western states and Canada showed a 51 per cent gain in April over April of last year. In other words, the increase in the smaller communities was somewhat larger than in the large cities, the survey reveals.

Los Angeles u'ith $6.309,194 again led the list in building activity, followed by San Francisco with $1,972,372, Portland rvith $1,200,84O, and Long Beach with $1,137,260. In fifth place u'as Oakland with $956,544, and was followed by Vancouver, B. C., Seattle, San Diego, Beverly Hills, Sacramento, Burbank and Glendale, all of which reported a volume of more than $500,000. *

A total of l7l mills in Oregon and Washington which reported to the West Coast Lumbermen's Association for the week ended May 15, produced 1n,M2,244 feet of lumber. New business booked for the lveek by these mills was 102,035,482 feet, and shipments were 126,O37,085 feet. The unfilled order file at these mills stood at 743.825.433 feet.

The Association reports that production for the week ended May 15 returned to about normal for the season due chiefly to renewed operations at mills closed by the recent logging shut-down in the Columbia Valley area.

The volume of new business decreased sharply from the previous week and is shown to be mostly in export sales. Exporters report that advancing ocean freight rates throughout the world is one of the principal reasons for the sudden dropping off in normal buying of West Coast lumber. Ocean freight rates, exporters s121., have mounted steadily since the end of the West Coast maritime strike, and are at least 5O per cent higher now than in the late winter for oriental loadings'and around 100 per cent higher to Europe and the United Kingdom. At the same time, the cost of West Coast lumber has been increased by wage advances in sawmills and logging camps.

Another factor handicapping sales and shipments of West Coast lumber is the exhaustion of export exchange on the pert of Japanese lumber importers. Exchange is allocated by six months periods. The increased cost of West Coast lumber delivered in Japan during the current six months over what was anticipated has decreased the amount of both lumber and space Japanese importers can purchase. New exchange allocations are expected to be forthcoming around the first of July for the second half of the year.

The Western Pine Association for the week ended May 15, 111 mills reporting, gave orders as 68.995,00O feet, shipments 72,62I,W feet, and production 83,687,000. Orders were 17.5 per cent below production and 4.9 per cent below shipments. Shipments were 13.2 per cent below production. Orders on hand at the end of the week totaled D9.997,W feet'

The California Redwood Association for the week ended May 8 reported production of tr3 mills as 9,948,00O feet, shipments 10,405,000 feet, and orders 10,028,000 feet. Weekend orders on hand totaled 24.755.000 feet. Production at these mills rvas 11 per cent greater, and orders 16 per cent more than for the same week last year.

Cargo arrivals at Los Angeles harbor for the 'iveek ended May 22, totaled 22,346,W feet, which included 21,154,000 feet of Fir and 1.192.000 feet of Redwood.