How Lumber Looks

San Francisco, May 27.-No settlement is yet in sight of the 18-day International Woodworkers of America loggers' strike that has caused the closing of more than 6O logging camps and sawmills in Western Washington. All the woodworking plants in this area will be forced to close if the strike is long extended. The union has declared as unfair all logs in the rivers not in the mill booms or tied directly to the booms on May 17. As a result mills have to close as their log supply becomes exhausted. For example, at Grays Harbor four mills have already shut down, others have from three to 10 days' log supply and plywood plants are said to have about three weeks' supply.

The defense mediation board in Washington, D.C. on May 23 asked the tz,W CIC) lumber workers in the Puget Sound area to return to work immediately under a temporary agreement pending a report by a commission to be appointed by the board. The commission would probably take from six to eight weeks to complete the study.

The defense mediation board's proposal for settling the strike was accepted, by 52 operators in the area, subject to the industry's ratification, but it was rejected by 400 tWa delegates at a meeting held May 26 in Olympia, Wash. The delegates' decision will be submitted to union locals for ratification.

Chairman C. A. Dvkstra of the board asked that work- ers accept a company offer of a wage increase averaging 7f cents an hour.

The Union demanded a closed shop, including the hiring hall, a flat wage increase of.7l cents for every worker, a week's vacation with pay for all who were employed for one year prior to January 10, 1941, and elimination of piece work.

Boommen and Rafters Union (CIO) went on strike at Tacoma, May 17, and tied up all log dumps and log storage booms supplying Tacoma sawmills' Several mills and logging camps are closed as a result, putting more than 2,000 men out of work.

Seattle, Washington, May 12,1941--The weekly average of West Coast lumber production in April (5 weeks) was 171,335,000 board feet or 107.6 per cent of estimated capacity. Orders averaged 172,863,0ffi board feet; shipments, 174,O72,ffi. Weekly averages for March were: production, 169,108,000 board feet (85.9 per cent of the lyzGlgD average) : orders, 181,135,000; shipments, 17Qo41,000.

18 weeks ol 1941, cumulative production, 2,965PI1,W board feet; same period, t94O-2,369,645,000; 1939-2,050,798,W.

Orders for 18 weeks of. l94l break down as follows: rail, 1,597,074.000 board feet; domestic cargo, 924,503,ffi; export, 75,935,000 ; local, 4O2,88,7,W.

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