THE CALIFOR}IIA LUMBERMERCHANT JaclcDiorne,Widrer

A Trained Observer Reports on the Fir Situation in the Northwest

A rvell qualified observer of the lumber industry in the Pacific North'ivest sends the following very interesting observations on the Douglas Fir situation:

The shortage of labor in both camps and mills has never been more acute than at the present moment. Almost without exception small and middle sized sawmill operations. are far short of normal crews, and it is an everyday thing to visit a mill and find o\rrners, managers, superintendents, and even the office help, doing actual labor around the plant to keep things going. They rvill be found running the edger, the trimmer, rn'orking in the planer, or even loading cars f,or shipment. For this reason the simplest type oi orders calling for a minimum of handling appeal to the mills of this type and in this situation.

There is considerable confusion concerning the WPB requirement to produce 65 per cent boards and dimension. Many of the mills are appealing from this requirement claiming they cannot possibly make the requirement. 'Ihe price of boards does not ir-rfluence them. Nfany of the circular type mills claim that trying to meet this requirement throu,s their rvhole operation out of balance, sl,ows down production, and increases handling costs to a prohibitive degree.

Dependable shippers rvho are equipped with facilities for nranufacturing the 65 per cent boards and dimension, find that after making that percentage, together with their clears and railroad materials, they have practically no ability left to do special cutting of any .other sort, and they have to turn down military orders for anything else. epry letter . repeats the same message: "\Teldwood Plywood is distributed by lumber d.ealers."

This observer then adds: "In my opinion the Pacific r,var cannot possibly require more than twenty per cent of the output of the Western mills for a sustained period, but until the heavy back-log of unplaced orders and the heavy files of unshipped.orders now on the books of the sawrnills is absorbed, there seems no immediate possibility of any boards, dimension, or small timbers becoming available for orclinary yard buyers except those occasional cars that have been leaking through all the time. If lumber, now on the books for shipment to the Atlantic seab,oard, is cancelled or diverted to the West Coast, a very quick change could take place in the situation. In the next 9O days much is going to depend on the ability of the Transport Service to provide ships to move the lumber west, and storage facilities at destinations. It would n,ot be surprising if there soon develops great congestion at Pacific Coast Ports of embarkation, which may result in embargoes. It would not be surprising if the 65 per cer-rt boards and dimension requirements will be terminated very soon. There should be an improvement in the labor supply by the end of June, and possibly more lumber by that time for the regular user."

In less than one year, over 1Q0,000 future home-builders and remodellers have responded to S7'eldwood's extensive advertising campaign on hardwood paneled rooms.

Every ad in this series refers to tbe lamber d,ealer as the source of supply for ITeldwood. Every piece of printed matter sent to these thousands of interested prospects . .

Naturally, with building at a standstill and plywood being used a!most entirely for war purposes, you can't cash in on this promising situation now. But eventually this pent-up demand is going to mean substantial new volume and substantial new profits to aggressive lumber dealers. ond Wood Wolded for Good Vaurproof Veldwood, so marAed, it bonded atitb pbcnol fornaldehlde sytbetic rcsia. Other tlpu of utattr-ferirtdnt Velduood are mansfdctsred uih cxtended t rea retitt and otber alproted bonding dtantr. for every WELDWOOD Plyv,rood Manrfacttred and marketed b7 UNITEO STATES PTYWOOD CORPOR,ATION THE IIENGET CO'$PANY Ncs YqL, N, Y. Fregno I 505 Mcson Bldg. 2-2288