"Hardwood Conditions Have' Changed, on the Pacific Coast"

By Mr. D. J. Cahill, President, Western Hardwood Lumber Company, Los Angeles

D. J. Cahill

The outstanding development in the hardwood i"49tlty on the Pacific Coast is the increased consumption of Philippine woods in the manufacture of furniture, and automobilc Lodies, and for interior trim in the building field. This condition has not only afrected the Pacific Coast, but the lumber and its products are being shipped East' even to the markets on the Atlantic Coast.

In recent years the manufacture of furniture in Los Angeles has increased amazirtgly, notwithstanding the necesJitv of eoins East for raw material. It is true that low freight ites-through the Panama Canal have helped somewhal to encourage the industry, but even with the advantages of ideal climatic and highly favorable labor conditions, it -was manifestly impossible to overcome the handicap of double freight rates and send the manufactdred productsto the rEast-. Now, however, with an abundant supply of excellent hardwoods frorn the Philippine Islands available at low prices, it is possible'for our factories to not only supply an ever increasing prolrcrtion of the local demand for furniture, but to cross the Rocky Mountains, which have long been considered a natural barrier to the ambitions of Pacific Coast manufacturers, and invade the great markets to the East.

Encouraging as the prospects are in the furniture industry, the wide field of building promises even greater possibilities. The use of hardqroods for interior trim in dwellings, hotels and great office buildings depends entirely on the possibility of securing veneered doors at satisfactory prices and in sufficient quantities. With the establishment here of factories equipped with the latest facilities for the making of doors, the way has been opened for the movement through this port of a vast volume of the beautiful hardwoods of our fnsular possessions, and a correspqnding incre:rse in the number of artisans employed in our locd industries.

The Philippine Islands possess the finest body of hardwood forest5 on the face of the globe. These forests are retained under Government ownership, :rnd licenses, or long term contracts, arc granted by the Forestry Bureau for the cutting of timber. ,Recent surveys indicate that about 63/o,of the total area of the Islands, or approximately 72,W square miles, are covered with forests. Sixty-four thousand square miles are virgin forests, yielding in some instances aJtrigtr as 40,000 board feet to the acre, while some 8,000 square miles are second growth forests, uftich supply firewood and timber of small dimensions. However, as trees grow very rapidly in the tropics, the problem of reforestation is not so serious as in the ternperate zones' where it takes a couple of hundred years or more to produce a hardwood tree suitable for making lumber.

The Philippine Bureau of Forestry reports a conservative estimate of the standing timber of the Islands, suitable for lumber at 200,000,000,00b board feet. The estimated annual cut is between 190,000,000 and 200,000,000 board feet, about 8O/o of. which is used in the Philippine markets. In 1923 exports amounted to some 37,000,000 board feet, about onethild of which went to the Orient. China takes much lowgrade lumlrer, while exports to other countries are of the better grades.

The -woods of the Philippines shipped to the United 'States, and used here for furniture, cabinets, and interior trim, have been designated under the general term "Philippine Maho3?ny," and divided into two groups, red and white. Th- principal woods in these two groups are Red Lauan (Shorea Negrosensis), and Tanguile (Shorea Polysperma) in the oni, and White Lauan ('Pentacme Contorta) and Almon (iShorea Eximia) in the other.

Another rPhilippine wood, Apitong (Dipterocarpus Grandiflorus) is rapidly taking the place of Oak, Ash and Hickory for use in the manufacture of automobile bodies, oilwell rigs, and for flooring in warehouses, etc.

Theri is no true Mahogany in the Philippines, but because many of the woods so closely resemble Mahogany in appearance, texture and figure, especially when stained and polished, they have become known cornmercially as MahoganS with, however, the qualifying term "Philip' pine." This is true also of woods of other countfies, so-me of wtrich have enjoycd the name Mahogany for so long that