Eflects of Lumber Shortage on Furniture Production,i

ByLeRoyH.Stanton,E.J.Stanton&Son,LosAnge|es

(Address delivered at the Regional Meeting of the National Retail Furniture Association at Los Angeles.)

I hope in some measure to give you my imPression as a lumber distributor of the current picture of wood as a very important material in the-production of furniture.

In the first place, luryber, both softwood and hardwood, is one of the most critical products in the war program. The draiting of loggers and sawmill workers. and high wages in shipyards and other war industries have drawn a large number of men from lumber production.

Reduced production, coupled with enormous demand for ' war agencies, has created a tremendous shortage of every kind of lumber.

Also, price ceilings and easier production because of larger sizes have made it to the advantage of the sawmills to cut their logs into timbers and heavy stock, which can be shipped practically green from the saw.

In normal.times the mills cut heavily to inch boards and thicknesses up to two inches, which were air dried for several months so that the stock could be easily kiln dried; ' but the urgent demand has now made it poSsible to ship a large part of their cut without having to €arry it in their yards. Naturally this quick turnover is very attractive and profitable.

Thus the greatly reduced supply of one to two inch lumber, a great portion of which would ordinarily go into the production of furniture, has been diverted into war needs - such as crating, truck body material, and countless other uses for thb Army and Navy. The Army truck program alone has consumed millions of feet of hardwoods, and construction of landing craft for the invasions in the Pacific and Eutope has had first call oh both hardwoods and softwoods.

Shipment of supplies to all the $iar fronts has required millions of feet of inch lumber for crating, as aircraft parts and many other Army and Navy supplies must be most carefully packed for overseas shipment.

'War needs for certain hardwoods, such as oak, ash, maple, birch, beech, and hickory, most o.f which formerly went into furniture, have made these woods so scarce that the War Production Board finally classified them as "frozen woods," and has specified the uses to which they can be put. Distributing yards are allowed to carry limited amounts on hand, but a report must be made each month of our inventory, sales, and end uses for which the lumber :{;; has been sold. We are only permitted to purchase under. .$ releases from the WPB in Washington, and these woods ":.i cannot be sold to furniture plants, except under AA-l pri- ''.i ority rating on definite contracts for ttre Navy and Army. r,

A good many of the local furniture plants have been :.{ producing furniture sold on Government housing projects, 'i for which they have received.AA-3 priorities. This has .',:, been helpful to us in securing both hardwood and softwood'. ir lumber for them, as the mills insist on ratings and it has :;.t been practically impossible to place business with thetn ,'li.-:, ;':t;il

Naturally hardwoods are used principally in the manu- ,':fr facture of furniture, and coupled with labor problems, has .j come one of the worst seasons that the Southern hardwood ,l i producing section has experienced in many years. Thous: -i,; ands of acres of timberlands have been under water from 'i almost incessant rains, and production this year has been - ,.* abnonmally low. In the birch and maple sections of Michi- ';r;" gan and Wisconsin many mills have had to close on account r.l of timber shortage and ceiling .difficulties, so you con s€€'::uj that the hardwood production picture in general has been::-,j a pretty sick one. ,..

No doubt you gentlemen in the furniture business have r,i, felt the effecfs of this situation and are probably familial-l1ff with many of the causes. it',l, th ot ,. E

We, on our part, have been greatly concerned over sup- irl:,;:' vvs, ull uur pdrL, Itavc utrEu E,Icalry uulrccflrcu uvEI sup-,.: plying local {urniture plants with lumber to keep them :l; going, as the supplying of lumber to these plants haS been ',. an important part of our^ business for many years; and we l': have endeavored to improve ciur handling facilities to pro- ','i vide for prompt deliveries and reduced handling costs. :r; Kiln drying is, of course, an esseirtial {eature in supplying ,'$ the furniture plarits, as dry kilns are not too plentiful in d the lumber producing section, and with our battery of mod- lj ern kilns we can assure our customers of getting dry lum; tr ber when they need it. This sounds like tooting the Stan- $ ton horn, but I do want to say that the yard disiributor tras ttt;i played an important part in the development of the local l.il furniture industry, and I am sure that many of the local lli plants could not have Survived this period of lumber scarc- .-:.i ity without the support of the local yards.'Necessarily, we -:l'l cannot take care of the full requirements of one plant, as ,:. we have to ration the stock out as we get it in, but the local :, distributing yards,.of which we are only a part, hav'e really ' .1 tried hard to provide the local plants with badly needed '':i lumber to keep them running. To do this it has been neces- ;: sary to purchase whatever hardwoods our mill friends will ,' let us have, and many cars we receive contain as many as ten species of hardwood, including woods seldom ever':i; heard of here in the past. Some of the woods are locust, ; hackberry, sassafras, cherry, holly, persimmon, black gum, 'fi tupelo gum, sap gum, magnolia, willow, cottonwood, and'i',',c

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