M. A. Says,

Washington, D. C., July 23, 1940.-John W. Watzek, Jr., whose appointment to head the Lumber and Forest Products Division of the Defense Advisory Commission was announced yesterday, was today advised by M. L. Fleishel of Jacksonville, Florida, president of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association, representing regional lumber associations, with a production capacity of nearly 2O billion feet of lumber annually, that the Forest Products Industries are prepared to furnish promptly ample supplies for the National defense needs; and that there will be no "bottleneck" in lumber and timber products. Mr. Fleishel gave this assurance to Mr. Watzek after a two-months national study of potential national defense requirements and analysis of the facilities of the lumber industry. He assured the Defense Commission that the industry can provide current information of stocks of lumber on hand by species, grades and sizes, as well as of lumber production capacities by regions.

The Association also has offered the Defense Commission more comprehensive data on lumber utilization and specifications than have ever heretofore been available. Mr. Fleishel pointed out that the lumber industry of today has been modernized and its distribution streamlined so that it is in a much better position to serve promptly the National defense needs than in l9l7; it now has throughout the industry standardized grades and sizes of lumber to fit practically any need compared with the lack of dependable grade standards during World War I.

Calling attention to the fact that the industry is now working at only 7O per cent of capacity, Mr. Fleishel emphasized also the reemployment which would result, particularly in distressed areas where the forest industries