Mr. California Lumber Manufacturer Here Are Some Worth While Thoughts

By Jack

I hear a world of discussion in the manufacturing and wholesale offices that I visit in California, about "lumber conditions."

And you hear much discussion about the changes that have taken place in the past few years that have materially affected the lumber business.

But there is on,e particular phase of the lumber situation that has undergone dynamic changes-changes that practically revolutionize the selling of the product in the general markets-which is never given the consideration that it is entitled to, in discussing lumber changes.

That phase is divided into two parts-the drying of lumber, and the rail shipping of lumber; and together they change entirely the facts of lumber stocks, lumber delivery, and therefore, lumber PURCHASES.

Grab this thought !

Ten years ago the average carload of California Pine shipped from a California mill to the city of Chicago, required an average of two months to three months for delivery.

Today it takes only from three to four weeks to get that car to market. Ever consider what a difference in lumber selling and lumber buying that makes?

Ten years ago there were only four or five mills in California equipped with dry kilns. They took sixty days from the time the lumber left the saw-pine we are speaking of at this time-to get that stock ready for shipping

Today most of the mills have dry kiln5, and they are continually increasing their dry kiln capacity, every year seeing a much larger percentage of California pine being kiln dried before shipping.

So today it takes five days to do what ten years ago required two months.

Add these two departments. It used to take two months to dry the lumber, and at least two months to get it delivered in Chicago, a total of at the minimum, four months from the saw to the buyer.

Today it takes usually under four weeks to furnish this same service.

And it has made changes in the way lumber has been bought and sold that have probably created a greater impression on the lumber industry than any other single change that has taken place between old and new lumberirg.

In the old days when the buyer knew that he required at least four months to get a car of California pine from the saw, he had to order very differently from what he does today. He had to anticipate his needs that far in advance all the time, or be in danger of running out of stcok. And because at such a distance he could never be exactly sure whether it would be four or five months that would be required to get an order dried and delivered, he had to keep

Dionnp purchased most of the time really MORE lumber than he needed to have on his books, but he did it to protect himself and his trade.

And the railroad carried a very large portion of the bur: den of marketing lumber. The railroad cars were really the lumber warehouses of the nation, when they required four times as long as at present to deliver from shipper to buyer.

And, of course, the mill yard was a huge lumber warehouse, because it took so long to dry the stock, that they had to furnish huge yard space for the purpose.

The burden has been marvelously lightened upon all three, the mill, the railroad, and the buyer, by the fast drying and quickeqed delivery of lumber.

The mill is saved that extra yard space, and the additional burden and expense that comes with having lumber on their hands two months, while now they hold it but a few days.

The railroad can carry four carloads of freight in the same car and the same time that they used to carry one.

And the buyer, knowing he can turn in an order and get