From War To Peace

For the past several yecrs our mcrin eflort hcrs Now we are engqged in building uP our slocks been devoted to supplying circrdt lumber lor cnd mcking exlensive improvements in our wcr plcrnes cmd gliders. new yord so w€ mcry be cble to scy in the Islands is Col. Joseph E. McCaffrey, who went out from Washington to take the job. Also busy in those operations is Major A. C. Jacobscin, of the 1002nd Engineer Forestry Battalion. These trvo officers accompanied the Insular representatives to the Fabrica mill. Besicles Mr. Thompson in the party there was J. Raymond Peck, president of the Insular Lumber Company. who has likewise recently returned to his home in Philadelphia. They reported that as soon as it is possible they r,r'ill build a mill from the machinery the Japs tried to get away with, and failed. This, however, will probably not be soon.

Many American sar,r'mill men died in the Jap internment camps, among'- those reported being E. B. Davis, J. W. Davey, and A. G. Leukhart, employes of Insular at the Fabrica mill. Harvev C. Pope, for 15 years manager at Fabrica, survived the trials of the prison camps, and is back with his family in San Francisco, recuperating. He served a year at the Bacolod prison camp, and then was sent to the hell hole at Santo Timas, and still later to l_os Banos. When more news is available there will no doubt be large lists of American sawmill men who were in the internment camps.

Not only will the Philippines be unable to ship lumber away for a long time on account of small production and great local needs, but the Islands are asking for'maximum quantities of softwood lumber from the United States as soon as transportation permits.

So far as timber is concerned, there is still a tremendous timber reserve in the Philippines, a recent estimate being close to five hundred billion feet. Before the war about 18 per cent of the Philippine lumber production was exported, and the United States got most of that. Even during periods of highest Philippine lumber production, the Islands always imported a large amount of softwood from the United States, and also considerable from Australia.

We knorv of large quantities of softwood lumber for commercial uses that has been sold for shipment over there, and waiting transportation.

The 'West Coast , Lumbermen's Association, Seattle, Wash., has reported to us that Government purchases have moved in quantity to the Philippines and they presume that some is still going there. They do not know of actual commercial movement as yet, but inquiiies are out.

Elected President oI E. L. Bruce Co.

E. L. Bruce, Jr., has been elected president of the great flooring firm of E. L. Bruce Company at Memphis, Tenn., succeeding the late Robert G. Bruce, who died in August. The new president is a son of the founder of the concern. His brother, C. Arthur Bruce, was made executive vice president, while W. J. Wood, general sales manag.er, was elected a member of the board of directors. All of these gentlemen live in Memphis, the head office of the corripany. E. L. Bruce Company operates flooring plants at Memphis; Bruce and 'Laurel, Mississippi; Little Rock, Ark. ; Nashville, Tenn.; Cairo, Illinois; and Reed City, Michigan. The new president has been active in the afiairs of the company since 1913.