How Lumber Looks

^ Ag_greg_ate, value of buitding permits reported by eighty- five Pacific Coast cities for thle-month of September, "193'9, w-es_$_19,432,785, a decrease of 19.89 per centirom the $22,- 973,12j 19qo^1ed by the same citi'es in the "o*p"r"bl. month of 1938, according t9 the fMestern Monthly nuitaing Survey as prepared by II. R. Baker & Co. of San'Franciscol These eighty-five cities r-eported a total of 13,095 permits ir^.^*a in September, 1939,-as against 14,318 in September, 1938.

Los Angeles was.the leading city both in number and v1119 .qf^ ggqmits, with 2,863 pdrmifs having a total value of 95,403,3,1O. San Francisco-was second &ith $l,4lZ,Sg4, Seattle, pash., was third with $961,425, and. Long Beach was in fourth place with $841,880. Other cities" in too lankrlg position were Portland, Ore., Oakland, Sacrament6, San Diego, and Glendale, Calif.

^^Pg"^S the week ended October 14, 495 mills produced 237,9D,W feet of softwoods and hardwoods cbmbined, shipped 265,315,000 feet, and booked orders ol 261,61^3',6 feet, according to the National Lumber Manufacturen e._ sociation. Revised figures for the previous week, 535 mills I9g1*Tg, were prod_uctio-n 238,6O5i)OO feet, shipments 259,_ 3O6,mO feet, and orders 282,358,000 feet.

Lumber orders reported for the week ended October 14 by 4N softwood mills totaled Z4g,@g,W feet, shipments were 252,130,000 feet, and production 2D,514,000 feet.

Reports from 93 hardwood mlils for the same week gave new business as 12,515,000 feet, shipments 13,185,000 feet, and production 8,415,000 feet.

The Western Pine Association for the week ended October 21, 118 mills reporting, gave orders as 64,461,000 feet, shipments 83,022,000 feet, and production 84,858,000 feet. Orders on hand at the end of the week totaled 335.4O5,000 feet.

The Southern Pine Association for the week ended October 2I,122 mills reporting, gave orders as 30,265,00O feet, shipments 40,400,000 feet, and production 32,985,00O feet. Orders on hand at the end of the week totaled I|Z.4C/..W feet.

The California Redwood Association for the month of September, 13 mills reporting, gave Redwood production as 29,889,00O feet, shipments 26,5O2,W feet, and orders 39,326,000 feet. Orders on hand at the end of the month totaled 4O,613,000 feet.

The Douglas fir market is active, prices are firm, and the mills have good order files. The mills are busy taking care of the large volume of orders that accumulated during the past two months and meeting the demand for additional current business. Practically all the railroads are in the market for car material to repair their present equipment and build new rolling stock. Fir cargo arrivals at Los Angeles harbor for the week ended October 2I totaled IZ,632.000 feet.

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Many a man worries himself sick thinking he is confronted with a frightful condition, when he is only harassed by a foolish theory.

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Worry has killed a lot more people than work has, that's because so many more people worry than work. :f ttr :f

And then, of coursg there was the woman who, when she got into an argument with her husband could always see both sides of the question; her own and. her mother's.

Little Bo Peep she lost her sleep

Running around to dances, Leave her alone and she'll come home, A victim of circumstances.

An athiest told a quick-witted theologian that he couldnrt possibly believe anything he couldn't prove; but when the other mildly inquired why he took such a lively interest in his wife's children, he wanted to fight. Figure out how many of the things you believe you can prove, and you,ll probably find that you've got to do a credit business or go into intellectual bankruptcy

As this is written (what is news today may be history tomorrow so fast does this perilous world move) press dispatches tell us Hitler is talking to both Russia and Italy about aiding his war program. Strange things happen, the alliance of the Communist and the Nazi, for example. But everr in this strange world it would be difficult to conceive that those Italian Catholics will ever join forces with the priest-Hlling Stalinists. That's asking too much. Which brings to mind the wide comment on Hitler,s thanking the Lord in a recent speech. Nothing strange about that. In that Pagan regime, Hitler is God. He was simply congratulating himself.

By the first of January next, another great and interesting experiment in the developed use of wood products will be under way. At Lufkin, Texas, a huge paper mill is now rushing toward final construction which will manufacture nenrsprint paper out of Yellow Pine. Making kraft and other crude papers out of Yellow pine has been successfully accomplished throughout the South for many years. But various fiber characteristics seemed for many years to defy the best efforts of. dEvoted chemists and laboratory experts to traneform it into newspaper print. Science has again won a victory, horlrrerrer, and a formula was found that has proven completely practical. Yellow pine fiber becomes perfect newsprint through its use.

So the great $6,00O,000 plant at Lufkin is being built to do the pioneer work in making Yellow Pine into newspaper raw materials. When its success has been dgrn6nsfl6{sdand there are no doubts among those who know-it is more than probable that other such plants may arise, forming a formidable new industry in the South. It will, in fact, pioneer two new industries, one the manufacture of newsprint out of Yellow Pine; the second, raising, producing and delivering Yellow Pine to supply the capacious maw of the mills. The wise men who are building the Lufkin mill have figured on both factors and consider that the problem of supplying sufficient raw material is just as easy as their ability to make the high grade paper. So the world moves on'

I said in this column last issue that the history of the lumber manufacturing industry has been a history of heartaches. Here's why. I honestly believe that if the positive facts and figures could be produced they would show that for the past generation at least one-half the lumber cut and marketed HAS BEEN SOLD AT A LOSS. Sounds like foolish talk, but true nevertheless. f mean by that statement that it was sold for less than the salable price of the timber from which it was cut, plus the cost of logging, manufacturing, and selllng.

Please do not understand my statement to mean that the sale of such lumber actually reduced the cash reserve of the manufacturer. In many cases, yes. We have all seen big milling concerns operate year after year and lose money out of their pockets most of the time. But the way the average lumber manufacturer sells lumber below cost is by disposing of it at a price that pays for the logging, manufacturing, and selling, but leaves as a margin to apply against the value of the timber less money than the timber could be sold for standing on the stumP. If a stand of timber has a market value of eight dollars a thousand feet, and the lumber it is cut into brings a price that allows the mill only five dollars for the stumpage' that sale is made at an actual loss to the manufacturer of three dollars per thousand. He is simply sacrificing his timber.

"But," you say, "a business man would not do that." Ah, yes, my friend-he would. He could not help himself. "He should close his mill," you may insist, "until such time as he could get a price for his p-roduct that would cover the value of his raw materials." Well, it does seem that way, but it doesn't WORK that way. There are many sound reasons why the lumber manufacturers have pursued for so much of their time a policy that from a plain business viewpoint sdems suicidal.

To begin with a sa*rr,iti oj"rion is NOT of a character that can be operated or closed down at the caprice of the owner. First, there is the humanitarian side of the proposition. As a rule the sawmill is the only source of employment for its crew, and the people dependent on them for support. These people must live. If a mill tries to run one month and close the next, these people could not live. They must have comparatively continuous employment, else they must scatter and go elsewhere seeking employment. It is not feasible-not even possible-for new crews to be secured at will. So the mill o'ften operates and sells its lumber at a loss because it is not practical to' shut down.

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Aside from the necessity of furnishing continuous and dependable employment for its employes, a sawmill is an awkward institution to close down for any length of time. You've got to keep a sawmill running to keep it in running order. If closed down it deteriorates faster and more completely than any other sort of industrial plant. It gets out of fix in all sorts of fashions. Shut a sawmill down just 60 days and it costs a lot of money to get it back in running order again. And there are other reasons why it doesn't pay to run a sawmill intermittently. Lots of them. It's poor business for a sawmill to get out of the market. It loses trade. It loses customers. So, market price or no market price-sawmills run. That's the way it has always been. That's the reason why I say that fully one-half the lumber manufactured and sold in this country in the last generation has been sold below cost. Tough, but true!

In that one particular fashion, I am certain that the future history of lumber manufacturing will show an improvement over the past. Few manufacturers of the future will ever have timber that they can afford to give away. In the future the selling price of lumber is going to be a whole lot closer to the ACTUAL COST of the product than it has ever been before. They won't take $8 timber, go to all the trouble of cutting it into lumber, and then sell it for $4 any more. Poverty and tough times are good teachers. The lumber industry has learned from adversity. ***

Some one asked me the other day what was the best story I ever heard about trees. It was a darkey story that my

Don White Visits Northwest

Don F. White, of White Brothers, San Francisco, accompanied by Mrs. White, returned recently from a 10-day business and pleasure trip to the Pacific Northrvest. Mr. White called on a number of plywood plants in Oregon and Washington, including the M & M Wood Working Company, Portland, Ore., which his firm represents in Northern California.