Wood Necessary to House Our Troops, Hold Supplies and Build Ships

Airplane Propellers Take Many Millions of Feet of Spruce, Fir and Birch

MANHATTAN, KAN., Nov. 17.-"The sawmills of the United States are fighting for world democracy," said R. S. Kellogg, the secretary of the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association, in an address to the students in the engineering classes of the Kansas State Agricultural College.

"Few people realize the extent to which wood is a necessary material in modern warfare. Without the great forest resources of the United States we could be of little immediate help to our allies, who are fighting to overthrow the worst military despotism the world has ever seen. Our National Army now under training is comfortably housed in wooden barracks in sixteen great cantonments built in record-breaking time and requiring a total to date of some 900 million feet of lumber, with more to follow as additions are made to these camps. No other available material could afford such speedy, economical and satisfactory construction.

"The rapidity with which these buildings has gone up is almost beyond belief. In preparation for the officers' training camp at Fort Sheridan eighty-six buildings were erected in ten days, and for a similar purpose at Fort Oglethorpe 135 buildings were put up in twelve days.

"Similar records have been made in the construction of the still larger buildings required at the cantonments for the National Army. Then there are sixteen National Guard camps in the Southern States for which large quantities of lumber are necessary for tent floors, walks, supply buildings,

etc.

"The ordinary wooden packing box is usually given little consideration, yet humble though it is, the multitudinous supplies for the army and navy could not be handled without such means of protection and transportation, hundreds of millions of feet of lumber going into such boxes and also for the packing of munitions. The army transport wagon is a model of strength and serviceability, into which enter the best grades of pine, oak and hickory. Thousands of these wagons are now under construction for the army.

"Since the beginning of the war the cry has been for ships, and still more ships and hundreds of wooden ships are under construction on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, many of which will soon enter service. Every such ship requires at least a million and a half feet of timber, either the yellow pine of the South or the Douglas fir of the West, while for parts subject to unusual strain there is nothing so good as white oak, and last of all the heavy planks are held to the frames by trenils of locust.

"Perhaps even more important than ships are airplanes, a sufficient preponderance of which will quickly determine the outcome of the war. Our engineering experts have standardized and enlarged an engine of wonderful possibilities, but airplanes in their present stage of development cannot be built without wood, for no other structural material possesses such a combination of light weight, strength, elasticity and resilience.

"Airplane propellors are built up of laminated layers of mahogany, walnut or birch, while for frames no other wood has yet been found to equal the Sitka spruce of the Pacific Northwest. Many millions of feet of absolutely perfect spruce lumber free from all defects and straight grained are being cut for airplane stock and in order to increase the supply of (Continued on page 165)

WASHINGTON, October --It is announced by the Forest Service that it has been able to comply in full with the request of the War Department for assistance in securing qualified lumbermen and foresters to serve as officers for the forest battalions which are to comprise a part of the American overseas forces. Three hundred and nine men have been recommended for commissions in the grades of major, captain, first lieutenant, and second lieutenant. Of these, twothirds are practical lumbermen or sawmill operators and one-third are trained foresters with long woods experience. Some of the lumbermen who were recommended have also had theoretical training in forestry and many of the foresters have had experience in logging or sawmilling.

In the selection of qualified lumbermen the Forest Service has had the close co-operation of a subcommittee of the Lumber Committee of the Council of National Defense and of fourteen committees of lumbermen in different parts of the country. Almost every man selected was interviewed by a lumbermen's committee or by the Forest Service officials. Many private foresters and forest schools have assisted in finding technical foresters suitable for commissions. All of the men recommended have, by successful experience, shown themselves capable of handling some important phase of lumbering, sawmill or technical forest work, according to officials of the Forest Service. All have proved by experience their qualities of leadership and their ability to handle men in large numbers.

Every timber region of the United States has contributed its share of the men who have been nominated for officers and it is believed that every class of lumbering, from the smallest portable mill operation to the largest and most up-to-date plant, is represented. Among those selected are men experienced in logging and sawing

every merchantable wood growing in this country.

The age limits set in the beginning required that all officers of the forest battalions should be thirty-one years of age or older. Because of the difficulty of finding men suitable for lieutenants, the age limit for this grade was later lowered to twenty-five years. The bulk of the men recommended as lieutenants range in age from twenty-five to thirty-five, as captains from thirty to forty and as majors from forty to fifty.

Men who have been recommended have been notified that all further action as regards physical examination, the issuance of commissions, and the order in which the successful applicants will be called for service rests with the War Department.

Sawmills a Factor

(Continued from page 164)

quickly available material both the Allies and our own government are turning to Douglas fir, of which there is more standing timber than any other kind in the United States.

"The first twelve months following our entry into the war may take as much as three billion feet of lumber for purposes of national defense. This is a big figure and a quantity hard to realize, and yet after all, less than 7 per cent of the normal annual lumber production of the country. We have the standing timber and the manufacturing capacity to take care of all the ordinary demands of the trade for building material and to supply also every bit of timber needed for war purposes. The only trouble is that of sufficient labor to man the operations. The labor situation, of course, will be a difficult one so long as the war lasts, but a means will be found to furnish all the material necessary for the prosecution of the war."-The Philadelphia Inquirer.