East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1916-10-26
AMERICAN LUMBER
REBUILD EUROPE
WILL NOT ONLY BE AN OPPORTU.
NIFTY TO SELL LUNTBER BUT
4 DUTY.
Dr. Edward Ewing Pratt Addresses
Forest Industry Conference at
Portland. Oregon.

PORTLAND, oct. 2s.-"Europe
will need a billion dollars worth Of
lumber the first year after the war"
asstrted DIR. Edward Ewing Pratt,
chief of the Bureau of Foreign and
Domestic Commerce, Department Of
Commerce, In an address Wednesday
afternoon before the Forest Industry
Conference, at Portland, Ore. There
will not only be an opportunity to sell
lumber, there will be duty that
should not be shirked.
III the war should end in Decem-
ber which is hardy likely, and lum-
Der imports into Europe should in the
meantime show no increase. there will
be at the close of 1916 an estimated
deficit in the normal European lum-
Der supplies of some 100000, 900.
This is entirely outside OF the great
additional needs for lumber due to
the actual destruction of the war No
one knows at present the amount of
lumber that will be needed by France,
Belgium, Poland and other countries
which have suffered directly from the
war, to replace ruined buildings,
railroads, bridges, etc. There can be
little doubt that this amount will run
into large figures and that hundreds
Of millions worth of general purpose
lumber will be called for as soon as
the great European struggle is ended
II has been estimated in Europe that
at least $400, 900 600 worth of lumber
will be needed for this purpose. Add
the $4OO, 900, 600 deficit in the normal
demand. This seems to indicate that
total of $500 100000 worth of lum-
bor over and above the usual demand
of $3.50, 900, 900 will have to be sup
piled to Europe by the -produc-
ing countries. Allowance must of
course be made for buildings that will
never be replaced. Allowance must
also be made for curtailment of con-
sumption due to inforced economy.
$3.50, ,OOO,0 would seem ample for
| those purposes. So 1t seems likely that
in the year following the war there
will be demand for billion dollars
worth of lumber In Europe.
This huge demand for lumber will
1 believe, be largely for general pur-
pose lumber for temporary construc-
ton and rebuilding, wood paving
blocks, rough construction timbers of
all kinds, railway ties, car lumber, etc.
There will no doubt be a continued
oDd IooraaCad daOropd Pnr tho finer
grades of American lumber, particu-
larry hardwoods, for undoubtedly the
stocks of lumber in Europe have been
exhausted, as have the stocks of many
other lines of manufactured goods.
ut is easy to anticipate what coun-
tries will compete for the privilege OF
supplying this lumber. We can not
expect to do all the business. We
shall be lucky If we are able to do
even a major part of the business. In
the year 1918 we shipped more wood
products than any other country in
the world, amounting to a total OF
s115,0O0, 300 worth in ALL In the same
year Russia shipped sSS,000,0 00O
worth; Sweden S84.O0O,OO0, Austria
Hungary s6S.OO0,OOO. Canada $780,
900 900; Finland $47O00,O0O; Ger
many $26, 100000. Norway $4,000
900; Roumania $1,000 900. The total
European exportation, therefore am
ounted to $392.00O,00O and the COM
bined Canadian and American ex-
portations amounted to S165, 900, 600
making a total from these, the chief
lumber exporting countries of the
, world, of approximately $3.50, 900 600
OF course, all this lumber did not GO
to Europe. Sweden, Norway. Ger
many and Austria shipped lumber all
over the world but naturally the
great bulk Of their output went to
Europe.
"In direct competition with these
countries, so favorably situated, the
United States exported to Europe
chiefly to the United Kingdom and
France over $50,OOO,OOO worth OF
lumber and its manufactured pro-
ducts. OF the seven European cOun-
tries that exported lumber before the
war, flee are eombatants and natu-
rally their wOodcutters are at the
front and their lumber export busi-
ness at a standstilI. No figures are
obtalnable for the 1915 exports OF
lumber. We know, however, that
many of the Russian mills and mill
stocks in Poland and in the vicinity
OF Riga have been destroyed. We al
so know that the rebuilding of Po-
land and Western Russia will absOrt
Russian energies for some time after
the close of the war. We know thai
Germany is using up her forest re-
serves; we know that Norway has
long been overcutting her annual
growth. We can therefore safely
predict that the greatest European
competition will come from the mills
Of Sweden and Finland. These coun'
tries are icebound during six months
Of the year, usually from October tc
May. The lumbermen of this coun'
try can readily see, therefore, the pos
sibilitles and the responsibilities that
lie before them"
Having outlined the great demand
for lumber that would come into ex-
istence after the war, Or. Pratt dis
cussed ways and means Of marketing
the American product 10 the best ad'
vantage. The recent formation OF
tho Douglas Fir Export Sales Com
pany was a step in the right direction
he sald. as there Is an absolute ne
cessity for presenting a united from
10 the united front Of buyers that will