The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1918-06-15
Considerable Evidence Accum-
mulated to Show 1t to Be
Quite a Job.
Is, 100000 FEET
MONTH REQUIRED
To Get 1t Out Requires Railroad
Building, Labor of 5000
Men and Other Details.

washington. June 14.-John D. RYAN.
hnancier and copper magnets ~
been saying nothing ever since ha
took over direction OF aircra ?, ~roa,.
tion, but considerable evidence has &C
cumulated that points towards dafi-
mite accomplishment in one direction
tnat military men say IL would be
most dangerous to neglect
ihat is the production of airplane
spruce.
war figures are all large. too large
Tor most people to digest. but lumher-
men say that Mr.. Ryan has demanded
io,ooo'oeo Feet month from the Cas-
cade forests, and little things Ike the
drafting of 5000 men, the planning of
logging railroads, and the rnobilization
OF rather large existing industry for
war production, indicate that he in
tends to get IT
The consoling fact is that If Amer-
lean factories are late in making planae
SO long as the raw material flow tn
France and England is maintained the
Allies will have machines.
Mr.. Ryan's first move was to cali in
colonel D1sque. head OF the spruce di-
vision, from Portland, Ore, and there
a1ter something was started. There
nao always been less criticism of the
spruce production efforts than of any-
thing else that had been done. largely
because the expected consumption of
the raw material did not develop.
About S,0o0,000 feet of spruce was the
by-product of normal fr and other
lumber cutting in the northwest each
month, The Allies were getting all
or that from the open markets, and it
was a simple matter for the Ameri-
can government to step in and take il
all 1t was also comparatively simple
to increase prices a trife. and double
the normal production.
But when 1t comes to running the
output up to the mark Mr.. Ryan is
credited with setting, a task is pro-
tected that is immense when compared
to even the inflated standards of war
work. 1t Is because of the peculiar
qualities OF Sitka spruce that it sus-
tains the stresses of high speed air.
planes better than any other substance
the world knows. and II Is because of
its peculiar distribution and habitat
that the United States is finding II
difficult task to get enough of II. IT
had but low esteem as a commercial
wood in the pre-war days, most of IL
getting into the waste piles Of saw
mill yards, though a little of the best
and thickest especially prepared. went
into the sounding boards of pianos.
Queeriy enough. Germany was always
big buyer of that portion OF the
product
Now that the world needs spruce. a
lot Of Americans will have to buy Lib
erty bonds and keep on doing it indef-
nitely just because the Sitka spruce
has retiring disposition and is finfcky
about the places where 1t grows. IT
grows only when surrounded by trees
of ifferent species, which habit the
umberman is describing when he saws
hat from to 40 per cent of a given
timber stand is the best that spruce
shows. II likes the sea fog from the
Pacific ocean, and grows to valuable
size only in scattered belts where the
'og comes regularly
Lastly. only about 80 or 40 per cent
1f the wood in the trunk has the
strength, toughness and resiliency that
sirplane struts and spars require. II
axes special machinery and special
handling in hundreds of mills. small
md large, to get out this s5 per cent.
1t isn't practical or possible. the
lumber operators find. to take out the
spruce unless surrounding trees are
also removed. All the, logs are i'm
nense in size, and ii takes railroads.
motor trucks. or donkey engine cables
o move them. Working out the prob
EN- means that to get the 5000, 900
'eet of airplane spruce will REQUIRE the
handling of at least loo, 900 900 feet of
'ther timber monthly 1t will involve
llso problems concerning the dispose
ion, present and future, Of the unused
1r and other timber that comes out
With the spruce.
But immense as the task is. there
ire signs that it is being done Mr..
Ryan continues his refusal TO talk
bout the method. And it only takes
90 board feet of spruce to make one
irplane.