EUGENE REGISTER-GUARD, Sunday, April 21, 1963 Page JA
More Lumber Cutbacks Expected
But Industry News Not All Bad
What's Behind G-P Sawmill Closure?
By DON' ROBINSON
Of Ibe Register Guard
There are three ways
none entirely satisfactory
of trying to explain why a
corporation like Georgia-Pacific
decides to shut down an
operation like its Springfield
sawmill.
One is to pretend knowl
edge held in fact only by a
board of directors that gov
erns, at last count, something
more than 60 manufacturing
plants in this country.
' Another is to construct an
explanation from the fluffy
stuff that is Everyman's im
pression of a company's
"personality."
The third, qualified on the
basis of being least unsatis
factory, is to pick the brains
of the people in or close to
the lumber business call
them up and ask what trends
or factors within their indus
try seem to apply in this in
stance. These calls were made last
week, after Georgia-Pacific
announced Wednesday after
noon in a short letter to the
214 men employed there that
it will permanently close its
Springfield sawmill next Fri
day. The conversations produced
these kinds of results:
That few people in the
industry were surprised by
the announcement, although
none, of course, pretended to
know exactly when it was go
ing to come.
That these people ex
pect in the months and years
to come that other sawmills
will close, as other have
closed in the recent past.
But that this does not,
' necessarily, forebode ill for
the total wood products in
dustry of Lane County.
Those consulted all men
tioned that the C P mill ap
pears to fit a category of
huge-capacity plants (it has a
production capacity of 200,
000 board feet per eight-hour
shift), built some time ago
(the basic plant began oper
ating in 1914), and "designed
to operate in a market that
existed 10 or 20 years ago
but is not particularly effi
cient under market factors of
today."
ca
Over Independence
Violence Expected
In S. Rhodesia
By STANLEY MEISLER
or tha Associated Press
WASHINGTON U.S. offi
cials believe violence will erupt
soon in the British colony of
Southern Rhodesia, but they
don't expect another Algeria.
All signs, officials say, point
to trouble for the colony now
controlled by 220,000 white set
tlers living among 3.6 million
Africans.
The white settlers, self-governing
since 1923, have demand
ed independence from Britain.
Africans oppose independence
unless control of the govern
ment is put in their hands.
"If Britain gives Southern
Rhodesia independence or if the
white settlers declare them
selves independent," African
nationalist leader Ndabaningi
Sithole said in a Washington
speech last week, "then we have
no alternative than to declare
ourselves independent. This
would mean a full-scale war.
Officials here expect African
nationalists, particularly the
younger nationalists, to use a
limited number of guns, Molo
tov cocktails, and plastic bombs
in their fight for control of
Southern Rhodesia. The State
Department also has received
unconfirmed reports of nation
alists studying techniques of
puprrilla warfare in Tanijan.
yika. Ghana, and Czcchoslo-
vakia.
But, for three reasons, offi
cials say, they don't expect the
full-scale war that Sithole pre
dicted: 1. The African nationalists,
more moderate than national
ists elsewhere on the continent,
have no stomach for an Alger
ian-type civil war.
2. Power lies with the white
cottlorc whn rnnlrl use 35.000
police and reserves, and a 14,-
OOO man army to quell an up
rising. 3. African nationalists could
not count on a flow of arms t pressure, nominal i:oniri over
across Southern Rhodesia's bor- i defense to mako sure that
ders: The colonv is bounded by Southern Rhodesia docs not
South Africa, Portuguese Mo- Rain independence without iron-
i clad guarantees that there will
be eventual African control of
DeMolay at OSU j ""addionrofficial, say, the
CORVALLIS (.iThe annual United States is encouraging
state DeMolay meeting will be both Britain and the Southern
held on the Oregon State Uni-j Rhodesian white settlers to use
versity campus April 25 27. 1 the good offices of U.N. Sccre
More than 650 young, men arc ' tary-General U Thant in iron
expected to attend. 1 ing out the problem.
PH . Mast
mm m si mm - trtrm mm mw
In recent years of slim lum
ber markets, the mills most
vulnerable to closure seem to
have been the very small and
the very large. The G-P band
sawmill in Toledo, closed in
January, 1962, was another
example of those in the big
category.
"I just feel some of the
larger mills are going to have
to go by the board because of
obsolescence and the cost of
bringing them into line," said
one man.
"You have got to make a
lot of lumber just to make it
economic (to operate a big
sawmill) and our market to
day docs not support the
making of a quantity of lum
ber like that," said Bill Dean,
editor of Random Lengths,
Eugene publication focusing
on the timber industry.
"These larger sawmills
many times are older, they
don't have modern machinery
(but) they have a great deal
of machinery that takes a lot
zambique, British Bechauana-
land all sure to oppose any
African nationalist uprising
and Northern Rhodesia.
Kenneth Kaunda, an advocate
of non-violent resistance, is the
probable first prime minister of
independence bound Northern
Rhodesia. Even if he changed
his views about violence, he
probably would not risk antag
onizing Britain during negotia
tions for independence.
Nevertheless, officials call
the situation a dangerous one.
G. Mcnnon Williams, assistant
secretary of state for African
affairs, reportedly now spends
more time on this problem than
any other one.
The problem reached a head
recently when Britain, in effect.
approved the breakup of the
federation of Rhodesia and
Nyasaland. This federation com
prises Southern Rhodesia
Northern Rhodesia, and Nyasa
land. and African nationalists
long have opposed it, seeing it
as no more than a device to put
all three British territories un
der the control of Southern
Rhodesia's white settlers.
Africans now control the
politics of Nyasaland and
Northern Rhodesia and have
I won the promise of lndepend-
i ". 0nce independent, they
have pledced. they will secede
from the federation.
The whites in Southern
Rhodesia have countered by
demanding independence them
selves if Northern Rhodesia and
Nyasaland leave the federation.
The whites picture themselves
as no different from the Ameri
can colonists who declared their
independence from Britain in
llilb.
Officials here say the United
States is tome to convince
Britain to use all its resources
moral influence, financial
of maintenance. They have
lower output per man hour
resulting in high cost of pro
duction," said Eugene Mayor
Edwin Cone, operator of a
Goshen mill.
These and other men men
tioned that very large mills
do have a variety of problems ,
including obsolescence of '
equipment (this was a factor
mentioned by the Giustina
Bros, company when it closed
its own, smaller sawmill earli
er this month), the need to
produce great volumes to
make a profit, the cost of
maintenance, the fact that
logs formerly channeled
through these mills are now
more profitably diverted to
plywrod plants, and the fact
that versatility of product
rather than sheer volume is
now a requirement for sur
vival. There are only a handful of
lumber mills left in Lane
County as large as the G-P
plant in terms of production
New Footage
May Freeze
Tower's Lean
PISA, Italy Wl The lean
ing tower of Pisa will get a $3.2
million foot lifting during the
next four years to keep the
lean right where it is.
Engineers and geologists fear
that otherwise the leaning tow
er, increasing its tilt by a quar
ter-inch every 10 years, may
become the toppling tower by
the year 2100.
Prof. Letterio Donato of the
University of Pisa civil engi
neering faculty outlined an ela
borate stabilization project at
the end of a recent national
hydraulic and geodetic conven
tion here.
The plan is aimed at keeping
the eight-story white marble
Tuscan tower permanently
tipped 16 feet off center as
it is now. j
Donato made a series of sub-:
tcrranean soundings with elec
tronic equipment a few years
ago. On the basis of those find
ings and further study by ex
perts, the new program calls
for:
1. Sinking two huge steel
screens into the unstable soil
from opposite sides of the fa
mous bell tower at a distance
of 150 feet. The idea is to keep
the ground perfectly still during
successive stages.
2. Planting eight pneumatic
caissons in an outer ring 185
feet from the tower at a dc :h
of 36 feet below sea level. Each
caisson will be 53 feet square.
3. Removing the old support
ing soil under the tower as far
out as the steel screens, taking
out an accumulation of con
crete and rubble shoved under
neath during the centuries in an
effort to stop the steadily in
creasing lean.
4. Replacing the earth and
i building a new foundation un
der the tower according to mod
! em techniques of substructural
! engineering.
Before World War II 900
tons of concrete were pumped
into holes dug under the low
side of the tower in an effort
to stop the increasing lean.
The rate of lean slowed con
siderably until artillery shelling
; in 1944 caused shock waves that
j started the process all over
again.
The bells in the tower are
never rung, for fear of what
their vibration might do. But
more than 150.000 tourists an
nually climb about the tower.
Now the engineers hope that
two billion lire worth of fancy
font work will stop the sag of
centuries.
capacity. None are identical,
each represents a different
level of modernization and
versatility.
Asked about improvements
to the G-P mill, a spokesman
checked and found that the
last major alteration there
was installation of a ring
barker, for better log utiliza
tion, some six or seven years
ago before Georgia-Pacific
bought the Booth-Kelly Co.
holdings.
A couple of persons won
dered whether the company's
timber supply has any bear
ing on the decision to close
the sawmill.
While conclusions and judg
ments arc lacking here, it is
known that the mature tim
ber G-P purchased from
Booth-Kelly has been harvest
ed at a fairly rapid rate and
that much of this has been
sold to other manufacturers.
Records in the Lane Coun
ty assessor's office show that
in 1959 the G-P inventory of
Evolutionist Now
Human Race May
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., W A
disquieting hint comes from a
famous evolutionist that the
human race may already have
reached its peak in development
of brain size and intelligence
and that the trend, now, may
be in a downward direction.
He is Ernst Mayr, professor,
author, and director of the Mu
seum of Comparative Zoology at
Harvard University.
But he holds some hope for
the human race if "the biologi
cal aspects of man's evolution
arc duly taken into considera
tion by those entrusted with the
task of planning for the future
of mankind."
He suggests that we start re
warding and stop punishing the
superior. And that we take steps
Install
fai H Its Own SetPfS fT9k " """fr-r i II L JllTf- J
I Built-on Fo.m Yt- 7 03"' (AUUOMU
RubUf Padding " S&TJ? D'L PI 4-5264 gp
Two
Facto
rs
timber was 25 billion board
feet. About a third of that
was sold or harvested in the
first year, the accepted ex
planation being that it was
part of an effort to liquidate
the corportion's debt.
Records show that by Janu
ary of this year tho G-P ma
ture timber inventory stood
at 1.5 billion board feet, a
total depletion of about a bil
lion feet in the four years of
G-P ownership. Last year's
depletion was 218.297,000
board feet.
What docs the Georgia
Pacific sawmill closure por
tend for the rest of the saw
mills in Lane County?
- "I would guess that within
the next year or so another
couple of pretty well-known
Sees Downward Direction
to avert a "standing room only"
population on the earth.
Prof. Mayr has been a key
contributor to modern evolu
tionary theory during the last
30 years a period during which
biologists have learned more
about how animal species evolve
than in any other period since
Darwin's time.
His views are embodied in a
monumental report on new
developments in evolutionary
theory, "Animal Species and
Evolution," which is acclaimed
by such biologists as Sir Julian
Huxley, George Gaylord Simp
son and Prof. Thedosius Dob
zhansky of Columbia University.
Dobzhansky calls Mayr's report
"A landmark in the biology of
our age."
Your Own Carpet &
Supply of timber for lumber purposes and market conditions that
cause finished lumber to pile up unsold are apparently only two of
the factors behind the closure of G-P's Springfield sawmill. Some
200 jobs will end next Friday when the huge plant, with a capacity
of 200,000 board feet per eight-hour shift, closes its doors permanently.
v ,,
mills will close," said editor
Dean.
Others answered the ques
tion in the same way. They
all anticipate other sawmill
closures for reasons relating
to the types of plants in ex
istence, the nature of the lum
ber market, and the supply of
timber.
The latter factor was point
ed up by L. L. Stewart, own
er of the Bohemia Lumber
Co. in Culp Creek. "1 do ex
pect other sawmills to be clos
ing," ho remarked. "There is
not enough available timber
resource to support present
production capacity." .
At the same time, these
people are not predicting an
over-all loss in the total Lane
County industry that manu
Have Reached Its Peak
The Harvard scientist says
the increase in human brain
size a characteristic that sets
man apart from all other an
imals stopped nearly 100,000
years ago.
Declaring "one cannot avoid
feeling that man could still go
a long way on the road toward
improvement," he adds, "never
theless, there is no evidence of
any biological improvement In
at least the last 30,000 years."
He voices agreement with
Sir Julian Huxley that most
likely "man's genetic nature
has degenerated and is still
doing so."
What put the brakes on brain
growth? Prof. Mayr suggests
that when men joined together
in bigger groups, the average
UlLJi. ii
factures products from trees.
They expect, for one thing,
that the core of medium
sized sawmills that are versa
tile, that have been kept up to
date with automated, modern
equipment and that have the
ability to keep themselves in
timber will continue to pro
duce lumber at a profit.
For another, they expect
that production of plywood
and other kinds of wood
products will increase.
These expectations seem to
fit tho trend o recent years
revealed by employment sta
tistics provided by the Eugene
office ot the State Employ
ment Service. Taking 1059,
the year G-P bought Booth
Kelly, compared with last
year, 1962, figures of annual
average employment are:
and below-average individuals
became moro protected.
But now, Mayr says, "those
who are intellectually best en
dowed contribute less to the
gene (inheritance) pool of the
next generation than do the ave
rago and, indeed, most of the
less-than-avcrage," although the
high l.Q. group may be above
average in physical health.
What is the answer? Mayr
suggests that we encourage the
superior.
"In our present society," he
writes in his book just pub
lished by the Harvard Univer
sity Press, "the superior person
is punished by the government
in numerous ways, by taxes and
otherwise, which makes it more
difficult for him to raise a
iuu7o i i Lun
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LANE COUNTY
1U9
Sawmllli Ijao
LoiSlnl MM
Plywood and
other wood
producU 5, MO
Total
lndu.try 11.910
1MI Chans
4.8.TO down BSD
1,U0 up 480
UP 1,4M
14,320 up 1,410
Questions remain about the
fate of the men and equip
ment no longer needed in tha
Springfield operation. Georgia-Pacific
says it will em
ploy as many as possible of
the 214 sawmill workers in
other parts of its operations,
including the two plywood
plants and a specialty board
plant in Springfield and a
stud mill on Mosby Creek
east of Cottage Grove.
Frank Worlcy, business
agent of the International
Woodworkers of America Lo
cal 3-246, whose members
these men are, said he has
no idea how many G-P might
find jobs for. Nor did the
company itself have mora In
formation on this by the end
of the week, although a
spokesman expressed hope
that when the adjustments
are made the story "will have
a' happy ending."
"I am just guessing," Wor
ley commented, "but I can
visualize that a majority have
worked there for 10 years or
longer."
Jim Sagan, manager of the
Eugene office of the State
Employment Service, said his
office had already given G-P
a list of some local jobs that
are open. He said his office
will make every effort to help
find new jobs for the men.
"I would suppose that a
good share of the semi-skilled
and skilled men will find
jobs," he said. And on the
other end, some of tha young
er workers should be able to
find jobs and adapt to new
situations.
"One of tho problems will
be the unskilled person who
has worked thcro for along
time. I don't know exactly,
what the community can do
Mor them," Bagan stated. His
rough estimate was that these
characteristics might lit 60 ot
the 200-plus men in the mill.
The company could furnish
no further information on the
value of the equipment being
shut down or its disposition.
large family. Why, for instance,
should tax exemption for chil
dren be a fixed sum rather than
a perccntago of earned income?
"Why should tuition in school
be based, in large part, on the
ability of the father to pay rath
er than Inversely on tha
achievement of the student?
...Innumerable administrative
rulcsand laws . . . discrimi
nate inadvertently against tha
most gifted members of the
community.
"I firmly believe that such
positive measures would do far
more toward the increase of de
sirable genes in the human gene
(inheritance) pool than all tha
negative measures proposed by
eugenicists ot former genera
tions." Save !
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SQ.
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