Woodpile

On Sept. 21, 1938, a tropical hurricane out of its orbit swarmed through New England like a banshee on a binge. From Long Island Sound to the tip of Maine it cut a swath 300 miles long, 100 miles wide. With its blast it felled 2,250,000,000 board feet of lumber. To get this average five-year cut into ponds, into neat stacks before bark beetles and fire took their toll, the Department of Agriculture's Northeast Timber Salvage Administration went to work. By last September it had bought 600,000,000 feet of hurricane timber from some 30,000 owners for an over-all cost of better than $20 a thousand board feet, looked around for a buyer.

To its rescue last week came Northeastern Timber Marketing Association in a deal without precedent. For the sum of $14,400,000, the association agreed to take the entire 600,000,000 feet (95% white pine) off the Government's hands. It agreed to pay an average price of $24 a thousand board feet, to put up a $750,000 bond and $100,000 cash by Dec. i, to pay off in $800,000 quarterly payments over the next four and a half years. Limited to a profit of 20%, the association must split anything above that with the Government, which in turn will split with the original owners.

Sparkplug of the deal is a softspoken, balding Detroit lumber wholesaler named Herman I Hymans, who has never before nosed into politics. Originally he wanted to buy only 100,000,000 feet of the hurricane timber, was afraid that if he did the market price would go to pot when the Government began selling. Northeastern Association was the solution. To keep it out of the monopoly class, the Government insisted that it be a cooperative with at least 30 members. Last week, with a Delaware incorporation and Manhattan offices, it began soliciting more members.

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