Hey you mugs, er, I mean gentlemen.
Well well, it's Laurel and Hardy. As if I didn't know.
Hello boys, this is Pete Smith. As if you didn't know.
Say, I'd like your help here for a minute. Do you mind?
No, of course not. I just want you lads to show the audience how much wood the average person tows.
Wood. Got any?
No, like most guys you don't realize how many articles made of wood products you carry around.
For instance, that newspaper. Yeah, that newspaper is largely made of trees. Wood pulp.
Of course most people know that, but many people don't know
that a lot of other objects come from a wood base.
Take Stan's glasses. The rims are plastic. About 60% of plastic is wood flour. Powdered wood, my friends.
Got a fountain pen? Just as I thought, plastic barrels.
Okay gents, anything else in your pockets?
Be careful of fishhooks, Stan.
A bill fold. Imitation leather made with cellulose acetate.
A wood product. Uh oh, what's up?
Why mister Laurel.
Oh sure, your wife's. Of course.
Anyway, they're rayon, another wood product.
Well what else boys? A cigarette case? A plastic.
Also a cigarette holder. More plastic.
Any more wood my lads?
No but there's wood in his hat. The sweat band.
Right, more imitation leather.
A new spring hat, eh?
More? Yup, a pipe. The bowl of which is wood. The stem, plastic.
Book matches. These matches are wood pulp. So is the cover.
It's amazing the amount of wood we use.
Ain't it the truth?
And now a pen knife. That handle? Plastic.
Let's see what's in the suitcase boys.
The suitcase. Do you mind?
That's it, let's see what we have here. Any slippers?
Yes, here we are. They're real leather like your shoes and belt,
but tanned and made durable by tan bark from the forest.
Then too, the insoles are wood fiber.
Okay let's proceed. Wood in bottles?
Well Hardy, er, hardly. No pun intended.
Anyway, witch hazel and cascara are just two of several hundred drugs and remedies from trees.
Next an imitation leather toilet case. Mirror with plastic back.
Brush back is plastic. Bristles of both brushes are cellulose plastic.
This bottle top is plastic. So is soap container.
That sponge is cellulose plastic, and I'm not at all surprised.
Hey Stan, what else you got?
Come come, fellas. Don't tell me you're running out of plastics.
Let's take a look at some more of your junk. Er, I mean your nice things.
Oh, a razor. Handle is plastic, as are most electric shavers.
Ouch, that blade ain't no plastic, bub.
And now writing paper. Scratch pad. Envelopes. And book. All wood pulp.
Pajamas are rayon, and rayon is a wood product remember?
Hey, what you got there chum?
Oh, shorts eh? More rayon. But Stan, such colors.
And now a shirt. Tie. And socks. All rayon.
Say, the suitcase. Yep, even that's made out of laminated wood covered with canvas.
And it's a good thing these lads didn't come around here with a trunk. We'd be here for days.
Oh boys, you can go now. Goodbye Stan, so long Oliver.
And thanks very much guys. Darn nice of you to help.
Hey! Oh well. They need exercise anyway. Goodbye now.
And thanks to you, Pete Smith. This is Lee Vicars carrying on.
Well Laurel and Hardy little realized the importance of wood to their daily lives.
And I wonder if most of us know just how important forests and research are to the winning of this war.
The answer may be found at Madison, Wisconsin, where the United States Forest Service
maintains its forest products laboratory.
Here for years has been carried on a broad program of research to increase uses of forest products
and find new uses for waste materials. Here is where they figuratively put the tree in a test tube.
Research makes very important contributions to our welfare.
Not only during peacetime, but doubly so in wartime.
Without flash or fanfare, these men patiently carry on.
Engineers, foresters, scientists, chemists. Practicing their magic.
Searching out ways to make our war planes lighter and therefore faster.
Pressing together thin veneers of wood. Developing materials suitable for training planes
with a strength comparable to that of steel.
No glue is used, and it comes out with a piano finish. This saves time.
This compregnated slab is strong enough to bear the weight of a 4 ton elephant. Believe it or not.
And here it is, an all wood training plane. Light, sure, swift and safe.
Even the gas tank is wood.
Research has determined the best woods for pontoon bridges.
The planking and rails are light, but strong enough to take terrific punishment.
A shortage of material for gas mask charcoal was answered by our chemists,
finding a better charcoal and an improved filter paper.
Wood for horse-drawn artillery must be tough and light.
A pound may still be only 16 ounces, but at the end of the day it seems more.
Shipping cases for food and other war material are tested.
This is called a shimmy machine.
Cases for rifles and other munitions must be strong, and every inch saved means more cargo space.
And cargo space is very important to our lend-lease program.
These are some of the little things that help to win a war.
Wood cellulose is an essential element in gun powder.
Research for greater efficiency is continuous.
Barracks to house our soldiers and trucks to move them. All wood or partly wood.
Mess halls, recreation halls, armories.
Here is a laminated arch with a span of 84 feet. It will rest on the walls without further support.
A laboratory triumph. The steel it replaced can now go into a battleship.
Some 30 types of skis were put through grueling tests.
Now when our boys start out for ski patrol on distant mountains,
they can feel confident their skis are dependable.
Forests and forest products are indispensable.
America should make sure they are produced abundantly and perpetually.
America should develop from its forests new uses, new industries,
so that when these boys come home again there will be a job for each one of them.
To help do this, to produce better war supplies for the front,
and most important of all to help teach pirate nations that the American people
hold those liberties conceived by our patriot forefathers, baptized in precious blood at Valley Forge,
at San Juan Hill, at Château-Thierry, and at Pearl Harbor those liberties so jealously guarded by our
national government are more important than life itself. That is the number one job of the men
of the Forest Products Laboratory. The men behind the men behind the guns.
Let us too help keep it flying.