i6 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



for months past retailers have been depleting their stocks steadily, 

 purchasing a considerably less amount of goods than they have sold; 

 so that with the growing demand, the small stocks which they hold 

 in consequence of this policy, and the unusually small amount of 

 goods in first hands, the outlook for a gradual resumption of busi- 

 ness all along the line by the last of July is excellent. Moreover, if 

 goods are to be sold by the retailer, they must be ordered soon and 

 placed in stock in the early fall. Good crops, which are now assured, 

 invariably have a powerful effect in stimulating trade, so that take it 

 all in all, the outlook for a good furniture season — which means a 

 good boost to the hardwood lumber trade — is far better than even the 

 optimistic would have predicted some months ago, and all the signs 

 point to the probability that furniture factories will soon become 

 heavy purchasers of hardwood lumber. 



Returning Prosperity. 



Every condition throughout the country points to an era of re- 

 newed prosperity. Bank clearances and railroad earnings are below 

 those of a year ago, but the gap is steadily narrowing. There are 

 fewer empty cars on sidetracks than there were at the beginning 

 of June. July interest and dividend payments in New York will 

 be .$177,000,000, as compared with $184,000,000 in July, 1907. This 

 shows much less falling off than was expected. 



The rates for money are about the same as they have been in 

 midsummer for some years, and while there is a little lowering of 

 gold holdings of the banks, it does not disturb anyone, as the country 

 can get as much as it needs from the outside world at any time. The 

 Department of Agriculture announces that the crop outlook is better 

 on the whole than it ever was before at this time of year. It esti- 

 mates the value of the country's farm products of 1908 will reach 

 the $8,000,000,000 mark! This \^-ill leave all records far behind and 

 is more than double the value of the farm yield of 1900. 



"Re-employment days" are becoming universal. St. Louis had 

 one on June 1, when 1,500 unemployed were put to work. On a far 

 larger scale the Pittsburg district has just put one into effect, when 

 <very plant of the United States Steel Corporation, the largest indus- 

 trial concern in the world, resumed full operations. All the inde- 

 pendent steel concerns of the Pittsburg district, it is announced, 

 will be at work full force by August 1. July 1 has been termed 

 "Re-employment Day" not only in Chicago but throughout almost 

 the entire middle West. The prosperity movement is being backed 

 liy hundreds of big manufacturers who realize that renewed pros- 

 perity is sweeping over the country after the financial depression of 

 the winter. The Illinois Central railroad has re-employed 5,500 men 

 in their several shops, after an idleness of eight months. The Inter- 

 national Harvester Company has re-employed all of its hands and 

 many of the departments arc working on night and day shifts, 

 although this is usually the dull time of year for the manufacturer 

 of agricultural machinery. The clothing trade reports business 

 above normal, while the mail order houses also report a heavy 

 increase. 



On the whole the outlook is bright and there is no gainsaying 

 the fact that the year will surely close with a volume of business 

 a good way above normal. 



The New Code of Ethics. 



While it is improbable that all lumbermen will ever entirely agree 

 -,ipon a set of principles for their strict guidance in the conduct of 

 their business, the confei snce of lumber trade associations held at 

 Minneapolis last month, for the purpose of establishing a reasonable 

 code of trade ethics, certainly took great strides in the right direc- 

 tion and adopted a "platform" embracing many conditions which 

 may well be treated with unanimity by shippers of lumber the coun- 

 try over, and will undoubtedly generally be pleasing to the individual 

 associations, when presented by their respective delegates for action. 



The code represents a vast amount of thought and hard work on 

 the part of these delegates, comprising many of the ablest men in 

 the trade, End they are to be congratulated upon their success in 

 evolving so conservative and sensible a document, considering the 

 wide range of territory and the great variety of interests repre- 



sented. The organizations invited to be represented include manufac- 

 turers, wholesalers and retailers of all kinds of lumber and lumber 

 products, from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast — pine and hard- 

 woods, cooperage, shingles, veneer, flooring, etc. — and those who re- 

 sponded constituted a thoroughly representative body. 



The matter of transfer of title was not covered by agreement, 

 inasmuch as the attitude of the shipper — that delivery is made when 

 lumber is turned over to the railroad and its receipt mailed to the 

 buyer — and the contention of the retailer that lumber is not his 

 property until it reaches him — are apparently both reasonable enough 

 to be irreconcilable, and will doubtless remain so. On other points 

 of contention the rules laid down appear to be as reasonable and 

 just to all as any it is possible to promulgate. However, it is under- 

 stood that no association is bound to accept them without amendment 

 and discussion, and that the officers of the conference were continued 

 so that they may, if desired, call a future conference, which should 

 be empowered to pledge the various organizations to a final code. 



Public Protest Too Strong. 



Recent inquiries have elicited no definite announcement of the 

 present attitude of the railroads toward their late proposition to 

 enforce a general increase in freight rates, which was discussed with 

 considerable feeling on both sides at the conference called by the 

 Illinois Manufacturers' Association at Chicago in May. 



However, it seems to be pretty well understood that any decided 

 action will not be taken by the various companies until October at 

 least, and probably not until January. It is even possible that their 

 threat will not be put into execution at all, but will gradually "fade 

 away," and that the project will not again be thrust upon shippers 

 in such a peremptory and uncompromising manner. 



This change of front, for the time being at least, is doubtless due 

 to several reasons: First, the present public enthusiasm in regard to 

 restoring and improving the waterways of the country, which, inci- 

 dentally, the roads pretend to sanction; for it is a well-known fact 

 that efficient waterways between the great markets are the best 

 possible rate regulators. Second, the many decisions lately handed 

 down by the Interstate Commerce Commission unfavorable to exist- 

 ing and proposed railroad tariffs, which though subject to lengthy 

 legislation, nevertheless have a powerful effect upon public opinion 

 and upon shippers in stimulating them to push their claims, thus 

 bringing down upon the roads no end of controversy, expense and 

 unfavorable comment — always with an excellent chance, too, that 

 they will lose in the end. Third, the meetings held not only in 

 Chicago, but all over the United States, by shippers in all lines, voic- 

 ing loud and logical protests against the unfair treatment which the 

 roads proposed to foist upon thoin willy iiilly in those particularly 

 unseasonable times. 



The Future of (he Forester. 



A comparatively new calling in the United States is that of the i 

 profei-sional forester. For years in Great Britain and the continen- ^ 

 tal countries this profession has been a distinguished and profitable .'• 

 one, but in the United States it stands in about the same position 

 that electrical engineering did fifteen or twenty years ago. To the ' 

 uninitiated the opportunities for an electrical engineer and the pn«=' 

 bility of his securing steady and remunerative employment iv- 

 conjectural. Today there are two positions for every elect n 

 engineer of repute, and the field of work is constantly wideniUi,. 

 The same situation will prevail within a very few years for the pro- 

 fessional forester, and in fact today the demand of the government 

 and railroads for them exceeds the supply. The time is near at hand 

 when the timber owner cannot afford to get along without the sen 

 ices of an expert in this line, and the remuneration will be very han I 

 some. With forestry, as with everything else, it is those who "get 

 in on the ground floor" who come out ahead in the end. 



The story in this issue of the Eecord concerning Dr. C. A. Schenck 

 of Biltmore, N. C, should be interesting reading for any young nin'v 

 especially for sons of lumbermen who have not yet definitely di ■ 

 mined upon their life's vocation. Dr. Schenck is doing a lot 

 good work in instructing young men in the secrets and possibilities • ; 

 the forest. 



