36 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



is being substituted to some extent for cotton- 

 wood. No. 1 common poplar is in better demand. 



Steele & Hibbard say that prices lield up well 

 through November and December, but eased oSf 

 about $3 a thousand in March. He thinlis the 

 market will soon become firmer, though there is 

 a good deal of cheap lumber being offered and a 

 disposition on the part of buyers to shop around 

 for snaps. However, bargain counter stuff will 

 soon become scarce. The company's trade runs 

 to quartered oalt, poplar and ash. 



The Krog Lumber Company reports best in- 

 quiry for quartered red and white oak, which 

 is wanted by furniture manufacturers, and 

 cypress. The Druhe Hardwood Lumber Company 

 and the Massengale Lumber Company also re- 

 port a good demand for the latter wood. 



The Proctor. Ark., sawmill of the Waldstein 

 Lumber Company started up early in the month. 

 The plant will cut mo-ily white oak, but some 

 other woods will also lie cut. 



An involumary ii.tili.n in bankruptcy has 

 been filed .nsaiust Ant.ni Hooker, trading as the 

 Boeker Lumber & Land Company. 



Nashville. 



Nashville lumbermen are responding nobly to 

 the enterprise recently launched here of building 

 a handsome ten-story hotel In order to enable 

 the city to better handle conventions and tour- 

 ists. John W. Love of Love, Boyd & Co. Is sec- 

 retary of the Hermitage Hotel Company, capi- 

 talized at $300,000, and it is proposed to erect 

 a $700,000 structure on High street near Church. 

 (Jen. G. P. Thurston of the Prewltt-Spurr Manu- 

 facturing Company has contributed $5,000 to the 

 liotel, subscribing for that amount of stork ; 

 John B. Ransom of John B. Ransom & Co., $1'.- 

 500 : Love. Boyd & Co. : $1,000 ; W. J. Wallace 

 of Wallace & Norvell, $500 ; Bascom Montgomery 

 of the Montgomery Furniture Company, $300-. 

 W. J. Cude of the Cude Land & Lumber Com- 

 pany. $500; Montgomery & Co., furniture. 

 S500 : Standard Lumber & Box Company, $.")00 ; 

 I'rewitt-Spurr Manufacturing Company, $200 ; 

 T. H. Dunlap. $200; Lewis Doster, secretary 

 Hardwood Manufacturers' Association, $100, and 

 A. L. Hayes, stave dealer. $100. 



Lewis Doster, In speaking of the advnntage.s 

 a city well equipped with hotels has over one 

 that is not, has the following to say : "Unless 

 Cincinnati had been well equipped to handle the 

 recent conventions of lumbermen that city would 

 not have been selected as the meeting-place. 

 And If Nashville were equipped to handle such 

 conventions It Is not only possible but It Is 

 very probable that these two conventions, which 

 were in Cincinnati at the same time, would 

 have come here at different times, as well as 

 many others. I can say almost positively that 

 the Hardwood Manufacturers' Association will 

 hold its convention in Nashville as soon as this 

 city Is prepared to take care of this convention." 



"Strong efforts are being made to secure a 

 reduction In the tariff on lumber," says A. S. 

 Lowery of Cedar Uaplds, Mich., a recent visitor 

 to this city. "This Is being done in order to 

 allow the Canadian lumber dealers to enter the 

 American field. If the tariff Is lowered it will 

 no doubt reduce present prices in America, occa- 

 sioned by the scarcity of the product. Canadian 

 lumber, with the tariff reduced, can be Im- 

 ported and sold at as low prices as home dealers 

 can cut it, on account of the low wages paid 

 labor in that country. Lumber Is getting very 

 scarce in the United States, and it is estimated 

 there Is enough in Canada to supply the United 

 States for several hundred years. Some Canadi- 

 an timber is now finding its way into this 

 country, but the high tariff makes It unprofitable 

 to Import much of It." 



A spetlal from New Brockton, Ala., announces 

 the destruction of two dry kilns and the plan- 

 ing mill of the Boyd Lumber Company near that 

 point. The loss Is estimated at $100,000. By 

 heroic work the stock shed, containing 2.000,000 

 feet of lumber, was saved. Convicts who were 

 quartered in a stockade nearby worked valiantly 



to arrest the progress of the flames. The prop- 

 erty will be rebuilt. This was the second largest 

 plant in southern Alabama. 



The Hill Truck Company has made application 

 to change its charter, Increasing the capital 

 stock from $25,000 to $50,000, to be used in 

 extending the business. 



The Clear Creek Coal Company of Crossville, 

 Tenn., which has large timber interests as well 

 as mineral rights, has sold out to Ohio capital- 

 ists. The purchasers propose to operate several 

 large saw and stave mills. W. V. Smith of 

 Columbus will be president of the new com- 

 pany and Andy Elmore, an experienced lumber- 

 man of Crossville. will have chiirge of the tim- 

 ber cutting and manufacture. The tract em- 

 prises 16.200 acres and the purchase price was 

 was $162,000. 



E. R. Freeman of Nashville, acting for Florida 

 parties, has just closed a deal whereby he sells 

 a large tract of timber land in Hale, Perry and 

 Bibb counties to F. L. Richardson of Michigan 

 and E. F. Allison of Alabama. The tract is said 

 to be the largest one in the Birmingham district 

 not owned already by manufacturers. It com- 

 prices 16,200 acres and the purchase price was 

 $200,000. 



The Grecnfield-Talbot-Flnney-Battlc Company, 

 which has a big furniture store In Nashville. 

 Tullahoma and Sewanee, has just placed an 

 order for a large amount of new machinery. 

 This company Is one of the few that has con- 

 tinued to run full time during the late financial 

 troubles. 



The McEwen Planing Mills of McEwen, Tenn.. 

 a short distance west of Nashville, which were 

 destroyed by fire a few months ago, will be re- 

 built. New and modern machinery will be In- 

 stalled and the mills will be made even larger 

 llian before. A stave plant will also be run In 

 connection with the mills. Electric meters will 

 furnish the power for the plant, and it Is ex- 

 pected they will also give day power to the town 

 of McEwen. 



Sawmills which shut down some months ago 

 In and around UartsvlUe have resumed opera- 

 tions, and the long line of wagons which used 

 to pour Into the town from the surrounding 

 country are again In evidence. This Is one of 

 the chief lumber markets of Tennessee's smaller 

 towns and several carloads of lumber are shipped 

 out dally. 



The Nashville Board of Trade Is trying to 

 secure the removal of the Florence Wagon Works 

 from Florence, Ala., to Nashville, and. looking 

 to that end, has appointed a committee to take 

 up the project. The company, it is stated, 

 wanted $100,000 In stock subscriptions in Nash- 

 ville. John D. Fletcher of this city proposes to 

 furnish a site for the plant, twenty acres, to 

 go In at $40,000, and Is willing to take stock In 

 payment therefor. 



Although no decided Improvement Is reported 

 in the Southeast In freight traffic matters, many 

 of the freight traffic officials are incllnc>d to take 

 an optimistic view of conditions and predict 

 better things In the near future. One local rail- 

 road man facetiously says of the situation : 

 "Time was when cars were scarce and we had 

 all the business we could handle, and sometimes 

 more than we could attend to ; then we were 

 rather lax about soliciting business ; but now 

 when one of the solicitors bears about a carload 

 shipment everybody from the president down Is 

 sent after It." 



W. V. Davidson, M. F. Greene and J. N. Hicks, 

 all of the Davidson-Benedict Company, have re- 

 turned from a pleasant sojourn In Florida, 

 where each has a cottage and an orange grove. 



Memphis. 

 W. H. Russe, president of the National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association and a member of the 

 firm of Russe & Burgess, who has Just returned 

 from an extended European trip, reports that 

 the hardwood situation abroad Is practically 

 demoralized. He attributes this condition In 

 part to the business depression prevailing over 



F.urope, but also believes the indiscriminate cou- 

 slgnment of American hardwood lumber by those 

 unfamiliar with foreign conditions is largely 

 responsible. 



Mr. Russe believes that there are two pos- 

 sible solutions of the consignment problem. One 

 is that the foreign brokerage firms stop making 

 advances against lumber consigned to them. 

 He points out that there, is not a lumberman 

 who sends his lumber abroad on consignment 

 who is not actuated by the motive of securing 

 every cent of ready cash that the foreign bro- 

 kerage firm will allow him to draw against his 

 stock the moment it is under proper bill of lad- 

 ing. He loses sight of other considerations In 

 the contemplation of the money he will be able 

 to realize immediately, forgetting even that the 

 charges which accrue against such shipments 

 abroad will, in nine cases out of ten, absorb the 

 remainder of the value of his stock over and 

 above what he has drawn against. Mr. Russe 

 thinks foreign brokerage firms are largely re- 

 sponsible for the continuance of the consignment 

 evil through their solicitation of consignments 

 and declares that they have It In their power to 

 put an end to It forever by simply shutting off 

 drafts against shipments the minute the lumber 

 is ready to go forward from this country. 



The other suggestion is that lumbermen in- 

 stead of consigning lumber to foreign countries 

 out of their own reach and certainly out from 

 under their own control ship It to brokers In 

 the larger centers In the United States, where 

 they can at least look after It. if necessary, at 

 comparatively small expense. He expresses the 

 belief that this plan would realize from 10 to 

 20 per cent more than shipping to foreign bro- 

 kerage firms. 



Mr. Russe states that the foreign markets 

 for hardwood lumber are so depressed that lum- 

 ber cannot be bought or manufactured In the 

 United States and sold abroad at as good prices 

 as can be obtained In the United States. He 

 says the present level Is practically prohibitive 

 for every regular exporter and he does not hold 

 out hope of any Immediate Improvement In 

 conditions abroad. 



Official announcement Is made that the big 

 plant of the American Car & Foundry Company 

 at BInghamton, a suburb of Memphis, will be 

 placed In operation again May 1 with a force 

 of between 750 and 1.000 employes. The big 

 car works closed down some months ago be- 

 I ause of the financial depression. It has been 

 well supplied with orders all the while and 

 will soon be running at full capacity with favor- 

 able conditions. The management denies stren- 

 uously that there Is any truth In the statement 

 that the suspension of the local and other plants 

 was the result of threatened embarrassment 

 growing out of the failure of the Knickerbocker 

 Trust Company. The resumption of operations 

 by this plant has been looked forward to with 

 Interest by lumbermen here, as It Is one of the 

 largest woodworking plants In this city or sec- 

 tion. 



It Is encouraging to note In the same connection 

 that the Louisville & Nashville and Nashville. 

 Chattanooga & St. Louis have Increased the 

 number of men at their machine shops in Ten- 

 nessee and Alabama and that the Queen & 

 Crescent has not only refused to suspend opera- 

 tions at Its plant at Gadsden, Ala., but has 

 announced Its Intention of Increasing materially 

 the capacity of Its shops there. The St. Louis, 

 Iron Mountain & Southern has begun work on 

 a small scale at Its machine shops at Little 

 Rock and the Rock Island-Frisco system has 

 reinstated all the men discharged from its shops 

 at Argenta, Ark., some weeks ago. 



Production of hardwood lumber Is being In- 

 creased In this territory. Weather conditions 

 during the past few days have been somewhat 

 unfavorable and have interfered to some extent, 

 but most of the mills which have been ready 

 for operation have kept busy. Hale & Kelser, 

 with headquarters In Memphis, have put their 

 big mill as Osceola, Ark., In operation again 



