i6 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



telling points, particularly the last, are proved to a eonsumer, he is, 

 of course, won over. 



Thus the wood preservation scheme struggled along for some 

 years without any great apparent results, but now that time has 

 proved the soundness of the theory, the practice is rapidly growing 

 in favor, plants are being installed and followers gained continually. 



The Hoo'Hoo Annual. 



During the second week of September local Hoo-Hoo and Chicago 

 lumbermen generally will join hands in entertaining the annual gath- 

 ering of the order of the Great Black Cat. The details of the enter- 

 tainment and the program are recounted in another part of this issue 

 of the Eecord. It goes without saying that Chicago will do its best 

 to give the lumbermen's pet order the best time it ever had at any 

 of its annual functions. 



There is going to be entertainment galore, not only for the members 

 themselves, but for their wives, daughters and sweethearts, and if 

 everybody does not have a good 

 time it will not be the fault of 

 the committee of arrangements, 

 which has spent a great deal of 

 time and money in plans for the 



Lumber Failures. 



Optimists had hoped that the 

 scries of lumber failures which 

 has overtaken the trade during 

 the period of "panic" were at 

 an end, but unfortunately during 

 the last fortnight quite a number 

 of hardwood lumber concerns, 

 notably in the jobbing element, 

 have been forced to the wall, and 

 there are serious rumors about 

 some others being in hard straits. 



A series of failures has over- 

 taken not only the lumber trade, 

 but corollary lines, such as the 

 furniture, wagon and other 

 trades. The North Carolina ele- 

 ment of the furniture trade has 

 been hit hard for some weeks. It 

 has now grown to be a question 

 if more failures are not going to 

 follow. The period of non-trad- 

 ing and liquidation that has pre- 

 vailed for some months has ex- 

 hausted the resources of a good 

 many of the smaller concerns, 

 and with the renewal of business 

 they have no money with which 

 to do business. 



The banks are scrutinizing 

 woodworking and lumber paper 



very closely, especially in the East, and they are not nearly so 

 generous with their loans and discounts as they hav(^ been in the 

 past. This is especially true with regard to concerns that have not 

 been able to clean up their entire bank indebtedness during the 

 last few months, but have been renewing their obligations. Many 

 banks are insisting that their patrons shall "show their hands" 

 before increasing their loans. 



This situation is the only menace in sight to increased activity in 

 the lumber trade, but it will probably act as a restriction to extreme 

 activity in that line for some little time to come. 



GRINDING AN AXE AT CAMP 



(Sec SufiplemenI llluslraling Woods Operations.^ 



( htc detail of the work at every lumber camp is keeping the 

 (nr\ sharpened and the cross-cut saws filed. Alongside of every 

 camp shanty is the familiar grindstone, and many an hour is 

 spent by the choppers in keeping tlteir axes at a proper "edge" 

 for the day's work. Nearby is usually a crude little shack with 

 a primitive saw bench erected at one side, wliere the fellers and 

 cross-cutters are as frequently seen filing their saws. In fact the 

 old grindstone is one of the hardest-worked mackines employed in 

 all woods operations. 



The illu.^tration accompanying this number of tite HA KD- 

 WOOD RECORD is typical of tlie daily scenes at lumber 

 camps. The photograph from wliich the original drawing was 

 made was taken on the property of the Cummer-Diggins Com- 

 pany, near Cadillac, .Mich., and the veteran woodsmen at the 

 grindstone are a couple "old-timers" who have been in its 

 employ for many years. 



The drawing is the work of ttte RECORD artist, Tom J. 

 Nicholl, and is not only cliaracteristic of the Michigan woods, but 

 is extremely true to life. It has been preceded by three others, 

 showing two choppers cutting the "kerf," two lumber jacks cross- 

 cutting, and a huge log being skidded from the woods to the 

 railroad. The series will be followed by others equally typical of 

 lumber operations from the forest In the. sawmill. 



cific grade is set forth on the order blank and all discussion is re- 

 corded in black and white. 



Again, the system presents marked economy. Analysis will show 

 that a lumber salesman receiving from $1,500 to $1,800 per annum, 

 with expense account attached, will cost the manufacturer or jokber 

 approximately $2 for every call he makes for the purpose of selling 

 lumber. A like sum will cover the expense attached to the sending 

 out of sales letters to forty prospective customers. Therefore, if the 

 letter is a good one, a correspondence salesman has a forty-to-ome 

 chance against the man who does business by personal visits, at the 

 same outlay. There is nothing in the system of selling lumber by 

 mail which is deprecatory to the work of traveling salesmen. They 

 are an absolute necessity to the trade, but their business can k* 

 amplified and materially assisted by the skill of a capital office 

 salesman. 



Selling lumber by mail is still in its infancy, but with the analy»9 

 of annual requirements by kinds, grades and thicknesses that is now 

 obtainable through the Hard- 

 wood Record bulletin service, it 

 is a feasible, practical, econom- 

 ical business proposition and to- 

 day a great many leading manu- 

 facturers and jobbers are reduc- 

 ing their traveling sales force and 

 spending a good deal of money 

 ill letter-writing and postage, to 

 their manifest advantage. 



Selling Lumber by Nail. 



Selling lumber by mail is a logical and businesslike proposition. 

 Transactions made in this way have distinct advantages. Primarily 

 the contract of sale ^s in written form, and no argument can arise 

 CAivcring what a traveling man verbally represented when the spe- 



Pariahs of the Forest. 



In the wonderful evolution 

 that has overtaken the lumber 

 industrj' it is remarkable to 

 note how the pariahs of the 

 forest are coming into their 

 own, and are being recognized 

 as available commodities for 

 the making of lumber. ■ It is 

 within the memory of men of 

 fifty that Norway pine, now 

 «ell-nigh extinct, was looked 

 at askance by the average user 

 of lumber. Red gum, now a 

 widely distributed and gen- 

 erally used hardwood, only a 

 few j'cars ago was passed by 

 by cruisers as being entirely 

 unworthy of estimating. Tu- 

 ]ielo ten years ago was an uii 

 known lumber commodity and 

 now it is being manufactured 

 and utilized by the millions of 

 feet. Beech, only a short time 

 ago regarded as an undesirable 

 wood even for fuel, has now 

 grown to be oue of the standard hardwoods of the North. Within 

 twenty years millions or feet of hemlock timber have been 

 slaughtered for bark alone, and left to burn in the slashings, 

 being regarded as worthless for lumber purposes. Today hemlock 

 sells almost on a par with yellow pine values. Even that veri- 

 table outcast of the forest, balm of Gilead of the North, has 

 been made into lumber for the past two years and commands a 

 price that shows a stumjiage value of from three to five dollars 

 a thousand feet. 



The extravagant and wasteful American Inmhenuen are fast 

 learning that every tree that grows out of the ground has a 

 commercial value, and when they get around to the practice of 

 conservative lumbering and of utilizing woods "waste" they 

 will have learned the first lesson in husbanding their forest 

 inheritance. Great Britain, the Continental countries, and even 

 Russia have long since learuod to economize their timber wealth. 



