HARDWOOD RECORD 



Quotiug from conservative and correct busi- 

 ness journals regarding the times we liave in 

 view, ail issues are proclaimiua the renewal of 

 blast furnaces, rail making, structural iron work 

 and all mining interests to be better ; also the 

 renewal of business in the East where trade has 

 been more slow to recover from the financial 

 strain of the past ten months. 



The lumber business has witnessed very ex- 

 cellent returns from the East the past month, 

 and this is the most encouraging, as that section 

 of the country is always more conservative than 

 the West. You can certainly prepare to see a 

 better feeling and increase in value in the hard- 

 wood situation here, soon, providing the produc- 

 tion does not become too great in volume. 



You must work together to bring best results, 

 both in sectional as well as the combined inter- 

 ests of the country at large. Close communica- 

 tions must be maintained with your fellow com- 

 petitors who operate in the same line in other 

 sections and states, and to the end that such 

 mutual negotiations will become apparent imme- 

 diately and bring you sueeessful returns. 



Following the address an informal discus- 

 sion showed that the hardwood men are get- 

 ting pretty well inoculated with the associa- 

 tion spirit. Cass M. Shaw, of Dardanelle, a 

 veteran in the manufacturing business in the 

 state, led in a kind of "experience meeting" 

 with the following resume of his case: "I 

 have been in the hardwood business for many 

 years, but never gave much attention to as- 

 sociation work. Didn't see any particular 

 necessity for it. However, ifs different now, 

 and I am an association man from this time 



F. A. Garrett, representing the Hardwood 

 Kecokd, Chicago, stated that his paper was 

 in sympathy with the association work, and 

 would extend to the columns of said paper 

 information which could be submitted from 

 the Arkansas manufacturers, for publication. 



Secretary George E. Hayes of Xewport 

 reported the progress of his work. He said 

 that he had sent out several thousand com- 

 munications and had received many responses. 

 •'I have continually revised my list," said 

 he, "until I have now pretty well amved 

 at the number of hardwood concerns in the 

 state, and the list will reach about 500. 

 When a man says he is not interested in 

 the hardwood industry, or if the letter is 

 returned unclaimed, I strike the name off the 

 list. The last batch of correspondence, how- 

 ever, didn't result in any elimination." 



He advocated much local work, a kind of 

 missionary movement among the smaller man- 

 ufacturers especially, to arouse sufficient or- 

 ganized interests to enable the organization 

 to put a man on the road and keep him there 

 in the interests of the association. 



J. L. Jones of Little Rock, who was for 

 a number of years connected with the traffic 

 department of one of the Trunk lines of rail- 

 way in the state, but who is now a valuable 

 exponent of organized effort among the 

 manufacturing hardwood men of the state, 

 gave some interesting instances showing that 

 the railroads sometimes get the best of the 

 shipper unless he is acquainted with their 

 tariffs and knows how to figure combinations 

 ol locals, understands "grouping," etc. "My 

 knowledge of rates and how these rates may 

 be manipulated has saved our house more 

 during the year than my salary amounts to," 

 said he, in discussing the question of over- 

 charges. "There are many instances in which 

 the shipper will have to pay a burdensome 



overcharge, unless he is able to do his own 

 figuring on rates, and is familiar with tariff 

 sheets." He suggested the study of schedules 

 and systems of rate-making, so that the ship- 

 per could protect himself. 



E. C. Lippmann of Tupelo emphasized the 

 value of lumber publications as accessories 

 to the up-to-date lumber office, and the idea 

 was freely expressed that the man without 

 a lumber journal, or a number of them, if 

 they related to his business, was leaving out 

 one of his best aids to success. 

 ' The afternoon session was taken up mainly 

 with an address by Samuel J. Eucord of 

 Mena, Ark., supervisor of the Arkansas For- 

 est Reserve, the largest in the state. Mr. 

 Record spoke on "The Hardwood Shortage- 

 How to Prevent It," as follows: 



Forest Supervisor Samuel J. Eecord's 

 Address. 



My presence at this meeting is but another 



evidence that the foresters and lumbermen 

 getting together and working in harmony to 

 end — the preservation of our forests. 



not 



the foresters' ideas, coming to the 

 wilfull lumberman, were labeled "theory" and 

 filed away, or consigned to the waste basket. 

 On the other hand the manufacturer has been 

 too often pictured as a rapacious monster of 

 greed whose one ambition was to devastate the 

 land. 



Today the Forest Service stands for practical- 

 ity. Its successful management of some 165,- 

 000,000 acres o£ land calls for hardheaded busi- 

 ness methods. Doubtless some pet theories have 

 bp.'Ti .li-. nr.l. il nlnns the way, but in the main 

 th.- •' ji. .' I I. .-■ iiave been vindicated, though 

 iiini imI revised to fit the occasion. 



'111. I - < .' has won the respect of the 



hiini h .III many are practicing its methods 



Un the manufacturers' side has also come a 

 change They are less destructive, less waste- 

 ful ■ more conservative, more careful of the 

 future because thev find it pays : because ot 



thi> ■Iriil.iioii ,.f the virgin forests with their 

 siMir- ..! . iiiMii.s; because an actual timber 

 sii.uii'i' 1- a|i|iMr.'iu. They are changing through 

 'n,.,.--ii\ iKiiii iiirie exploiters to foresters. 



It .iiM'iM iMiiiie no argument from me to 



,.,,,,,, - i;,H I he timber supply of the coun- 



,i, ,(1 and cannot long withstand 



111 , ,, 1 upon it. But only a few 



.In . li,, 1 !,ilkr,i with a veteran Arkansas 

 liiml" uiiii \^i ' :i-serted that there is a thou- 

 sand .viii'i supply in sight, and that these scare 

 stories o( a timber famine were Init the wily 

 prevarications of the lumber trust to cover a 

 boost in prices. To silence such doubting 

 Thomases (if there exist any here) I wish to 

 call attention to a little history. 



Look to the north woods of Maine and New 

 York. Once they were prominent in the lumber 

 activity of the nation, but long ago dropped 

 from sight as lumber producing regions, although 



disputed center of the lumber industry, and 

 boasted of -inexhaustible" supplies of white pine 

 and hemlock. Today Michigan is importing 

 white pine for her own consumption and many 

 thousands of acres of once he.nvy forest are noth- 

 ing but barren wastes of drifting sand. 



Nothing could more clearly illustrate the dif- 

 ferences between forestry or conservative man- 

 agement, and forest exploitation. This land in 

 question is suited to forest growth and of little 

 or no value for other purposes. If properly 

 handled and protected such land could have been 

 kept in forest continually, thus providing a per- 

 petual supply of timber, a constant revenue to 

 the country. Otherwise we have a fictitious 

 prosperity which eats up its own capital and 

 leaves the country impoverished. 



But gradually the timber business shifted to 

 the South. As early as 1890 lumber companies 

 which had cut over their holdings in Minnesota, 

 Michigan and Wisconsin, were compelled either 

 to go out of business or seek elsewhere for tim- 

 ber. Then began a general trek to the pineries 

 of the South and the immense forests of the far 

 West. Even now the bulk of the business is 

 shitting to the Pacific coast. Nothing but the 

 distance from market prevents even greater ex- 

 lilniiation of these vast fields which even now 

 :i -■ f.-elinir the drain. This fact Is lamentable 

 for it means that only the best is marketable 

 and that enormous waste is resulting. Stump- 

 age prices have risen rapidly. In 1904, I re- 

 member, pine of the best quality and in abun- 

 dance could be purchased in Montana for from 

 50 cents to $1 per thousand feet. Last season 

 I found that the same timber commanded a 



stumpage price of from $3 to $6 per thousand 

 feet. No other fact is needed to prove what 

 seems self-evident — that the end is in sight. 



But you are most interested in the hardwood 

 situation. The outlook is even less bright for a 

 continual and abundant supply. In 1906 the 

 hardwood lumber cut of the United States had 

 fallen over 15 per cent from what it- was in 

 1899. This decrease took place at a time when 

 unparalleled development was being made in all 

 other lines and when the demand for every class 

 of structural material was the strongest ever . 

 known. It means but one thing — the decrease 

 is the result of diminished supply, not of a 

 lessened demand. 



The wholesale prices of various classes of 

 hardwood lumber have advanced from 25 to 65 

 per cent in this time, a fact not true at a time 

 of lessened demand. Another significant point 

 is the large number ot new woods which have 

 been placed on the market, which formerly were 

 not considered at all. A quality of timber is 

 being eagerly sought which a few years ago was 

 considered worthless. Every locality where 

 hardwoods exist in sufficient quantity is being 

 drained of its timber. 



How long will the present supply hold out? 

 Our estimates of the amount ot standing hard- 

 wood timber are little better than guesses, but 



than 500,000,000,000 feet in the United States, 

 our annual cut is known to be about 25.000,000,- 

 000 feet. By a simple process of mathematics 

 we find iluit we have at best a scant twenty 

 .^■'■;m^ -I iijij ..' lujrdwood timber. A distinct 

 dill I" 1 ween the softwood and the 



liii'i I ' II. As the eastern softwoods 



-i»' " ' ' laiid can be supplied from the 



\\'i..si. Wii.u [lie eastern hardwoods are gone, 

 all are yone, for the far West produces no 

 hardwoods. 



We must have hardwoods. Think of the in- 

 dustries affected. Aside from the hardwood lum- 

 ber manufacturer there are the industries of 

 cooperage, furniture making, musical instru- 

 ments, vehicle manufacture, agricultural imple- 

 ments, car building, railroad ties, telephone and 

 other poles, and house finishing. An actual 

 shortage ot timber will paralyze many ot the 

 great industries of the country. A failure ot 

 the hardwood supply would be a blight upon our 

 industries through more than a generation. 



What can be done to remedy the situation? 

 What steps are necessary to reduce to a mini- 

 mum the injurious consequences of such a short- 

 age? This question is paramount and demands 

 serious contemplation. The off-hand answer is 

 that substitutes will be found to take the place 

 ot wood. Indeed, great progress in such lines 

 has been made and is worthy of all encourage- 

 ment. Wood has been largely displaced in mani- 

 fold instances by iron, concrete, stone and metal, 

 and yet the demand for timber seems to be 

 stimulated rather than lessened. Besides being 

 retained for the greater number of its original 

 uses, hardwood has also found many new ones. 

 For many purposes no satisfactory substitutes 

 have ever been found, and. in mv opinion, never 

 will be. T.'he major portion of the problem yet 

 awaits solution. 



The old process of exhausting the supply of 

 timber in a region and then seeking new fields 

 is at an end. There are no new fields of any 

 magnitude remaining. We cannot look to foreign 



extent for there 

 approaching shortage of timber in other coun- 

 tries as well as this and each nation must culti- 

 vate and protect its own forests. JSoutn America 



mall part but her share wi" 



effect 

 ur own solution of the diflicult problem. 



There seems but one practical solution : the 

 laintenance under proper forestry methods of a 

 jtficient area of hardwoods to produce a con- 

 nual supply of hardwood timber demanded by 

 ur industries. 



There are two ways of doing this ; one in- 

 olves government reservation of hardwood land. 



have Congress appropriate money for the 

 purchase of a- vast forest in the White Moun- 

 tains and the Appalachians. There is strong 

 evidence that such action would be a gigantic 

 stride in the right direction, but so far such 

 legislation has been frustrated. 



The creation of two National Forests in this 

 state will help materially in preventing a local 

 shortage. The Arkansas, containing over 1,000,- 

 000 acres, was proclaimed by the President 

 December 18, 1907. Since that time, with a 

 corps of assistants, I have attempted to protect 

 and properly manage these lands for the benefit 

 of the public. On March 6, 1908, was created 

 the Ozark National Forest, lying north of the 

 .Arkansas river in the Boston Mountains. Its 

 area is about 920,000 acres, covered mostly with 

 hardwood. These are the only two national for- 

 ests containing a large proportion of hardwood 

 timber. The unfortunate thing is that such 

 action was not taken years ago, thus preventing 

 the slaughter and waste of untold millions of 

 feet ot the best oak, walnut, ash and other 

 valuable species. 



The timber in these forests Is not locked up. 

 of It as may be removed without injury 



sales of thrifty timber i 



being enco\ir 



