lO 



THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



••A>kln); you t<i l>rlii« llils miiltiT In iIk- 

 nttoutJuii of jour iiNsii.liiilou. wo reiiiiilii, 



"Very truly yours, 

 "Niltlunill HiirdwiHul l.urnlxT Akmh-IiiIoii." 



To this letter he reimrtiil timt lie lititl 

 reeelveil no reply »iivf ii iioii- from a i-lerk 

 In tbe oUU-e of .Mr. Hosier, stiitluK tliiit In- 

 (Mr. P.) waM out of town mid tUiit lli<- 

 nintter would be brought i" lils Mii.'niiuii 

 u|K)ii his return. 



THE HARDWOOD MARKET 

 TliL- course of bu>liiess lUuiiiK tlie past 

 two weeks hii.s Juxtilletl flic )N>sitiuu taken 

 by the Itecord's la.^t Issue, iliat there was 

 nothing in the situation to Justify the eon- 

 tention of cousumt-rs that linrdwood prices 

 should be re<luc«l. So louj: as eonsump- 

 tlon is uinintiiiued nt nuythin^ approach- 

 ing the present volume the prices on hard- 

 wood lumVM?r will not decline. 



Hardwood lumber will never be as 

 eheap in the future as it has been in the 

 past. There are no unexplored sections 

 in which hardwood limber is cheap and 

 abundant. Every block of hardwooil 

 stumpage in the country Is known of and 

 is being considered as an investment. Most 

 of the hardwood stumpage is already in 

 the hands of the men who will convert it 

 into lumber and put it on the market- 

 men who know its value and are in tlie 

 business with their eyes open and with 

 a thorough understanding of the situation. 

 The weather conditions are an important 

 factor in the production of southern lianl- 

 woods, and those conditions througho\it 

 the entire spring season and even up to 

 the present time, could scarcely have been 

 more unfavorable to increasing the stock 

 on band for hardwood pro<lucers. 



The South, in the Delta country, has 

 been overflowed the greater part of the 

 spring, and now tlie floods which desolated 

 Kansas City and gave St. Louis the higli- 

 est water she has had in a good many 

 years are pressing upon the levees in the 

 lower valley of the Slisisssippi. and while 

 they are not so theatening as those of 

 earlier in the season, they will keep the 

 banks full and prevent the back water 

 from running off the flooded districts. 



Througliout the more northern oak pro- 

 ducing states the weather conditions have 

 been almost equally unfavorable. There 

 has been but little time since last fall 

 when tbe roads throughout Indiana, Ohio 

 and Illinois have been In good condition 

 for hauling. And now that they are in fair 

 condition the farmers are so behind witli 

 their work that they don't dare to leave 

 their fields. 



As the season advances there is eveiT 

 indication that when navigation closes the 

 docks and yards of the north will be swept 

 practically clear of maple, birch, beech, 

 elm and basswood, and that the yard at a 

 railroad center having a good stock of 

 northern hardwood this winter will have 

 no trouble disposing of it at prices as good 

 as those of last winter. 



We consider the price situation in the 

 hardwood field as very strong. 



THE MATTER OF EDUCATION. 



.\ o'Utury ago the prolileni which eon 

 fronted parents having chllilren to edii 

 rule was a slniple one. .Ml they had to 

 do was to raise money sullleienl to seiiil 

 the son thniugh a university anil the 

 diiuuhter ihi-ongh a young ladles' senil- 

 iii.ry. 



.\i>l many penple were so sltuateil ns 

 In lie able to spare that amount of money: 

 liut for thos4' who were, as almve Minted, 

 tlien- was but little choice as to how 

 it wouhl be spent. There was but one 

 kind of an e<lui'ation for a young man — 

 the straight e<dlege <-ourse — where he was 

 well gronnded in niathennitk-s, |)hysles 

 and the dead languages. When he got his 

 degree he was supposed to be very learned 

 and he entered upon a reasonably well-as- 

 sured career as a lawyer, teacher or phy- 

 sician. He was always looke<l up to ;iiid 

 treated with much consideration because 

 ot his supposed learning, and his entire 

 circle of relatives to the remotest cousins 

 spoke proudly of their relative who was 

 a "college graduate." 



In the matter of educating a daughter 

 tliere was still less choice tlian in the 

 matter of educating a son. If one wished 

 to carry the education of his daugliter to 

 .■I higher point than tliat attained by the 

 public common schools there was but one 

 thing to do — to send her to a "young la- 

 dies' seminary," where she was taught to 

 do tilings polite and decorative, a bit of 

 painting, music, dancing, etc., so that she 

 might become a lit mate for the "college 

 graduate." 



-Vnd after such a training the young 

 «oinan would return to her simple home 

 with an accent and proiiuuciatiou, a man- 

 ner of wearing her clothes and dressing 

 her hair out of all harmony witli her sur- 

 icundings. She was, by her accouiplisli- 

 nunts and fancied erudition, set apart in 

 l.er community, and the little things she 

 painted, the unusual manner in which she 

 v.alked and talked, and the fact that she 

 would cross her hands and keep riglit on 

 playing on tlie old piano were sources for 

 wonder and envious admiration. She was 

 one of the show pieces of the town, and 

 if a stranger from Boston or some other 

 ■fnrrin parts" came, he was always, on 

 some pretext or other, taken around to be 

 entertained by the young lady who was 

 •liiiished.'' She was, however, usually 

 considered too good for human nature's 

 (';:ily food, and usually died an old maid. 

 For while the eligible young men gawked 

 and admired, when it came to choosing a 

 wife they usually selected a girl who could 

 cook a good meal and was guaranteed to 

 get a family washing on the line by 9 

 a. m. 



But tliat is all changed now. To the 

 parents having a son or daughter to edu- 

 cate the question is not as to whether it 

 is advisable to send them to "college" or 

 some school be.vond the public schools, for 

 that is now almost rei-oirni/ed as a neces- 



sity. N..i clues the iiiallcM' ol' raising fluids 

 for llie undertaking iiieiin what II for 

 luerly did, for In the new prosperity which 

 liliK roine to our country and Iu>chuh«> of 

 the maiiv noble beiiefnctloiiN of our mll- 

 lloniirles M thoroiigh education is In the 

 riiich of I'ver.v young man or woiiinn In 

 (he eiiunlry. .\nil you <-iiii scari-ely throw 

 a stone liilo any chance crowd without 

 hltllug a gradiiali- of soine advanced In- 

 slltuthin of learning, who has the right to 

 add letters of various kinils to his name. 



The enibarrassiiieiit ^if the piirenls of to- 

 day Is ns to what kind of an education 

 they will choose for Iheir <-hlldreii. The 

 old-fashioned college <-ourse for the young 

 mail is still available In a inodllie4l form, 

 but Is not consideriMl an end as In former 

 .vears, bill mi-rel.v as a beginning. You can 

 l«-<lay .■idvertise in a I'hicago paper and 

 gel any niimber of college graduates to 

 do anylhlng froiii shoveling coal on up. 

 The only <iuestion n'gardiiig the straight 

 college coni-se now.'idays is as to whether 

 it Is iirolitalile for the young man to si>enil 

 the time necessary to take it preparatory 

 to the work of taking a course In engi- 

 neering, milling, foreslry. or some other 

 jnactical ilirectlon. 



It is the fashion among certain of the 

 old-time mechanics to bewail the fact that 

 while they, in learning their trade, spent 

 an apprenticeship of three years, the 

 young men of to-day expect to learn a 

 liade in six months. That complaint may 

 li:ive been .iustified in the recent past, but 

 i( is justified no longer. There was never 

 .•I time when the training of young men 

 for mechanical trades was so thorough as 

 to-day. Some men have their sons spend 

 four years in college merely as a prepara- 

 tion to a technical education. 



T'nder the old system if a young man 

 wislied to become an engineer he began 

 as fireman. Xo attempt was made to 

 teach him anytliing more than to turn 

 certain cocks or set certain levei-s to start 

 his engine or stop it: and often when the 

 engineer was of a surly or jealous dispo- 

 sition, no attempt was made even to db 

 that. Hut after several years of shovel- 

 ing coal the young man was suiijiosed to 

 liave absorbed enough knowletlge to be- 

 come an engineer — tli.it is. to run an en- 

 gine. 



Nowadays if a young man wishes to 

 Ik come an engineer the first matter for 

 him to decide is as to whether he wishes 

 to be a mechanical, electrical, mining or 

 some other lund of an engineer. If he de- 

 cides that he wishes to become a mechan- 

 ical engineer he has a course of schooling 

 before him of eight years from a public 

 school and about five years from a college 

 course. And when he gets his "sheepskin" 

 and three or four years of practical train- 

 ing he is an engineer indeed. Not only 

 does he know which cocks to turn to 

 make the wheels go round, but he is a 

 thorough master of all the mysteries of 

 the i>ower which makes the wheels re- 



