The Hardwood Record 



VOL. XVI. 



CHICAGO, SEPTEMBER 10, 1903. 



No. 10 



The Hardwood Record. 



PUBLISHED BY 



C. V. KIMBALL, 



ON THE lOTH AND 2STH OF EACH MONTH. 



134 MONROE STREET, - CHICAGO, ILL. 



ENTERED AT CHICAGO POST OFFICE AS 

 SECOND-CLASS MATTER. 



TERMS OF subscription: 



l). 8., Canada and Mexico ". ... .$1.00 per year. 



Foreign Countries 2.00 per year. 



ADVERTISING RATES ON APPLICATION. 



ADVERTISING INDEX ON PAGE 30. 



Contributions on subjects of interest 

 to lumbermen arc invited from any 

 person. Subscribers and others arc re- 

 quested to notify us of changes in per- 

 sonnel or organizations of hardwood 

 lumber firms. We desire especially to 

 receive particulars of installation' of 

 new plants, transfers of property and 

 timber holdings and experiments in 

 new methods of manufacturing or the 

 utilization of by-products. New publi- 

 cations of interest to the trade, including 

 catalogues, stock lists and circulars will 

 receive attention if sent to this office. 

 Our columns are also available for 

 criticism and comment on any article 

 published or for news of any sort con- 

 cerning the hardwood trade. 



Our readers will confer a favor when 

 writing to advertisers if they will state 

 that they saw the advertisement in the 

 Hardwood Record. This is little 

 trouble and costs nothing, but it helps 

 us and is information wanted by the 

 advertiser. 



THE BUSINESS SITUATION. 



The further we progres.? toward the 

 season for fall trade the more evident it 

 becomes that the unprecedented shrinliage 

 in values of stocks and securities in Wall 

 street is not going to affect legitimate 

 business seriously at this time. Every in- 

 dication is for a good thriving trade, and 

 there could be no more eloquent tribute to 

 the sound position of legitimate business 

 iu this counti'y than the bare fact that it 

 can stand a shrinkage in values of securi- 

 ties of nearly four billion of dollars, 

 mthin a period of a year, without ox- 

 periencing any immediate inconvenience. 



But it is difficult to start a general panic 

 when business men are, as a class, out of 

 debt, and the farmers and laboring classes 

 in easy circumstances. • A panic can't hurt 

 a man who is out of debt and has money 

 in the bank. Conservative business men, 

 and most men engaged in legitimate busi- 

 ness are conservative, have been "hedging" 

 or sailing close to shore for the past two 

 years in anticipation of just such a con- 

 dition as has arisen in the past six 

 months. Every man of ordinary intelli- 

 gence foresaw that the vast fabric of in- 

 flated values, which Wall street was erect- 

 ing, must collapse in a short time, and so 

 well did they prepare for it that when the 

 collapse occurred its efforts had been dis- 

 counted. 



For the balance of this year, at least, we 

 see not the slightest cause to apprehend 

 any disaster or eveai dullness in trade and 

 industry. The momentum given to busi- 

 ness by the good crops which are now 

 practically assured, would carry us 

 through the balance of the year at a good 

 gait, even under less favorable circum- 

 stances than those prevailing at present, 

 and will bring \::; to the end of what, with 

 all its uncertainties, will have been an ex- 

 cellent year for legitimate business. 



One thing is that the number of fail- 

 ures, as reported by the. leading financial 

 and commercial agencies, shows each 

 month a considerable increase over the 

 corresponding month in last year, and for 

 several years. This, however, is but a 

 natural result of the Wall street shrinkage, 

 and the banks which cater to the specula- 

 tive trade are undoubtedly carrying a lot 

 of dead weight which they will drop as 

 rapidly as it can safely be done. There 

 can't be a shrinkage of nearly four billions 

 of dollars in values without leaving a 

 number of stranded creditors or specula- 

 tors, but the comforting thing in the pres- 



ent situation is tiiat \\u- li:inks have the 

 situation under control and seem able to 

 close out the bad accounts without caus- 

 ing disturbance. 



Securities of all kinds are still dragging 

 along at but little more than the lowest 

 figure of the year, and we see no reason 

 why they should do any better, but with 

 the farmers having another bountiful harv- 

 est disposed of at good prices, to add to 

 their already full measure of prosperity, 

 with labor well employed at good prices 

 and with all the wheels of industry and 

 commerce revolving cheerfully and busily, 

 we can leave Wall street and its crowd 

 of grafters to work out their own salva- 

 tion. 



We are certainly in for a good fall trade. 



THINGS WE HAVE LEARNED. 



Wo wish to heartily endorse the action 

 of some of the manufacturers of dressed 

 gum lumber in meeting at Cairo, on Sep- 

 tember 3, and affecting the organization 

 of the "Dressed Gum Lumber Manufac- 

 turers Association," and formulating a set 

 of rules covering dressed gum lumber 

 IJroducts. 



The manufacture of dressed gum lumber 

 is in its infancy, and it will save a lot of 

 trouble and annoyance, in time to come, 

 that a standard is established at this early 

 date. Such action is strictly in line with 

 enlightened and progressive policy. Should 

 that association never have another meet- 

 ing it has rendered efficient service to the 

 trade. We trust and believe that the as- 

 sociation may go on and prosper, but even 

 though it should not, it has done well. 



The hardwood trade has learned a great 

 deal about the matter of inspection rules 

 within the past few years. It has learned 

 that no association can legislate value into 

 a pile of lumber by manipulatiing the in- 

 spection rules. You can't add to the value 

 of a common board by calling it a first 

 and second any more than you can add to 

 the value of a dime by calling it a quar- 

 ter. If a man doesn't know the difiference 

 between a dime and a quarter you may 

 be able to "bilk" him, just as you may be 

 able to "bilk" a man who doesn't know 

 the difl'erence between a common and a 

 first clear, but the dime remains a dime 

 and the common remains a common for 

 all that. • 



If an association legislates a portion of 

 its common into nn upper grade, the grade 

 produced is worth that much less and In 



