THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



U 



nu-ans to yon. But I -non't say aiiytbiug 

 alioiit it for you might tlaink I am not 

 onjoyini; myself here to-uight. 



"But I am really glad to be hero. We 

 irnst all unbend at times. 



■■And I want yon to feel that I con- 

 sider it an honor that you have chosen me 

 for suark here to-night. I do really feel 

 that way about it, boys. You may not 

 believe it but it is so. 



"Aud I am not ashamed to take part in 

 this concateuation. I want you to under- 

 stand that. I know that you people mean 

 well and. of course, we can't all be great 

 men. 



"And I know that the world at large will 

 understand how I am placed. The world 

 will know that in the line of business it 

 becomes necessary for me to mingle freely 

 v.itli the lumber trade, and I really enjoy 

 doing it. Yes, I do. 



'Yes, it is true that I have been to Eu- 

 rope. Yes. I have been in Europe twice. 

 rm-hni. I am a great traveler, and I 

 knoAv \^hat you are thinKiug. You are 

 thinking that a man who has been about 

 as much as I have, and mingled with so 

 many great people can't possibly be enjoy- 

 ing himself at a little function like this. 

 But I. am, really. Yes, I am. I don't 

 know what it is about those little functions 

 among honest, well-meaning people, but I 

 enjoy them. I do, really. 



"And if you ever come to Chicago I want 

 you to look me up. Yes, I do. I mean it. 

 Don't be afraid — just come right up and 

 see nie, and no matter who is about I will 

 not hesitate to recognize you and show to 

 all that I am glad to see you." 



IT IS NOT POSSIBLE. 



A good many argue that from tlie way 

 general business is shaping itself, it should 

 only be a question of a short time until 

 hardwood lumber prices go lower. This 

 may possibly be true in a sense, but we 

 cannot see how American hardwoods can 

 ever go much lower than they are, aud we 

 doubt if they will. Hardwood timber is 

 growing too scarce. 



There was a time when the only hard- 

 woods made into lumber were poplar, wal- 

 nut and white oak. It was believed that 

 when the supply of these' woods became 

 exhausted, the country would be embar- 

 rassed for lumber. And, of course, it 

 would have been, only that the other 

 hardwoods were brought in, one by one, to 

 fill the gap. lied oak, cottonwood. liass- 

 wood, elm, etc., were one after another re- 

 quisitioned. But with the bringing in of 

 gum as a wood of commerce, we have 

 gotten to the end. We have no more re- 

 serves of any kind to bring up into the 

 firing line. To use a slang expression we 

 arc "all in." 



And some of our battalioiis are prettj' 

 nearly annihilated. Basswood, ash, elm 

 and cottonwood will, within a few years, 

 be out of the market in commercial quan- 

 tities. Poplar and white oak are growing 



much scarcer, but for all that they were the 

 first two commercial hardwoods, they will 

 probably be the last. In maple aud birch 

 the high water mark of production lias 

 been passed, and from this time forth 

 there will be a rapid shrinkage, until a 

 dozen years from now the supply will be 

 wiped out almost entirely. 



We now have no unexplored reserves. 

 The axmeu chopping their way through 

 the forests of the North can see daylight 

 ahead of them. In the South the axmen 

 working north from the gulf have met 

 those working south from the Ohio River, 

 and about all that is left them is to turn 

 back and clear up the leavings. 



Basswood and cottonwood were brought 

 forward as substitutes for poplar, when 

 poplar began to grow scarce. This kept 

 the price of jjoplar down, but basswood 

 and cottonwood are about gone, aud we 

 have nothiiig else to offer. How, then, is 

 it possible that the price of poplar shall 

 decline to any extent? 



Red oak was offered as a substitute for 

 white oak, maple for ash and so on. 

 Whenever the price of any kind of hard- 

 wood lumber became high a cheaper sub- 

 stitute was foiuid. 



But we are out of substitutes. We have 

 nothing more to offer. AVe are all in. Aud 

 we cannot see how hardwood lumber of 

 any kind is ever going to be much lower 

 in price than it is at iiresent. 



After the opening of next year we look 

 for lower prices in all lines of industry, 

 where production is merely a matter of 

 getting out the goods from an unlimited 

 supply of raw material. But no such con- 

 dition exists in the hardwood lumber 

 trade. There is scarcel.v a saw mill in the 

 South that can be logged for more than 

 six mouths in the year. 



It is not possible that there can be much 

 shrinkage in hardwood lumber prices. 



NOT A SUBJECT FOR ENVY. 



We note that a Mr. Dexter, a millionaire, 

 whose son was shot from ambush in the 

 Adirondack mountains and instantly 

 killed, attributes the crime to some poor 

 man who shot his son because he was rich 

 and idle. 



We cannot believe that such is the case, 

 or if it is, it is a chance occurrence, and 

 the man who committed the crime repre- 

 sents no considerable portion of our citi- 

 zenship. The American people are freer 

 than any other of that moan and malig- 

 nant envy of the poor for the rich. The 

 American people are too intelligent for 

 that. They are intelligent enough that 

 they know the lot of the rich is not so 

 much more desirable than the life of the 

 a\erage citizen that the rich need 1)0 seri- 

 ously envied. 



The moan that Mr. Dexter, millionaire, 

 makes through the public press is in itself 

 sufficient reason why the poor should not 

 eat their heart out in bitter envy. A 



father mourning for his son is entitled to be 

 treated guilty, so that Mr. Dexter's state- 

 nients will be allowed to pass without seri- 

 ous criticism liy the press, but he is mis- 

 taken in supposing that any considerable 

 portion of the people of this country cher- 

 ish malignant envy toward the idle rich. 



Sir. Dexter's own statement gives an 

 almost pathetic glimpse of a life of discon- 

 tented idleness spent among busy people. 

 He complains that, having sufficient means 

 to live idly, he finds America a lonesome 

 .■md unsatisfactory place. He tried Eng- 

 land for a time and believes he might have 

 been happier there. 



But we doubt it. There is nothing in the 

 world more difficult than for an idle man 

 to be contented or any where near con- 

 tented. In fact, happiness and idleness 

 are utterly incompatible. It is as difficult 

 for au idle man to be happy as the Bible 

 says it is for a rich man to enter the King- 

 dom of Heaven. 



Remain idle for a week and you will 

 probably enjoy it, as a change from a life 

 of work it will be refreshing. Stretch that 

 idle period into a month and it becomes 

 irksome; stretch it to six months and it 

 becomes torture; stretch it to a year and 

 you are ready to go to work on a rock pile 

 oj- anything that will give you the precious 

 blessing of occupation. 



Mr. Dexter stretched his period of idle- 

 ness over many years, until he is past 

 eighty, and now complains that he has 

 lieen miserable and blames the country for 

 it, and believes he might have been hap- 

 pier had he lived abroad. But we believe 

 he is mistaken in that also. There is no 

 place in the world where idleness will 

 bring happiness. Where he made his great 

 mistake was in not continuing to work and 

 in not raising his sons to some useful occu- 

 pation. 



It is not surprising that an octogenarian 

 cannot find pleasure in reviewing a life 

 the greater portion of which has been 

 spent in selfish, self-indulgent idleness. 

 Such a life doesn't make a pleasant spec- 

 tacle, viewed from any standpoint, and 

 least of all from the standpoint of the man 

 who has lived it. 



And Mr. Dexter is greatly mistaken in 

 supposing that any great number of the 

 people of this country are consumed by 

 envy of him. A groat many people will 

 have contempt for him, a few will pity 

 him. but the number that envies him will 

 be inconsiderable. 



$12.00 TO NEW ORLEANS AND RE- 

 TURN. 



Mobile & Ohio Railroad will sell round- 

 trip tickets at above rate from St. Louis 

 and Cairo, 111., and intermediate stations 

 to New Orleans, Mobile, Montgomery and 

 other southern points on September 15 and 

 October 20. Sixteen dollars from Chicago. 

 Liberal limits and stopovers. .Tno. M. 

 Beall, A. G. P. A., St. Louis. 



