i6 



i: HARDWOOD RKCORD. 



]>r(>Vf lliiit opiMirluiiity V Will tlii-y mil 

 titralii I'ViTV iH'i-vf. fvi'iy iliiy, in ilo lln- 

 very Ix'sl ihi-y ciiii. ti» iiuiirtivi' tliciiisi-lvi- 

 nnil K'-t oil ill tlu> worlil. wi that, cvi-n 

 thouKli tlipy ilo not iu-liicV)> liim-li for 

 th(>iii8elv<>s, their cliiltlrt'ii miiy sit in jiood 

 phu-fsV Anil will not ciH'li oiii' of tlioiii 

 bo worth iiiore to us us citlzons tliiiii Ik- 

 would over hnvi> l)(><>ii worth to his nlil 

 country ? 



It Is the ilifTtM-fiii'i' lii-lwi'cii a man 'wlin 

 workp Ihtmiisi" Iu" is forci'd. ami who works 

 without ho|M> (if lifttcrnifiil. and oiii- who 

 Works Ix-caiisf his heart ami soul are in ii. 

 « • • 

 Some lime aKo an Ainerieaii manniar' 

 turer ileeiiled. for various reasons, 'to i>s- 

 lahllsli a liraiu'h of his iiianufaeturin^ 

 business In Kneland. AceordiiiKly lif 

 oreetod a larjre faetory there and lias .Insl 

 pot It into sueeessful operation. A short 

 ttiue ago he gave a banquet to his men. 

 Ue hadn't room for all of them, as he em- 

 ployed several thousand. Iiut the liaminet 

 included all the heads of departments, 

 clerks, foremen and all holding ])ositlons 

 of iinportanee. And the proprietor sat 

 down with them, as a matter of course, 

 and had a Kood time, and they discussed 

 the business and how to push It alon;:. 

 One man was as kixkI as another and they 

 sot acquainted and had a flood time. 



Now. notliin;: would have been tliouKliI 

 of that in America. Ijut the English papers 

 were full of it. In a lar.ce English manu- 

 facturing establishment there are a dozen 

 classes of emplo.ves. and they are as diffi- 

 cult to he broken through as are the social 

 classes. And members of each class or 

 grade consider those in a lower class or 

 grade as social inferiors: and to see the 

 American employer kick that all to pieces 

 and put all his men on the same level. 

 with the distinct understanding tliat the 

 best places in the business were for the 

 best men. irrespective of anything, and 

 then to meet with these men as though he 

 really felt they were his equals, seemed to 

 give the British peoi>le a shock. But some 

 of the papers had the wit to see in this 

 incident some explanation of Great Brit- 

 ain's "thirty years of stagnation." wliich 

 is growing each day more pronounced. 

 * « * 



The peoi)le of Europe have got to 

 give up their antiquated and silly notions 

 of caste and special privilege; they've got 

 to disband their armies and set their sol- 

 diers to work: they've got to take the 

 money they are spending for Improved 

 arms and amnninition and buy Improved 

 industrial machinery: they've got to set 

 their aristocracy to work or take it out iiT 

 the back yard and cut its throat: and 

 they've got to give the European work- 

 man a show, same as he has in this coun- 

 try — a show that will put hean and fire 

 and spirit into him. 



The American workman is going fo force 

 the people of Europe to do all these things. 

 They've got to do it or starve. The .\mer- 



ican workinan has Het the pace, and ll In ko 

 keen that those who would coinpele must 

 lay aside all dead weight. In this coiiipe- 

 tillon the European workman caiiiiol carry 

 iirmies and navies. Idle and privileged 

 classes, aiitlqiialed iiiethiHls ami iiMilliry- 

 old prejudices, .lust as sure as yon are 

 born, he must i-iit loo.st> from all that <u' 

 the .\inericali workinan will crush hliii. 



Long ago the Koinaii soldier conquere<l 

 the world, for Ihi- li-iidency of the Roman 

 system was to strengthen and glorify the 

 soldier. .\nu'rii'a has gloritietl the work- 

 man, and the whole teiKlcmv of the .\iner- 

 ican system is to-da.v lo .mM more 

 power to his elbow. And tlic American 

 workman is. with spindle and loom, ham- 

 mer .'iiid forge. coiKniering tile world to- 

 day more certainly and more rapidly than 

 llie Iionian soldier conquered it with his 

 sword, .^iiil lo combat him the nations of 

 Europe must raise iqi tlieir workmen .Miid 

 dignify and exalt them and |ml them in 

 high places. 



There Avas a time when the nobles of 

 (Jreat Britain, the ancestors of the present 

 .•iristocracy. were most useful .-iiid neces- 

 s.iry in defending the Empire. .Vnd It was 



b«H'aiise those mighty sohllers were so nue- 

 ful and neci'SKiiry that they were put In 

 such high places. But there Is a dllTcrfiif 

 foe attacking tin- old empire today and 

 till' defense must be Intnisied lo the Brli- 

 Ish workinan. .\iid hi' h.'is ^ol in have a 

 show. 



The British public doesn't uiiilerstand 

 this as yet, and. so long as the Rrltlsh 

 ruling ••hisses can in-eveiit, It will not. For 

 the ruling clasNCs are the lords and diiki-s 

 who have outlived their usefulness and 

 who will be rediiciil from their high i-s- 

 tate as soon as the British pulilii- conies t<i 

 know llie true situation. Time was when 

 Ihe lords and duki's were the bulwark of 

 the empire, but that day has gone by. The 

 day of the soldier is over -this Is (hi- day 

 of the workman. 



And the Ameiican workman is setting 

 the pace. At the bench, in the Held and 

 offli-c. striving strongly, eagerly and en- 

 thusiastically for the prizes which this 

 country alone offers him. he is working a 

 revolution throughout the world and es- 

 liecially in Euro](e. 



The most potent factor In the world to- 

 dav is the .Vmericaii workman. 



From Nea^r dLiid Fa^r. 



CHICAGO COMMENT. 

 (George K. Wliite. a memlx'r of the hard- 

 wood firm of (Jeorge E. Wiiite iV: Co., of 

 this city. has. jiersonally. become heavily 

 involved tinancially. Current rei)ort has 

 it that he went against the stock market, 

 and, as everyone knows, the bottom fell 

 out and (Jeorge was one of the big hold- 

 ers to the extent of about $'200.0<K). He 

 has suHicient wherewithal, however, to 

 meet the situation and liis hardwood busi- 

 ness will not suffer in the slightest degree. 



* * * 



\Vhiie we are on the sub.ject of business 

 disasters we will mention the visit to this 

 market of .Mr. Kigby. .1 representative of 

 the late firm of Lightbound. Rigby & Co., 

 of Ijiverpool, England .Xiuiouncement of 

 the firm's failure has .just lieen received, 

 and Mr. Rigby (junior) is in this country 

 with a view to quieting the fears of some 

 of their creditors here and in other mar- 

 kets of the T'nited States. There is not 

 much definite information to be gained at 

 this writing, except tliat American cred- 

 itors believe they will get out at small cost. 



* * • 



W. :M. Hopkins, of the Theo. Fathauer 

 Company, is on the sick list. It looked at 

 lirst as tliough it might be a long siege, 

 typhoid fever being threatened. l)Ut the 

 doctor reports that he has that headed off 

 and that Mr. Hopkins will be on deck 

 again in the course of a week. 



* * * 



Milton Miller, of Miller Bros., on Twenty- 

 second street, has just wound u\> .i trip 



around tlie producing circuit, wliich in- 

 cluded a visit to the mills both in the 

 North and South. He reports a consider- 

 able scarcity of stocks iiU along the line. 

 but added that his efforts were not fruit- 

 less, having secured a tine large bunch of 

 dry oak from tlie South .-ind materially In- 

 creased tlieir holdings of norlherii woods. 



* * # 



Clarence Wolfe, of the Healh-Witbeck 

 Conqiany. returned from a Imsiness triji 



nortli this week. 



« * * 



L. B. I.esli. (if Lesh \- .Mattliews Lumber 

 Comjiany. has gone South on business. He 

 will be away for two or three weeks. 



* tt * 



John Ilickson, of the .T. W. Kickson Com- 

 pany, and V. A. Fisher, Ihe well-known 

 insurance man. liolli of Memphis, were in 

 Chicago centennial week. .Most of tile In- 

 dians were quartered in Lincoln Park dur- 

 ing the festivities, but this pair were loca- 

 ted ;it the Great Northern Hotel. Dii-ksou 

 made a bluff that he wasn't u)) here to do 

 any lumber business, but lieloie he left he 

 was (ii.ixed into taking ba<-k .1 li'w orders. 



* • • 



The stork has been busy around Chicago 

 during the past month. There was noth- 

 ing in the bag on this trip except girls, one 

 of which Avas left at the home of F. S. 

 Hendrickson and another at Henry Soud- 

 heimer's. 



* o • 



Claude M;iley. of .Maley A: Wertz. Evaus- 

 ville. Ind.. was in the cit.v ii couple of days 

 last week and was a welcome caller at the 



