18 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



and very seriously affected logging. 



There is one feature of the flood situation which gives some 

 measure of satisfaction and that is the fact that whenever there are 

 two distinct flood periods in the first half of any calendar year, 

 neither one of them is liable to be of extreme seriousness. The first 

 flood stage seems to take the cap off of the second so that each 

 reaches only a mean level. 



It is anticipated that logging will be resumed again in the Arkansas 

 territory in the near future. No notable damage has been done 

 directly to the lumber business that amounts to anything compara- 

 tively, and there is no reason to fear future damage from high water. 



What the Meeting Brought Out 



LOOKING BACK to the meeting of the Hardwood Manufacturers' 

 Association of the United States, held February 4 and 5 at 

 Cincinnati, there are certain features which stand out above all 

 others as distinguishing this particular convention. The absence of 

 the usual entertainment features gave to the convention more of the 

 tone of a business meeting than has heretofore prevailed. It must 

 be admitted that the absence of such entertainment was noted by a 

 number of those in attendance, but it cannot be said that it seriously 

 affected their esteem for the association. 



Viewing the convention proceedings from an increasing distance, 

 the two most prominent things which strike the observer are the fact 

 that there was a representative attendance covering practically the 

 entire hardwood producing and stmnpage covered sections of the 

 country. Among the 500 present could be found manufacturers and 

 timber owners coming from every region of importance to the hard- 

 wood industry of the United States. This alone, according to com- 

 petent observers, presages future good for the association. 



While the representative attendance was a feature of which those 

 in charge of the convention can be justly proud, .there were other 

 things noticeable which augur equally well for the association's 

 future. It was a noticeable fact that a great many large operators 

 and timberland owners who have for years passed up hardwood lum- 

 ber conventions were in attendance during the two days' sessions. 

 Not alone did their presence support the association in a moral way, 

 but their counsel and suggestions made the resulting proceedings of 

 unusual value. 



Too much credit cannot be given to the administration of the re- 

 elected president, W. E. DeLaney. Mr. DeLaney has given the full 

 benefit of a forceful and far-sighted personality and has entered heart 

 and soul into the association work. His administration has been ag- 

 gressive and progressive and has accomplished more direct good than 

 the membership could realize by mere attendance at the convention 

 sessions. The purport of what he has done will be realized only after 

 the members have had time to reflect upon and digest the proceedings 

 at Cincinnati. The fact that President DeLaney was compelled to 

 accept the office of president for another term, against his expressed 

 wishes, is a fair indication of the regard with which his adminstration 

 has been viewed. 



The Consumer Needs Education 



THE QUESTION was recently advanced by an oflicial of one of 

 the largest electric machinery and appliances manufacturers in 

 the country, as to the adaptability of a certain species of wood for 

 a particular purpose. The wood in question was maple and it was 

 used in large squares in connection with the manufacture of trans- 

 formers of excessively high voltage. The conversation on this subject 

 was opened with a statement by the official that several years of ex- 

 perimentation in order to determine the proper way of handling the 

 squares, still found the company undecided as to exactly how to get 

 the best out of this material. 



The squares were formerly bought in size of 5x6 up to 8x8, but it 

 was ultimately found entirely impractical and too expensive to pur- 

 chase anything larger than 5x5 and 5x6. 



It does not speak well for the lumberman who first sold these maple 

 squares to this particular concern when one considers the statement 

 that when this concern first started to use the material it believed that 

 it could get the desired results by simply putting the squares into a 



dry-kiln and rushing them for twenty-four hours. The idea is to 

 dry thoroughly, after which the squares are immersed in a vat of 

 superheated oil and then utilized. 



The point of this editorial is the fact that the average consumer 

 of forest products understands very little as to the proper utilization 

 of what he buys. The manufacturer and wholesaler should hence 

 make every possible suggestion that will enable the buyer of his goods 

 to get the most satisfactory results from the wood that he uses, 

 otherwise he is going to change from one wood to another and per- 

 haps eventually swerve to a substitute for wood. 



This particular instance is a striking example of the lack of knowl- 

 edge of wood physics on the part of such enormous buyers of wood 

 as the concern in mind. The statement that after two years' work 

 it is still having all kinds of trouble and experiencing an enormous 

 waste of material is pretty conclusive proof that it needs education. 



Getting back to the actual cause of the trouble, the official made 

 the statement that the prime essential of the squares for the purpose 

 for which they are intended is absolute dryness. He said that the 

 company is now storing squares for six months under shed and then 

 drying in a kiln, after which they are put into the oil bath. Imagine 

 trying to thoroughly dry a 5x6 maple square in six months, particu- 

 larly when a mere suggestion of moisture will result in the electricity 

 gouging a hole completely through the square. It seems strange that 

 the man who sold and is selling this company its squares could not 

 have suggested that it buy them two, four or five years ahead and 

 pile them, thus insuring complete dryness. This is nrerely one of 

 those little things that the lumberman sometimes overlooks. 



Car Conditions February First 



AEEPOET from the American Eailway Association dated Febru- 

 ary 7 contains a statement of car surplus and shortage on 

 February 1, with a comparative summary from October 25, 1911. 



The total surplus February 1, 1913, was 62,045 cars; on January 15, 

 1913, the surplus was 53,230 ears; on January 31, 1912, the surplus 

 was 55,592 cars. 



The total shortage February 1, 1913, was 24,785 cars; on January 

 15, 1913, the shortage was 24,791, while on January 31, 1912, the 

 shortage was 23,011. 



Compared with the preceding period, there is an increase in the 

 total surplus of 8,815 cars. Compared with the same date of 1912, 

 there is an increase in the total surplus of 6,453 cars and an increase 

 in the total shortage of 1,774 cars. 



A Worthy Suggestion 



A PLAN promulgated some time ago but outlined in detail in a 

 letter read before the Hardwood Manufacturers' Association 

 convention at Cincinnati last week, should, if it materializes, sim- 

 plify the dimension stock business and put it on a basis that will 

 insure profit to the dimension manufacturer. 



The chief difficulty in making dimension stock at a profit has 

 been the fact that it has been manufactured mainly from waste 

 accumulation, and hence it was impossible to maintain stocks of 

 any size. Further, if the manufacture of dimension were attempted 

 by a concern doing nothing but this, the variation and lack of uni- 

 formity in dimension requirements would prohibit the piling up 

 of sizes to any extent. 



The suggestion would provide for a department of the Hardwood 

 Manufacturers' Association, which would act as the selling agent 

 for all members manufacturing dimension stock. This department 

 would maintain a corps of men who would give close supervision 

 to the manufacture of dimension at the different mills. It would 

 also use its best efforts to standardize the sizes required by the 

 consumers. Thus it would be possible to provide for the manufac- 

 ture of sufficient stock ahead to take care of any order. 



The difficulty in the past has been that many times orders have 

 had to be refused because insufficient stocks made it impossible to fill 

 them. With the proposed new scheme of things, however, the sell- 

 ing department maintained by the association would have the call 

 on all dimension accumulations at the different mills, and further- 

 more, the mills could carry standard sizes in stock. 



