HARDWOOD RECORD 



41 



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'News Miscellany 



Coming Annual of the National Wholesalers 



All reports indicate; that tlip annual morting of the National WTiole- 

 sale Lumber Dealers' Association, to be held at Atlantic City on Thurs- 

 <lay and Friday. March 6 and 7, will be one of the largest conventions 

 ever held by that association. Arrangements are being made by mem- 

 bers in several cities to engage special cars, and It Is very evident that 

 the decision of the trustees to hold the meeting this year at Atlantic 

 City meets with the very hearty approval of the association members. 



Arrangements at the Hotel Chelsea, which Is to be the headquarters 

 of the association during the meeting, are the most complete ever made 

 for a convention. The floor plans of the hotel are such that the meet- 

 ings can be conducted on a very convenient and expeditious basis, the 

 convention hall being on the first floor right off the lobby, while the 

 various committee rooms, smoking room, etc., provide a most suitable 

 meeting place. The executive committee is working out a program for 

 the convention and the banquet which Is to be held on Friday evening, 

 March 7. Speakers of prominence will attend the banquet. The replies 

 from manufacturing, wholesale and retail associations show that the 

 association and delegate attendance will be unusually large. The ladies 

 will also participate in the banquet. 



Several important subjects will be considered at the business meeting 

 and the combination of business and .social arrangements is one that will 

 be unusually pleasing to the members and delegates. 



Forestry Matters in North Carolina 



The third annual meeting of the North Carolina Forestry Association, 

 at its meeting in .Tanuary, passed resolutions by which It declared its 

 attitude on several important matters of policy. 



The state was urged to co-operate with the federal government in pro- 

 tecting the forests on the headwaters of the principal rivers. 



The movement to turn over government timberlands to the state in 

 which they are situated was strongly disapproved, and members of the 

 United States Senate and House of Representatives were asked to use 

 their best efforts to defeat it. 



Better means were advocated for the protection of the forests in the 

 state against fire, and an increase in the appropriation was asked for 

 that purpose. 



The time-honored custom in the South of ranging stock in the wood< 

 is severely criticized. 4'Hogs and cattle," it is declared in the report. 

 "are preventing the reforesting with longleaf pine of vast areas of cut- 

 over forest land in the eastern half of Norch Carolina." The association 

 recommended a stock law that would put a stop to the unrestricted 

 ranging of cattle and bogs. 



The movement for establishing a chair of forestry in the State Uni- 

 versit.v was endorsed by the association. 



Activities of Memphis Lumbermen 

 lied gum will be used as the interi<^r finisli in the new Chisca hotel. 

 which is being Erected here and which is to be one of the largest struc- 

 tures of the kind in the city. The management first decided on birch, 

 but as a result of the activit.v of the special committee appointed by 

 the Lumbermen's Club the specifications have been changed from birch to 

 red gum. The latter is to be quarter-sawn and is to bo used in its 

 natural color, with the result that it is expected that it will prove 

 <iuite an advertisement of the beauty and utility of this lumber. The 

 special committee, of which F. B. Robertson is chairman, made its report 

 at the meeting of the Lumbermen's Club, held at the Hotel Gayoso. Feb. 

 15. and the success of the work of this committee was the source of 

 much gratification to the members, particularly to those who are promi- 

 nently identified with red gum, either through ownership of gum timber 

 or through operation of plants manufacturing this lumber. It was neces- 

 sary for the club to agree that the management of the hotel should not 

 experience any loss as a result of the change in the specifications, and 

 this was done. It is not known what the difference in cost will be, but 

 the club is sending a representative to Oshkosh, Wis., to go over the 

 matter with the firm at that point which bad the original contract speci- 

 fying birch. There is a vast amount of gum timber in the Memphis 

 territory and the success of the committee in this instance is accepted 

 by members of the trade here as one of the most important steps taken 

 in the educational work being done in behalf of that particular wood. 



The law and insurance committee, through James E. Stark, reported 

 that further investigation had disclosed the fact that Are insurance rates 

 <m lumber in Memphis were not only higher than at points north of the 

 Ohio river but that they were higher than those at Nashville and St. 

 Louis. Mr. Stark has gone very thoroughly into this matter, and the 

 further he goes the more convinced he is that rates here are entirely 

 out of line and that they are so excessive that a decided ad.iustment is 

 necessary. He and the members of his committee held a conference dui'- 

 Ing the past week with a representative of the Tennessee Inspection 

 Bureau but. while a number of propositions were made, none was satis- 

 factory. Mr. Stark had a vast array of figures which he submitted to 

 the club hearing out his contention that rates here are not only to.p 

 high but that they are distinctly out of line with those on similar risks 



""ST other points. Mr. Starl; also Introduced to the club a gentleman who 

 has been identified with Insurance matters and who declared it to be his 

 opinion that Ibe insurance companies could make substantially lower 

 rates at Memphis and still get away with a good profit. The commit- 

 tee will continue its efforts to secure lower rates, and indications are 

 that the matter will be handled so vigorously that something definite In 

 the way of results will be obtained. 



The river and rail committee called the attention of the club, through 

 .Tohn W. MeCIure, to the fact that the Illinois Central Railroad Com- 

 pany had agreed to temporarily withdraw the proposed increase of two 

 cents per hundred pounds on shipments of Cottonwood and gum from 

 Vicksburg. Cedar Point and one other station In Mississippi to Memphis. 

 This withdrawal Is effective until May 1, when the Illinois Central pro- 

 poses to put in Increased tariffs on all hardwood shipments of lumber 

 from points in Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi to Memphis. Mr. 

 McClure states that the shippers of hardwood lumber were represented 

 at the hearing before Special Examiner Elder of the Interstate Commerce 

 Commission Feb. 13, at which time the Illinois Central made this an- 

 nouncement, by ,1. II. Townsend, manager of the Southern Hardwood 

 Traffic Bureau, and J. R. Walker, special attorney for that organization. 

 The hardwood men did not attend and did not give any testimony because 

 this hearing, it was stated, dealt almost altogether with pine. 



The club, on recommendation of the river and rail committee. In- 

 structed the secretary to request the Tennessee senators at Washing- 

 ton to support the confirmation of the reappointment of Mr. Clark of the 

 Interstate Commerce Commission. 



Among the guests at this meeting was Special Examiner Elder of the 

 Interstate Commerce Commission. Mr. Elder addressed the club and 

 said that, while this was bis first visit South, he was very favorably 

 impressed with Memphis. He complimented the lumbermen in particti- 

 lar upon the good feeling which existed among them and which enabled 

 them to combine themselves into such a formidable organization for the 

 protection of their mutual interests. By virtue of his connection with 

 the commission Mr. Elder has had an excellent oppoi-tunlty to witness 

 the results which have followed the organized efforts of the lumbermen of 

 this section in connection with rate and other problems. 



This meeting was well attended and was of particular interest, owing 

 to the number of subjects which came up for discussion. The attend- 

 ance was large. The usual luncheon was served. 



Philadelphia Exchange in Monthly Meeting 



The Lumbcrniin's Exchange held its repular monthly meeting on Feb. 

 (J. President William T. Betts in the chair. After the usual luncheon, a 

 regalement of another sort but of equal relish was furnisbed by Owen M. 

 Bre.ner. president of the Philadelphia ^^'holesa'e Lumber Dealers* Associa- 

 tion who has recently made a trip to the Panama canal, of which he 

 made a (borough inspection, and of which wonderful construction he is 

 well equipped to give an entertaining description and to expatiate 

 exhaustively upon its wonderful advantages to a universal traffic. He 

 illustrated this great work by the aid of moving pictures. This was a 

 treat for which those present feel much indebted to Mr. Bruner. Views of 

 some of the immense lumber camps and timber tracts in Idaho and Wash- 

 ington, and of other interesting Pacific plants were also given. By a 

 neat little trick of Mr. Bruner. as a closing view. President William T. 

 Betts and George A. Howes, appeared in bold relief on the sheet to the 

 excessive mirth of the audience. 



At this meeting J. E. Troth, in behalf of Ralph Soudcr. chairman of 

 the committee on legislation, submitted a report in which the committee 

 recommends that the exchange endorse the bill asking for the repeal of 

 the mercantile tax, which request was made by the joint committee on 

 repeal of mercantile tax, Pittsburgh. The exchange concluded to do 

 this. It also endorses the endorsement of the Alter bill, in the Penn- 

 sylvania General Assembly, in Harrisburg. against fraudulent advertis- 

 ing, notifying the Pittsburgh Publicity Association to that effect. A bill 

 in the House of Representatives. Washington, for the purchase of a site 

 on which to begin the (onstruction of a new custom house In the city of 

 Philadelphia was in resolution endorsed by the exchange at this meeting. 

 The American Academy of Political and Social Science, Philadelphia, sent 

 a request that delegates to represent the exchange be sent to the Seven- 

 teenth annual meeting, to be held on April 4 .and 5. The six sessions of 

 this annual meeting will be devoted to "The cost of living in the United 

 States." I'resident Betts, was instructed to appoint delepates. 



Timber Purchase 

 .1. C. Turner, the well-known cypress man of New York, has Just pur- 

 chased 24.000 acres of cypress and tupelo giim timber near Jlobile. Ala., 

 from the Mobile Timber Company. The tract cruises about .'S.'')O,fl00.000 

 feet. Mr. Turner expects to begin to operate this timber sometime dur- 

 ing 1014. This is only one of the many enterprises in the Gulf coast 

 region in which Mr. Turner Is Interested. 



February Edition Red Book 

 The Lumbermen's Credit A.ssociation. Transportation building. Chicago. 

 publisher of the Red Book, has delivered to its subscribers the Febru- 

 ary eilition giving ratings and financial standing of lumber concerns 

 throughout the United States and several provinces of Canada. This 

 concern, of which William Clancy is the head, has been In business since 

 1S70, aiid aside from printing the Red Book and issuing reports on the 

 lumber traile. it also has a law and collection department. 



