20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



independent position; yet there are shrewd traders on the other side 

 of the sea who are close students of commercial affairs. As the pres- 

 ent year draws to a close and 1913 approaches, lumber journals in 

 England and elsewhere are publishing reviews of the past and prof>- 

 peets for the future. The concensus of opinion is that next year will 

 show a larger volume of business in lumber transactions than any 

 year in the past. 



That opinion is based on an analysis of conditions. The year 

 which is near its close has been satisfactory, and it leaves a good 

 impression. Markets have been good, supply and demand have been 

 nicely balanced, but demand in many lines is now stronger than 

 supply. There is an abundance of raw material, but most of it must 

 yet be manufactured before it reaches the consumer. That insured 

 good business for the logging crews, the sawmill men, the transpor- 

 tation companies, the middlemen, and the ultimate user of the forest 

 products. Yards have run low to meet increased demand, but there 

 is plenty to fill them. There is no indication anywhere of a slump in 

 demand. Everybody appears to 

 believe that good business will 

 continue, and that is the surest 

 sign that it will continue. 



European markets have refused 

 to grow panicky over the war in 

 the Balkans. Althougli nobody 

 has had any doubt that it is real 

 war, yet it has been generally be- 

 lieved that it will be localized, 

 and that no danger to the genera! 

 peace of Europe exists. That 

 feeling has caused German, Eng- 

 lish and French traders, and trad- 

 ers of other nations, to plan a 

 year of good business for 1913. 

 The confidence exhibited on the 

 other side of the water has had 

 its counterpart on this side, where 

 a presidential election and a 

 change of administration have 

 not shaken the confidence of busi- 

 ness men, who are preparing to 

 make next year one of the best 

 in the history of this country. 



The Real Object 



Now that the country has had 

 ample time to settle itself after 



the excitement of the presidential campaign, business men can afford 

 themselves a little reflection upon the effect of its results upon the 

 nation 's business. 



Probably every written comment upon the complexity of the na- 

 tional politic-al situation this fall has contained some reference to 

 the phenomenal and entirely unusual apathy on the part of business 

 to the result of a presidential campaign. For the first time perhaps 

 in the history of national politics business has demonstrated that it 

 •can entirely divorce itself from the political question and that it can 

 maintain a uniform effort to stand on its own merits. 



The real object of the business man of the country has seemed to 

 be not to advocate or oppose any particular candidate whose election 

 might have any particular bearing upon business itself, but to do 

 everything possible to continue the sentiment which has prevailed all 

 over the country that good times are with us again, and that the busi- 

 ness man should do everything possible to estrange business from the 

 influence of politics. 



The evidence that this sentiment would prevail was seen long be- 

 fore the election, and it has certainly been maintained without fal- 

 tering straight through the campaign, and shows no symptoms of dis- 

 sipation now that the question is settled. The so-called ' ' calamity 

 howlers ' ' have tried desperately to make their voices heard predicting 

 all kinds of dire results in the election of this or that candidate. It 

 it probable that the predictions as to the downfall of business in the 



UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL 



Ues;ta( %nmhtv anb Jllfs. Co. 



Incorporated 



iianufarturrra of 



(^uartrrrb lli)tlf (iak. l^lain iSp& attb 



Wl|ttp Wak, J^njilar. Hark 



Halnut, iEtr. 



Knoxville, Tenn.. Nov. 9, 1912. 

 HARDWOOD RECORD, 

 Chicago, III. 



Gentlemen: We are enclosing you a sample of some of 

 the letters we have received, w/hich shows that our adver- 

 tisements in your paper are widely read. 

 Very truly yours, 



VESTAL LUMBER & MFG. CO., 



E. M. Vestal, V. P. & Sec'y. 



The letter enclosed was from a leading Anvers, Belgium, 

 dealer in American hardwoods, asking for quotations on 

 three-eighths inch, one inch and inch-and-a-half quar- 

 tered and plain white oak. — Editor. 



event of a Democratic election were more numerous than regarding 

 the election of either of the other candidates, but now that a Demo- 

 cratic president is actually to take the presidential chair, the business 

 man seems very much inclined to continue to devote his entire thought 

 and effort toward maintaining the highly satisfactory condition of 

 business throughout the country. 



The business men have practically as a unit adopted the attitude 

 toward politics which would indicate that as long as politics evince 

 no desire to interfere with business, business will run along in its own 

 groove with an increasing degree of activity. There doesn't seem 

 to be any sentiment that would indicate any great anxiety. The busi- 

 ness man seems quite ready to forget .the possibility of any kind of 

 disastrous results from the recent election until such time as the 

 Democratic party miglit sec fit to affect some desperate and drastic 

 legislation. It hardly seems possible, however, that such an attempt 

 will be made. 



In considering the recent vote the fact is Tery apparent that the 



government was made Democratic 

 entirely because of the split in 

 the opposition, and not because of 

 any great wave of public endorse- 

 ment of the Democratic prin- 

 ciples. Therefore, its foothold 

 upon the national administration 

 is not so strong but that it can 

 very easily slip if its policies are 

 too jarring upon the public taste. 

 In view of the fact that Mr. Wil- 

 son 's actual vote was much less 

 than that of William Jennings 

 Bryan in the previous election, it 

 hardly seems possible that any- 

 thing of a drastic nature will be 

 attempted. 



Business men can safely play 

 their own game in the gallery, 

 merely keeping an eye occasion- 

 ally on affairs at Washington as 

 a matter of patriotic pride rather 

 than business anxietv. 



An Opportunity 



It is seldom that lumbermen 

 are aligned with railroads in any 

 fight for a cause which would re- 

 sult in mutual benefit or detri- 

 ment to these two important branches of industry. An opportunity 

 which has just been presented to them to work together for the com- 

 mon good of both should be readily and enthusiastically embraced by 

 both. 



By consistent and persistent effort lumbermen operating under 

 Western classification have been successful in maintaining on ship- 

 ments from the west coast eastward, a different classification for goods 

 packed in fiber and similar containers than those packed in wooden 

 boxes. In other sections of the country, particularly in the East on 

 west-bound freight and on any freight shipped between eastern points, 

 the uniform classification on goods shipped in both types of contain- 

 ers has resulted in serious detriment to the box manufacturers of that 

 territory, and hence to the producers of box material selling to east- 

 ern box manufacturers. 



While Washington, Oregon and California lumbermen have in the 

 past enjoyed the benefits of this reasonable classification, these benefits 

 are seriously threatened at the present time by a petition which 

 puts the issue squarely before the Intei"state Commerce Commission 

 for decision. The question is of specific importance to that territory 

 inasmuch as the products of the foi-est there run extensively into the 

 lower grades used for boxes, and the feetage sold would be seriously 

 reduced if the fiber packages were permitted to be carried under 

 equivalent rates. 



Based on an appeal from George X. Wendling of San Francisco to 



