22 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



what is claimed, but only a very small portion of this is convertible into 

 useful lumber. The main troubles with the wood are first, that the trees 

 themselves while living contain internal stresses which cause the logs to 

 check as soon as the tree is cut, and the boards to warp directly from the 

 saw. Then in drying the shrinkage is not only very unequal, but it is 

 three or four times as great as hickor.v, and unlike other hardwoods, it 

 begins to shrink with the first loss of moisture as high as eighty per cent 

 of the dry weight. Moreover the dry wood will not hold its shape well. 

 In air drying the wood either checks badly, honeycombs, or warps, gen- 

 erally all three. Small specimens and occasionally a larger piece of lum- 

 ber and very carefully selected material have dried successfully, but this 

 represents so small a proportion of the standing timber that the profit is 

 gone. In some experiments in drying this lumber in a special kiln of 

 my own invention I have succeeded in turning out some really fine boards 

 which will compare favorably with oak and other hardwoods, but it must 

 be remembered that this represents selected material, and probably from 

 less than one per cent of the standing trees, and even so less than half 

 of the scale measure of the logs from which cut. For small articles, 

 such as tool handles, good material can be had by selection, and some con- 

 cerns in California are now manufacturing these, but the market for this 

 material is necessaril.v limited and such small stock does not require a 

 very great stumpage. 



Mr. Watson in his article does not state what species he is planting at 

 San Diego, It is possible that some of the slower growing eucal.vpts. 

 the value of which for lumber has not been tried, such as E. reainijera^ 

 might prove good, but then on the other hand their rates of growth are 

 so slow as to be of little or no advantage over other hardwoods. 



This matter should be made very plain for the benefit of the great 

 number of people who are investing in eucalyptus planting. For fuel, 

 wind-breaks, and soil protection, as well as for many other purposes, the 

 value of eucalyptus trees for California can hardly be over-estimated, but 

 the fictitious claims which are sometimes made for the blue gum and 

 other species as a lumber producing tree in less than half a century of 

 growth should be refuted so clearly that "hp that runs may read." 



Apparently a Success 



The lumbermen 's mutual fire Insurance compatiies, under which 

 lumbermen and the woodworking plants throughout the country have 

 been enabled for years to purchase their insurance at an absolute 

 minimum of cost, have long since demonstrated their practicability 

 and their ability to greatly reduce the cost of fire insurance to such 

 concerns. This business has long since passed beyond the experi- 

 mental stage, and in spite of violent and unjust opposition on the 

 part of stock companies, has gained a prominent and increasing strong ■ 

 foothold in the insurance world. 



The various liability laws which have gone Into effect during the 

 last year or two in different states have effected a greatly increased 

 insurance rate. As a consequence the owners of industrial plants have 

 revolted at the idea, in embracing such laws, of being forced to pay 

 exorbitant insurance costs to the old companies. As a result of this 

 workingmen's compensation legislation a number of mutual casualty 

 companies have been started in various parts of the country. The 

 success of none probably has been so decidedly marked as that of 

 the recently incorporated Lumbermen's Mutual Casualty Company, 

 organized a few weeks ago in Chicago for the benefit of Chicago 

 lumbermen. 



This concern secured the services of an able and experienced insur- 

 ance man as manager, and already in the five weeks it has been in 

 operation has secured a half million dollars more in subscriptions 

 than the law requires for the incorporation of such a company. 



If the mutual companies had no other feature to offer industrial 

 plants than that of cheaper rates, it should certainly prove a suffi 

 cient inducement to effect the hearty support on the part of the 

 industries which embrace it. Business men are well aware of the 

 ridiculously high cost of securing insurance from the stock companies, 

 which cost must necessarily be attributed to the exorbitant adminis- 

 trative cost of the business, including immense salaries, the mainte- 

 nance of luxurious oflSces and similar charges, which must naturally 

 come from the policyholders' pockets. The very fact that these costs 

 are entirely eliminated from the mutual companies would certainly 

 present sufiSeient argument in itself considering that the other features 

 of the company are equally advantageous as those of the stock 

 company. 



That this is true is forcibly illustrated in the support which the 

 mutual companies have received, both in fire insurance and in casualty 

 insurance. There is undoubtedly a big and useful future for such 

 corporations. 



One Phase of Association Benefit 



There are four classes of trade association members which classes 

 are particularly distinguished between in the lumber business. They 

 arc the scoffers at association value; those who are indifferent; 

 those who dutifully attend meetings but never do any active work,, 

 and those who furnish the entire motive power which keeps the 

 association in its forward progress. By far the greatest number 

 are those who are indifferent, and it is very probable that their 

 indifference is due for the most part to their lack of effort to 

 ascertain the possible benefits to them of association work. 



The big lumber associations of the country have been created 

 and owe their continued existence probably more to specific work 

 which they are carrying on than to any general and less definite 

 benefit to the trade. There are, however, a vast number of small 

 associations made np of members of local trades which are desig- 

 nated as city lumber clubs and lumber exchanges, and community 

 lumber organizations of various kinds, which have a more intimate 

 bearing upon the lumber business probably than do the larger 

 associations. 



The active work of these smaller bodies has been confined mostly 

 to the last few years, during which time their growth and activities 

 have been distinctly marked. They are, of course, continually 

 faced with various problems dealing with different phases of busi- 

 ness transactions as encountered in the handling of the lumber 

 business, but one of the most definite benefits derived from such 

 association york comes not from any concerted effort on the part 

 of the members as a body to secure this or that reform, or tO' 

 combat this or that evil. It comes, on the other hand, rather from 

 the close contact among members, which necessarily results from 

 a local organization of the character, for instance, of the Lumber- 

 men's Association of Chicago, the Lumbermen's Club of Memphis 

 or Cincinnati, and similar organizations in various parts of the 

 country. 



All old-timers can recall the condition which prevailed in the old 

 days when every man 's competitor in business was carefully watched 

 with a suspicious eye and was more or less looked upon as being 

 naturally an evil influence in the trade, and as an individual he 

 would do everything in his power to freeze out a man in any 

 deal rather than work with him for the mutual benefit of both. 

 There has been a gradual transition due to club work which has 

 resulted in just the opposite attitude. 



It is not at all uncommon under present market conditions to 

 hear one wholesaler ring up a competitive wholesaler in his own 

 town, call him familiarly by his first name, and open up negotia- 

 tions on certain lines of stock which he believes his competitor 

 has, and which he himself has not, which trade probably results 

 in profit to both. 



While this condition has been true ever since the good efforts 

 of close association through local lumber organizations have been 

 felt, it is notably true at present with the prevailing scarcity of 

 different kinds of stock throughout the country. The wholesaler 

 never knows when he will be placed in the embarrassing position of 

 turning down an order from a regular customer because of his 

 inability to secure the stock from his regular mill connections. 

 He, however, might know of several wholesalers in his own town who 

 could supply the stock, but under old conditions a transaction be- 

 tween these two men would be entirely out of the question. 



Deals of this sort are being constantly put through in all the 

 hardwood centers of the country, and the fact that the trade has 

 acquired this state of mind is certainly a strong recommendation for 

 a continuation of the local lumber organizations, merely because 

 they throw the members of the trade in each town closely together, 

 and make them intimately acquainted with each other so that they 

 become well aware of the fact that each is an individual with his 

 weaknesses and his good points, and usually with a vision broad 

 enough to make him capable of appreciating that it is poor busi- 

 ness for him to live entirely within his own shell and ignore 

 entirely the interests and opinions of his competitors. 



