18 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



pulpwood when the aspen and spruce forests of the United States 

 and Canada have reached their limit of supply. The material which 

 seems to promise great things is a kind of water-weed called sudd 

 which grows in the upper Kile, south of Egypt. Estimates which 

 place the quantity at enough to supply the world with paper are 

 doubtless overdrawn, as such estimates usually are, but it has long 

 been known that sudd exists in vast quantities in the stagnant 

 reaches of the upper Nile. For long distances it is a bar to naviga- 

 tion. It dams the river, causing large tracts of level land to over- 

 flow, and the submerged land X-iroduces as much sudd as the river it- 

 self. The weed takes root in the bottom of the river, but grows to 

 the surface, where it accumulates in thick masses through which 

 the most powerful steam tug cannot force its way. It is said (pos- 

 sibly it is only a traveler's tale) that the hippopotamus sometimes 

 crosses the Nile without touching water, by walking on the thick 

 mat of sudd. 



A recent consular report gives an account of experiments having 

 for their purpose the conversion of sudd into pulp suitable for 

 paper. The fiber is good but the color is bad, and the difficult 

 problem has been to bleach the sudd without destroying the fiber. 

 It is claimed that a way has been found to do it. , 



The experiment took place in a demonstration laboratory at 

 Brondesbury, England. At 12:30 p. m. the sudd was placed in a 

 tank containing 150 gallons of bleachoid, which is obtained by an 

 electrolytical process from a solution of common salt. Five hours 

 later it was of a very light cream color, and, more important still, 

 the fiber had in no way been attacked. By 8:30 the sudd had 

 reached a creamy white shade, and in another three hours it had 

 become a fair white. Samples were then taken, and the remainder 

 was left in the tank overnight, and by morning it had reached a 

 white that could be used for high-class paper making. 



Whatever further results are obtained from the experimental 

 demonstration one fact stands out prominently, namely, that sudd 

 has been successfully bleached, and that the fiber is exceptionally 

 strong. The next step will be to prove that, exploited on a commer- 

 cial scale in the Sudan, sudd will be a paying proposition. About 

 this there seems to be little doubt in the minds of experts. The 

 cost of the raw material is reduced to the cost of labor; sudd fuel 

 for the dynamo is obtainable on the spot, and salt from the 

 Ked sea. 



An Awakening 



PERHAPS NEVER BEFORE IN THE HISTORY of an important 

 commercial pursuit has there been such an awakening to the 

 frailties and inefficiency of a business as is manifested at the present 

 time in the conduct of hardwood manufacture, grading and sale of 

 the lumber product. President W. E. Delaney of the Hardwood 

 Manufacturers' Association of the United States, in his address at 

 the recent annual meeting of that organization, made the following 

 frank statement: "I am not blind to the fact that perhaps no 

 other industry with the importance of lumber in the commercial 

 world is today handled with as great waste and a.s little intelligence 

 as our product. ' ' 



It is held by good authorities that less than fifty per cent of the 

 forest wealth of the land is now utilized. An unholy waste and 

 unmistakable inefficiency marks every detail of lumber production 

 from the forest to eventual utilization. It is further held that if the 

 steel and iron business were conducted on corresponding lines the 

 entire industry would be in bankruptcy. Astute and thoughtful 

 people realize that there is an altogether senseless amount of waste 

 in lumber manufacture; that the grading systems employed are 

 highly unscientific and crude; and that the method of sale and dis- 

 tribution are far from what they should be. 



High costs all along the line are appalling. The high cost of 

 logging is duplicated in tlie high cost of manufacture. The high cost 

 of manufacture is duplicated in the high cost of assorting, yarding, 

 seasoning and loading. High mill cost is again duplicated in the 

 high cost of selling. Were it not that the timber holdings of the 

 average lumber manufacturing concern were so nearly a free gift 

 to the owners as to be pretty nearly regarded so, the entire industry 

 would be in financial difficulties. 



These presentations may be regarded as radical, but they are 

 facts just the same, and the sooner manufacturers, merchants and 

 users of lumber get down to a close study of higher efficiency, the 

 longer the industry will be perpetuated and the more money there 

 will be in it for ihose participating. 



Enterprising men in this trade have already spent much thought 

 and much money in an attempt to secure higher efficiency. Some of 

 these attempts have been crowned with success, while other alleged 

 economies have proven to be manifest extravagances. 

 . A writer on scientific business efficiency says : ' ' The bane of 

 many a good idea has been the intemperate zeal of its exploiters. 

 The philosopher 's passion for unity and his desire to trace all things 

 back to the one sufficient cause seem in some degree to permeate all 

 minds. No sooner does a man conceive a truth in his line of thought 

 than he begins to develop it and elaborate it, until it becomes so 

 great in his mental vision that it shuts out the whole horizon; and 

 he is ultimately self -persuaded that if only this were adopted man 's 

 ills would cease. The name of cure-alls is legion. 



' ' The regrettable thing about it all is that the over-zealous efforts 

 of the would-be benefactor arouse the innate stubbornness of the 

 prospective beneficiary, and so deprive the world of a good. ' ' 



Both the pioneer and the reformer have their troubles. Pioneer- 

 ing in every line is expensive, and the average reformer is a nuisance, 

 but today the manufacturer, the merchant or the eventual consumer 

 of forest products who has not had his thoughts turned to scientific 

 efficiency is classed as an old fogy. 



Public opinion now makes it incumbent upon the real business man 

 to investigate every new method that looks to higher efficiency, and 

 the lowering of costs. There is more room for the study of scientific 

 efficiency in nearly every detaU of lumber production, manipulatiou 

 and marketing than in most any other important conunercial pursuit 

 in this country, and it is a good sign when the astute, thoughtful 

 men in this trade are taking up these questions one by one and 

 attempting to solve them in the best way. 



When these problems are solved it will be found beyond question 

 that it is possible to develop two dollars from the forest where one 

 dollar is developed today. 



Venerable English Woodwork 



THE OLD ENGLISH CARPENTERS used good woods and the.v 

 did their work well. When they built a house they constructed 

 it to last. This is called to mind now and then when historic build- 

 ings in England are examined. One of the latest to be brought to 

 public notice is an old house which has stood more than 700 years 

 near Hereford, England, and known in English local history as 

 Eotherwas Mansion. The paneling and other interior woodwork 

 consist of oak, sycamore, acacia and yew. There were twelve rooms 

 finished in that way, and a comparatively large amount of wood 

 was required, since veneers and thin boards were not fashionable 

 when that house was built. Everything was solid and massive. 

 One of the rooms was once a bed chamber in which James I slept 

 in 1618. 



Collectors of antiques in England are expressing concern just now 

 because of the announcement that the woodwork is to be stripped 

 from the interior of the mansion and offered for sale at auction. 

 It is believed that some of it, perhaps all of it, will be bought by 

 wealthy Americans, and that English museums will miss a valuable 

 collection of panels, posts, capitals, and other ornaments and carv- 

 ings which bear the stamp of antiquity. The objects will be 

 welcomed in this country, particularly if the purchasers should 

 decide to place them in museums here where modern dealers and 

 workers in wood will have an opportunity to study the venerable 

 workmanship of old craftsmen. 



Because the price of native hardwoods has advanced considerably 

 the past year some of the northern furniture manufacturers are 

 talking about importing more of their cabinet woods from the' 

 Philippines. It is easier to talk about that than it is to do it, 

 and get satisfaction out of the doing. 



