36 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



rates were confiscatory and unreasonable, and that where there appears 

 to be a narrow margin between possible confiscation and proper regula- 

 tion, and if the result depends on future operation, the court should not 

 enjoin the enforcement of the order before there has been a fair trial of 

 the new rate. The switching charge af;itation dates back several .years, 

 various trade bodies here, among them the Lumber Exchange, having, 

 in 1911, instituted proceedings before the Public Service Commission of 

 Maryland and the Interstate Commerce Commission against the railroads 

 having terminals here to obtain a reduction of the charges on the ground 

 that these were extortionate, unreasonable, and burdensome, and that 

 they placed the Baltimore shippers at a great disadvantage as against 

 manufacturers in other cities, with whom they could not compete under 

 (he circumstances, the margin of profit being often wiped out by the 

 higher switching charges here. The proceedings before the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission culminated May 14, 1912, in an order to the 

 railroads to establish within thirty days joint rates for the interchange 

 of interstate traffic, the maximum rates to be charged for the service 

 being set forth and exceeding the expectations oi; the shippers. The 

 Maryland Public Service Commission issued an order on May 31, of the 

 same year, establishing a switching district to include all of Baltimore 

 City and a small territory outside of it. and providing for certain flat 

 rates per car moved within this district, the rates being substantial 

 reductions from those of the railroads. The 

 railroads then appealed to the courts and a tem- 

 porary injunction was issued, which has now as 

 above stated, been sustained in part and voided 

 in part. 



Lewis Doster Makes Change 



Lewis Doster for years well-known as the 

 efficient secretary of the Hardwood Manufactur- 

 ers' Association of the United States, recently 

 completed arrangements for a change in his 

 busimss activities. He is severing his connec- 

 tion with this association, this connection hav- 

 ing been officially severed on March 15. 1913, 

 at which time he was officially engaged to act 

 as general representative for the well-known saw 

 lirm, .loshua Oldham & Sons, Inc., Brooklyn, N. 

 Y. Mr. Doster will represent this firm through- 

 out the entire middle western territory, and will 

 maintain an office in the First National Bank 

 building, Cincinnati. O. 



While the connection nominally started Mar. 

 15, Mr. Doster has done nothing actively in his 

 new work, but is still, secretary of the associa- 

 tion, with the understanding that he will re- 

 main in that position until other arrangements 

 can be made as to his successor. 



Mr. Doster states that he made the change 

 after looking over the field thoroughly. Mr. Dos- 

 ter's wide acquaintance among the hardwood 

 manufacturers of the country will stand him in 

 good stead in his new position. He will not. 

 however, limit his trade to hardwood mills, but 

 will cover the sawmills manufacturing every kind of lumber in the 

 Middle West. 



Lumber Fraud Case Progressing 



United States District .attorney Swarlley outlined the government's 

 case against the International Lumber & Development Company before the 

 United States district court at Philadelphia. Pa. He declared to 

 the juror.'' that the prosecutior would show that the dofeudaiits "had de- 

 frauded stockholders of the concern oul of .^G.OOO.OOO by false represen- 

 tation and misleading literature circulated through th_' mai's. He as- 

 serted that 288.000 acres of land alleged to have been owned in Mexico 

 by the defendant was in reality owned by a New Jersey corporation. He 

 further declared it would be shown that the so-callod dividends paid 

 SI mi-annually by the company were not out of the earnings but out of 

 the money collected from the stockholders. He further declared that it 

 would be proven that the company cut only about one-third of the lumber 

 reported cut and that not much of this was cut on the property claimed 

 to have been owned by the company. 



The government attorney said that wliile the International Develop- 

 ment Company's circulars claimed that that concern was doing an im- 

 mense mahogany business ; in reality most of the alleged mahogany logs 

 were oak logs. The attorney raised a laugh when he declared that the 

 much advertised "great International fleet" maintained by the company 

 for transportation purposes consisted of one ocean going steamer, one 

 launch, two sail-boats and two row boats. 



The defendants are John R. Markley of Chicago ; Isaiah K. Miller of 

 Chicago ; Charles B. McMahon. secretary and treasurer of the company : 

 Colonel A. G. Stewart, director and commissioner of the company ; Wil- 

 liam Armstrong Jr., general agent for the concern. 



The government's attorneys showed methods employed by the com- 

 pany in the sale of its stock, the display of products alleged to hav^ 



LEWIS DOSTER. CINCIN.NATI, NEWLY AP 

 POINTED GENERAL REPRESENTA- 

 TIVE OF JOSHUA OLDHAM & 

 SONS, INC. 



licen grown in Mexico, and the circulation of literature through the mails. 

 Several witnesses were examined. 



The latest development in the trial was the reading of a lot of 

 literature sent out by the International Lumber & Development Company 

 in order to prove that this concern used the mails to defraud Alexander 

 Williams, president of the Astoria Veneer Mills & Dock Company, Long 

 Island City, N. Y. Mr. Williams testified that he had signed a contract 

 with John R.. Marshall, one of the defendants, to receive and saw logs 

 shipped from the plaintiff. He told of the various shipments received and 

 said the wood was small and unsatisfactory, and that nothing could 

 be said in its favor. He testified that the treasurer of the International 

 company had said that a better qualit.v of timber would be shipped 

 as soon as the better trees could be reached. 



Mr. Williams said that W. H. Armstrong. Jr., of the International 

 company in 1905 had asked permission to take photographs of piles of 

 logs belonging to the International company which had been shipped to 

 the plaintiff. He said that Armstrong had taken several pictures which 

 were printed in newspapers and literature, and were represented to be 

 views of piles of mahogany owned by the International Lumber & 

 Development Company. The witness was shown the pictures and 

 declared that one the company claimed to be a pile of valuable mahogany 

 was not mahogany at all, but a pile of English oak logs. 



Another representation of a pile of mahogany, 

 according to the witness, was a pile of Mexican 

 mahogany logs belonging to Lewis Thompson & 

 Co.. which had been lying in the witness' lumber 

 yard preparatory to being manufactured. 



Another was a pile of African mahogany 

 shipped from Africa, and not owned by the In- 

 Irrnational Lumber & Development Company. 

 Still another represented and purported to be 

 mahogany logs really showed maple. 



Cadillac Concern Moves to Grand Bapids 



A. V. Anderson, who for fifteen years has done 

 a wholesale lumber business at Cadillac. Mich., 

 has decided to move the headquarters of that 

 business to Grand Rapids. Mich., where they will 

 be maintained in conjunction with the offices of 

 the Van Keulen & Winchester Lumber Company 

 in the Michigan Trust Company building. The 

 change will be made some time during the pres- 

 ent month. 



A. P. Anderson has been in Seattle, Wash., 

 for over a year and will continue to make his 

 home in the Far West. A. F. Anderson's son; 

 who has with Adrian Van Keulen been in active 

 charge of the business, will al.so make his home 

 in the West. Adrian Van Keulen will continue 

 in charge of the Grand Rapids office. 



Red Gum Lumber Company Starts Business 

 at New Orleans 



One of the newest organizations start- 

 ing in the hardwood business in Louisiana 

 is the Red Gum Lumber Company, a concern with $50,000 capital, 

 which has opened otBces in the Maison Blanche building. H. B. 

 Turner is vice-president and general manager and will have active charge 

 of the business. 



The company has the entire sale of four Louisiana hardwood mills, 

 having an aggregate daily output of 100,000 feet, which is made up of 

 gum, tupelo. elm, cottonwood, oak, ash and magnolia. It is its aim to 

 do a general wholesale business, both domestic and export. 



Mr. Turner has been with Phil I. Adam, prominent in New Orleans 

 as an exporter for a number of years. He severed his business con- 

 nection with .Mr. Adam in order to engage in the new enterprise. Mr. 

 Turner's experience in hardwoods has been extensive, and he is widely 

 and favorably known in hardwood circles. 



New York State Forestry Students Get 'Valuable Experience 



The practical work covered by the students of the New Y'ork State 

 College of Forestry at Syracuse offers a variety of subjects which result 

 in a broad education on various subjects dealing with the administration 

 of New York forests. The students of the State Rangers School have 

 been making maple sugar on the college forests of 1.800 acres near 

 Cranberry Lake. The school has a complete outfit of spouts, buckets and 

 evaporators, and is in every way well equipped to make sugar and syrup. 

 This work is part of the rangers' Instructions. 



Ten of the older students of the college of forestry left Syracuse 

 recently for two weeks of practical work in the state nursery at Sala- 

 manca. N. Y., where they are working under the direction of Superin- 

 tendent Warner of the nursery. They are employed as day laborers 

 taking up every line of work in the nursery, such as lifting seedlings and 

 transplanting them and packing transplanted plants for shipment. They 

 also prepare the ground for seed beds, and perform the various other 

 duties necessary in connection with forest nursery work. 



