42 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



August 25, 1919 



in the company. Service, however, will not be confined to stockholders. 

 Those having no financial interest in the company can secure Its assistance 

 by paying the regular charges therefor. For instance, It will have a scale 

 of forwarding charges similar to that maintained by other forwarding 

 agents. The same is true of its other services. 



Headquarters will be maintained In Memphis, on the thirteenth floor ut 

 the Bank of Commerce building. 



Actual launching of this company means realization of plans which 

 have been in the making for a number of months, indeed for more than a 

 year. The fir.st step was the appointment of an export booking committee, 

 of which George C. Khemann was chairman. This committee consisted of 

 fifteen members of the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association, who gave 

 much time and study to the proposition of establishing a forwarding com- 

 pany. It made its recommendations to the members of the association at 

 its annual in Memphis in January. A referendum vote was taken and 

 this was in favor of the recommendations. Some weeks ago application 

 for a charter was made and now the last step, perfection of organization, 

 has just been taken here. 



The capital stock has been largely subscribed already. The charter pro- 

 vides, however, for any increase that may be necessary, with the result 

 that the growth of the company is largely a question of the support it 

 receives from those engaged in the exportation of lumber and raw ma- 

 terial.s generally as well as from those who are importing commodities 

 from overseas. 



The association has a vast amount of machinery already in motion 

 which can be used by the company to its decided advantage. Oflicers of 

 the latter are therefore very enthusiastic regarding the future of the com- 

 pany. They believe it will greatly facilitate the handling of both exports 

 and imports and that it will be able to render distinctly worth-while 

 service to the hardwood trade as well as to lumber and woodworking in- 

 dustries and to every branch of business engaged in the export field. 



Manufacturing and Importing Firms with Capital of Approxi- 

 mately $10,000,000 Are Combined 



Announcement was made on August 11 by Arthur U. Allen, vice-presi- 

 dent of the Mengel Box Company, that the business of that company and 

 the business of the C. C. Mengel & Brothi'r Company, both of Louisville, 

 had been virtually consolidated through the purchase by the Mengel Box 

 Company of the controlling stock in the C. C. Mengel & Brother Com- 

 pany, practically consolidating two big companies, which have capital ff 

 approxiniati'ly $]0.00n,0(:H1. 



The Mengel Box Company was established in l.STT and grew rapidly. Its 

 lumber department also grew so fast that in 1,S99 it was separated from 

 the box company and established in a separate i>lant. C. R. Mengel became 

 head of the C. C. Mengel & Brother Company, the lumber concern, while 

 C. C. Mengel became president of the Mengel Box Company, each being 

 interested in the other company. During the twenty years that the com- 

 panies have been operated individually they have cooperated with one 

 another in many ways, and for some time past oflicers and stockholders of 

 both companies have favored consolidation, which would bring operations 

 Into closer harmony. 



At the present time the officers have not decided just what may be done 

 about actual consolidation of offices or interests, that being something 

 that will be worked out later on. However, Mr. Allen states that closer 

 cooperation may require the merging of the two offices and general organi- 

 zations. 



The Mengel Box Company has its headquarters and largest plant in 

 Louisville, where it manufactures paper and wooden boxes of lumber, 

 veneer, etc. The paper box plant was established about ten years ago and 

 has grown rapidly. About five years ago the company purchased a paper 

 mill at Elkhart, Jnd., to manufacture paper for its paper box plant at 

 Louisville, and has Just installed a new power plant at the Indiana opera- 

 tions. It also has box plants at St. Louis, Winston-isalem and Jersey City, 

 the latter being the principal cigar box manufacturing plant, but also 

 making general boxes. Sawmills and veneer mills are found at Hickman. 

 Ky.. Mengelwiiod, Tenn., and Lufkiu. Tex. 



Operations of the C. C. Mengel & Brother Company are also on a very 

 extensive scale. This company operates a big mill at Louisville and has 

 logging camps at points in Central America, namely, British Honduras and 

 Nlcaraugua, where it produces mahogany logs which are brought through 

 Pensacola, Fla., Ijy water and railed to LouL?ville. It also has big logging 

 operations at Axlm, West Coast of Africa, where it also produces mahogany 

 and tropical logs. Chicle, cocoa and coffee are some of the side lines that 

 it handles in connection with its import business. 



In order to handle its heavy shipments by water the company incor- 

 porated the Axlm Transportation Company about five years ago. This 

 company operates a big fleet of steam and sail lumber hookers, which bring 

 logs and tropical products to the United States and carry general mer- 

 chandise cargoes outbound. During the war it did a general freighting 

 business with part of Its line and had many ships under charter. Three 

 vessels were last to submarines or German methods of warfare during the 

 war and two vessels were wrecked in the gulf. New baots were built to 

 replace those lost. 



During the war period the Mengel Box Company held some of the very 

 largest federal and foreign government contracts for boxes, especially shell 

 boxes, and all of its plants were kept very busy. Since the war business 

 b:>s not been quite so active and for a time was down to about fifty per 



cent of normal, but is now back at about seventy per cent capacity of 

 the plants. 



The C. C. Mengel & Brother Company during the war figured into many 

 big federal and foreign government contracts for mahogany lumljcr and 

 veneers for aer^iplane and other construction purposes. This company 

 manufactures mahogany and walnut lumlier, veneers and dimension stock 

 principally, and is one of the very hirgest mahogany manufacturing con- 

 cerns in the world. 



Pertinent Information 



Issues Bulletin on Webb-Pomerene Law 



The Fedt-Tal Trade Conimissiuu lias just issued foreign trade bulletin 

 No. 1, this being a discussion of the export trade act known as the Webb- 

 Pomerene Law. 



The purpose in issuing the bulletin was to provide information in 

 answer to inquirie.s regarding export trade possibilities. The average busi- 

 ness man in the United States is still pretty much at sea as to what he 

 is permitted and not permitted to do under this law, and the bulletin pro- 

 vides full information covering all features interesting to anyone con- 

 templating development of export business. 



Technical Bulletin on Wood 



The Forest Products Laboratory, Madison. Wis., has published bulletia 

 UTG. dealing with the relation of the shrinkage and strength properties 

 of wood to its specific gravity. .T. A. Xewlin and T. R. C. Wilson are the 

 authors. The work is strictly technical and will appeal to timber engineers 

 rather than to the general reader. It is a pamphlet of thirty-four pages 

 made up largely of charts and tables dealing with the mechanical prop- 

 erties of wood, and the engineer and wood worker will find it valuable for 

 reference. Some or the investigations were never before carried out, and 

 the ground covered is largely new, marking a distinct forward step in this 

 line of work. 



Government's Responsibility as Great as Shipper's 



What the United States Uailroad Administration does with respect to 

 prompt handling of traffic after it has been turned over to the railroads is 

 just as important a factor in determining the car supply available for 

 business interests of the country as are prompt loading and unloading of 

 cars and loading to maximum capacity on the part of users of equipment, 

 in the opinion of John M. Pritchard, secretary-manager of the American 

 Hardwood Manufacturers' Association. 



This official has written a letter to W. C. Kendall, manager of the car 

 service department of the LTnited States Railroad Administration in which 

 he made it quite clear that, while the Administration is laying all the 

 emphasis on the prompt loading and unloading of cars ami on maximum 

 loading, it has a responsibility in seeing that every car is moved just as far 

 as possible every given twenty-four hours. In fact, he characterized the 

 action of the Administration in this respect as quite as important as the 

 other two factors mentioned. 



Praises Madison Laboratory 



H. J. Elwes. the well-known writer on Engli.^h trees and forestry, 

 recently wrote to the London Timber Trades Journal after paying a visit 

 to the govei'nment Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis. : 



After seeing the work that has been done, and is now being done, at 

 Madison, I do not think that we shall ever be able to rival that admirable 

 institution ; and the forest products of the United States are so immensely 

 more important, both in quantity and variety, than those in England that 

 it is not likely or necessary that we should attempt to compete with 

 Madison. X»uring my travels in the West I was fortunate in meeting an 

 old and very wealthy man, who began life, as I was told, by hewing rail- 

 way sleepers in the woods and carrying them to the track with his own 

 bands. He now enjoys a very large fortune, which he uses mainly for 

 the increase of knowledge by liberally .supporting the museums and teach- 

 ing institutions of his state. I believe that if I had had the face to ask 

 him. he would have given me a few thous;ind dollars for Cambridge Uni- 

 versity forestry teaching: but I was unable to risk the shame I should have 

 felt if he bad asked ine, "What are your own people and government 

 doing V 



Lumbermen File Protest 



A committee representing the Unuber industry, particularly the southern 

 section of the industry, has filed a protest against the enactment of legis- 

 lation making permanent the federal employment service. The protest 

 claims that lumber operators would be hurt rather than helped by the 

 legislation. A statement by John H. Kirby, president of the National 

 Lumber Manufacturers' Association, was filed with the protest. Mr. 

 Kirby's sta,tement follows : 



There is absolutely no Feileral authority for the maintenance of such 

 a bureau as this. Congress has no control of employments in the states. 

 The constitution forbids it and the Supreme Court has had to set aside 

 numerous enactments of Congress, notably the Child Labor Law, because 

 any effort on the part of Congress to control conditions of employments 

 in the states is an invasion of the reserved rights of the states under the 

 constitution, and is therefore an attempt at usurpation. The members 

 of Congress take an path to support the constitution and they ought to 

 obey that oath. They have no right to appropriate the people's taxes, gath- 

 ered by Federal tax gatherers, for any hut a national purpose under the 

 Federal constitution. 



But aside from this very sound and very proper constitutional reason 

 for opposing this piece of legislation, it ought to be resisted because it is 



