20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Southern Growth. 

 The report of the Southern Railway Cotupany 

 is an interesting document. The statement that 

 Its net income and surplus overcharges each In- 

 creased about a million dollars is truly an en- 

 couraging one. but interest in it is narrow com- 

 pared with facts affecting the territory which 

 the railway serves. Thus we learn that "along 

 the lines of the Southern Railway Company dur- 

 ing the year ended June 30. lOOo. there were 

 completed and put in operation 46 textile mills, 

 34 furniture factories. 3S iron industries. 6 tan- 

 neries. 77 stone quarries and coal mines. 13 cot- 

 tonseed oil plants. 8 fertilizer works, and more 

 than 500 smaller industries. Over 2.50 previously 

 existing plants were enlarged during the year 

 and .">4 new industries were under construction 

 at the close of tlie year." 



And what do these dull figures mean in men 

 and money? Every mill required capital and 

 operatives. Captains of industry translate such 

 facts into terms of immigration and investment 

 which spell wealth not for the railway primarily, 

 but for the community. Nor is this the top 

 of the boom in the opinion of the men on the 

 spot. The report continues : "Underlying con- 

 ditions are favorable to further increase in in- 

 dustrial development along and adjacent to the 

 company's lines." This is what the cotton crop 

 is doing for the south and its railways in a 

 yellow fever year. 



The permanence of growth of this sort is its 

 most important characteristic. All wealth comes 

 from the soil, but it does not come equally in all 

 years. In business, too, there are fluctuations, 

 but with a dilTerence. When a mill is built, when 

 an immigrant settles, it is something like insur- 

 ance of permanent addition to the resources 

 of the district, as well as the railway. There- 

 after their interests are indissoluble. The mill 

 may make more or less money : but, like the rail- 

 way, it cannot be removed. Nor do settlers 

 upon the soil move easily. Their roots are set 

 deeper than the forest king's. They can only 

 prosper by finding a market for their products, 

 and for that they are dependent upon railways. 

 But they must get a dollar before the railways 

 can get a share of it. It is a maxim of rail- 

 way administration that no railway can prosper 

 in the adversity of its customers, and that their 

 prosperity must precede that of the railway. 

 No money Is made upon passengers and freight 

 which are not carried, and no railway traffic 

 moves unless there is profit in it for the shippers 

 as well as for the carrier. Yet there are those 

 In influential places who seek to antagonize these 

 hand-in-hand Interests. It Is calamitous to think 

 of the results to communities If railway enter- 

 prise is paralyzed by confiscatory or benumbing 

 legiblation. The Southern Railway and its trib- 

 utary region are doing so well together that it Is 

 prtidence to leave well alone, lest It be worsened 

 by ilepartures from tried and proved policies. 

 — New York Times. 



Pacific Coast Trade in Australian Hard- 

 woods. 

 Mexican, Central and South American lumber 

 Is finding n <-loHe competitor on the Pacific coast 

 In certain beautiful and valuable woods which 

 are being extensively Imported from Australia 

 of lale. These woods are bean mahogany, rose- 

 wood, silky oak. spotted gum and ironbark. Their 

 merllH have been carefully tested by air and 

 kiln drying, and they have not been found want 

 Ing. The three first mentioned can scarcely be 

 BUrpaHHcd for beauty of finish, and the two last 

 named are In great demand for mechanical uses, 

 often being substituted for oak and hickory. The 

 spotted gum Is especially heavy and durable. 

 Austrian bean mahogany is harder than the 

 American varieties and weighs about three nnri 

 a half pounds a square foot, one inch thick. The 

 grain is delicate and handsomely figured. Aus- 

 tralian rosewood, while somewhat like bean ma- 

 hogany, has a touch of reddish gold and mark- 

 ings which give it a still richer appearance. 



Many handsome houses are being finished In 

 these woods and the borders of hardwood floors 

 are being Inlaid with them. The result is said 

 111 be very satisfactory and effective. 



Miscellaneous Notes. 

 Tlie loss sustained by the burning of the box 

 factory of the Peters Box & liUmber Company 

 at I-'t. Wayne, Ind.. Sept. J 7. was only $10,000 

 and not $21,000 as recounted by the Indianapolis 

 correspondent of the H.vrdwood Recokd. The 

 company has already received $4,000 Insurance 

 and expects to realize from $2,000 to $3,000 

 salvage on machinery. The loss in no wise em- 

 barrasses the Peters Box & Lumber Company. 



Articles of incorporation were filed Sept. 21 

 by the Northern Hardwood Lumber Company of 

 Burlington, Iowa. The corporation will carry on 

 a mantifacturing business and buy and sell land, 

 lumber and other property. The authorized capi- 

 tal is $25,000. J. L. Lane. C. .7. Hand and J. W. 

 Dixon constitute the board of directors. 



The Nashville Banner gravely states that Nash- 

 ville is the largest hardwood lumber market in 

 the world. Jim Baird must have given the paper 

 that information. 



Judge S. F. Prouty of Des Moines, Iowa, leaves 

 for Europe shortly to attempt to make a contract 

 with the Russian government for walnut timber 

 with which to manufacture gun stocks. He has 

 sold considerable walnut to the Japanese re- 

 cently for the same purpose. 



The United Walnut Company is the name of 

 a recently organized company at Fort Smith, 

 Ark., which is planning the construction of a 

 band mill with a capacity of 20,000 feet of wal- 

 nut lumber daily. The investment will approxi- 

 mate $100,000. J. A. Thompson of Edinburg, 

 Ind., is president. 



The Jacob Mortenson Lumber Company of 

 Wausau, Wis., has recently purchased from the 

 Walter Scott estate 15.000,000 feet of hardwood 

 and hemlock timber in Langlade county, Wis- 

 consin. The timber will be railed to Wausau 

 for sawing. 



The Hickory Handle Company of Rector, Ark., 

 Is the name of a new $4,000 corporation, of 

 which A. J. Sides is president. 



The new plant of the Wisconsin Veneer Com- 

 pany at Rhinelander, Wis.. Is being erected with 

 great rapidity. The big frame main structure 

 is already nearly under roof, and the brick ware- 

 house will be completed within thirty days. The 

 veneer machinery is completed and will soon be 

 shipped. The engine house of the old plant was 

 but slightly damaged and will be utilized, with 

 the power plant it contained. It is expected that 

 the new Institution will be ready for operation 

 about Jan. 1. 



The Baltimore Sash & Door Company's plant 

 at Baltimore, Md., had a narrow escape from de- 

 structii>n by fire Sejit. 25. The prompt service 

 of the fire department confined the blaze to the 

 shaving vault. 



A new handle factory Is about to be located at 

 Allegheny, near Olean, N. Y. 



William Haas & Son will remove their handle 

 factory from Crawfordsvllle. Ind., to Cairo, III., 

 where they will produce handles for pitchforks, 

 shovels an<l garden tools. 



The MorrlscmMlles Lumber Company of Lynch- 

 burg, Va., has purchased a tract of timber land 

 estimated to contain 15,000,1100 feet of oak, 

 poplar and hickory. The company will either 

 erect a mill of Its own or will contract wllh a 

 sawmill owner to cut the timber. 



The Turner, I lay & Wonlworth Company of 



Ixiuisvllle, which has several axe handle plants 

 In various parts of the country, has extended 

 the option on its properties to Nov. 15 to the 

 parties engaged in attempting to organize the 

 consolidation of the axe handle Interests of the 

 ITnlted States. It is said the stock of the com- 

 pany, if its option is realized on, will go Into 

 the new deal at 150. 



Henry Duncan of Alpena, Mich., has plans 

 completed for a new pal! handle machine, which 

 It Is expected will turn out 8,000 handles an 

 hour. 



The National Handle Company will erect a 

 number of new buildings in connection with Its 

 plant at Findlay, O. 



The Rockford Cabinet Company succeeds the 

 East Rockford Mantel Company at Rockford. III. 

 The change is simply in name, as the same parties 

 will continue the enterprise. 



The veneer grape basket factory of Charles A. 

 Ilall at Cherry Creek, N. Y., burned Sept. 15 ; 

 loss $4,000, insurance $1,000. 



It is alleged that Texas is having such a com- 

 mercial boom that building enterprises are con- 

 suming a much larger proportion of the lumber 

 output than ever before. Supplies of hardwoods 

 are notably short. 



The Wait-Fuller Cabinet Company Is the name 

 of a new concern at Portsmouth, O. A. J. J'uller 

 will be actively connected with the enterprise. 



Ader & Gray have purchased the timber on 

 fourteen "forties" in the vicinity of Granite 

 Bluff, north of Iron Mountain, Mich., together 

 with the sawmill plant which was formerly 

 owned by the National Hardwood Company. 



The hardwood lumber product of Missouri dur- 

 ing 1904 is estimated at 222,445.024 feet, with 

 a value of $3,892,798. Pemiscot county was the 

 leader, with an output of 46.624,900 feet ; New 

 Madrid county, second, with 30,446,450 ; Stod- 

 dard, third, with 19,575,000, and Butler, fourth, 

 with 18,567,000. The walnut log output was 

 4,036,947 feet, valued at nearly half a million 

 dollars. 



Keyes & Cole's stave and heading mill at Cum- 

 berland, Wis., has resumed operations for the 

 remainder of the season. 



The Ontonagon Stave & Veneer Company of 

 Ontonagon. Mich., has closed a deal to supply 

 New York and Philadelphia concerns with 19.- 

 OUO.OOO staves. It Is estimated this order will 

 consume 5.000.000 feet of hardwood logs and 

 take eighteen months to execute. 



James S. MacDonald has commenced the erec- 

 tion of a new sawmill at Winhall. Vt. He has 

 made a contract with the B. S. Gallup Lumber 

 Company of Brattleboro to saw 12,000,000 feet 

 of spruce and hardwood lumber. This will oc- 

 cupy a period of four years. 



Alex. Legler of Baxley, Ga., Is arranging for 

 the development of 63,000 acres of hardwood and 

 agricultural lands and will establish a town site 

 at I'ort Alexander. 



A new sawmill has lately been erected by 

 M. Gilson and S. A. Williamson near Clipper 

 Gap, Cal. The chief business of this mill will be 

 the sawing and working up of oak for interior 

 finish and furniture. The red oak of this sec- 

 tion Is said to be as good as any on the roast. 



E. A. Trumbull of Grand Ledge, Mich., who 

 recently sold his chair plant, announces that he 

 will build a new factory COO feet in length and 

 four stories high, which when completed will be 

 the largest chair factory In Michigan. 



The Kentucky Hardwood Lumber Company of 

 Wavne county, Ky., Is the name of a new cor- 

 poration with $.'!0,000 capital. 



Hardwood NeWs. 



(By HABDWOOD BECOBD Special Corraapondents.) 



Chicago. 

 Ira B. Bennett of San Francisco, accompanied 

 by W. It. Birmingham, for years associated wltt 

 the While & Friniit I'nilfornlii tlnihcr Interests, 

 was In Chicago over Sunday. 



J. II. mil, Jr., formerly associated with Lewis 

 Thompson & Co., Inc., Plilhidelpbla. but now en- 

 gageil In a southern hardwood enterprise, has 

 been a Chicago vlslfnr the past few days. 



An Important meeting of the executive com- 



