HARDWOOD RECORD 



13 



Hardwood Record JVlail Bag. 



[In this department it Is proposed to reply 

 to such inquiries as reach this office from the 

 Hardwood Record clientage as will be of enough 

 general interest to warrant publication. Every 

 patron of the paper is invited to use this de- 

 partment to the fullest extent, and an attempt 

 will be made to answer queries pertaining to all 

 matters of interest to the hardwood trade, In 

 a succinct and intelligent manner.] 



Analysis of the Dimension Business. 



Bristol, Ten.n., Nov. 30. — Editor Hardwood 

 Record: You may enter our name in the list 

 of dimension manufacturers. We will be greatly 

 interested in any movement which will tend to 

 better the conditions under which this class of 

 stuCE is marlieted. We have had in the past 

 quite a good deal of experience in getting out 

 stock for chairmalcers and wagonmakers, but it 

 has been a sad experience in nearly all instances. 

 We have oceans of oak and hickory in this re- 

 gion, but it cannot be cut into dimension and 

 shipped to any northern point at the prices 

 quoted. We have a band mill and cut to one- 

 sixteenth exact size, but when it gets to the 

 user he will cull so much of it that we have 

 given up trying to cut any more. 



The whole trouble, in our opinion, with this 

 dimension business is just this : there are hun- 

 dreds of small mills all over the South, from 

 25 to 50 H. P., set up in the woods to cut out 

 the timber in their vicinity ; they get a lot of 

 knotty stuff that they think can be cut up into 

 dimension ; they cut it and ship it to a northern 

 manufacturer and he will cull it so that it will 

 net the mill man about the price of cord wood 

 to burn. Just so long as they are able to get 

 hold of enough of this class of stuff there will 

 be no decent price given. The mill man takes 

 his loss and stops, his place to be filled by 

 someone who has never been bitten. We know 

 from our own experience that so-called "repu- 

 table" manufacturers will cull stuff for the 

 slightest defect, without regard to the cost to 

 the mill man who has gotten it out and paid 

 freight on it. They will not give credit for a 

 smaller size where the defect is on the edge, so 

 that it can easily be used for the next smaller 

 size. They use it, however, without paying for 

 it. No northern manufacturer can get dimension 

 stock of this, firm now unless it is accepted ou 

 the yard. 



Tlianking you for the interest taken in these 

 matters, we beg to remain, yours very truly, 

 Ordway Manufacturing Company, per E. B. 

 Webster, Mgr. 



The writer of the foregoing letter is par- 

 tially right and partially wrong in his deduc- 

 tion of the difficulties surrounding the suc- 

 cessful handling of the hardwood dimen- 

 sion business. It is very true that there 

 are hundreds of small mills which turn out 

 dimension stock that does not meet the specifi- 

 cations or requirements of buyers. It is also 

 true that there are some dishonest buyers who 

 take advantage of producers and unnecessarily 

 cull shipments. However, the average buyer 

 wants only what he contracts to buy, and is 

 perfectly willing to pay his full contract 

 price and to account for a full tally for 

 everything that comes up to specifications. 



The shipping of badly manufactured and 

 badly seasoned dimension stock to a manufac- 

 turer entails a good many hardships on the re- 

 cipient. The handling and assorting of the 

 thousands of small pieces of material con- 

 tained in a car of dimension stock is an expen- 

 sive proposition. While in a good many in- 

 stances he does not give ciedit for pieces that 



could be worked over intg smaller sizes, he cau 

 scarcely afford to pay any considerable sum 

 for stock of this character, as the cost in- 

 volved in reworking this stock to accurate 

 ilimeusions that can be handled through his 

 lathes, is often as much as the total price 

 of the original stock. The large buyers of 

 dimension material today are getting con- 

 siderably worried over the diminishing sources 

 of supply, and there are very few of them 

 that are not willing to "tote fair" with 

 producers of this class of material. The 

 prime necessity of the business today is that 

 producers shall be educated to a correct sys- 

 tem of manufacturing and grading, and that 

 is the work that lies before the recently organ- 

 ized Hardwood Dimension Association. — 

 Editor. 



— Editor Hardwood Record : I am taking from 

 The Agricultural College apple orchard several 

 hundred trees from 3 inches to 10 inches in di- 

 ameter. If you know of any firm that makes 

 a specialty of apple wood, I should be obliged 

 for the address. — E. E. Bogue. 



E. E. Bogue, writer of the above comnuuii- 

 eation, is professor of the department of for- 

 estry of the Michigan Agricultural College, 

 near Lansing. If any of the KECor.D's 

 readers are in the market for apple wood the 

 professor would be glad to receive communi- 

 cations from them. — Editor. 



Who Wants Apple Wood? 



AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE P. O., MiCU., NoV. 22. 



A Record Business and Prospects. 



New York, Nov. 25. — Editor Hardwood Rec- 

 ord : I never have seen business any better 

 than it is now. All over the country every 

 lumberman is having all he can do. 

 Buildings are going up in every direction, I 

 T'redict even a better year next year, with stock 

 very scarce. A good many people are already 

 buying for their next year's requirements. One 

 buyer has just put in an order for a hundred 

 cars of yellow pine for delivery from January 

 t.) July first, next. — C. W. Manning. 



A Lumberman's Letters to His Son. 



Chicago, December 5. 



ily dear Son : You are_ a mutt, which being 

 translated into United States means that you 

 are a mutton-head. For Heaven's sake, must 

 you be stumbling over your own feet for- 

 ever? Can't you get out of your own way? 

 Don 't you recall the number of times I have 

 cautioned you about selling lumber on the 

 basis of Boston survey? And now you go 

 over to Boston and the first thing you do is 

 to sell a car of firsts and seconds oak subject 

 to local inspection! Boston survey calls for 

 lumber that is about fifteen per cent better 

 tlian the good Lord ever permitted it to grow, 

 and the things that are coming to me on this 

 sliipmeut make papa weep! 



I am glad you like Boston; it certainly is 

 a nice town. Am also pleased to know that 

 you are making the acquaintance of the hun- 

 dred and seventy-five wholesale lumber con- 

 cerns there. I know there are no retailers 

 in Boston to speak of. It is not considered 

 good taste to be in the retail trade in that 

 town. However, when you get all through, 

 you will find that there aren't very many real 

 Avholesalers there. Ben Lamb's claim of 

 lieing the ouly Simon-pure wholesaler in Bos- 

 ton has many merits. Ben says he is the only 

 Avholesaler at the Hub, because he refuses to 

 cut a board in two. 



I am going to fill this order of yours with 

 a straight car of firsts, and I'll gamble that 

 I get a rebate of $4.92 a thousand on the 

 sliipment. 



You turn around and get your nose pointed 

 toward home. Don't you stop until you get 

 this side of the Hudson river. You've no 

 more license trying to do business in New 

 England than you have within the pearly 

 gates. Those chaps down there have been 

 on earth too long and know the trade too well 

 for you to cut into the game. If you offered 

 gold dollars to a consumer in that country 



at ninety cents, he would turn you down and 

 pay the local man a dollar ten because he 

 knew his grandfather. It makes a lot of 

 difference in Boston whether your ancestors 

 arrived in the Mayflower in 1C20 or came over 

 in a cattle ship in 1820. You better get back 

 within hailing distance of Chicago, and take 

 a turn at the Polack trade on the north side. 

 Your ArrECTioxATE Father. 

 P. S. Your mother is very anxious for you 

 to get home. Her Frisco heiress is showing 

 a tendency to get bughouse over a shock- 

 haired football player. 



Location for Industries. 



J. C. Clair, industrial commissioner of the 

 Illinois Central Railroad Company, whose offi- 

 ces are at Central Station. No. 1 Park Row. 

 this city, under the above title, has just issued 

 a 230-page book. The work contains a brief 

 description, pertaining especially to population, 

 debt, assessed valuation, tax rate, railroad 

 lines, banking facilities, hotels, public utili- 

 ties, educational establishments, existing in- 

 dustries, industries desired, cost of fuel, labor, 

 etc., of more than two hundred cities and 

 towns lying along the lines of the Illinois Cen- 

 tral and Y'azoo & Mississippi Valley railroads 

 in the states of South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, 

 Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio. Indiana, Ken- 

 tucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and 

 Louisiana. 



The pamphlet has been compiled with up-to- 

 date information for the purpose of presenting 

 to manufacturers and others who desire ad- 

 vantageous locations. A copy of the work can 

 be obtained on application to Mr. Clair, and, 

 in addition to the data given therein, he will 

 be pleased to submit information of a much 

 more specific nature concerning any of the 

 thousands of towns reached by this great 

 system of railroads. The work should be of 

 especial interest to woodworking manufac- 

 turers contemplating a change of location, by 

 means of which they can better their source 

 of supply for raw material or secure more 

 advantageous shipping facilities. The work 

 reflects credit on Mr. Clair personally and on 

 the industrial department of the Illinois Cen- 

 tra il Railroad Company. 



