HARDWOOD RECORD 



15 



and irregular piling as is usual with some 

 mill men, and a little attention to this mat- 

 ter would bring surprising returns for their 

 efforts. 



Again bringing modern veneer drying to 

 bear on the subject, it is seen that even 

 though cross strips are put in carefully and 

 plentifully, there is one feature missing — the 

 continuous releasing and clamping of the 

 stock so as to give it opportunity for shrink- 

 ing during the process of drying. It is 

 clamped in a vise, so to speak, or rather a 

 series of vises, and it is not infrequently be- 

 cause of being so clamped and being unable 

 tc shrink so that that part of the wood 

 which has a tendency to shrink most can com- 

 press the other, that cracks result. Take a green 

 board, for example, say twelve inches wide, 

 nail each corner fii-mly to a stick of timber, 

 and as it dries it will crack open, either where 

 the nails are driven in so that the part be- 



tween the nails can shrink, or somewhere in 

 tlic middle so that the part held by each nail 

 I an shi"ink of itself. In view of this truth 

 it is no wonder that cracks are frequent in a 

 jiile of lumber, for boards at the bottom of 

 high piles are under enormous weight and 

 held practically as firmly as if they were • 

 screwed in a vise. A most important step 

 tliat suggests itself in this connection in 

 overcoming this difficulty is not to pile lum- 

 ber too high, bringing excessive weight on the 

 liottom boards. Just what height will give 

 the best practical results is not known at 

 tills writing, and to the end of obtaining 

 more light on the subject the Hardwood 

 Record suggests that mill men making ex- 

 periments along this line should tell of the 

 results. Get the foundation well up off the 

 ground and do not pile too high. Try various 

 heights in piling and communicate with the 

 Record as to the results. 



Hardwood Record J\Iail 'Bag, 



[In this department it is proposed to reply 

 to such inquiries as reiich this office from the 

 Hardwood Record clientage as will be of enough 

 general interest to wan-ant publication. Every 

 patron of the paper is invited to use this de- 

 partment to the fullest exteut. 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.l 



Equitable Adjustment of Fire Losses. 



Boston,. Mass., Dec. 18. — Editor Hardwood 

 Record : To arrive at a more equitable adjust- 

 ment of loss which should be paid on lumber at 

 points of manufacture, after the manufacturer 

 has taken his log run cut and produced from it 

 different grades, thicknesses, qualities and widths, 

 according to the demand of the market, the Lum- 

 ber Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Boston 

 has adopted a clause reading as follows : 

 Limit of Liability on Lumber. 

 In the event of Are loss the basis of ad- 

 justment shall be net market value at which ' 

 the lumber could be sold at the location on 

 the date of the Are. 



The liability of this company shall be 

 limited to SO per cent of the said market 

 value — per 1,0U0 feet for each grade and 

 kind of stock destroyed. 



In the event of additional insurance 

 whether valid or not, this company's lia- 

 bility shall be limited to its proportion of 

 SO per cent of the net market value — at 

 which the lumber could be sold at the loca- 

 tion on the date of the fire. 

 This clause is intended to avoid the necessity 

 of the manufacturer trying to do an almost im- 

 possible task in showing the actual net cost of 

 each particular kind, thickness, grade and width 

 of lumber he may have produced from his log 

 run. 



The principle of indemnity in Are insurance 

 covers only the actual net cost and is not in- 

 tended to insure profits. It is readily understood 

 that if the profits were insured, the insurance 

 company might become the best cash customer, 

 and although we do not believe the moral hazard 

 is responsible for fire losses on lumber risks in 

 a tenth part of that proportion assigned to it 

 by the stock companies in their general busi- 

 ness, yet our idea is to use every safeguard to 

 protect the companies and avoid overinsurance. 



The manufacturer of hardwood especially may 

 make fifty ditl'ereut kinds, thicknesses, grades 

 and widths of lumber, all of varying market 

 value. The market value and the price at which 

 the lumber can be sold are easily ascertained 



from the trade price list for delivery in market 

 and a deduction of the freight and the cost of 

 loading brings the net value back to its loca- 

 tion at the mill where it is prepared for the 

 market. 



By limiting the liability to 80 per cent of this 

 net market value at which the lumber could be 

 sold, or is already contracted to be sold, or can 

 be shown by actual sales previously made, the 

 idea is that SO per cent of this net value will 

 fully cover the actual cost to the manufacturer. 



This clause certainly facilitates prompt and 

 satisfactory adjustment of loss which might not 

 be fully satisfactory to both parties concerned in 

 the insurance contract without the clause. 



W. C. Johnson, President. 



The foregoing letter is from the dean of 

 the mutual lumber insurance companies of 

 the country, which has had such marked suc- 

 cess in this line of work and whose saving to 

 policyholders in insurance cost has been so 

 phenomenal. His brief on the subject of 

 equitable adjustment of fire losses on lumber 

 is a just and logical analysis of the subject 

 from an authoritative source. — Editor. 



Dimension Stock Wanted. 



The editor is in receipt of an inquiry for 

 several items of dimension stock enumerated 

 below, and he will be glad to put producers of 

 this material into communication with the 

 buyer : 



In clear hard maple, 



2"x3 "—32- 

 2"x4Vi"— 41" 

 2"x5i.i"— 50" 

 Also neckyokes turned to pattern. 

 In clear white oak, 



2"x3 "—32" 

 2"x4i.i"— 41" 

 •r'xoVi" — 50" 

 Also neckyokes turned to pattern. 

 In clear tough hickory, 



Ii,i"xiy2"--2S" 

 li/2"xiy2" — 36" 

 2 "x2i4"— 47" 

 Clear white oak cultivator handles. 

 l>/i"x2" — 5' 6" in pairs 

 lii"x2" — 5' in pairs 



with two rounds and finished complete tor var- 

 nishing. 



Proposed School of Practical Lumbering. 



l'\ E. Weyerhaeuser, chairman of the execu- 

 tive committee appointed by the National Lum- 

 ber Manufacturers' Association to raise a fund 

 lor the endowment of a chair of applied forestry 

 and practical lumbering at Yale University, is 

 sending out a brochure to everyone who likely 

 would be interested in the proposed movement, 

 reciting the plan by means of which he and 

 his associates have undertaken tu aid this ex- 

 tremely worthy and practical object. 

 Mr. Weyerhaeuser says : 



"Lumbermen are vitally concerned with for- 

 estry. No other class of men depends so much 

 on the forest nor has so great an influence upon 

 it. Speaking of the forest problem at the Amer- 

 ican Forest Congress last winter, President 

 Roosevelt said : "It cannot be settled right 

 until the forces which bring that settlement 

 about come, not from the government, not even 

 from the newspapers and the public sentiment 

 in general, but from the active, intelligent, and 

 effective interest of the men to whom the forest 

 is important from the business point of view, 

 because they use it and its product, and whose 

 interest is therefore concrete instead of general 

 and diffuse. . . . The forest is for use, 

 and its users will decide its future.' 



"Lumbermen are the owners of the most pro- 

 ductive forests of the United States, and most 

 of the timber cut from the forests which they 

 do not own must eventually pass through their 

 hands. It is of the utmost importance to them 

 that the national forest reserves, which already 

 cover an area of about one hundred million 

 acres, should be cut in a reasonable and busi- 

 nesslike way, and that the foresters who will 

 have the handling of these reserves should 

 understand the lumberman's point of view, and 

 know what is practical and what is not. The 

 time is not far distant when the great majority 

 of lumbermen will need foresters of their own. 

 Forestry is now generally recognized as a busi- 

 ness question which the lumberman must meet. 

 It is essential to the business interests of the 

 lumbermen themselves that the foresters whom 

 tbey employ should have a thorough, practical 

 training in lumbering. 



"The Yale Forest School was selected through 

 the National Lumber Manufacturers' Associa- 

 tion for the endowment of a chair of lumbering first 

 of all because it trains the great majority of 

 American foresters — more than all other forest 

 schools combined. It has the largest and best 

 equipment, and its future is assured by a per- 

 manent endowment safely invested. It is well 

 located for its work, within easy reach of the 

 great lumber regions and lumber markets of the 

 east and northeast, and it has the use of con- 

 veniently situated forest tracts for study and 

 experiment." 



It is to be hoped that the committee of which 

 Mr. Weyerhaeuser is chairman will have the 

 I'.oarty support of the lumber trade, and that 

 ample contributions may be forthcoming to raise 

 the necessary fund of $150,000 to endow this 

 chair at Yale. The leading spirits in every 

 lumber association in the United States are 

 identified with the movement, and the follow- 

 ing gentlemen constitute the executive commit- 

 tee : F. E. Weyerhaeuser, chairman. National 

 German-American Bank building, St. Paul, 

 Minn. : William Carson, treasurer, Burlington, 

 Iowa ; N. W. McLeod, president N. L. M. A., 

 St.- Louis, Mo. ; C. I. Millard, Fullerton build- 

 ing, St. Louis, Mo. : E. G. Griggs, St. Paul & 

 Tacoma Lumber Company, Tacoma, Wash. ; J. 

 B. White, Missouri Land & Lumber Company. 

 Kansas City, Mo. : R. A. Long, Long-Bell Lumber 

 Company, Kansas City, Mo. ; K. H. Downman. 

 Hibernian Bank building, New Orleans, La. ; 

 J. T. Barber, N. W. Lumber Company, Eau 

 Claire, Wis. ; I. C. Enochs, Jackson. Miss. ; J. L. 

 Kaul, J. L. Kaul Lumber Company. Birminu'iam, 

 Ala. 



