lO 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



"get down to brass tacks," but from the great interest manifested 

 by even the small number present at previous meetings it doubtless 

 will eventually prove of as much value to the veneer trade as the vari- 

 ous lumber associations are to tlioir particular branch of the lumber 

 industry. The association plans to hold both northern and southern 

 district meetings at an early date, and to have a general meeting at 

 Chicago in June, at v.hich time it will be ready to put the results of 

 its preliminary work into logical shape on the subjects of methods of 

 production, grading and values. 



High and Low Financing. 



The lumber trade, with rare excep- 

 tions, has escaped from "high 

 finance" and graft. The develop- 

 ments of the past week, in which 

 one man has been characterized as 

 "an alleged lumber dealer, but in 

 reality a dealer in banks," have 

 been rarely duplicated in the history 

 of the lumber industry of this couu 

 try. The nearest approach to the 

 methods employed by this man, per 

 haps, were those of the notorious 

 Corkran of New York, who in a mil- 

 lion-dollar failure let the lumber 

 public off with less than ten per 

 cent, and soaked the banks for the 

 other ninety. In both cases lumber 

 people generally got off very easily. 

 It is scarcely necessary to comment 

 on or deprecate this class of finan- 

 ciers, as they are not recognized by 

 the legitimate portion of the trade 

 as in any wise belonging to the lum- 

 ber fraternity. 



Incidentally, there has sprung up 

 during the past few years various 

 lumber propositions financed in the 

 way the average wild-cat gold mini- 

 enterprise is engineered. Wlonderful 

 stories are told of the fabulous profit.s 

 to be obtained from some great and 

 remote timber areas, and stock is 

 sold in small blocks indiscriminately 

 to everyone who can be coaxed to 

 part with a few dollars. These buy- 

 ers are told that their investment 

 will be a very profitable one, from 

 which they wiU secure with great 

 regularity dividends of wonderful 

 proportions. A specimen of the 

 l)romises held out to investors is 

 cited in the report of the veneer and 

 panel meeting held last week in Chi- 

 cago, where a showing of profit in 

 the veneer business is advertised 

 that is absolutely ridiculous to any- 

 one who knows anything about the 

 business. But it is not the man who 

 knows anything about the veneer 

 business who will be caught up by such promises of profit. 



There is a very energetically handled alleged lumber enterprise 

 which has been exploited from Philadelphia headquarters during 

 the past year in which the promoters allege that they have untold 

 wealth in Mexico in the way of timber lands, and they make state- 

 mentii of marvelous profits that they are turning over to stockholders. 

 It is dollars to doughnuts that this company is paying dividends 

 from stock sales and has not yet earned a cent from its alleged 

 Mexican investment. The public is herewith warned against buying 

 stock in any such enterprise, as there ia not one handled in this 



THE BOY OF THE FOREST 



[This Is a picture! of Lewis Lent/. Mlclnisou, tlie elKlUeen montliH 

 old Bun of y. h. MlclielBoii, eecri'tiiry aud treaeurcr of tlie .lohaimes- 

 l>urg .Mannfacturlne Coinpaiiy, .InhanneshiirK. Mich., and KrandHon of 

 N. MIcUclsou, of SallliiK. Ilansciu iS: Co., (irayllni;. Mich. He Is a 

 sturdy yountfsrer and his favorite playthInK Is a miniature rant-hook, 

 the use of which he practices on round curdwood. 1 



Forest born and forest reared 



Seeing; in his daily life 



Men of prowess In a strife 

 With a forest wild and weird I 



way that has come to ■ the attention of the Hardwood Becord that 

 is worthy of confidence. 



There is plenty of stock on the market in legitimate lumber enter- 

 prises which will and does pay a fair return on the investment, 

 but these securities should be purchased only from legitimate and 

 well-known hankers and lirokers, or from the companies themselves. 



Terms and Discounts. 



The National Lumber ihuuifuLturors ' Association has been work- 

 ing tor some time in the endeavor to secure the adoption of uniform 



terms of sale and discounts by the 



various associations allied with it in 



the manufacture of lumber. This as- 

 sociation has suggested a formula of 

 sale and discount which is as for- 

 midable a,s a railroad bill of lading. 

 This has doubtless been brought about 

 by reason of trying to harmonize the 

 various ideas promulgated by allied 

 a.ssociations, but it is doubtful if it 

 can be brought into general use to 

 the satisfaction of the buying public 

 in its present form. 



The first paragraph of the pro- 

 posed terms reads: "This order is 

 taken sub,icct to approval by the gen- 

 eral office. • ' It would seem that a 

 competent lumberman should be able 

 to so instruct his salesmen that they 

 would have absolute authority to sell 

 lumber. A sale made with the para- 

 graph noted attached to the order 

 slip is no sale at all, and the buyer 

 has no way of knowing whether it 

 will have the approval of the "gen- 

 eral office" or not. Doubtless the 

 meaning of this sentence is that the 

 order is subject to previous sale of 

 the stock or to the satisfactory credit 

 of the buyer. Such a notation would 

 not be resented by a purchaser, but 

 it strikes the Hardwood Record that 

 the I'ncumboring of a sale ticket with 

 the sentence quoted will not be ac- 

 ceptable. The document is certainly 

 too long, and too discursive. The 

 attention of the association is called 

 to the very simple rules of terms and 

 discounts adopted a few months ago 

 by the Wisconsin Hardwood Lumber- 

 men 'a Association as a model of con- 

 ciseness and one which covers all the 

 salient features of justice in the 

 matter. 



Seein^r with his infant eyes 



f-rom the morn to even lamp- 

 Wonders of the woods and camp 



Men so mighty and so wisel 



iVIaples whisper to his mind 

 Childish toys are not for him 

 Anes, saws and cunt hooks trim 



Are the playthings of his kind! 



The Dimension Association. 



The embryo Hardwood Dimension 

 Association held an important meet- 

 ing at Cincinnati on I'eb. -1 and 22, 

 a full report of which will be found 

 in the news columns of this issue of 

 the ll.vituwoOD Kecoud. After estimating the cost of putting an inde- 

 pendent association covering hardwood dimension into the field, it was 

 doomed wise to amalgiimate with the Hardwood Manufacturers' Asso- 

 ciation of the United States, which organization has agreed to make 

 dimension problems a matter of study and to create a separate depart- 

 ment covering thi.s important detail of the hardwood industry. As 

 nearly all diinciiMiiin people are also manufacturers of hardwood lum- 

 ber, it would seem that the coalition is a logical one. The big associa- 

 tion has nearly all the machinery at hand at the present time to carry 

 on Hvsteinatic and beneficial work for dimension stock mnkers. 



