HARDWOOD RECORD 



25 



and 2nds and culls do you average when the logs 

 are sawed outV What do you have to pay for 

 ordinary labor in Mexico? Do you have an 

 abundant supply of labor near at hand to your 

 property which will admit of its full develop- 

 ment in the future, or do you have to import 

 labor frttm other countries or from siune distance 

 in Mexico'; I should think this would be an im- 

 portant point. What amount of mahogauy and 

 cedar do you calculate importing; annually into 

 the United States'.' What is the approximate 

 total importation of mahogany and ce<lar? Is 

 there not a possibility, with the large amount of 

 this limber that you have, of your crowding too 

 much on the market and knocking down the 

 price, or is there practically an unlimited de- 

 miud for these woods? 



On lotiking again at your pamphlet, I notice 

 in the back of the book a map such as I have 

 inquired for. which has escaped ray attention : 

 therefore 1 will not trouble you to send that. I 

 will be glad if you will send another of these 

 pamphlets, as I have a friend who is somewhat 

 Interested in the matter as weU a» myself. I 

 realize that 1 have asked <i"ite a long list of 

 questions, but as you offer investment with prom- 

 ises of larger profit than most enterprises that 

 are open to the investing public, you will ap- 

 preciate the fact that I wish to know as much 

 as possible about the matter hefore investing 

 any money. 1 understand that you have an 

 agent in Boston, but I am addressing these in- 

 nuiries to your main office in preference to your 

 Boston agent, both because I assume that they 

 can be more readily answered from there, and 

 also because I do not wish to be bothered by 

 calls of this agent. Such agents are always 

 very anxious to do business and consume a great 

 deal of time, which 1 don't wish to spare. 



No reply having been offered to this letter, 

 the following note, accompanied by a dupli- 

 cate copy of the foregoing letter, was sent 

 by registered mail to the Philadelphia offices 

 of the International Lumber & Development 



Company. This letter was signed for, but 



no reply was vouchsafed. 



On the 19th inst. 1 wrote you as per enclosed 

 copy, and up to the time of writing I have no 

 reply. Your slowness in answering my inquiries 

 certainly does not tend to encourage me as to 

 investing in the stock of your company. I have 

 been favorably impressed by your prospectus, but 

 if you are unable or unwilling to answer the 

 ([uestions I have asked. I can only regard this 

 as another of the numerous schemes before the 

 public to separate the innocent investor from 

 his capital, rather than a straight business prop- 

 osition. If your reply has been delayed through 

 mischance or force of circumstances, and I am 

 doing you an injustice. I beg to apologize in 

 advance, and will still be interested to receive 

 your reply. In order to insure against miscar- 

 riage. I shall send this letter by registered mail, 

 rnless I hear from you promptly and fully I 

 shall drop the whole matter and look for other 

 investments. 



In Conclusion, 



It is not the desire nor the purpose of the 

 Hardwood Record to publish any matter 

 that might by any possible chance reflect 

 discredit on a legitimately conducted com- 

 pany operating in mahogany or any other 

 kind of lumber, and it is not with this in- 

 tention that the foregoing is printed; it is 

 simply to give the International Lumber & 

 Development Company an opportunity to 

 place before the hardwood trade of this 

 country statements of fact concerning its 

 enterprise. 



From this viewpoint, therefore, until such 

 showing is made, the test of this article 

 stands. 



NeWs Miscellany. 



Building Operations for March. 

 At wbat may be regarded as the opening of 

 the building season, the outloolj is decidedly 

 promising. Official reports received and formu- 

 lated by the American Contractor. Chicago, from 

 more than forty of the leading cities of the coun- 

 try, show a general and quite decided gain as 

 compared with the corresponding month, March, 

 of 1905. At this time last year the building 

 movement was decidedly strong and to have fair- 

 ly maintained it is an excellent showing. It is 

 deeply significant that New York makes a slight 

 gain over March, 1905, in spite of the enormous 

 amount of construction work that has been in 

 progress there during the past year. Baltimore 

 shows a loss of only 4 per cent, although the 

 work of rebuilding was at its height a year ago. 

 Conditions are favorable for a prosperous year 

 in construction lines. 



March, March, Per Per 



1906 1905 cent cent 



Citv. cost. cost. gain. loss. 



Atlanta" $ 429.521? 302.507 18 



Allegheny 13S.075 



Baltimore 

 Bridgeport 



St. .Joseph 10T.904 121,575 



.St. Louis 1.933.336 3,012,416 



St. Paul 544,644 402.998 



San Francisco... 1.859.189 1,507,000 



Scranton 164,220 109,418 



Seattle 673,525 774.184 



Spokane 479.175 653,195 



South Bend . . . 167,325 112,325 



Svracuse 153,955 109,440 



Salt Lake Citv.. 150.150 113.905 



Toledo 1,125,575 919,371 



Terre Haute . . . 56,340 136.649 



Trenton 211.241 .59,677 



Washington .... 958.407 1,879,799 



Wilkesbarre 46,225 84,050 



35 

 23 



50 



48 

 40 

 31 



12 

 55 



12 

 26 



!53 



142 



49 

 45 



9 



126,175 



795,000 830.000 . . 4 



170,095 165.2311 2 . . 



Cleveland 1,235,015 858,005 43 . . 



Chattanooga 234,845 157.358 49 .. 



Cincinnati 700,710 1,274.225 . . 45 



Columbus 248,540 494,010 . . 49 



Davenport 81,225 67,425 20 . . 



Denver 818.504 737,070 11 . . 



Detroit 820.500 726.100 13 . . 



Duluth 690.131 89,831 668 . . 



Evansville 54,107 28,785 81 . . 



Grand Rapids . . . 187,176 161,059 16 . . 



Harrisburg 286.725 419,160 . . 31 



Hartford 341,205 256,700 32 . . 



Kansas City 895,345 1,528,165 .. 70 



Louisville 542,456 351.558 54 



Los Angeles 2.165,307 1,176.163 84 .. 



Milwaukee 706,523 917,530 . . 23 



Minneapolis 494,645 854.560 . . 42 



Mobile 33,300 22.797 4a . . 



Nashville 221.545 384.399 .. 73 



New Orleans.... 404.205 418,612 .. 3 



Manhattan ...12.584.350 12,374,425 1 .. 



Alteration . . . 1.678,600 1,653,865 . . 



Brooklvn 4,9.39.281 5.315.286 . . 7 



Bronx" 3,605,415 3,090.350 16 .. 



Alteration 121.260 G1.875 . . . . 



New York 22,928.906 22,495.801 2 .. 



Omaha 449.300 419.840 7 . . 



Philadelphia .... 5,132,545 6,147,750 . . 19 



Paterson 66,644 88,222 . . 24 



New Pigeon Eiver Liunljer Company. 



J. D. Lacey & Co. of New Orleans and Chi 

 cago, Charles I. and Norman James of Balti- 

 more and 3. B. Hart of Clarksburg, W. Va., 

 have purchased the stumpage and mills of the 

 North Carolina Land & Lumber Company and 

 the Tennessee & North Carolina Railroad Com- 

 pany, and have incorporated these various inter- 

 ests under the laws of Tennessee as the Pigeon 

 River Lumber Company, with headquarters at 

 Mount Sterling, N. C. The operations embrace 

 a double band sawmill, dry kilns, planing mills 

 and every necessary equipment for producing 

 lumber in an up-to-date, rapid and economical 

 manner. The company will enter at once upon 

 the manufacture of lumber at the rate of 30.- 

 000,000 feet a year. It is thought the timber 

 will scale about 900,000,000 feet of spruce, hem- 

 lock, chestnut, poplar, oak, birch and ash of ex- 

 cellent quality and size, the hemlock being par- 

 ticularly tine. The bark has been contracted for 

 by the Unaka Tanning Company of Newport, 

 Tenn. 



The Tennessee & North Carolina railroad will 

 be operated separately, and will be improved 

 and extended up the Pigeon river, to connect 

 with the Murphy branch of the Southern rail- 

 way. 



.Tames D. Lacey, president of the new com- 

 pany, is also heavily interested in the Gardner 

 & Lacey Lumber Company of Georgetown, S. C, 

 a concern producing cypress on a large scale. 

 Norman James, vice president, is of the firm of 

 N. W. James & Co., a well known wholesale 



lumber house of Baltimore. Charles I. James, 

 treasurer, is Interested in the Great Southern 

 Lumber Company, and at one time was general 

 n:anager of the Pennsylvania Land, Logging & 

 I.\unber Company. Wood Heal, secretary, is a 

 n-.emher of the house of .1. D. Lacey & Co. 

 < harles I. James and Wood Beal will take active 

 charge of the lumber affairs of the new com- 

 pany, while J. B. Hart will assume control of 

 the railroad interests. All the otHcers are men 

 with a reputation for sagacity and capability in 

 the business world, which, together with the 

 nature of the property, and the capitalization 

 of .$1,000,000. would seem to insure for the enter- 

 prise a prominent place and unlimited success 

 among the lumber industries of the country. 



Report Indiana State Board of Forestry. 



The H.1HPWOUI) Rei-urd is indebted to W. H. 

 Freeman, secretary of the State Board of For- 

 estry of Indiana, for a copy of a handsome vol- 

 ume comprising the fifth annual report of that 

 board. The Indiana State Board of Forestry 

 includes Finlej' C. Carson, president. Michigan 

 City : Stanley Coulter, Lafayette : Larkin M. 

 Stultz. Westfleld ; Samuel Burkholder. Craw- 

 fordsville ; William H. Freeman, secretary, Wa- 

 bash : Ella Grove, stenographer, Indianapolis. 



The volume covers a report of the Important 

 experiments at the Indiana State Forest Reserve, 

 Forestry Experimental Station, and State Nur- 

 series at Henryville. Clark County, Ind. ; an 

 essay on the purposes and aim of the Forest 

 Service : a report of the office work, including 

 planting, inspections and recommendations for 

 private individuals and corporations and general 

 forestry advancement ; an article on forest fire 

 legislation : one on the necessity of legislation 

 for the exemption from taxation of forest lan_s : 

 one on hardwood forest estates : critical direc- 

 tions for the trimming of shade trees : a list 

 of trees recommended for city planting : an arti- 

 cle on the insect pests of Indiana trees ; an essay 

 covering the thirty timber trees of Indiana of 

 economic value, etc. The volume includes a 

 number of handsome Illustrations, one series de- 

 picting tree growth and general appearance of 

 the grain of the wood, both in tangential and 

 longitudinal sections. The work will be much 

 appreciated by every student of forestry, as it 

 constitutes a valuable reference work on this 

 important subject. It reflects careful, studious 

 work on the part of the State Board of For- 

 estry and its very efficient secretary. 



Michigan Forestry Matters. 



H. N. Loud of Au Sable, chairman of the 

 legislative committee of the Michigan Forestry 

 Association, recommends that the following ac- 

 tion, briefly stated, be taken with reference to 

 state lands ; 



That the agricultural college lands located in 

 Iosco and neighboring eastern shore counties, 

 comprising over 40,000 acres, be held as a 

 permanent forest domain : that permanent forest 

 reserves should be established in all counties 

 having 50,000 or more acres of delinquent tax 

 lands ; and that there be cooperation with the 

 United States government in the preservation 

 of timber in the water sheds of all important 

 rivers, in all counties where the state and 

 government have considerable land holdings. 



Professor Roth, state forest warden, lectured 

 on forest resources of the United States at the 

 Ryerson library March 29. Stereopticon slides 

 were shown which, aided by Professor Roth's 

 terse and graphic address, made an interesting 

 evening. Professor Roth will go north late in 

 the month to give personal suijervision of the 

 work of planting trees in the Roscommon re- 

 serve. The state will put out about a million 

 trees this year, largely conifers, with some 

 locusts and catalpas. 



The Kent county committee of the Michigan 

 Forestry Association has added 100 new mem- 

 bers during the past month. The Muskegon 



