i6 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



November 10, 1916 



The Cover, Picture 



THE STATE OF NEW YORK SUPPLIES THE COVER PICTURE 

 which illustrs.tes this issue of Hardwood Record. The exact 

 spot is known as Hastings-on-Hudson. The place may not be per- 

 sonally known to a great many of this magazine's readers, but most 

 of those who look at the picture will at once recognize a personal 

 acquaintance, Billie Burke, who is now the most widely known and 

 most favorably known actress on the American stage. She owns 

 the farm and spends much of her time there. The trees forming 

 the background for the portrait are her prized associates on many 

 occasions and constitute one of the treasures of her country home. 

 The photograph from which the plate was made was furnished this 

 paper by Aime Dupont of New York. 



In the opinion of most people the trees are not the most attrac- 

 tive feature of the picture, yet they are interesting specimens. Tii 

 the description accompanying the photograph, the trees are labeled 

 "beech;" but evidently a mistake has been made in the species. 

 As nearly as their identification can be determined by the bark 

 alone, the trees are sweet cherry, a domestic tree that was brought 

 to this country from Europe in early times. Botanists know it as 

 Prunus avium. It has been so long in this country that it has 

 escaped from cultivation and is running wild, and the trees in the 

 picture may have been planted by nature and not be the hand of 

 man. The trees are said to be nearly a hundred years old and they 

 show no signs of impaired health. Sweet cherry trees of equal age 

 and size are found on many old plantations in the eastern states. 



In a few instances such have been cut for lumber and they pro- 

 duce fine cabinet wood, which in color rivals and in grain or figure 

 surpasses the wood of our wild commercial cherry. The growtli 

 rings of the domestic cherry, particularly of the sweet variety, ar-? 

 broader and more distinct than are those of the wild forest-grown 

 species which is so well-known to cabinet makers. All species and 

 varieties of cherry belong to the same class, and there is among 

 them a general resemblance of leaves, fruit and wood. The cul- 

 tivated kinds are derived from the wild, and the superior fruit of 

 the tame varieties has developed from the inferior wild sorts; but 

 cultivation appears not to have made much change in the character 

 of the wood, except such change in appearance as would result from 

 more rapid growth. 



A Matter of Duty 



TT IS MANIFESTLY THE DUTY OF EVERY MAN who is prup- 

 1 erly qualified and is so situated that he can follow his inclina- 

 tion, to put in his application for the second examination which 

 will be held in the selection of five foreign lumber commissioners. 

 At tlie first examination held a month or so ago at Washington, 

 there were a great many contestants, some being men trained in 

 the teclinical end of forestry, others being woodworkers or lum- 

 bermen, but the possibility of selecting the five commissioners 

 from those who succeeded in the contest was not evident to the 

 lumbermen and government ofiicials in charge. Therefore, a 

 second trial has been called for November 22. 



The one thing which lumbermen interested in seeing possibili- 

 ties of foreign trade broadened must bear in mind is that the 

 Department of Commerce is evidently making every effort to 

 secure practical men for this position. It is equally apparent that 

 the ncccssarj' combination is difiicult to secure. The average 

 lumberman has not had the opportunity of qualifying himself for 

 the rcportorial and analytical requirements, but there are cer- 

 tainly a substantial number of men in this country who have had 

 the proper training in those features not directly interesting to 

 the lumber business, and also in the practical end of lumbering, 

 and it is to these men in particular whom the department appeals 

 in its announcement of the second examination. 



Those men who, because of the government's general tendency to 

 underpay its employes, have failed to put in their applications, 

 should bear in mind that the year or two years of service in this 

 investigation will build for them an asset not only of reputation 

 but of knowledge and experience, which there is every possibility 

 of their turning to monetary account when the work is over. 



The investigation is not only in keeping with the present 

 thought of the country toward the future, but offers the solution 

 of a problem which the lumber trade has been endeavoring to 

 solve for a long time. If the American lumber industry is to 

 enjoy foreign expansion it must know the things that can be 

 brought out only by such an investigation, and this work can 

 succeed only if it is carried on by men who not only have the 

 educational qualifications and the natural bent, but who know 

 the American lumberman's problems and are capable of combining 

 this practical knowledge with their other attributes. 



It is the patriotic duty of every man who can consider this 

 work, and who is qualified to consider it, to take the examination. 



The Car Shortage 



LUMBERMEN ARE NOT GETTING CARS. Their product is 

 not going to market for want of transportation facilities. On an- 

 other page of this issue of Hardwood Record may be found a, state- 

 ment of the car situation, beginning several years ago and coming 

 as nearly down to the present as authentic figures can be had. Care 

 ivas taken to compile reliable statistics to show how many freight 

 ears are in service now, and how many during each year for several 

 past years; how many new cars have been bought annually during 

 the past eleven years; how many have been going to the scrap pile 

 annually; how many freight cars per mile of single track the rail- 

 roads have had in recent years. The railroad mileage in the country 

 for several years past is given. These figures show that railroad 

 mileage in the I'ountry is increasing; the number of freight cars is 

 increasing; and the number of such cars per mile of road is increas- 

 ing. All of these increases have gone on for several years past. The 

 rate of increase is rather slow in all the items, but it has been con- 

 stant. In no instance, so far as the figures show, has there been a 

 standstill on a decrease for any of the items, except for a single year 

 in the number of cars. 



Then why don't lumbermen get cars? 



There are several reasons why, but the most important one appears 

 to be the railroad's custom of pulling the cars away from the lum- 

 bermen and sending them to haul cotton, grain and other articles, 

 while tlie lumber is left at the mills. This, it seems, has been the 

 custom for years. Lumber is left until the railroads find a convenient 

 season for taking it to market, and lumbermen have meekly sub- 

 mitted to the discrimination. This year tlie situation is worse than 

 usual, and if events follow their usual course, there is no promise of 

 improvement until after the new year. By that time the cotton and 

 grain crops will have been moved, and it will then suit the con- 

 venience of railroads to take up lumber hauling again. Meanwhile, 

 lumbermen can wait, as they have done heretofore. 



Many lumber shippers are becoming tired of the raw deal. They 

 see no reason why their product should be last to move. They want 

 a fair division of cars and want them promptly. It has been seriously 

 discussed among lumber shippers that tliey keep records of losses 

 incurred through failure to receive cars when asked for. These 

 records, when an adequate number have been brought together, can be- 

 made use of by the lumbermen in securing justice for their industry. 

 They will constitute something tangible to work on. The losses can 

 be exhibited. Lumbermen are already in communication with the 

 Interstate Commerce Commission in an endeavor to get relief from 

 the car shortage oppression, and the commission is responding by 

 conducting investigations, one at Memphis November 3, and another at 

 Louisville five days later. 



The lumbermen by working together and keeping records of losses 

 due to lack of cars, and by using that information in the most effect- 

 ive way to bring results, can do a great deal to improve the situation. 

 It will at least help them to secure the proportionate number of cars 

 to which they are entitled. 



It was supposed that when the railroads secured from the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission permission to increase their tariffs, they would 

 use some of the increased revenue to build new cars for handling 

 freight. Lumbermen, acting in a spirit of fairness, helped the rail- 

 roads secure the increase in rates. But nothing has since trans- 

 )iired to show that any considerable portion of the augmented income 



