14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Jaiiuarv In. 11117 



is a constant changing, rc-selection and elimination working gradually 

 toward the most satisfactory combination. This_ inevitably must 

 mean more frequent purchases of furniture, and hence broadened use 

 of hardwood. 



So, while the plan is designed to increase the business of the com- 

 pany which originated it, it is distinctly promising in its possibility of 

 benefits to the lumber industry. 



The Cover Picture 



PHOTOGRAPHS OF LABGE AND SPECTACULAE FIRES 

 are rather scarce. In the first place, a fire does not lend itself 

 readily to photography. The plate shows little of the contrast of 

 color that appears to the eye. The red illumination which is the most 

 striking feature of a conflagration, as the spectator sees it, is wholly 

 lost when the scene is transferred to the photographic plate. It there 

 becomes a flat array of white and black, and it is quite tame, unless 

 a peciiliar and uncommon combination of circumstances happens to 

 accentuate the contrast and jmt depth and distance into the fire scene. 



That unusual combination was present when the photograpli was 

 made which is reproduced in the cover picture which is carried by 

 this issue of HjIkdwood Record. The trees in the foreground, the 

 wrecked building at the right with its illumined windows, and the 

 black clouds of smoke high above, supply the contrast which makes 

 the fire stand out, distinct from near objects and from those farther 

 away. 



The picture shons the burning of the Hackley-Phelps-Bonnell 

 Company's mUl at Phelps, Wis., last October. The photograph was 

 taken very early in the morning when the light, except that produced 

 by the flames, was poor. It was one of the largest sawmill fires this 

 country has had. In addition to the mill and its machinery, about 

 fourteen million feet of lumber went up in smoke that morning, 

 entailing a loss exceeding $300,000. 



Proposal for Dimension Association 



THERE ARE VARIOUS REASONS why every manufacturer of 

 dimension stock should attend the gathering of dimension manu- 

 facturers at Memphis on the nineteenth of this montli. In the first 

 place, at the same time there will be three days of meetings of other 

 associations, and there will be very few dimension manufacturers who 

 would not have some interest in one or the other of these. Then, 

 Memphis is a good place to go to, and, beyond the social side, every 

 lumberman would learn something of cpnditions and prospects while 

 there. But these are only immediate reasons. 



The one reason which should prompt every dimension manufacturer 

 to give his support to tliis latest attempt at the formation of a dimen- 

 sion association is the unsatisfactory conditions that still exist in the 

 dimension industry — the disposition of the buyers to insist upon con- 

 sidering dimension stock in the light of oft'al as far as value is con- 

 cerned, and the impossibility of satisfactorily handling all of the 

 dimension stock trade because of improi>cr methods employed by 

 manufacturers. 



The attempt seems to be fostcTcd by men who have every intention 

 of pushing it through to the limit of its possibilities. If these men 

 are willing to give their time and their money to the effort, others 

 should be willing to at least fall into line when the route is mapped 

 out for them. 



Commission's Powers Questioned 



RAILROADS ARE NOT DISPOSED TO CONCEDE that the In- 

 state Commerce Commission has power to order the immediate 

 return of empty cars to the roads that own them. That point was 

 brought out late in December in the hearing at Washington. The 

 prompt return of unloaded freight cars to the roads to which they 

 belong was suggested as one of the means of relieving the car con- 

 gestion. It was assumed that the Interstate Commerce Commission 

 had the necessary authority to issue and enforce an order of that 

 kind; but the railroads will not concede it. They deny that such 

 broad powers are given the commission by the interstate commerce law. 

 The railroads, by their attorneys, made no secret of their fear that 



such a step taken by the commission would lead in the direction of 

 government control and ultimate government ownership. This brings 

 to the fore at once a question which was bound to come up sooner or 

 later. Every increase of regulation by the government tends toward 

 greater government control of the railroads, and complete control of 

 that kind is about the same as government ownership. Many persons 

 who believe in pretty complete government regulation of traffic by 

 public carriers, would hesitate if brought face to face with the problem 

 of government ownership of railroads. The proposal that the govern- 

 ment shall take a hand in the actual movement of cars is making a new 

 approach to the question of ownership by the government. 



The Showing Fairly Satisfactory 



As THE MISTS CLEAR FROM NINETEEN AND SIXTEEN 

 it is seen that it was not so bad a year for the lumber business 

 as some had feared it would be. The unsatisfactory condition of the 

 export business was little guide to an understandiiig of what was 

 going on at home. The demand for lumber in the United States was 

 good, but the same cannot be said of prices. Profits were, therefore, 

 smaller than the sales might indicate. Had lumber prices gone up in 

 proportion to prices generally, the year would have been one of 

 phenomenal prosperity for lumbermen. 



As the old year closed, a report was issued by R. S. Kellogg, secretary 

 of the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association, in which he 

 reviewed the past year, and showed that the lumber production for 

 1916 was approximately 42,000,000,000 feet. That is four billion 

 feet above the production for 1915 ; and with the exception of 1909, it 

 was the largest lumber cut ever recorded in this couutry. The produc- 

 tion in 1909 was 44,509,761,000 feet. 



It is predicted by Secretary Kellogg that the United States will 

 ::c-ver again see a demand for lumber equal to that of 1916. 



Exports were not comparable with the domestic demand. The total 

 value of lumber shipped last year to foreign countries w'as about 

 $60,000,000. Complete returns of exports for the whole year have not 

 yet been^abulated. Greatly increased exports are looked for when the 

 war closes, and such exports will tend to strengthen prices at home. 

 Indeed, the principal improvement needed in the situation, from the 

 lumberman 's viewpoint, is better prices. Lumber has not kept pace 

 with other commodities in the upward tendency of price. Most things 

 which lumbermen buy to carry on their business have gone up in cost. 

 The average has been estimated as high as 85 percent increase when 

 compared with two years ago. Lumber has remained practically the 

 same, and that is the most discouraging feature, as the lumberman 

 looks at is. A readjustment is bound to come sooner or later, and the 

 fact that the lumber output has passed its high water mark is almost 

 certain to have its effect on prices in the near future. • 



You Should Attend Your Convention 



THE EAKLY MONTHS OF THE YEAR always embrace tlio con- 

 vention season in the lumber business. No industry would be 

 a full-fledged member of the American liusiness family without its 

 associations and its conventions. The latter must be held regardless 

 of whether conditions demand it or not, but at certain times pecu- 

 liarities in the situation in every industry point to a genuine need for 

 getting together to effect a more complete imderstaniling of markets, 

 stocks, and other important features. So it is in the lumber business 

 this year. Regardless of whether the convention sessions themselves 

 win be more fruitful or less fruitful than similar prerious sessions, 

 the need for discussion of trade conditions in the hardwood industry, 

 for frank expression of opinion on present and future, make it not 

 only wise but most necessary that every manufacturer who can pos- 

 sibly do so attend the sessions of that association or of those associa- 

 tions with which he is affiliated. 



WhUe every condition, as far as it is possible to ascertain, is favor- 

 able to strength in the industry throughout the year, it is not a fact 

 that the full strength of the present situation is generally appreciated. 

 Therefore the more general the attendance at the conventions the more 

 general willjie the absorption of the spirit of optimism and confidence 

 and the greater will be the tendency to spread the conviction of good 

 times. 



