January 10, 1917 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



i7 



ti.iu at Cheat Haven. Pa., about January 15. The plant will cut ;!5.000 

 feet daily. 



The Frampton-Foster Lumber Company had the best year in its history 

 by far in the sale of oak and hardwoods to the railroads. Its mills are 

 all very busy now. 



The West Penn Lumber Company, according to E. H. Stoncr, regards 

 the outlook for trade with manufacturing and industrial concerns this 

 year as exceptionally good. The West Penn company had a strong growing 

 year in 1916. and after a careful survey of the situation on a recent trip 

 Mr. Stoner is convinced that there will be business a-plenty in hardwoods. 



=-< BALTIMORE >-= 



The results of the year just closed insofar as the demand for lumber 

 from builders was concerned, must be regarded as very much better than 

 there was reason to suppose for a time. The record is not yet quite com- 

 plete, but it shows that the declared value of the structures for which 

 permits were issued during the year amounted to not less than $15,100,000, 

 against only $14,129,186 for the previous twelve months, though this 

 amount is figured with an addition of twenty per cent for undervaluation. 

 December made some important contributions to the total ; several very 

 large operations falling within this period and to a considerable extent 

 making up for the lean months that had gone before. 



It is reported here that Robert F. Whitmer, formerly of William Whitmer 

 & Sons, Philadelphia, who was compelled by ill health to retire for a 

 long time, but who afterward regained his health and started in business 

 on his own account in the building where he previously had offices, has 

 again broken down and has had to discontinue work. His trouble is 

 believed to be a nervous disorder. 



John L. Alcock of John L. Alcock & Co., hardwood exporter, has re- 

 turned from the Pacific Coast, where he went on a flying trip in company 

 with A. L. Williams of C. Leary & Co., London. Mr. Alcock went to look 

 after some personal matters and is also believed to have made arrangements 

 for foreign shipments. Mr. Williams, who is in this country as a repre- 

 sentative of the British government to take care of certain requirements 

 ifi the way of lumber, remained on the coast. 



The R. E. Wood Lumber Company, manufacturer and wholesaler of 

 hardwoods, has resumed operations at its plant in West Virginia, which 

 had been shut down for many months, the general trade conditions again 

 having become such as to make an increase in the output of lumber de- 

 sirable. 



Unless the National Lumber Exporters' Association should decide to 

 make a change in the location of the office of secretarj-, this official will 

 continue to maie Baltimore his headquarters. It was expected that 

 Harvey M. Dickson, the new secretary, who succeeded J. McD. Price, 

 might, because of his large and varied interests at Norfolk, Va., prefer 

 to make that city his headquarters, but he decided that Baltimore was 

 far more convenient for the membership generally than the port at the 

 mouth of Chesepeake Bay. and he determined, therefore, to sink his in- 

 dividual preferences before the welfare of the association. A large part 

 of the membership of the National Lumber Exporters' Association is lo- 

 cated in the southern states. .\11 of the members visit New York at least 

 once a year and they are enabled to stop at Baltimore to confer with the 

 secretary without making a detour, and losing time, which they would 

 have to do, if the office were at Norfolk. 



Axel H. Oxholm. a Scandinavian, who has been appointed commercial 

 agent of the Department of Commerce, and who took the examination 

 some time ago for one of the five places as foreign agent to investigate 

 the possibilities of the lumber trade in Europe after the war, paid a visit 

 to Harvey M. Dickson, secretary of the National Lumber Exporters' Asso- 

 ciation, Just before the holidays, and conferred with him at considerable 

 length regarding the conditions of manufacture and distribution, espe- 

 cially of hardwoods. Mr. Dickson, having been in the retail, wholesale, 

 manufacturing and export trade, was able to give Mr. Oxholm much valu- 

 able information, which he may find of importance, if later on he is named ' 

 as one of the foreign representatives. The fact that Mr. Oxholm was 

 made commercial agent is regarded as indicative of his appointment to 

 the other post, his present duties being viewed as in the nature of a 

 tryout to test his capacity for investigation. Mr. Oxholm afterward wrote 

 to Mr. Dickson from Savannah, thanking him for his courtesy and ex- 

 pressing high appreciation of the data given. 



The Baltimore Wholesale Lumbermen's Club, which will hold its annual 

 meeting January 9, has nominated the following ticket to be voted for at 

 the meeting : W. Hunter Edwards, B. W. Edwards & Sons, president ; 

 J. H. Zouck, vice-president, and J. Carroll Stow of the Tuck & Stow Lum- 

 ber Company, secretary and treasurer. 



Frank A. Furst, a well-known contractor and capitalist of this city, and 

 associates, are organizing a new shipbuilding company, with a capital 

 stock of .?1, 000, 000, and expect to go energetically after contracts for 

 ships to meet the present urgent need of tonnage. A site near Baltimore 

 will be secured as a yard, and the equipment of the plant will proceed as 

 rapidlv as possible. 



- -< COLUMBUS > = 



According to the report of the Columbus building department for 1916, 

 the year was the most prosperous in the history of the city. The buildings 

 erected included large business blocks and hotels, factories, apartments 

 and dwellings. During the year the department issued 3.141 permits hav- 



ing a money valuation of ?T, 194,240 as compared with 2,8.30 permits and 

 a valuation of $4,92.S,42.''> in 1915. This is an increase of $2,265,815 or 

 about forty-five per cent. In December, 1916, the department issued 111 

 permits having a valuation of $248,340 as compared with 99 permits 

 and a valuation of $150,340 in December, 115. Prospects for 1917 are 

 unusually bright. 



James E. McXally, general manager of the J. J. Snider Lumber Com- 

 pany has been elected president of the Columbus Builders' and Traders' 

 Exchange for 1917. The annual meeting was held January 1 at the 

 exchange rooms. Reports for the past year showed a very satisfactory 

 condition. William F. Kern was elected first vice-president; E. .\. Pren- 

 tice, second vice-president and R. L. Wirtz, Will D. Cherry, J. G. Brigel, 

 George F. Franklenburg and David Krause, members of the board of 

 directors. 



H. S. Gaines, assistant to the president of the Ohio Builders' fe'upply 

 -Association, which is arranging to hold its annual convention in Columbus, 

 January 22, 23 and 24 has issued a list of the organizations in the thirty- 

 two sub-districts in the state. The plan is to have chairmen and sec- 

 retaries of the various districts which report to the headquarters in Colum- 

 bus. The association now has 450 members and new members are received 

 constantly. One of the features of the coming annual meeting will be 

 a banquet, held at the Southern hotel on the evening of January 23. 



According to a report recently issued by the department of statistics 

 and investigation of the Ohio Industrial Commission covering the calendar 

 year of 1915. $6,599,176 was paid out in Ohio as wages by lumber and 

 planing mill interests. The amount of wages paid out by those interests 

 is twelfth in the list of manufactures in the Buckeye state and is a good 

 indication of the importance of the industry. 



The C. A. Mauk Lumber Company, of Toledo, O., which suffered a 

 heavy fire loss in September, is busy rebuilding the plant. The new plant 

 will be fifty per cent larger and will have a capacity for storing 200 cars 

 of shingles. 



The Koss »& German Company of Fostoria, Ohio, has changed its name 

 to the Standard Lumber Company. 



The Franklin Bros. Company of Akron, Ohio, has been incorporated 

 with a capital of $50,000, to deal in builders' supplies. The incorporators 

 are Charles A., Walter A., Nettie. Ada M., and Charles E. Franklin. 



The Dietz Lumber Company of Akron, has been Incorporated with a 

 capital of $100,000, to deal in lumber. The incorporators are Charles 

 Dietz, Frank H. Dietz, R. D. McCrosky, Oscar Rupert and A. M. Overholt. 



R. W. Horton of the W. M. Hitter Lumber Company reports a goo(i 

 demand for hardwoods despite the holiday season and stock taking. Busi- 

 ness is about equally divided between retailers and factories. Prices are 

 ruling firm and there is every indication for higher quotations. Car short- 

 age is delaying shipments to a large degree. 



■< CINCINNATI >■ 



Cincinnati's building record for 1916 will show a decrease when com- 

 pared with last year's activities, according to a preliminary estimate. 

 The decrease will be approximatel.v fifteen per cent, while Cleveland, ac- 

 cording to latest estimates, wiil show a decrease of but eight per cent. 

 It should be taken into consideration, however, that the permit for the 

 new courthouse, with its estimated cost of $2,000,000, was awarded in 

 1915, without which the 1916 total would tower above 1915. 



The Cr.vstal Park Lumber and Coal Company recently was incorporated 

 at Canton, O., for $125,000 by G. L. Heibner, Charles A. Bacherer. Adolph 

 Bessler, Martin Conley, George R. Williams, and Herbert E. Hunker. 



Emploj-es of the Champion Tool Works shared liberally on Christmas in 

 the prosperity of the company for which they work, receiving substantial 

 checks, their first dividend under the new profit-sharing plan inaugurated 

 by President H. W. Kreuzburg. The employes were surprised greatly at 

 the amounts of their dividends, many receiving checks for as high as $300. 



The Taylor-Frost Woodenware Manufacturing Company was incorpo- 

 rated recently at Toledo for $20,000. by James H. Taylor, Jr., L. L. Frost, 

 H. H. Hewitt. Conrad Weil and J. B. Taylor. 



Cincinnati shippers into the West Virginia district were notified recently 

 that the Public Service Commission of that state had suspended the re- 

 vised schedule of demurrage rates filed a month ago by the railroads oper- 

 ating in West Virginia, for 120 days because of the numerous complaints 

 registered by shippers, lumbermen, comprising no small part of the. total. 

 Hearings will be held in the meantime. 



The protection of the West Virginia forests from fire by a systematic 

 co-operation of state and Federal authorities with private owners has re- 

 sulted in an annual saving of more than $4,000,000. according (o a report 

 recently issued by the State Forest Commission. Before any organized 

 effort was made to discover and control forest fire the losses amounted to 

 $4,500,000 annually. This has been reduced, according to the report, to 

 less than $200,000 a year. Valuable timberlands in West Virginia are 

 owned and operated by Cincinnati lumbermen and they have been active 

 in the fire prevention work. 



Dismissal of the involuntary bankruptcy proceedings of the Oden-Elliott 

 Lumber Company and others against the McFall-Heyser Lumber Company, 

 is sought in an answer filed in tJ. S. District court here by the latter 

 concern, one of the largest lumber firms in the city. The McFall-He.vser 

 concern denies that it owes the petitioning creditors the amounts stated 

 and declares the bankruptc.v proceedings were not instituted in good f.Tith. 

 but for the purpose of obtaining preference over other creditors. The 



