12 



THE HARDWOOD RECORD 



have been somewhat easier In the last 

 half of the year, but there Is a good de- 

 mand for it, and a market at a fair price. 



In northern hardwoods the price has 

 been fairly steady throughout the year on 

 most kind of stocks, thanks to the Michi- 

 gan Maple Company. 



Basswood is low — very low — and is 

 about the weakest thing on the list. Such 

 •condition was' undoubtedly caused by 

 basswood being too high in price at the 

 beginning of the year. It had reached a 

 point where the price was almost pro- 

 hibitive, then the trade quit using it and 

 the price went down, as is the case m 

 every instance. 



One thing which the manufacturers of 

 northern hardwoods must control is the 

 amount of stock produced. The area of 

 stumpage is very small and generally in 

 the hands of a few men. The yellow pine 

 people have been curtailing their output 

 for the past year until their stock is scarce 

 and brings a good price. 



Taken all in all, however, the year, as 

 we said at the beginning, has not been so 

 bad. Those who worked hard and at- 

 tended strictly to their business have 

 done fairly well. But it has been a year 

 that tried men out considerably. The 

 idle and incompetent have not made much. 



The prospects for the year to come are 

 very bright. We have searched the hori- 

 zon very carefully for any threatening 

 clouds and are unable to detect any. If 

 there is anything the matter with the 

 conditions it does not appear on the sur- 

 face. After invoicing time business will 

 begin to pick up, is our belief, and by the 

 middle of February we should be doing 

 a good business at advanced prices. 



Wishing you all a merry Christmas and 

 a happy New Year, the Hardwood Record 

 ■will be found doing business at the old 

 £tand. 



THE INDIANA ASSOCIATION. 



The Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen's 

 Association, as per our last issue, will con- 

 vene in Indianapolis on January 19, and 

 it will be a great gathering of Indiana 

 lumbermen and the missionaries she has 

 sent out into the field. 



The Indiana Association represents the 

 best there is in an association and is one 

 of the most influential bodies of hardwood 

 lumbermen in the United States. It does 

 not seek to run the business of its mem- 

 bers, make price lists and the like, but in 

 an indirect way it takes up such broad 

 subjects as forestry, the treatment of the 

 railroads, etc., and does its members and 

 the trade generally much good. 



It is always in the van of progress and 

 under the guidance of Messrs. Burkholder, 

 Stimson, Pritchard, Chas. Barnaby, Henry 

 Maley and the rest, it will always stay 

 there. One feature, which we conside:' 

 the most valuable feature of association 

 work, is the gathering together of the 

 luiyhermen at the annual convention to 



discuss market conditions and talk over 

 the signs of the times. Everyone can af- 

 ford to belong, for it only costs $2 a year 

 and they give a $1..50 banquet out of that. 

 We don't know how they do it; how they 

 run the association on 50 cents a year per 

 member, but they do it. The efficient 

 secretary, Mr. John Pritchard, will prob- 

 ably throw some light on the subject if you 

 care to have him do so. 



All of the hardwood lumbermen of In- 

 diana and elsewhere are invited to be 

 present. All they need to do is to attend 

 and the Indiana boys will do the rest. 



THE NEW BTJLES. 



The new inspection rules of the Na- 

 tional Hardwood Lumber Association, 

 which went into effect December 1, have 

 been received at this office, and it is a 

 very neat little pamphlet, indeed. The 

 secretary, A. R. Vinnedge, deserves much 

 credit for the work he has bestowed upon 

 them and the result he has achieved. 

 Nearly every rule had to be rewritten to 

 embody the changes suggested by the in- 

 spection bureau committee, which repre- 

 sents an immense amount of labor. In 

 looking over the rules one cannot fail lo 

 be impressed with the fact that they are 

 a good and fair set of rules, and that under 

 a strict and fair application no one would 

 be injured. 



THE MICHIGAN MAPLE COMPANY. 



The present closes, we believe, the sec- 

 ond season for the Michigan Maple Com- 

 pany, and both seasons have been very 

 successful, and we congratulate the Michi- 

 gan Maple Company and the trade gener- 

 ally that there is a Michigan Maple Com- 

 pany. 



The Michigan Maple Company has been 

 very wisely managed, making money for 

 its members and sustaining the price for 

 maple lumber. The first season maple 

 would have gone up anyway. It may be 

 would have gone higher than it did if 

 there had been no Michigan Maple Com- 

 pany. Therein lies what seems to us 

 the wisdom of the management. The uses 

 of maple were not curtailed on account 

 of the price and it thereby retained its 

 market; and, but for the Michigan Maple 

 Company, maple would have surely gone 

 much lower this season than it did go. 



Considering all things, we would not 

 presume to advise the company as to 

 any course of action. We would, however, 

 urge upon them that it is their duty the 

 coming winter to make preparations to 

 reduce the output of maple lumber tho 

 coming season, fhey owe it to them- 

 selves and tb their friends, who have aided 

 them in sustaining the market. The con- 

 ditions of the coming season seem to be 

 very favorable to higher prices if there 

 be not an excessive supply. 



Besides most of the Michigan men own 

 their own stumpage, and if the product be 

 wisely conserved and put on the market 



in moderate quantities it will always bear 

 a good price. The other manufacturers 

 of Michigan should go in with the Michi- 

 gan Maple Company, for such a corpora- 

 tion is a public blessing, and aid to cur- 

 tail the output. Michigan stumpage has 

 reached a value that the producers of 

 Michigan lumber cannot afford to sell it 

 at a low price. The timber is worth more 

 in the trees. Each year there promises to 

 be a growing demand for maple lumber 

 in this country, and if the Michigan lum- 

 bermen act with wisdom it seems to us 

 they will put their lumber on the market 

 in moderate quantities. 



We know it is difficult for a large mill 

 to curtail its output. The tendency is to 

 produce much lumber, but it is a wrong 

 tendency, it seems to us. and one which 

 should be resisted. There is a great 

 temptation to produce large quantities of 

 maple lumber, but in the long run a 

 greater measure of profit will accrue if 

 the output be small. Their profit will be 

 larger and their timber last longer if they 

 make haste slowly. 



ONWAKD AND UPWARD. 



The year 1905 promises well. The world 

 is better than it was a year ago, and we 

 believe it has made a greater stride in 

 1904 than in any previous year. Every 

 age is noted for something, and those who 

 see in the signs of the times, in the bood- 

 ling and grafting which permeates all our 

 business and political life, in the munici- 

 pal corruption which overshadows all our 

 cities, in the general recklessness and dis- 

 regard of law, think they see a serious 

 menace to our republic, are, we believe, 

 mistaken. 



The government is, we believe, as good 

 as the people, no more and no less, and 

 the American people are good as a class — 

 good and law-abiding citizens. There is 

 no need to fear that the government will 

 .get very much worse than the citizens. 

 No official stands so high as to be beyond 

 the reach of the people. For a little time 

 they may neglect their duty, being much 

 taken up with the pursuit of the almighty 

 dollar, and allow things to run at loose 

 ends, but it is only for a while. In the 

 end the people become aroused, and it is 

 all over but the shouting. 



The age of Charles II. was the most cor- 

 rupt in the history of the English people. 

 Boodling ran riot, justice was Ijought and 

 sold, and for a little while the government 

 was worse than the people. Then the 

 English people got aroused and reformed 

 things. 



In America we have reached a condi- 

 tion almost similar to that during the 

 reign of Charles II. And the people are 

 aroused and will reform things. 



The action of the House of Representa- 

 tives in impeaching Judge Swayne of the 

 Federal Court as they did was significant. 

 He was a Republican judge and Congress 

 is overwhelmingly Republican, and they 



