HARDWOOD RECORD 



15 



'Builders of Lumber Histori;. 



NUMBEK III. 



Max Sondieimer. 



At the liead of the largest hardwood manu- 

 facturing and distributing house in the United 

 States is Max Sondheimer, president of the 

 corporation of E, Sondheimer Company of 

 Chicago. This corporation has its principal 

 office in the Kailway Exchange and maintains 

 wholesale distributing yards at Chicago, 

 Cairo, 111.; Wausau, Wis.; Anniston, Mo., 

 and Memphis, Tenn. It directly or indirectly 

 operates or capitalizes more than a score of 

 sawmill interests, ranging through a half- 

 dozen states. It is of the head of this house 

 that this brief article will treat. Mr. Sond- 

 heimer combines the practical business man, 

 the eloquent after-dinner speaker, the witty 

 raconteur and the haU, fellow, well met. His 

 character is many faceted and is so broad as 

 to distinguish him among many in diversified 

 social and business interests of the country. 



To the business man he is the business man 

 par excellence; in the shop of the news- 

 paper folk he is entirely and cordially at 

 home; in the studio of the artist he is known 

 as the friend of every Bohemian; and wher- 

 ever the hand of friendship may be needed, 

 there is no one more willing to lend his aid 

 than Max Sondheimer. 



There is a legend that Mr. Sondheimer 's 

 full name is Maxwell Sondheimer, but to 

 every lumberman with whom he does business 

 and to the many hundreds of people who call 

 him friend he is known as Max. He was 

 born in California in 1859, and is the eldest 

 of a family of seven children. The family 

 removed to Cincinnati when Max was a 

 youth and he received his education in the 

 schools of that city. He removed to Chicago 

 in 1875 where he resumed his studies and 

 graduated from the public schools here. 



Mr. Sondheimer 's father became engaged 

 in handling walnut lumber in the early '70s 

 in Chicago and Max joined him in this enter- 

 prise. During this period he joined a govern- 

 ment surveying party and traveled some time 

 throughout the West. 



In 1885 he returned to Chicago and re- 

 entered the employ of his father and W. 0. 

 King, who was then his partner, as a buyer 

 of walnut. In 1886 the firm dissolved and 

 Max secured an interest in the business which 



was thereafter known as the E. Sondheimer 

 Company. After the death of the senior 

 member of the firm, the company was reor- 

 ganized as a stock corporation and Max Sond- 

 heimer became president and general manager, 

 Moses Katz, vice president; Moritz Glauber, 

 secretary and treasurer, and Henry Sond- 

 heimer and Eudolph Sondheimer, assistant 

 managers. 



Mr. Sondheimer is very largely interested in 

 hardwood association work, especially in the 

 detail of uniform and just inspection, and 

 by his advice and personal efforts has con- 

 tributed not a little to the legislation of the 

 National Hardwood Lumber Dealers' Asso- 

 ciation. He has been honored with the posi- 

 tion of vice president of this association, and 

 at its annual meeting in Indianapolis a few 

 years ago came within one vote of being 

 chosen its president. He has always taken 

 a personal interest in the Chicago Hardwood 

 Lumber Exchange, and has aided much in the 

 success of that organization. He is an en- 

 thusiastic Hoo-Hoo, and during one year 

 filled a term as vicegerent snark of Illinois. 



Mr. Sondheimer 's social inclinations lead 

 him into numerous clubs and organizations, 

 and he is a member of the Chicago Press 

 Club, Newspaper Cartoonists' and Artists' 

 Association, the Standard Club, Elks and 

 S nights of Pythias. 



Mr. Sondheimer has been an extensive trav- 

 eler, both in this country and abroad and 

 has lived a well-rounded and progressive life. 

 One of Mr. Sondheimer 's more recent enter- 

 prises has been the organization of the 

 Ranger Hardwood Export Company of Big 

 Creek, Liberty county, Tex. This company 

 controls an area of hardwood timber along 

 the Trinity river in southeastern Texas of 

 some six by 100 miles in extent. This growth 

 consists of white and red oak, gum, cotton- 

 wood, pecan, white holly, hickory and ash ; 

 a considerable portion of the lumber product 

 of which goes into the export trade. Of ^his 

 corporation Mr. Sondheimer is president. 



Max Sondheimer 's pleasing and boyish fea- 

 tures are presented in the portrait supplement 

 of this issue of the Hardwood Eecord. He 

 is a man whose acquaintance is thoroughly 

 worth while, and if you don't know him, you 

 should. 



On Inspection. 



Chicago, Jan. 20. — Editoi- Hakdwood Record : 

 A matter of controversy has just come under 

 my observation on the subject of the just in- 

 spection covering a board of white oali shipped 

 in a car of No. 1 common. While it was a 

 very good board and would cut two .thirds good 

 except for sap, it showed barlv on one corner 

 for the length of two or three feet. In your 

 opinion, wouid the inspector be justified in 

 measuring this piece in its entirety as common : 

 should he cut the measurement ; or should he 

 throw it out? The inspection was being made 

 uuder National Association rules. — S. 



The editor has not had time to go into the 

 details of the specific requirements demand- 

 ed on the grade of No. 1 common under Na- 

 tional rules, but paramount to National inspec- 

 tion rules, or the rules of any other association, 

 are the basic principles of lumber inspection. 

 One of these rules, and one of the highest 

 importance, is that lumber shall be manu- 

 factured in the sawmiii and not by the in- 

 spector on a board -pile. The inspector must 

 needs take the piece of lumber before him, 

 as it stands. He has no right to take a 

 hand-saw and cut off a defective end or to 

 mark it off; the board must be inspected as 

 a whole. Without going into the specifia 

 details of the inspection of this particular 

 piece the editor believes, it would be the in- 

 spector's duty to throw the board out, as it 

 lacked the first element of correct manufac- 

 ture, in that it was not parallel edged.^ 

 Editor. 



Hardwood Record J\Iatl Bag, 



About Strode 's Stuff. 



Buffalo, N. Y., Jan. IT. — Editor Haedwood 

 Recokd : While we generally like the new 

 Hahdwood Record much better than we ever 

 did the old paper, curiosity prompts us to ask 

 why you call Mr. Strode's sermons "Strode's 

 Stuff?"— J. D. C. 



In every big newspaper shop in the land, 

 the literary pabulum that reaches the edi- 

 tor's desk is divided iuto two classes. Ma- 



terial which is regarded of quality, litera. 

 ture of forcefuluess, and news which is time- 

 ly and well written are known as ' ' stuff. ' ' 

 On the other hand, the plunder which is in. 

 consequential, trivial or banal is known as 

 ' ' guff. ' ' The editor of the Hardwood Eec- 

 OKD intended to pay a distinct compliment to 

 Mr. Strode and his quaint, kindly humor, 

 when he placed over it the title "Strode's 

 Stuff. ' '—Editor. 



Goble Cube Log Measurement. 



Memphis, Tenn.. Jan. 12. — Editor Hardwood 

 Record : Will you kindly explain to me what 

 is meant by the Goble cube measurement for 

 scaling logs? — J. C. 



The Goble cube measurement is a method 

 of scaling logs in which the log is figured 

 out in 18 inch cubes. On this basis poplar 

 and other timber has been bought for mora 

 than a half century on the Ohio river, and 

 its tributaries, from the Guyandotte to Louis- 

 ville. The origin of this scale is veOed in 

 mystery, but M. B. Gale, a veteran log man 

 of Cattlesburg, Ky., many years ago figured 

 out a log sheet, which for some years has 

 been published and sold by Guff Wellman oi 

 ('attlesburg. The scale is the universal basis 

 of measurement for the poplar logs coming 

 out of the Big Sandy river. 



The specific way iu which this measure- 

 ment is figured is to square the diameter of 

 the log in inches by its length in feet and 

 divide by the square of IS. For example: 

 Take a 36 inch log 16 feet in length; 

 the square of the diameter is 1,296, multi- 

 plied by the length iu feet 20,736; divide 

 this amount by 324, the square of J8 and you 

 have the lesult of 64 cubes. Good sized pop- 

 lar logs average about 65 cubes to the thou- 

 sand feet. In 1903, 34 cents per cube was 

 the current price for good poplar logs, but 

 during the past few years the price has 

 varied from 18 cents to 40 cents per cube.— 

 Editor. 



Wants Price Lists. 



While the subscription list of the Hardwood 

 Record since January 1 has shown a most 



