20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



I'm From Missouri. 



All ye Daughters of the Eevolution take a 

 seat in the rear please, Sons of Veterans be 

 good and keep silent. You who have spent 

 your money for an elaborate drawing of the 

 family tree turn it to the wall in confusion. 

 For know you there is "in our midst" a 

 lineal desceudant of the race of the Ptolemys. 

 At the Lumbermen 's Club banquet at Mem- 

 phis, this "important if true" fact was dis- 

 closed by Earl Palmer, president of the Na- 

 tional Hardwood Lumber Dealers' Associa- 

 tion. In a speech on that occasion, Mr. Pal- 

 mer referred to Jesse W. Thompson, as a 

 ' ' lineal descendant of Cleopatra. ' ' 



History and tradition tell us that the Ser- 

 pent of Old Xile had red hair, so from just 

 .That ancestor Mr. Thompson got his black 

 locks is yet to be determined. Cleopatra 's 

 husband was her brother, so we may conclude 

 that his hair was also red. Both Caesar and 

 Antony were men of gracious mold and dark 

 hair, however. It is really very confusing to 

 have such an interesting fact sprung on the 

 hardwood trade without more detail, and un- 

 til it has it the entire fraternity will prob- 

 ably cudgel its brain to find out how so hant'- 

 some and staid a business man as Mr. Thomp- 

 son can possibly be the lineal descendant of 

 the famous Egyptian sorceress, who has been 

 declared of only ordinary features and of 

 decidedly frisky inclinations. 



Mammoth Poplar Board. 

 In a recent shipment of inch poplar receiTed 

 by the Dennis & Smith Lumher Company of 

 Detroit were a half dozen strictly clear poplar 

 boards of exceptional size. The boards were Til 

 Inches In width and 16 feet long and came from 

 the sawmill plant of U. M. Smith & Co. at Heat- 

 ers. W. Va. General Manager Dennis of the 



A L.\RGE POPLAR BOARD. 



Dennis & Smith Lumber Company Is in view at 

 the left of the great board herewith pictured, 

 while the yard foreman, standing at the right, 

 hae & 3-foot rule extended at full length par 

 tlally across It. It Is a specimen of a board 

 that would make even a Peclflc coast redwood 

 man envious. 



J. N. Woollett Becomes a Manager. 

 The American Lumber & Manufacturing Com- 

 pany of Pittsburg has lately made a big 

 "scoop" in securing the services of J. N. Wool- 

 lett to manage its hardwood department. Mr. 

 Woollett assumed his new duties Jan. 1. and has 

 bis office In the Publication building in Ninth 

 street, where the general offices of the company 

 are located. For a young man he is a veteran 

 in the hardwood business, having seen every 

 liranch of the work from buying timber on the 

 stump to handling the details connected with a 

 large sales department. His experience in the 

 lumber business covers a period of seventeen 

 years. When quite a boy he started in Albany 

 in the white pine market. Later he was en- 

 gaged in the retail lumber business in Colorado 

 six years when he made a. specialty of red 

 wood, Oregon fir and yellow and white pine. 

 He has been with the American Lumber & 

 Manufacturing Company five years, first at Nor- 

 folk, Va., where he handled the North Carolina 

 trade for three years, and for the past two 



J. N. WOOLLETT. 



years at I'altimore. where he had general charge 

 of the southern trade operations. Four years 

 of his experience has been spent In the woods 

 and at the mills buying stock. In fact, Mr. 

 Woollett's reputation as a buyer Is perhaps 

 better established than as a seller, although he 

 has made a splendid record in the latter line. 

 .\t Pittsburg he will have abundant opportunity 

 In do both. He Is now negotiating for the i)rod- 

 uci of a half dozen big mills to supply the mar- 

 ket. He has three salesmen in I'ittsburg and 

 four on the road and is preparing to push the 

 oak and hemlock business very hard. 



Lumber Insnirance Directors Meet. 

 The directors of the Lumber Insurance Com- 

 pany of New York held their annual meeting 

 Wednesday, Feb. 8, In the offices of McKelvey & 

 Mattocks at 66 Broadway. The following were 

 present : S. M. Clement of Buffalo. I^wls Dill 

 of Baltimore, William H. Gratwlck of Buffalo. 

 W. C. Laidlaw of Toronto, Ont.. John Jay Mc- 

 Kelvey of New York. George A. Mitchell of Buf- 

 falo, E. F. Perry of New York, Henry J. Pierce 

 of Buffalo. C. H. Prescott. Jr.. of Clevelana, 

 Frank C. Rice of Springfield, Mass., Horace F. 

 Taylor of BulTalo, and Pendennis White of Buf- 

 falo. Frederick W. Mattocks of the firm of 

 McKelvey & Mattocks was elected to a vacancy 

 on the board. 



18 In exact similitude of a giant dumb bell. It 

 Is a pair of burls which formed a part of a 

 black ash tree about seven inches In diameter, 

 and was obtained from the timber lands of Mer- 

 rill, Ring & Co., north of Saginaw. Mich., some 

 years ago. These spheres of burl are fully 

 twenty Inches in diameter and are of exactly 

 -Ike size. 



In the half-tone from the photograph of this 

 curiosity, resting between the two burls, la 

 a section cut from the side of one of them 

 which exhibits a beauty of figure scarcely ex- 



GIANT DUMB-BELL. 



celled by a French walnut burl. Other than the 

 removal of this small slab the freak has been 

 kept Intact by the McClure Lumber Company, 

 and always excites the interest of lumbermen 

 visiting Its yard. 



Look for Maker's Name or Trade-Mark, 



In all lines of merchandise goods which have 

 become well and favorably known are often 

 Imitated and sold to the consumer with the as- 

 surance that they are "Just as good" as the ar- 

 ticles which bear the maker's name or trade- 

 mark, while as a matter of fact such goods are 

 often "seconds" or goods of Inferior quality, 

 for which reason the maker will not show the 

 name or trade-mark under which he has built up 

 a valued reputation for quality. 



Manufacturers usually make several grades of 

 goods, and are careful that their best grades 

 shall bear their name or trade-mark to adver- 

 tise the excellence of their products, and It fol- 

 lows that they are not only willing but anxious 

 to Immedialely replace any article so guaranteed 

 to have been made by them and which may 

 prove defective In any way. This Is especially 

 true with articles usually sold by hardware 

 stores. It Is a common practice with manufac- 

 turers of these lines to dispose of their Inferior 

 grades under what Is known to the trade as 

 "special brands", and also to furnish such goods 

 to buyers of large quantities, marked wltli the 

 buyer's "private brand" ; needless to add that 

 private brand goods bought from whichever man- 

 ufacturer will make the lowest price on a sea- 

 son's quantity carry no assurance of quality, 

 and It behooves the consumer who desires qual- 

 ity and manufacturer's guarantee to see that 

 goods hear maker's name or trademark. 



Giant WoodMi Dumb-Bell. 



The McClure Lumber Company of Detroit has 

 a curiosity stored In its big hardwood yard that 



Lumbermen's Credits. 



Among all the details connected with the lum- 

 ber trade, that of closely scanning credits Is of 

 first Importance. The vast Interests now In- 

 volved in this industry have necessitated the 

 specializing of lumher risks, a work In which the 

 Lumbermen's Credit Association of Chicago and 

 New York has expended many .years of most 

 painstaking effort. The edition of Its work Just 

 Issued for the first half of the lurrent year Is 

 thori>ui;hly up to date and evidences most care- 

 ful ri'Vision. l''amlllar as "Clancy's Red Book" 

 has become tlirotighout the trade, a more liberal 

 use of Its reports and other special features by 

 the lumber fraternity would serve to prevent 

 many thousands of dollars annually being 

 charged off to profit and loss on account of bad 

 debts Incurred. This emphasizes the old adage 

 that "an ounce of prevention Is worth a pound 

 of cure. " 



