HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



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DETROIT, MICH 



The Failure of Steel Cars 



Theie is ;iii old saying that if rogues are given rope enough 

 they will hang themselves, whie'h observation is found duplicated 

 in the history of the accidents being encountered by steel pas- 

 senger cars. The terrible loss of life occasioned by the collision 

 at Odessa, Minn., on December 18 (which is discussed in the article 

 "Steel vs. Wooden Eailroad Cars,'' in this issue), simply confirms 

 the repeatedly expressed opinion of Hardwood Kecokd that the 

 steel car offers no increased safety to the traveling public, and in 

 other respects is a dangerous and extravagant experiment. 



It is doubtful if the steel trust, the Pennsylvania Railroad, or 

 whoever was responsible for spending thousands of dollars in secur- 

 ing the publication in hundreds of daily newspapers during the 

 last week of November, of a stor^^ reciting the alleged safety of 

 steel cars as evidenced by the escape from death of the passen- 

 gers in the train wrecked at Monmouth Junction, N. J., will find 

 an accoiint of this accident a suitable excuse for repeating this 

 expenditure. 



The result of Morganizing American business is growing worse 

 and worse as time advances, and the only relief from this condition 

 is through such a political up- 

 heaval coming about that the ■■=^^==^= unsolicited 

 continuance of the pernicious 

 methods employed by the money 

 trust shall not be permitted. It 

 may be very creditable on the 

 part of the steel trust to at- 

 tempt to secure a market for 

 the vast over-production of steel 

 that it is producing to enable it 

 to pay dividends on both the 

 money and water involved in 

 its capitalization, but when it 

 jeopardizes the lives of the en- 

 tire traveling public in carrying 

 on this steel and concrete car 

 experimental work, it is time a 

 halt were called. 



If the money that has been 

 expended by railroads in steel 

 car purchases had been spent on 

 road-bed, track and safety ap- 

 pliances, there would be but a 

 small fraction of the danger in 

 railroad travel that now obtains. 



If this criminal experimenta- 

 tion with the lives of the pub- 

 lic continues, the time may come when the JIcNamara brothers, 

 confessed murderers that they are, will be considered angels of 

 light as compared with those responsible for the killing of rail- 

 road travelers. 



Foreign Commerce of the United States During 



1911 



As before prophesied in Hardw^ood Eecord, the foreign commerce 

 of the United States in the year about to end will show an increase 

 of over two hundred million dollars, when compared with the imme- 

 diately preceding year, and a larger total than any previous year of 

 the country 's commerce. 



Imports, while falling below those in 1910 in the earlier months, 

 have in the closing period of the year snown a marked increase, in- 

 dicating that the total for the year will differ but little from that 

 of 1910, which made the highest record in the history of the import 

 trade. 



Export.s are larger than in any earlier year, and manufactures 

 exported also make their highest record, reaching approximately one 

 billion dollars in the calendar year of 1911. The approximate totals 

 for the year are: Exports, over two billion dollars; imports, one and 

 a half billion dollars, of which over one-half entered free of duty. 



Wood and the nuuiufacturcs lliereof will show a total of about 

 fifty million dollars, but cotton still remains the leading article of 

 export, being ten times as great as lumber. Iron and steel is also 

 making a new high record for the year. 



Considered by countries, large increases occur in the exports to 

 Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, United Kingdom, Au.stralia 

 and Belgium, with lesser increases to South American countries, Cuba 

 and China. 



Advertising Lumber 



Hundreds of uses to which steel and cement are being employed 

 at the present time in the substitution of wood are entirely experi- 

 mental. There is no one of sufficient scientific knowledge or generally 

 wise enough to determine what the economic result in this substi- 

 tution will demonstrate. That steel and concrete have their weak- 

 nesses for permanency, in fire-resisting qualities, in structural 

 strength, in their inability to withstand shock, in their failure in 

 fire-proof qualities and other features is well-known. Wood has a 

 long and honorable history, as a result of its uses for centuries for 

 a million purposes for which it now has stalwart competition. Fire 

 insurance authorities recognize the superiority of wood over steel or 



concrete in its ability to with- 

 TESTIMONIAL =rr stand fire in slow-burning type 



December 2, 1911. 

 HARDWOOD RECORD. Chicago. III. 



Gentlemen: — Until further notice please use the fol- 

 lowing copy for advertisement in our space. We wish 

 to state that we have had unusually good results from 

 the advertisement which we have been running for the 

 past two issues, and have sold practically the entire 

 list of stock advertised. 



Respectfully yours, 

 Die. T. F. THOMAS FORfvlAN COMPANY. 



of mill construction. It is well 

 known that the panels of rail- 

 road cars, street cars and car- 

 riages, made of wood will with- 

 stand wear and tear and atmo- 

 spheric conditions, with a mod- 

 est cost of repair and repaint- 

 ing of well towards thirty 

 years. It is well known that the 

 structural strength of wood, 

 when protected from the weather, 

 remains intact for more than a 

 century. When covered with 

 paint, outside finish of many 

 varieties of woods will have a 

 permanence for a century of 

 time. Wood has certain in- 

 firmities and weaknesses that 

 can not fail to be recognized, 

 but it also has so many sur- 

 passing merits over the ma- 

 jority of its substitutes that it 

 is oniy a matter of presenting 

 these facts in a just and seieu- 

 tific way to rehabilitate forest 

 products in the high appreciation in which they have been held by 

 the public since civilization began. 



In exploiting wood it is only necessary to tell the truth about it; it 

 is not necessary to indulge in buncombe to insure its recognition as 

 the best material for thousands of economic purposes. It is not 

 necessary to falsify, and state that any wood is "the wood eternal," 

 or ' ' defies all rot influences, ' ' because such statements are not the 

 facts, and entail upon the advertisers severe criticism. The slogan 

 ' ' the wood that lasts, ' ' is just as forceful when applied to woods 

 of longevity as the statements referred to, and inspires confidence 

 in the advertisements that the others do not. An axiom of suc- 

 cessful advertising is that ' ' the truth, first, last and all the time, ' ' 

 is the only kind that pays. The advertising that fails of just 

 results is that which is misleading. 



The Veneer and Panel Business 



The condition of the veneer and panel business, as reflected by 

 the proceedings of the National Veneer & Panel Manufacturers' 

 Association, and by an analysis of the sundry papers read at its 

 recent meeting, which are reproduced in full in this issue of Hard- 

 wood Record, indicates that this line of American industry is not 

 in a remarkably prosperous shape. There is apparently an output 



