26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



i\e\er in political history lias au investigation boon nioro tliorough, 

 and never has such wide latitude been given for hearsay evidence. 

 Mr. Hines has suffered much through the attacks made against him, 

 but he feels that the outcome is an ample compensation. 



Annual National Lumber Manufacturers' 

 Association 



Attention is again called to the tontli annual meeting of the Na- 

 tional Lumber Manufacturers' Association which will be held at the 

 Sinton hotel, Cincinnati, O., May 7 and S. The program of the meet- 

 ing is still in the course of preparation, but most of the principal 

 subjects have been assigned. It is intended largely to devote the 

 time to discussions by lumbermen themselves on subjects in which 

 they are'particularly interested. Following the address of the presi- 

 dent, reports of the various officers will be delivered and committees 

 appointed. 



The president of each of the affiliated associations has been invited 

 to deliver an address on any subject of special interest to his own 

 association. Many have already accepted and President Griggs is 

 particularly au.xious that each association be represented on this part 

 of the program. 



Some of the principal subjects of addresses to be covered are the 

 Panama canal problem, the utilization of waste, disposal of cutover 

 lands, an exposition of the lumber industry and forest fire problems. 



A meeting of the board of governors of the association will be held 

 at the Sinton hotel, Cincinnati, at two p. m. on May 6 for the con- 

 sideration of a number of important matters. This meeting as is 

 usual will probably be one of the most important lumber association 

 gatherings held during the year, and not only the regular delegates 

 will Be welcomed at the sessions, but all other hunbermen as well. 



Floods in the South 



The high water, and tsj)ecially the breaking of levees and dykes 

 in the lower Mississippi valley, and the flooding of immense areas 

 of country, promise to result in the most serious story of death, loss 

 and misery ever encountered from this cause in the history of the 

 country. Up to the first of this week, the death of thirty persons by 

 drowning has been announced, thirty thousand people are homeless, 

 two thousand square miles of territory are inundated, railroad traffic 

 over a large section is paralyzed, and there is a financial loss esti- 

 mated at more than ten millions of dollars. 



Lumber manufacturing interests have suffered as much or more 

 than the agricultural element. Floods put an absolute shut-down on 

 lumber production or distribution over a large territory, and while 

 but very little manufactured stock has been actually washed away, 

 millions of feet of lumber in cross-pile have been inundated, and the 

 resulting loss from water and mud deposit will be enormous. Manu- 

 facturers in the vicinity of Hickman, Ky., Cairo, 111., and Memphis, 

 Tenn., and over a wide range of Arkansas, Mississippi and further 

 down the river are suffering tremendously. 



It is believed at this writing the height of the flood has been at 

 tained, and from now on will be witnessed receding waters. How 

 ever, it will be a month before lumber and agricultural operations can 

 again be resumed. 



To a less extent the high water in the mountain streams has inter- 

 rupted logging and lumber manufacturing. About the only consola- 

 tion there is in the situation is the fact that it is resulting in such 

 a demand for hardwood lumber, from sources that can possibly ship 

 it, as to show an accretion of values of an average of perhaps, two 

 dollars a thousand. It is believed the enforced abandonment of 

 logging and sawing operations will show such a tremendous shortage 

 in hardwoods as to insure permanent increased lumlx'r values. 



Relative Importance United States Industries 



A relent ligure taldf issucil hy tlie Itepartmcnt of ( ommerce 

 and Labor in<licates that the lumber industry, involving all forest 

 products, enijdoys a larger number of wage earners than any other 

 commercial pursuit. These numbered in 1909, 695,019. The value 

 of the jiroduct was $1,156,129,000, being third in amount, and 



slightly exceeded by the value of slaughtering and meat packing, 

 and foundry and machine shop products. 



The value attained in the manufacture of forest products was 

 $648,011,000, which makes the industry rank second in this par- 

 ticular, being exceeded only by the foundry and machine shop prod- 

 ucts. Hence, lumber and timber products rank first in the number 

 of employes, second in the value added by manufacture, and third 

 in the total value of product. 



The Steel Business 



For years the business situation in steel has been regarded as 

 a general trade barometer, the value of this product materially 

 reflecting on the prices of other commodities. During the past year 

 the average price of iron and steel products has been decidedly the 

 lowest since 190-1. Bessemer pig, for example, averaged less than 

 sixteen dollars against nearly twenty-three dollars in 1907, and 

 steel billets, twenty-one dollars against twenty-nine dollars. The 

 largest items of steel product, exclusive of steel rails, which re- 

 main at twenty-eight dollars a ton year in and year out, show a 

 decline from 1907 of about thirty per cent. 



In the very bad 1911 commercial year, the Steel Corporation, 

 after paying all expenses, repairs and maintenance, earned $104,- 

 000,000 net, and paid out $.50,000,000 in dividends, including five 

 per cent on copiously watered common stock. Besides this it had 

 a very handsome surplus. 



Steel and lumber have ceased to run in parallel lines, as the 

 steel people are not facing such a remarkable decadence of source 

 of supply for raw material as lumbermen, and consequently there 

 is not the remarkable advance in ore values in the ground that 

 there is in timber values on top of the ground. 



Again, steel producers have succeeded in attaining a much higher 

 relative eflSciency than have lumber operators, and hence, figured 

 on parallel lines in years of low prices, the steel and iron business 

 may show a handsome profit, while the lumber business is very 

 likely to show an equivalent loss. 



Timber Bonds 



The timber bond business, when intelligently handled, affords 

 a fine line of unusually safe investment. Banking houses skilled 

 in placing bond issues have not only made a good deal of money 

 for themselves, but have put out lines that have almost invariably 

 been paid -ivhen due, and the interest has been regularly met. 



Latterly there has drifted into the bond business quite a num- 

 ber of amateurs with a greater desire to put over bond issues with 

 a good profit to themselves, than to effect just security for the 

 investors. Timber bonds have reached a splendid reputation as 

 good securities, but if these haphazard issues continue, they are 

 very likely to ruin the reputation of the value of legitimate ones, 

 and bring the entire business in disrepute. Some of the representa- 

 tions made concerning the security afforded by certain issues, that 

 are on the market at the present time, are exceedingly specious. 

 It is represented in one of these circulars that a thousand feet of 

 liardwood lumber possesses a value of from forty to one hundred 

 dollars according to grade; shows a value of the standing mer- 

 chantable timber on 36,720 acres of mountain lands at $S,.')37,400, 

 not counting tie timber, and estimates the annual net earnings on 

 the basis of one hundred thousand feet production per day, at 

 nearly a million dollars. 



It is lI.\RD\vooi) TtKCORii'.s dcsiro to see the timber bond business 

 continued on absolutely legitimate lines, and it regrets that ama- 

 teur and inexperienced bond houses should present for the sake of 

 marketing bonds, figures presumed to represent intrinsic values 

 that are far from true and unwarranted by the facts. 



When investors ask advice about the value of timber bonds, 

 they should be informed that only those issued by houses hav- 

 ing a reputation for conservatism and for a specifie knowledge 

 of timber values should be bought. Similar advice may be 

 warranted to those making bond issue, which should be handled 

 only through houses having a knowledge of timber values and 

 with a repiitatiou to sustain. 



