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HARDWOOD RECORD 



and pviiicutly witl: every ^ustitioation, that the manufacturers of 

 wooden boxes and box lumber have demonstrated without any doubt 

 that the wooden box is a safer -proposition for most shipments, and 

 that the ultimate decision will establish a differential. 



The hearing will unquestionably have the effect of raising the 

 standard of manufacture of both the wooden and fiber containers, as 

 it was demonstrated that both classes of packages have not been all 

 that they could be in the matter of strength. This is, of course, vastly 

 more true of the fiber box, and those on the wooden side of the con- 

 troversy argue that if the fiber people are forced to make a much 

 stronger and better box than they have been they can not compete 

 on the price or rate basis as they have been doing. 



The various parties interested are given varying lengths of time 

 to prepare their briefs for submittal to the Interstate Commerce Com- 

 mission, but it is not likely that any actual decision in the matter 

 will be handed down before fall. 



Strong Condemnation of Export Consignments 



THE CONSIGJvJIENT EVIL in the export business has been so 

 often adverted to that it seems like a supererogation to bring 

 up the subject once more, p.nd yet the present time makes a reference 

 most opportune in view of the warnings sent out from the other 

 side that the trade is on the point of experiencing a repetition of 

 the unsettlement and the demoralization which are sure to follow 

 promiscuous shipping of hardwoods and other stocks without a 

 definite idea where they are to be placed or where there is a demand 

 for them. The American exporters of lumber and logs have lost 

 large sums of money in the past because they refused to recognize 

 that they could not throw their surplus stocks on the European 

 niprkets without congesting them and so depressing prices that they 

 must incur heavy losses. The advances made by foreign brokers 

 seem too great a temptation for many producers and dealers to be 

 resisted, and they apparently lose sight of the fact that they not 

 only suffer damage themselves, but that every parcel of this sort 

 serves to ruin the market for the entire trade. The history of the 

 export lumber trade is punctuated with reports of failures directly 

 attributable to shipping on consignment, and yet there is no lack of 

 imitators who refuse to profit by the misfortunes of those who have 

 gone before and who declined to be warned. 



One of the largest of American hardwood exporters in com- 

 menting on the question says: 



''For years the American Uimlier press has been endeavoring to 

 impress exporters of hardwoods with the evils of consigning lum- 

 ber. Consigning hardwood lumber is an evil which seems haul tn 

 eradicate. We believe we are safe in making the assertion that 

 ninety-nine per cent of lumber sent to European markets on con 

 signment is sold at a loss, and sometimes at a terrific one. If the 

 loss only stopped with the consigned parcel it would not be quite 

 so disastrous, but every consignment means not only a loss to the 

 shipper of the consigned goods, but lower values to the legitimate 

 shipper of the same goods, who does business." 



The pertinence of the subject is shown by an editorial in the 

 issue of The London Timber Trades Journal of April 12, which 

 reads as follows: 



"Hardwood conditions are very little changed since our last 

 issue, except that business is on a better footing, because orders 

 are coming along more freely, and forward buying is conducted on 

 a wider basis than hitherto. Nevertheless, in this connection there 

 is much room for improvement, but we fear a better state of things 

 cannot be arrived at until shippers as a body realize their responsi- 

 bilities. For instance, a section of them — and we arc glad to note 

 it is by far the largest section — are ruled in their business opera- 

 tions by market conditions and cost of production. These are quite 

 content to do business on legitimate lines — that is to say, ship goods 

 against contract. The smaller section, who take great pleasure and 

 delight, irrespective of profit, in sending consignment parcels, cer- 

 tainly do not recognize the duties they owe to their fellow-shippers 

 and themselves. Such firms appear to send consignment parcels on the 

 'random' system, which, in a few words, simply moans their own 

 fiqancial necessities. For quite a long time past the trade in the 



West coast ports has been fairly free from the curse of consign- 

 ments, and our remarks under this heading are now penned with 

 the object of warning such shippers against a repetition of this- 

 evil. It is not at present with us, but has every appearance of 

 coming along, judging from a few stray consignments wliich have- . 

 come to hand recently. It is a pity there is no effective resistance- 

 available on this side to deal with such operations, which are good 

 neither for shippers nor importers. ' ' 



Moonlight on Lake Michigan. 



THE COVER PICTURE illustrating this number of H.\rdwood 

 Record represents the photographer's best effort to reproduce- 

 the effect of moonlight on still water. There is neither land not' 

 sail to break the monotony of the scene, and the picture consists 

 wholl,y of plain black and clear white; yet the artistic require- 

 ments of good photography are met. Only those who have at- 

 tempted to reproduce moonlight scenes by means of the camera can 

 appreciate the difliculty of doing it well. There are as many va- 

 rieties and grades of moonlight as there are viewpoints. What,, 

 for instance, would the accompanying picture look like if the artist 

 had pointed his camera in any other direction than squarely toward, 

 the moon? It would not have been a moonlight scene at all. What 

 really happens in most eases in making a photograph like the- 

 present one is that two or more pictures are combined. One may- 

 represent the water, the other all that appears above the horizon. 

 The two are vephotographed for the complete picture. There are 

 other -ways of doing it, and each artist follows the method whicli 

 gives him best results. 



The scene represents a summer night on Lake Michigan. The 

 calmness of the water show's that the air is still; but the peculiar 

 api>caranee of the clouds partly surrounding the moon suggests 

 that a thunderstorm may be only a few hours away. 



The five Great Lakes are connected by straits and rivers, and 

 taken together they constitute the largest body of fresh water in 

 the world. In fact, the}' are nearly as large as all other fresh 

 lakes in the world combined; and they carry more commerce than- 

 all others combined. The passenger traffic also is very great. A 

 chart of routes of travel, connecting the hundreds of harbors and 

 landings scattered from Buffalo to Duluth and Chicago, looks like 

 a series of spider -jvebs, radiating from scores of centers and running 

 everywhere. 



The scenery on the Great Lakes ranges from the busy city wharf 

 to the wild, uninhabited shore where cliffs form the skyline. It is 

 supposed that the basins forming the beds of the lakes were 

 executed by glaciers which pushed down from Canada and melted 

 lietween the present southern shores of the lakes and the Ohio 

 river. The ice crossed the Ohio river in the vicinity of Cincinnati 

 and penetrated Kentucky. Peculiar red pebbles, torn from rocks in 

 Canada, now show the limit of the old ice sheet's southern advance. 

 For hundreds of miles along the northern shores of the lakes the 

 bared and scratched sheets of solid rock show the grinding work of 

 the ico which passed over them. 



Available Foreign Hardwoods 



A.\ ARTICLE IN THIS ISSUE of Hardwood Record 

 concerning some of most valuable timbers of Mexico and 

 Central America, contains information of much value. The writer 

 of the article is well posted on the subject and what he says may 

 be accepted as authoritative, as far as details are given. Reliable 

 information in regard to the timber resources in the countries south 

 of the United States has heretofore been hard to procure. Few 

 surveys and cruises have been made by competent engineers in, the 

 employ of the different governments. Most of what is known of 

 the forest resources in much of the region was obtained by timber 

 merchants, scientific expeditions, and travelers. Erroneous opinions 

 have prevailed, some persons holding that the forest resources were 

 enormous, others contending that little could be expected from the 

 tropical woods south of us. There is no doubt that many users 

 of hardwoods in the United States are looking to Mexico, Central, 

 and South America for supplies in the not distant future. Thr- 



