i8 



THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



time for them to organize, because of tlie 

 lightness of stocks. I hcaven't much faith 

 in an organization to put up prices when 

 everybody is loaded to the guards. The 

 temptation to unload is too great. 



"As I say, the trouble is going to be to 

 keep peace among themselves. I was 

 salesman for a big poplar concern, in the 

 days when M. T. Green organized the 

 poplar interests, and we had a merry old 

 time. 



"There are more ways than one of cut- 

 ting prices, you linow. One way, a very 

 crude and brutal way, is to just slice off a 

 dollar or two. Another, and more refined 

 motliod, is to cut the price by raising tho 

 grade. 



"My boss, being a man of considerable 

 refinement, chose the latter course. Cut a 

 price? No, sir! ^Ve dehed anybody to 

 show a single instance where we had sold 

 under the list. Bat I knew I was expected 

 to work my way out on a buyer's yard, see 

 what kind of a grade he was getting at list 

 price, and then blow our grades up and ih- 

 sist on putting in a car, just to show him. 

 Then we would make a grade out of sight, 

 easily worth two or three dollars a thou- 

 sand more than the lirade he was gerting. 

 But cut a price? No, sir! 



"To maintain a uniform price the poplar 

 men will need to make arrangement for 

 securing a uniform grade. The Michigan 

 Maple Company has entirely removed this 

 difficulty by turning their inspection over 

 to the National Inspection Bureau. Con- 

 ditions in the poplar trade are entirely dif- 

 ferent, however, but the dilBcult>' will have 

 to be met. There are some poplar con- 

 cerns whose reputation for making grades 

 worth two or three dollars a thousand 

 above the grades of other mills will bring 

 them all the orders at the same price. 



"1 see they have adopted a set of rules 

 which will mean a great lowering in the 

 grades which many of the mills have been 

 making. I doubt the wisdom of this, but 

 if they are satisfied, I am. It would seem 

 funny, however, to see some of the poplar 

 firms I could mention make a grade such 

 as those rules call for." 

 » * * 

 "Everybody is talking about inspection 

 rules these days," said a Chicago whole- 

 saler, "and I am not greatly interested in 

 them. There is one thing I would like 

 to see remedied, though, and that is the 

 grade of common cypress. As that rule 

 now is it takes in everything below t!i6 

 grade of 'shop." The requirement for 

 'shop' is that it shall work 60 per cent 

 clear of waste. Everything below 'shop' 

 goes into the grade of common, the rule 

 even admitting wliat in any other wood 

 is mill culls. 



"Chicago has become a good marliet for 

 low-grade cypress, to be sold in compe- 

 tition with low-grade white pine. Low- 

 grade white pine has come to be so veiy 

 low in quality and so high in price that a 

 grade of cypress, taking, say, everything 

 that will work 40 per cent and up, would 

 sell very profitably in this market. I am 



CHARLES W. MILLEB, GOSHEN, 

 INDIANA. 



The portrait herewith is of Mr. Ciias. 

 W. Miller, an attorney of Goshen, Ind., 

 and connected with Lesh, Prouty & Ab- 

 bott of East Chicago as a partner in the 

 lumber business. He has recently been 

 nominated for the oflice of attorney-gen- 

 eral of the state of Indiana on the Re- 

 publican ticket. 



The strongest kind of rivalry existed in 

 the nomination for this office. Mr. Miller 

 succeeded in landing the plum on the third 

 ballot. 



Jlr. Miller is one of the brightest young 

 attorneys in the West and is prominent in 

 commercial circles. Besides the hardwood 

 lumber business he is interested in the 

 banking business and independent tele- 

 phone industries in the northern part of 

 the state. 



He is also known as a shrewd politician, 

 and although Indiaua is about equally 

 divided politically, a good campaigner, as 

 Mr. Miller is, will likely turn the tide the 

 Republican way in the coming election. 



selling a good deal as it Is, but am handi- 

 capped by the very poor stuff A\hich the 

 shippers may, and do, put in under the 

 present rule. 



"I don't presume to dictate to the cypress 

 people, who are good business men, but 

 they should change their rules to meet 

 changing conditions. Formerly, shipping 

 such low-grade cypress to Chicago was not 

 to be thought of, but I believe if they will 

 amend that rule to shut out the worst of 

 the mill culls, it will be to their interest." 

 * * * 



And so it goes. The hardwood lumber 

 trade is stirred from center to circumfer- 

 ence and tlie St. Louis meeting will be a 

 hummer. 



LOCAL GOSSIP. 



The Fullerton-Powell Hardwood Lum- 

 ber Company of Soutli Bend, Ind., report 

 l)usiness very satisfactory, both as to sup- 

 ply and demand. Inquiries and orders are 

 plentiful and shipments are made with 

 less delay than has been the case. 

 * * * 

 An old friend and neighbor of the Hard- 

 wood Becurd was a visitor to the Chicago 

 market last week. Mr. Adler used to be 

 known around here as plain Cy, but since 

 he has moved to Kentucky the boys are 

 not so familiar. He comes and goes now 

 as Colonel Adler, and, so the Colonel says, 

 he left the little town of Lyons to avoid 

 the necessity of answei-ing inquiries for 

 "superior hardwood flooring." He says 

 their inabilit)' to supply their trade makes 

 him sick, and asked us if we ever looked 

 through a keyhole and noticed the differ- 

 ence of the scope beyond when you were 

 ten feet away and wlien you had your eye 

 right up against it? "If you have," he 

 said, "you will understand how 1 feel 

 about this hardwood business. The troulile 

 was that I was too far back for so long 



a time that I lost many a golden oiipor- 



tuuity." 



# * * 



Mr. M. F. Butters, of the Butters Salt 

 & Lumber Company of Ludington, Mich., 

 was a visitor in the Chicago market last 



week. 



* * * 



The Perley Hardwood Lumber Company 

 of South Bend, Ind., who are chiefly con- 

 cerned in the manufacture of bent wood- 

 work, report business in their line un- 

 usually lirisk and altogether satisfactory. 



• * * 



Mr. Mishler, of the firm of Mishler, Pen- 

 rod & Abbott, states that their business 

 is being wound up there as rapidly as 

 possible, preparatory to removing his mill 

 to New Madrid, JIo. Mr. Mishler will be 

 alone in the new deal and will be in opei'a- 

 tion about the first of August. The tract 

 cf timber which he purchased in that sec- 

 tion of the country consists principally of 



oak and hickory. 



* * * 



Heath, Witbeek & Co. close their fiscal 

 year the first of May and they are now 

 engaged in taking invoice of stock on hand. 

 Messrs. Heatli and Witbeek have been as- 

 sociated together in the hardwood business 

 for the past eleven years, the first two 

 years as I. Tomlinson & Co. and since 

 then as Heath. Witbeek & Co. They are 

 one of the live hardwood concerns of Chi- 

 cago, and have built up a hardwood busi- 

 ness that is second to none in the Chicago 



market. 



* * * 



Mr. J. L. Lane is a new factor in the 

 hardwood trade of Chicago, or rather, we 

 should say new in the way of having 

 started in business on his own account 

 here. Mr. Lane is well known in the 

 hardwood ti-ade, having formerly been in 

 Kansas City as tlie Lane-Connelly Hard- 

 wood Lumber Company, and prior to that 



