12 



THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



a ready market for thoiv product at re- 

 miinerative prices. 



lu northern hardwoods the situation is 

 about all that could be desired. In maple 

 there is very little in the hands of the 

 producers other than mill culls, and they 

 are getting scarce. We know of dealers 

 in Chicago who had stock they had car- 

 ried on their yards until It was looking 

 pretty bad, and who have cleaned it out 

 In the past few weeks at a good price. 

 BaSswood is so scarce as to be practically 

 out of the market. 



Birch and elm are in easier supply, but 

 nothing excessive. 



Taken all around, the hardwood situa- 

 tion is very favorable. And yet salesmen 

 run into places around Chicago where lum- 

 ber is being sold very low. 



THE MANUFACTUBE OF GUM LUM- 

 BER. 



This is an excellent time for the hard- 

 wood manufacturers to turn their atten- 

 tion seriously to the manufacture of gum 

 lumber. This branch of the kimber trade- 

 has now passed the experimental stage. 

 It has been amply demonstrated that gum 

 timber can be made mto an excellent qual- 

 ity of lumber, suitable for a number of 

 uses, and the present, when there is a 

 strong demand for some kind of cheap, 

 serviceable lumber, is an excellent oppor- 

 tunity to get gum well introduced. Once 

 it is well introduced, and the trade has 

 learned how to handle it to produce the 

 best results, it can be depended on to 

 hold its own. 



For gum luuilier, well made and prop- 

 erly cared for, is a i>rodnct that will grow 

 in favor. It is a most excellent and serv- 

 iceable lumber, for which there is at pres- 

 ent a good market. We know that there 

 are saw^ mill men who will disagree with 

 us and cite their own experience to prove 

 that gum cannot profitably be made into 

 lumber; but the hundreds of carloads of 

 this stock being received into Chicago 

 every . month, in the very best condition, 

 is abundant answer to their arguments. 



The lumber consuming trade is pretty 

 hard up just at present for a cheap kind 

 of lumber which is of better quality than 

 mill culls. Cottonwood used to be a cheap 

 lumber, so did bassv.ood, maple, elm, etc., 

 each in its turn; but they are not cheap 

 any longer; not cheap enough, at least, 

 except in the low grade.s, and the low 

 grades don't answer. What is wanted i.^-. 

 a low-price<l lumber, reasonably free from 

 knots, shakes, splits, etc., to be used for 

 boxing, crating, molding, etc., and gum 

 which has been properly manufactured 

 and properl.v dried answers every require- 

 ment. 



We do not claim to be an authority upon 

 the matter, but we do know that there 

 are a numlier of manufacturers who are 

 handling gum so as to produce excellent 

 results; and if you have failed in the 

 matter the fault is probably with your- 



self and your lack of experience, rather 

 than with gum itself. We know of one 

 manufacturer who has .secured such ex- 

 cellent results that he is selling his prod- 

 uct along the Mississippi above St. I/ouis 

 as "hickoi-y iwplar," and getting a very 

 good price for it, indeed. At least, his 

 comi>etitors accuse him of so doing, and 

 he doesn't deny it. As to whether he 

 should do this is a moral question we will 

 leave to his conscience to answer, feeling 

 pretty certain it will not bother him so 

 long as he isn't found out. 



In trying to learn something regarding 

 the manufacture of gum from those who 

 appear to know how to do it, we are met 

 with the difficulty that they seem reluc- 

 tant to part with infonnation they have 

 been long in collecting. A good many 

 have been experimenting for a number 

 of, years and seem inclined to allow their 

 fellow lumbermen to obtain their infor- 

 mation by the same slow but sure and 

 practical method. 



This seems a rather narrow view to 

 take, but it is conceded that a man has 

 a right to be narrow if he can make money 

 at it. In this case, however, it seems that 

 he is standing in his own light. If all 

 the gum lumber which is put on the mar- 

 ket was well manufactured and properly 

 handle<l it would be better for all con- 

 cerned; and the price of gum lumber 

 would advance much more rapidly than 

 it will under present circumstances. One 

 carload of warped, twisted, split, stained 

 and generally disreputable gum lumber 

 ■nill, when sent to a central market, do 

 the cause more injury than a hundred 

 good carloads can repair. Such a carload 

 is almost certain to be refused by the 

 consignee, and a salesman will peddle it 

 all around and finally will practically give 

 it away; and the man who gets it, even 

 as a gift, and has to work it up, will be 

 so sore about it he will probably do ex- 

 treme bodily hann to the next man who 

 even suggests gum to him. 



There is a difference in the character- 

 istics of gum timl>er in different sections 

 of the country, and as in the case of Cot- 

 tonwood, the difference is all in favor of 

 the gum of the soutliern country. The guru 

 which grows north of the Ohio River is 

 not of as great value as that south of the 

 river; and even in the best gum sections 

 a log man who knows his business will 

 frequently reject what, to the uninitiate<l. 

 appears a pretty good log. A good log 

 man, experienced in the gum business. 

 can, howewr, in a good gum country, sc 

 lect logs which will make as good and 

 tractable lumber as one could wish. 



If you have experimented with gnni 

 you have probalily been pained by the 

 tendency of the boards to split at the 

 ends in drying. A friend of ours who has 

 been experimenting with gum lumber for 

 a number of years had observed this tend- 

 ency and that it was much more marked 

 in the bottom courses. When the boards 



shrunk the weight of the high piles was 

 so great that the boards could not draw- 

 together, because of being held so firmly 

 in place. Hence, they were compelled to 

 split. Above a certain height there was 

 no splitting, so our friend disposed of that 

 difficulty by only building his gum piles 

 half as high as the ordinary piles. 



The gentleman who is making hay in 

 the golden sunshine by selling his "tu- 

 pelo" for hickory poplar, tells us that he 

 had to spend several years experimenting 

 before he reached his present eminence 

 in the poplar trade. He at first cut and 

 put his gi'een logs into the river to be 

 floated to his mill. He soon found that 

 this system, while all right in theory, was 

 impracticable, because the logs would sink 

 as soon as they were put in the water. 

 He now girdles his gum trees and leaves 

 them stand for six months or longer. After 

 being thus treated they will not sink when 

 put in the water, but will float easily and 

 rapidly to the mill. He also states that 

 lumber made from such logs is much less 

 apt to split or warp in drying. 



As before stated, we are not prei>ared 

 to give extensive and detailed informa- 

 tion regarding the best methods to em- 

 ploy in manufacturing gum lumber. We 

 have never made any gum lumber in our 

 life, but we know it is being successfully 

 manufactured and plaee<i upon the mar- 

 ket, an<l that there is an excellent demand 

 for it, and if some manufacturer who has 

 solved the problem would contribute an 

 article to the Record upon the subject, it 

 would lie highly appreciated; and it will 

 certainly reiJay our readers to give tlic 

 matter serious consideration. 



(xum is a coming wood. It is aliundaut 

 and accessible: it has been abundantly 

 demonstratetl that, properly handled, it 

 makes excellent lumber, for which there 

 is a good and growing demand; and our 

 readers oiight to be making some ninncy 

 out of it. 



THE COAL, STRIKE. 



The strike in the anthracite coal region. 

 while less spectacular than the Homestead 

 strike, the Pullman strike and some others, 

 is, we believe, fraught with graver issues 

 tlian an.v which has occurred in this conn- 

 try. The obstinacy and tenacity of the 

 contending parties, the reckless defiance of 

 public opinion and the indifference to the 

 public necessities are bringing the convic- 

 tion home to the people as never before, 

 that some measure which will terminate 

 strikes of this character must be evolved 

 and put in effect. 



From the beginning the miners have of- 

 fered to submit their case to abritration. 

 The mine owners have taken the position 

 that they have nothing to arbitrate, and we 

 do not believe that the public will sustain 

 them in that position. Their business is 

 one of such importance to the public that 

 the public has rights in the matter which 

 shoiilil he considered, .\lreadv nianv in- 



