HARDWOOD RECORD 



37 



Sewall Company of Watertown. N. V. A few 

 of tho smaller parts, including sUaftiug, wen; 

 made in Japan, and constitute the :> per cent 

 referred to. 



Tlie cost of tlie electrical machinery in this 

 plant, all of wliicli was imported from America, 

 is pliiocd at about .«il, 000,000. This does not 

 include I lie cost of the reservoir and power house 

 plant, located fourteen miles distant, at Lake 

 Shikatsu. This lake is SOO feet above sea level, 

 and as the paper plant at Tomakamai is only a 

 few feet above the nearby Pacific ocean, excel- 

 lent power facilities have been provided. Al- 

 ready a lu.OOO-horsepower plant has been de- 

 veloped. 



The daily output of the Tomakamai paper 

 mill is upward of seventy tons per twenty-four 

 hours. This Is (onsiderable over 50 per cent 

 of the total consumption of news and book pa- 

 per in the Empire of .Japan. Jloreover, it is 

 estimated that the timber supply available for 

 this plant will not be exhausted for half a 

 century or more. Some experts claim the tim- 

 ber supply in this case will not be used up for 

 over one hundred years. The timber areas in- 

 clude state and lailroad lands in addition to 

 privately owned tracts. 



Those concerned in this enterprise, being all 

 .iapanese, state that the selling price on the 

 tonnage basis of their product will, for the pres- 

 ent, be placed at 2Vi to 3 cents per pound. 

 It is evident that this will net a handsome 

 profit, and that the reduced cost of production 

 will enable the Japanese manufacturer to cut 

 prices if necessary to secure a ready market for 

 the output. It is also evident that Japan will 

 export large quantities of paper iu the future. 

 the wages paid the ordinary laborer iu the 

 Tomakamai plant being approximately .$15 per 

 month. 



The Tomakamai plant was planned by a Jap- 

 anes"; subject, Mr. Naoki Takata, chief engineer 

 and manager of the manufacturing and con- 

 struction departments of this plant. He has 

 been engaged in the manufacture of papei in 

 Japan for sixteen years, and for six years has 

 directed all of his time and energies to evolv- 

 ing this new industrial property. He has vis- 

 ited tlie paper manufacturing centers of the 

 world, and is of the opinion that the manu- 

 facture of paper will become an important in- 

 dustry in Japan. 



After examining modern American paper mill 

 plants Mr. Takata decided that if sufHcient wa- 

 ter power could he developed in Hokkaido, where 

 coal and timber are plentiful, this industry 

 would prove successful. After locating the nec- 

 essary water power possibilities at Lake Shikatsu 

 his plans were approved by Japanese capitalists. 

 Mr. Takata has placed in the Tomakamai 

 plant his own personal inventions for washing 

 the pulp. This plant is also provided with 

 another Japanese invention, the Miyabara na- 

 val boiler, of which there are ten, each of 300 

 horsepower, or a total of 3,000-horsepower boiler 

 capacity. 



The electrical machinery, all of American 

 manufacture, includes five 750-horsepower mo- 

 tors ; four 450-horsepower motors : forty-three 

 from, 100 to 200-horsepower motors. 



The floors are all concrete and the buildings 

 are of brick. 



Vanderbilt Estate 



It has just been learned that Mr. George W. 

 Vanderbilt has given an option on a large tract 

 of fine timber land along the Toxaway road, 

 not far distant from Asheviiie, and that it is 

 his purpose to sell the timber rights on several 

 large and richly timbered tracts which he owns 

 in western North Carolina. 



While the number of acres on the Toxaway 

 road that have been optioned could not be 

 learned, it is said that the purchasers have 

 agreed to pay him .$2.'J0.000 for the privilege 

 of cutting the timber from the lands. It is 

 also stated that the purchasers' names cannot. 



at this time, be given out. although it has been 

 admitted that an option on the timber has been 

 given for a period extending through the winter 

 and well into the spring. 



The timber rights on Mr. Vanderljilfs vast 

 holdings are greatly in demand, and are very 

 valuable, and the option on the boundary in 

 the Toxaway section w-111 no doubt bo taken up. 



it is rumored that Mr. Vanderbilt has cau.sed 

 to be divided into blocks his thnber holdings 

 and that the.se will be sold on a slumpage basis. 



Timber Owners' Organization 



Owners or agents representing approximately 

 two million acres of upper Michigan limber lands 

 met at the Marquelle Club, Manpiette, Mich., 

 last Saturday and organized the Northern l'"orest 

 Vrotcctive Association, the object of which is 

 to prevent forest flres in so far as possible and 

 in other ways to advance the interests of its 

 members in so far as they pertain to their tim- 

 ber holdings. The following persons were pres- 

 ent and took part in the organization of the 

 association : 



H. R. -Harris, general manager of the Cleve- 

 land Cliffs railroads ; rowcll & Mitchell : R. S. 

 Kellogg, Northern Hemlock & Hardwood Manu- 

 facturers' Association, Wausau, Wis. ; A. T. 

 Roberts, representing J. M. Longyear ; C. V. R. 

 Townsend, Negauuee, representing the Cleveland 

 Cliffs Iron Company ; F. H. Smith, Traverse 

 City, the Oval Wood Dish Company and the 

 Smith & Hull Company; T. B. Wyman, Munls- 

 ing, forester for the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Com- 

 pany ; F. W. Nichols, Houghton, of the St. Mary's 

 Canal Mine Land Company : H. E. Perkins, Big 

 Bay, of the Heron Mountain Club; T. A. Green, 

 Ontonagon, of the Greenwood Lumber Company ; 

 M. W. Jopling and A. F. Koepcke, of the Peter 

 White Land Company ; E. 0. Stafford, represent- 

 ing A. Kidder, and A. E. Miller, representing the 

 J.'c. Ayer estate. Letters assuring co-operation 

 in the movement were received from several 

 large timber owners who were not able to attend 

 the meeting. 



T. A. Green was chosen tor chairman of the 

 meeting. The forenoon session was devoted 

 largely to an informal discussion of the proposed 

 organization and what might be accomplished by 

 it. It was generally agreed that the only effec- 

 tive way to conserve and protect the forests 

 from fire was through a mutual protective asso- 

 ciation, modeled after those formed in many 

 localities in the West, which have recently been 

 recommended by the United States Forest Serv- 

 ice. 



It was agreed that such an association should 

 provide for a patrol of the lands of its members, 

 at least during the summer months, through 

 which agency many of the causes that usually 

 lead to forest fires could be removed and flres 

 once started could be taken in their inclpiency 

 and effectively fought before they had spread 

 over large areas. It will also be the duty of 

 the wardens or rangers, who are employed to 

 patrol the lands, to educate the homesteaders 

 as to the dangers from forest flres and to recom- 

 mend precautionary measures for their preven- 

 tion. 



The association will lend its support to the 

 enforcement of timber and forest fire laws now 

 on the statute books, and to the passage of 

 such additional legislation as may be deemed 

 necessary for the welfare of northern Michigan 

 and Wisconsin timber interests. The question 

 of the rangers being authorized to arrest tres- 

 passers on the lands of the association and of 

 the organization making a united effort to pre- 

 vent trespassing by hunters, fishermen and 

 others, was considered, but was not favorably 

 received by a majority of those present. It was 

 decided the wiser course to refrain from attempt- 

 ing to establish a forest reserve, but rather to 

 educate hunters and fishermen to be more care- 

 ful about starting fires and to prosecute vio- 

 lators of the state law covering such acts. 



The active management of the association will 



he In the hands of seven oliicers and dIrcctor.H, 

 elected as follows : I'resident, T. A. Green, On- 

 tonagon ; vice-president, C. V. R. Townsend, Ne- 

 gauuee ; secretary, T. B. Wyman, Munising; 

 treasurer, J. E. Sherman, Marquette ; C. H. 

 Worcester, Chasseil ; C. A. Goodman, Marinette, 

 and W. H. Johnston, Ishpemlng, directors. These 

 directors are expected to meet monthly during 

 the summer .season, and will be elected annually 

 at the meeting of the members, to be held the 

 lirst T^iesday in March. 



The constitution and by-laws adopted provide 

 . that the association shall be Incorporated under 

 the lavrs of Michigan, and that owners of tim- 

 ber laud In Michigan aud Wisconsin shall be 

 eligible to membership upon election by the asso- 

 ciation. In the meetings every member Is to 

 have an equal voice In the proceedings, but the 

 assessments to meet the expenses of the asso- 

 ciation are to be made upon an acreage basis. 

 The direct management of the work to be done 

 is placed in the hands of the directors, who arc 

 authorized to employ a chief ranger, upon whom 

 will bo shouldered the immediate responsibility 

 for the field work. This chief ranger will also 

 have power to employ subordinate rangers, with- 

 in limitations, when conditions make such em- 

 ployment necessary. 



Most of the details of operation are yet to be 

 worked out by the board of directors, but it is 

 expected that the scheme will be in at least 

 partial operation by another summer. It is 

 stated that this is the first forest protective 

 association to be organized cast of the. Rocky 

 mountains, with the exception of a somewhat 

 similar association in New York state. 



Koads 'Win in Kate Hearing 



Judges Sanborn, Hook, Van Dcvantcr and 

 Adams, in the United States Circuit Court re- 

 cently upheld the findings of .Master in Chancery 

 F. N. Dickson in the suit brought by the Great 

 Northern, Northern Pacillc. Chicago, Burlington 

 & Quincy, and Union Pacific railroads to enjoin 

 the Interstate Commerce Commission from en- 

 forcing the reduction in lumber rates from Port- 

 land to St. Paul and Chicago. 



All exceptions by both sides were, overruled, 

 'ihe action of the court is a victory for the 

 railroads. 



The rate on lumber from Portland to St. 

 I'aul was raised from -10 cents to 50 cents a 

 hundredweight by the railroads. The Interstate 

 Commerce Commission cut the rate to 45 cents, 

 which it now is. 



The master in chancery recommended a 50-cent 

 rate. 



A 60-cent rate from Portland to Chicago was 

 cut to 55 cents by the Interstate Commerce 

 Commission. The 60-cent rate was restored by 

 the master. 



Some Points on Sa'ws 

 Without being at all humorous, there is a great 

 deal of meafilng when points on saws are men- 

 tioned.. The trouble Is that there is a widely dif- 

 fering conception as to the function of the point of 

 a tooth, whether it has to cut, divide, or scrape, 

 or for that matter push aside. It may be asked 

 what has the latter alternative to do In this 

 matter, when does a saw point push aside? Let 

 !i saw be sharpened for ripping with the points 

 of the teeth coming to a sharp point, the top at 

 an acute angle, and the front, then the point Is 

 used for cutting purposes, with the result that 

 the saw takes a great deal of power, and there 

 is a considerable loss of time in continually 

 sharpening up those points. This question of 

 sharpening a saw, so that the teeth are exactly 

 fitted for what they are being used for, should 

 be considered. Upon it depends the success of 

 the mill, and yet it is lamentable to see that 

 m many cases the saws are sharpened, not to 

 get the best results, but to get a sharp point. 



