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HARDWOOD RECORD 



to the owner. But we are probably as far 

 i'rom solving the problem as we ever were. 

 Our electric drive costs us about onethiril 

 as much as what it would cost to run our 

 plant by steam power, for the cost of the 

 engineer alone, to say nothing of the other 

 incidental costs of steam plants. We 

 figure using about 3,000 feet of maple a 

 day, one-third of that goes out as shavings 

 and sawdust, and in the course of a year 

 this would amount up to a considerable 

 figure. It seems as though waste of this 

 character could readily be made into paper 

 pulp or pressed into briquettes for fuel. 



Did the reader ever have occasion lo 

 look into the matter of freight weights on 

 carload shipments? A few weeks ago we 

 had a carload of handles consigned to an 

 Arkansas point. When the car was weighed 

 at the first division point from us we were 



notified of the weight, and it was so much 

 more than we counted on that we per- 

 sonally weighed bundles of handles of ex- 

 actly the same kind as those shipped, the 

 scales in the freight station being used. 

 Figuring the ear on this basis, it brought 

 the weight about 8,000 pounds lower than 

 the car scales made it. The railroad com- 

 pany then weighed the car again with the 

 same result as the first time. As a conse- 

 quence we instructed our customer to have 

 the handles wsighed by wagon load and 

 pay on that basis. In illustration of the 

 inconsistency of the railroad weighers, the 

 next ear shipped was loaded with the same 

 land of handles and our estimated weight 

 was about 5,000 pounds over that of the 

 railroad company. We are puzzled to know 

 the reason for this disparity, as the two 

 cars handled were made from exactly the 

 same kind of lumber from the same firm 

 received at the same time. 



Hardwood Record Mail 'Bag 



Wants Pennsylvania Ash 



AViimiugton, N. C, November 17. — Editor 

 H.iRDW00D Record ; We are in need o£ some 

 close-grained, tougli ash to be used in aeroplane 

 construction, and for this purpose are advised 

 wf should secure ash grown in Pennsylvania. 

 Kindly advise us where to secure it. 



The writer of the above letter has bceii 

 given the addresses of several hardwood prc- 

 aucers in Pennsylvania, and any others who 

 would be interested in liegotiating with him 

 can have the address upon application. — 

 Editor. 



Criticises Eecord's Liverpool Report 



The Record is in receipt of a letter from 

 a prominent Liverpool house in which it crit- 

 icises the mahogany market report from our 

 Liverpool correspondent published in Eecord 

 of October 10. The writer alleged that in 

 the auction sales held in Liverpool on October 

 o and 6 prices were shown to be firm inid 

 strong. The bidding all through was spirited 

 and a high level of prices was maintaineci. 

 African mahogany sold very well and it 

 really seems that this wood has come to iLt- 

 own, and the writer does not apprehen.l a 

 fall in price for a long time to come. 



More About Balsa Wood 



Marac;iibu. Venezuela, Dclobor 2U. — Editor 

 Hahuwood Record ; We have read in your 

 paper, issue of 10th of this month, a note about 

 the wood known as Balsa, whicli is very light 

 and proper to be used in the nianufaclure of 

 life preservers. 



We will send you by next steamer a specimen 

 of tills wood, knowm in our country by tlic sanies 

 name, and as it is a grayish-white wood, ex- 

 tremely light, and proper for aforesaid use, we 

 think It is the same wood as menlioned in your 

 paper. We are in a position (o supply any 

 amount of this wood. ■ — 



A specimen of the wood referred to has 

 been received at this office and is a duplicate 

 of the specimen recently mailed us from 

 Providence, E. I. 



The above writer has been supplied witli v 

 list of people who are apparently interested 

 in securing this material and any others who 

 desire the address of this Venezuela exporter 

 can have it on application. — Editor. 



Seeks White Fine Veneers 



Lafayette, lud.. October ol. — Editor Hard- 

 wood Record ; Please advise us if you can give 

 us the names of any manufacturers of sawed or 

 rotary cut white pine veneers as we have occa- 

 sion to use considerable of this stock. 



Lumber Company. 



Any readers of the Becord who are in 

 shape to produce white pine veneers and want 

 further outlet for their product, can secure 

 the address of the above correspondent, whicli 

 is a high-class concern, i^n application at this 

 office. 



A Letter on Arbitration 



The Record is in receipt of the toUovviu;; 

 letter on the subject of arbitration, writ;en 

 by Geo. W. Hotchkiss, secretary of the Illinois 

 Lumber & Builders' Supply Dealers' Asso- 

 ciation. 



Arbitration is a subject upon which my favor- 

 able opinion is so well known that I will not 

 enlarge upon it now. Suffice that I am and for 

 years have been one of its most ardent advocates, 

 but compulsory arbitration nullities tlie idea of 

 a peaceable settlement and we have no laws 

 which permit us to discipline a member or in- 

 dividual who refuses to submit his differences. 

 (In,' dealer in this state, with whom I have plead 

 for tli-j arbitration of a dispute as to who should 

 bear the expense of an unethical rejection and 

 consequent expense of reshipment, ends the cor- 

 respondence by saying ; "Before we further re- 

 ply to your plea for arbitration we beg to ask 

 what is' your age at nearest birthday." Another 

 informs us Ihaf : "You can go to hell." Neither 

 of these are members, but we have two or three 

 members wiio, while not so insulting, feci tin- 

 same way. Now how are you going to force 

 such men to "voluntary" settlement? I consider 

 them beyond the pale of reason and they take 

 advantage of the distance to which the shipper 

 mtist come with the long delay attendant \i\mu a 

 suit wherein the dealer has all the advantage of 

 an ignorant justice and readily picked up wit- 

 nesses who are ready to swear that the shipment 

 was rotten, and the small amount involved 

 doesn't warrant the expense. 



The only remedy I can see is to provide in our 

 hy-hiws that arbitration is recognizcil as the 

 ethical and propc-r method of settling disputes 

 between shipper and dealer, or in disputes be- 



tween dealers, and that any member refusing to 

 accede to this just means for settlement upon 

 request of the board of directors through the 

 secretary shall be considered guilty of uncom- 

 mercial conduct and dropped from the associa- 

 tion. But in this you lose a member or meml>ers 

 of the very class you desire to educate and have 

 made a thoroughly free lance of him and .may 

 expect him to emulate the "bull in the china 

 shop." 



If the state legislatures could be made to 

 amend the conspiracy laws, recognizing the value 

 uf arbitration and giving power to corporations or 

 voiuntai'y association to adopt by-laws for the 

 expulsion of members guilty of uncommercial con- 

 duct upon conviction of the offender by the board 

 of management after due examination, it would 

 greatly forward the end in view ; but even then 

 a man convinced against his will would raise the 

 cry of trusts and personal prejudice, and it is a 

 question whether the compulsion would not work 

 more havoc than good. If a mau is inclined to 

 be dishonest he will take every advantage of the 

 inability of a shipper to go to the expense of 

 eoming 2,000 miles on a suit of such a small 

 amount as to turn victory into greater loss. 



A general declaration by associations of the 

 wisdom of the arbitration principle would have 

 little effect upon that class of disputants and as 

 the law of this, and other states now stands you 

 could not punish liim by publicly proclaiming that 

 lie had been found guilty of uncommercial con- 

 duct without raising the cry of "black list," to 

 adopt whiclt would be in direct opposition to the 

 conspiracy laws. 



I am a great friend of the principle of arbitra- 

 tion and I think 95 per cent of our dealers would 

 uphold it as a principle, but what about the 

 other 5 per cent, who, if members of an associa- 

 tion when the issue arose, would promptly re- 

 sign and your hold upon these be wholly lost? 

 It is a pu'zzliug question and we must not forget 

 that the only recourse a claimant could have in 

 the finality w-ould be that involuntary arbitration 

 which is already in vogue through a court of law 

 and a jury of men who have no personal knowl- 

 edge (in the case of lumber) of the customs of 

 the craft in the matter at issue. 



I am strongly in favor of the widest possible 

 discussion of this subject and of strong resolu- 

 tions at our annual meetings in favor of arbitra- 

 tion as an etltical proposition, but let us not for- 

 get niir litnitations in the matter of enforcement. 

 George W. Hotchkiss. 



Interesting Letter from Dr. Schenck 



The editor of Hardwood Eecord is just in 

 receipt of the following interesting personal 

 letter from Dr. C. A. Schenck of the Bilt- 

 inore Forest School, whose students are 

 spending the winter months in the German 

 forests near Darmstadt, Germany: 



Darmstadt, Germany, November 9, 1910. — 

 Editor Hardwood Record; Just a line to ask 

 you how you are getting on. Your failure to 

 come to Cadillac was a severe disappointment 

 In me and to the boys. 



We bad a flue passage to Rotterdam, and a 

 liner one from Rotterdam up the valley of the 

 Rhine, w-hich was clad in autumnal garb. The 

 iirst two weeks of our stay in the German woods 

 we spent in the "Odenwald." where we inspected 

 a number of communal forests, in which Ameri- 

 can conifers are being planted on a large scale. 

 .No wonder that they' are planted ; "Americans 

 are doing better than Europeans," and the trees 

 are imitating, apparently, the success of the 

 men. Sweeping as the statement may sound, the 

 possibility exists that Germany should have 

 more white pine by the middle of the century 

 than will be found in the three lake states 

 taken together. 



Fm- the last week we have been staying at 

 Marmstadt, in Germany ; our real headquarters, 

 situated at the edge of the Rhine valley and 

 between the pineries of the alluvial lands, and 

 the hardwood forests of the hills. At Darm- 

 stadt we are In good company — or else in bad — 

 the C-zar of all the Russians and his entire family 

 spending a few months here with their relati\-es. 

 the Grand Duke and Duchess of Hesse Darm- 

 -ladt. What a poor wretch the Czar of all the 

 Russians is : having control of an area four or 

 live times the size of the United States, and 

 his life not safe in his own house ! Here in 

 Darmstadt he seems to enjoy himself, and takes 

 advantage of the safety tor life and limb which 

 surrounds him and his family. 



