HARDWOOD RECORD 



39 



which are Philadelphia. New York, within lighter- 

 age limits, stations in Long Island, various 

 points in New Jersey, such as Jersey City, New- 

 ark. Uayonne, Perth Amboy, New Brunswick, 

 Atlantic City, etc., etc., and various points In 

 Ni>w KuRlund. such as New Haven, Hartford, 

 Itoston. Providence, Portland, etc., etc. 



On AuKiist 1, 1910, the rallmads included lath 

 and 1)0X shooks in these compclitivf ratos, and 

 at the same time increased Ihe minimum on 

 all the commodities to 40,000 pounds, and in 

 justilication of this move the carriers have con- 

 tt'uded that on account of these competitive 

 rates, which are from 1 cent to 4 cents lower 

 than the regular rates, they were entitled to a 

 heavier minimum. The reasons advanced by the 

 carriers for maintaining the 40.000-pound mlni- 

 uiiim on timber, lath, shingles, shooks and cross- 

 tics Is that a shipper should liud no dlHlcuity 

 In loading timber up to a minimum of 40,000 

 pounds, and that lath, shingles, siiooks and 

 .loss ties can ordinarily be loaded to the full 

 visible capacity of the car and should be so 

 loaded if the shippers wish to continue to enjoy 

 the beneflt of these low water competitive rates. 



.\s a result of the efforts of the National 

 Wholesale Lumber Dealers' Association it is pos- 

 sil)le that the various carriers will arrange to 

 publish and tile with the Interstate Commerce 

 ('omniission supplements to tiieir various tariffs 

 eorrecting this minimum so that the rule will 

 In-come effective some time in December. 



The association has had a great deal of corre- 

 spondence with nearly all the shippers affected 

 and the clinirman of the Railroad & Transporta- 

 tion Comiuitfee and the traffic manager have had 

 a number of conferences with the railroads, 

 and the National association, if necessary, was 

 prepared to file a complaint before the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission. 



Record Concrete Laying at Gatuu Locks 



All hourly records for coucrete laying were 

 broken on October 6. 1910, by the cableways used 

 in constructing the great locks on the Panama 

 canal at Gatun. Two million cubic yards of con- 

 erete are to \k used in building these locks, 

 Lidgerwood cableways are used for placing the 

 concrete. These cableways are arranged in 

 duplex form on four pairs of towers. 



The pair of cableways which broke the record 

 are known officially as "Strand A" and "Strand 

 B" of eableway No. 1. 



Strand A placed forty-nine cubic yards in one 

 hour and Strand B placed fifty cubic yards dur- 

 ing the same hour. This means that the car- 

 riage on each strand made twenty-five trips per 

 hour. The cableways were sold under a guar- 

 antee that they would make twenty trips per 

 hour. 



These cableways are arranged to give higher 

 carriage speed than was ever attempted before 

 for this class of work. This speed is rendered 

 possible by important improvements made by 

 Spencer Miller in anticipation of just such needs. 

 With these improvements it is possible to use 

 carriage speeds up to 2.500 feet per minute, as 

 against speeds of 800 or 900 feet per minute, 

 which were as great as w-ere before practicable. 

 The cableways each have a span of SOO feet 

 Iwnween towers. They are actuated l)y electricity 

 and the control is as easy and simple and of the 

 same character as the control of an up-to-date 

 electric train. One operator controls the entire 

 operation on each strand. 



Hardwood and Hardwood Flooring in 

 Hamburg 



Consul-tJeneral Robert P. Skinner furnishes 

 the following information concerning the trade 

 usages in the Hamburg lumber market, to show 

 that the desire of American shippers of hard- 

 woods to sell direct to the German manufac- 

 turers is not so easy of realization as would 

 seem to be the case. The large importers operate 

 Independently, and it is very difficult to quote 

 prices with any degree of assurance. 



American hardwoods, after being Imported at 

 Hamburg, are sold, ordinarily, to actual manu- 

 facturers through the medium of merchants who 

 keep on hand large quanlities of logs and lum- 

 ber from all countries. The German manufac- 

 turers, with few exceptions (among these being 

 a piano manufaeiurer, whoso chief house is in 

 the United States) prefer to apply to local mer- 

 chants fur their supplies, as such merchants 

 are familiar with their requirements, may be 

 dealt with personally, and make up assortments 

 of each description in small quantities of logs, 

 iumlx>r, squares, veneers, or any other form 

 of wood, all seasoned, to suit requirements. 



These merchants, in their turn, buy their sup- 

 plies from importers, and they expect the Im- 

 porters to refrain from selling direct to their 

 customers, except in the public auctions, where 

 there is free competition, and where the goods 

 are adjudged in "cavelings" (small lots or 

 piles). 



American maple logs, used by piano manu- 

 facturers, have to meet the competition of Ger- 

 man maple. Notwithstanding this, one im- 

 portant Hamburg house ordered 100,000 Ameri- 

 can maple logs this year. Maple should not be 

 sent on consignment, but only on firm orders, 

 an observation which also applies to ash and 

 l.ickory. White oak logs, of white color and 

 line grain, are thoroughly appreciated in Ham- 

 burg, but must meet the competition of Ger- 

 man oak, which is generally preferred, but is 

 very high in price. It follows that first class 

 American logs will always receive proper at- 

 tention. 



Very little hardwood worked flooring is im- 

 ported into Germany, because upon any product 

 of lumber which is surfaced, matched, or bored 

 the import duty is so considerably higher than 

 for rough lumber as to render it cheaper to 

 have the latter Hnished in the domestic saw- 

 mills. Beech floorings are very little used : this 

 lumber, being liable to warp considerably, has 

 not given satisfaction. 



Oak parquet strips 3. S%, 4, 4i.i and 5 inches 

 wide, 4/4 inches thick, are used in lengths of 

 16 or 18 inches and longer, increasing by 4- 

 inch lengths for firsts and seconds oak. These 

 parquet oak floorings are used for dwelling 

 houses or better class buildings, and for the 

 short strips, which are bundled and cleated, 

 the price c. i. f. Hamburg is about $47.50 per 

 1,000. This price depends largely upon the 

 kind of oak. It is quite necessary that these 

 strips sliould be of uniform white color, be- 

 cause red oak mixed with white oak in floorings 

 will show up unfavorably, even after the floor- 

 ings have been polished, and will continue to 

 do so. 



Since 1907 the building trade has been de- 

 pressed and for that reason, generally speak- 

 ing, building operations have been restricted and 

 builders have evinced a disposition to cut down 

 costs wherever possible. It follows that pine 

 has been used Instead of oak, and Baltic cheap 

 floorings covered witli linoleum in place of the 

 yellow- pine floorings formerly used. Linoleum 

 comes in designs which imitate oak flooring 

 fairly well, and it has cut into the sale of ex- 

 pensive lumber. 



The general depression referred to has been 

 felt not only in Germany, but elsewhere. Aus- 

 tria and Hungary, which supply large amounts 

 of oak and also plain and quarter-sawn par- 

 quet strips for floorings, have suffered. The 

 parquet strips have had to be sold at lower 

 prices than those which prevailed In 1907, and 

 consequently the American parquet strips now 

 have to meet strong competition from the Hun- 

 garian oak, and the price, on account of the 

 ocean freight on American lumber. Is almost 

 rqual for both kinds. 



White rock-maple floorings. In lengths of 10 

 feet and more, and 4 Inches in thickness by 

 5 and 6 Inches, have been Imported extensively 

 into Germany for warebouse floorings, and this 

 kind of flooring has l.'-en very successful. Maple 



Ik at least a>» hard and resistant, as beech, and 

 It does not warp as much. 



Excess Postage on Ijetters to England 



.\mi'rlcan business men are reminded by a 

 consul to England that the letter rate of post 

 age to the United Kingdom is now two cents. 

 Many letters are received at this consulate 

 bearing a flvc-cent stamp and enclosing a flve- 

 eeni stamp tor reply, which represents a clear 

 loss of six cents. The same rate exists between 

 the United States and Germany, but to other 

 Kuropean countries remains five cents. 



An American Lumber Company in China 



Consul-tJeneral Samuel S, Knabenshue of 

 Tientsin reports that a company has been 

 formed at that port. In which Chinese and 

 .\merlcan capital Is combined, to carry on a 

 general business in American lumber and build- 

 ing material. The company is to be incorpo- 

 rated under the laws of California, and is capi- 

 talized at .$50,000, $35,000 of which is to be 

 paid up at once and the remainder held in the 

 treasury until such time as the progress of the 

 business calls tor It. 



Chihuahua Begins Lumber Export 



111 1909 there were no declared exports of 

 lumber from Chihuahua to the Ujlted States, 

 though during the llrst six months of 1910 the 

 declared value of lumber exported from that 

 district was $1,350, the company shipping stat- 

 ing that they are merely considered as sample 

 shipments made with an Idea of developing 

 a market for lumber in this country. One of 

 till mills iu operation has a daily capacity of 

 2."i0.000 feet, while another running 24 hours 

 a day produces 500.000 feet in that period. A 

 steady advance in the exports in this district 

 based on a satisfactory preliminary shipment Is 

 iintlclpated. 



Wood Alcohol -in Germany 



The distillation of wood in Germany is not 

 as important an Industry as the distillation 

 of potatoes, grains, etc., according to ViceCon- 

 sul Prederic W. Cauldwell of Berlin, for the 

 reason that wood is comparatively scarce and 

 hence more costly than In the United States, 

 or even in Austria-Hungary or Russia. 



The Industry made slow progress until 1880. 

 when the law providing for the denaturing of 

 alcohol was passed, but at about the same time 

 the importation of wood alcohol and pyrollgnite 

 of lime from the United States began, and a 

 number of the wood distilling plants merely 

 bought up these Imported raw products and 

 manufactured thc^m into acetic acid, methyl al- 

 cohol, anil d<'natured wood alcohol. The larg- 

 est concerns, however, soon established their 

 own distilling plants in the thickly wooded sur- 

 rounding countries of Galicia, Hungary and 

 Russia, and Imported their raw products to 

 their refining plants In Germany. 



Exact figures of the production of wood al- 

 cohol and pyrollgnite of lime arc not published, 

 but according to a reliable estimate for the 

 >ear 1907 there were produced in Austria-Hun- 

 gary and Germany about 6.300 metric tons of 

 the former and 27.000 to 28.000 metric tons 

 of the latter. This industry has also suffered 

 some of late years on account of the competi- 

 tion with the great volumes of denatured po- 

 tato and grain alcohol produced in Germany, 



Tlie fact that deciduous varieties of wood 

 are comparatively scarce in Germany is an- 

 other reason why the wood alcohol Industry 

 Is not so far advanced. Chemists and dLstlllers 

 state that wood from coniferous trees produces 

 only about one-half the wood alcohol and pyro- 

 ligneous acid as does wood from deciduous vari- 

 eties and that Ihe profitable distillation In the 

 former case depends upon the quality and (jiian- 

 tlty of the pine oil and tar obtained. On ac- 

 lount of the costliness and general application 



