26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



It is probable that there will never be as good an opportunity to 

 buy the general run of luinlier as at present. It goes without saying 

 that higher grades of hardwoods will continue to materially advance. 



It is manifest that general business throughout the country is 

 largely following the trend of the iron and steel trade. There is 

 comparatively little activity in it, and there has been a decline in 

 general demand of all lines of manufactured products siuee the first 

 of the year. The steel mills have only a very moderate amount of 

 advance business booked, and on some hands it is believed that there 

 will be a decline in steel values before many heavy orders are placed. 



The general financial situation is fairly good. Banks are accu- 

 mulating reserves and money is comparatively easy. Collections have 

 been decidedly better during the month. 



Even the optimist cannot hope for any remarkable activity in the 

 hardwood trade for some months to come, but, from general conditions, 

 it is manifest that there will be a steady and fairly .satisfactory 

 business done for the next few months, with prospects of accelerating 

 strength in general commercial 

 affairs as the year advances. 



The prospects for 1911, on the 

 whole, are mighty good, and the 

 people who are alive to oppor- 

 tunities and thoroughly hustle the 

 development of their business 

 surely will not be disappointed in 

 the outcome of the year. 



trust. Instead, they often use these funds in speculation and work 

 rather for llieir own dividends than for the stability of financial 

 conditions. 



It is doubtful if any system devised by Senator Aldrich or any- 

 one else could of itself influence or oblige the banking fraternity 

 to take a less selfish view of the banking business. Commercial bor- 

 rowers know' how often they suffer in competition with the specu- 

 lative element. The speculator can afford to pay more than any- 

 one else for money, and when he is bidding very high rates the 

 banks will lend him money on stock exchange collateral which com- 

 mercial borro\vers ought to have. 



New National Finan- 

 cial Plans 



The plan of national financial, 

 currency and banking reform pro- 

 posed by Senator Aldrich has 

 now been widely diseussed aud 

 generally in n favorable vein. 

 Some of the largest financial in- 

 stitutions in the country think 

 the plan eminently suitable and 

 fit. The details are, perhaps, be- 

 wildering to the layman, who 

 knows very little about the ma- 

 chinery of banking. Summarily 

 speaking, the plan greatly broad- 

 ens the powers of national banks 

 and greatly more than at pres- 

 ent provides for the concentra- 

 tion of banking power by a pro- 

 posed national association, which 

 shall have authority that will de- 

 scend through the entire fabric 

 to all national banks. It is a 

 complicated piece of machinery and proves up well enough in theory. 



The banking problem in this country is at bottom a moral one. 

 In the past it has been the use that was made of the country's 

 credit resources rather tlian any fundamental fault in the currency 

 system that has caused most of the trouble. New York and Chicago 

 banks acquiring custody of an enormous amount of interior bank 

 balances by the expedient of paying interest thereon, instead of 

 building up a large surplus reserve against the annual crop move- 

 ment, lend out that money at low rates of interest to speculators 

 who have bulled the stock and provision markets. Then when the 

 country wants its money, it is called away from the speculators, who, 

 having got their hands full of securities at elevated jirices, bid 

 higher for the money tlioy require, and thus, notably in Xevv York, 

 one often sees the scandal of twenty, thirty or even a hundred 

 per cent call money. 



Undeniably, the bane of the country for a good many years has 

 been speculative banking. It is not to be expected that bankers 

 will take a pliilanthropic view of their business, but it is expected 

 that they will treat the custody of the country's idle funds as a 



Coming Association Meetings 



Plans are now fully completed for the big conclave of hardwood 

 lumbermen at the ninth annual meeting of the Hardwood Manufac- 

 turers' Association of the United States, to be lield at the Siuton 



Hotel, Cincinnati, on January 31 

 and February 1. Secretary Dos- 

 ter reports there is every prospect 

 that the attendance on the part 

 I if hardwood manufacturers, mer- 

 chants and wholesale consumers 

 will exceed even the record-break- 

 ing meeting of a year ago. 



It is known that matters of 

 vast importance to all elements 

 (if tlie trade are to be taken up 

 and thoroughly thrashed out at 

 this meeting, and right now there 

 is more than ordinary interest in 

 arriving at a close community of 

 understanding between all divi- 

 sions of the trade. 



This annual of the Hardwood 

 Manufacturers' Association cer- 

 tainly should be worthy of the at- 

 tendance of every man interested 

 in hardwood production, mer- 

 chandising or consumption. 



At the last meeting of the 

 Board of Trustees of the Na- 

 tional Lumber Dealers' Associa- 

 tion, that sterling organization 

 with headquarters at New York, 

 it was voted that its nineteenth 

 annual meeting should be held at 

 the New Willard Hotel, Wash- 

 iiigton, D. C, on Wednesday and 

 Thursday, March 1 and 2. Sec- 

 retary Perry suggests that ad- 

 vance reservations be made at the hotel in order to secure desirable 

 accommodations. 



Advance information, made through a postal card vote, indicates 

 that the meeting this year will be very largely attended, as many 

 nmtters of importance will come up before the members. 



Although quite a number of suggestions, covering necessary discus- 

 sion and legislation, have been presented to the secretary, he invites 

 the members to advance others that may be presented at the meeting. 

 All special problems which members desire to have brought before 

 the convention should be communicated to the secretary promptly, 

 in order that they may be placed with the proper committees for 

 action and recommendation. 



This meeting, with its alluring entertainment and banquet features, 

 is a favorite with a large contingent of lumbermen, and it goes with- 

 out saying that the forthcoming one will be no exception to the 

 general rule. 



The mid-winter mooting of the Michigan Hardwood Manufacturers' 

 Association is to be held at the Pontchartrain Hotel, Detroit, on 

 Thursday, January 26. From the interest manifested, it will prob- 



