HARDWOOD RECORD 



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The Buckeye Veneev Ciuiipaiiy of Helen;!. 

 Ark., will have its plant in operation at an 

 early date. The machinery is now being 

 installed. The company will make a spe- 

 cialty of manufaeturing veneer, but will 

 have the right to manufacture wire-bound 

 boxes, and will install machinery also for 

 this purpose. The plant will give employ- 

 ment to about seventy-five men. 



* * * 



A now incorporation for Knox county, 

 Tennessee, is the Knoxville Veneer Com- 

 pany, which was recentl.v incorporated with 

 a capital stock of $25,000 by H. B. Lindsav. 

 Eobt. S. Young, Chas. H. Siuitli, W. J. 



Donaldson and E. Carson. 



* * * 



The West Virginia Veneer Company of 

 AVilliamstown, W. Va., was receutl.y incor- 

 porated with a capital stock of $30,000 to 

 manufacture veneer boxes, barrels and 

 buckets. The incorporators are: Isaac P. 

 Eddy, C. W. Cowling, W. P. Beeson, J. E. 



Thompson, X. W. Athey, all of Williams- 

 town. 



* * # 



The Great Lakes Veneer Company of 

 Muuising, Mich., which has recentl}- made 

 many material improvements in its plant, 

 has made another for fire protection. The 

 company- recently ])ut in operation one of 

 the best sprinkling systems now in use. The 

 introduction of this system will still fur- 

 ther reduce the fire hazard at the plant, and 

 will cause a corresponding reduction in the 

 rate of premium the company will have to 

 pay. 



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P. B. Eaymond, who for many j-ears has 

 been engaged in the veneer business at 

 Indianapolis, Ind., has equipped a modern 

 veneer plant at Knoxville, Tenn. Mr. Eay- 

 mond states that timber in Tennessee is 

 plentiful and about 50 per cent cheaper 

 than in Indiana. 



Old Days in the Lumber 'Business 



V. 0. Clapp of Boston, Mass.. who bought 

 lumber in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, West 

 Virginia and Tennessee, before the timi~- of 

 the band mill, and who is probably the most 

 widely known lumberman in those states, as 

 -n-ell as in the East, where he now resides. 

 was in Ashland and vicinity recently calling 

 oTi the different mills. While there Mr. Clapp 

 was asked to write something regarding the 

 days of the past in the lumber business anil 

 ■wiiat he thought of the present. In part 

 lie said: 



' ' I have often been asked to give a de- 

 scription of m.v life as a hardwood lumber- 

 man. That would be almost impossible, Init 

 I will give a few examples of the old-time 

 lumberman 's experience, and will say right 

 here that it was a time that tried men's 

 souls and taxed the best of them to the 

 limit. When I think of the days before the 

 liand mill came, when we hauled poplar 

 (oak was out of the question) twenty--five. 

 thirty and even sixty miles to the railroad, 

 ^ud the poor man who hauled it could not 

 aet over sixty cents a day for himself, team 

 and the lumber thrown in, it seems unrea- 

 sonable. When he returned to his cabin 

 iome he generally had on his wagon about 

 twenty-five pounds of flour, .two pounds of 

 coffee and several pounds of sugar, and 

 about ten yards of calico, which not only 

 paid for the hauling, but for the lumber 

 itself. I have bought many a car of poplar 

 squares that were hewed out by hand and 

 hauled sixty miles to the railroad, for $18 

 a thousand, and when they were put on the 

 market the complaints about them were 

 plenty. They were too short or too long, 

 too large or too small, too green or too dry. 

 If a car ran the gauntlet of this cross fire, 

 and the shipper got out even, he did well. 

 Every inspector was branded a thief (which 

 was not far from right), every shipper a 

 rascal and the wholesaler could be called 

 all this and then some. 



' ' I hardly know where to start with pop- 

 lar boards. Inspectors were sent out from 

 the city with the understanding that they 

 were to steal enough to pay their salaries 

 and expenses, but it was not put in just 

 these terms. The phrase, 'We expect some 

 nice overruns,' was used, and they generally 

 got them. The writer has seen 8/4 meas- 

 ured face measure, which means just one- 

 half with the fractions also knocked off, and 

 has heard the inspectors brag about it 

 around the hotels. When the writer left 

 the farm to follow the lumber business, he 

 possessed a fair amount of honestv, but it 

 soon passed away. 



"In those days the-millman would ar- 

 range with some store for supplies, and the 

 merchant had the selling of the lumber. To 

 please his customer the logger picked the 

 best poplar trees and cut the best logs. Ho 

 hauled the lumber twenty miles and left the 

 balance of the logs, including the biggest 

 which would not go over his saw, on the 

 ground to be burned. 



"I once shipped to Boston, which then 

 seemed a remote corner of the earth so far 

 as lumber shipments were concerned, a car 

 of soft .vellow poplar. 17 inches and up 

 wile, all 14 and ]6 feet long, clear of sap, 

 v.ith no defects in the ends over 3 inches 

 long, for which I paid the sum of $28 per 

 thousand delivered. This was an unheard- 

 of price at that time, and the car was re- 

 jected and ordered off the yards. There 

 was no redress, no help, no association to 

 come to the rescue. The writer knows of 

 much worse eases than the above, however. 

 Does the present day lumberman want to 

 see such times return? 1 think not, but 

 we are up against it now for high-grade lum- 

 ber. I often think of the bookkeeper who 

 wrote the mills to cut all of the logs into 

 tirsts and seconds, as ho noticed it brought 

 a little better price than the other grades. 

 Now we cannot di> this, but we can cut all 



the firsts and sec:)nds there are in the logs, 

 and we should be able to make the.se firsts 

 and seconds bring a uniform price, no mat- 

 ter what size or dimensions, just so it is 

 the size it is used for. It is true stvles may 

 change and occasionally a little loss would 

 occur, but this would be trifling. It will 

 take a wiser man than the writer has ever 

 seen to convince him that a No. 1 piece 

 of wood cut into the sizes tli.it it is used 

 for is not worth more than a No. 1 piece 

 cut into a size that it is not used for. As 

 a rule, dimension stock is classed as chair 

 stock, or under that head, but I mean bv 

 dimension stock all kinds, including chair 

 stock, furniture stock and all kinds of 

 house finish. We will have to learn to use 

 what we have at home if we wish to con- 

 tinue in the lumber business. We cannot 

 grow trees without knots and it is useless 

 to try. Writers may write, preachers may 

 preach, but the f:.ct remains that we have 

 to use the products of our forests as we 

 find them, and if the trees have knots we 

 will have to work around them. It is 

 up to the producers to make the con- 

 sumers use what they have, and they should 

 get together, the sooner the better, as the 

 consumer will iiever use dimension stock 

 until he has to. The writer knows that 

 even now buyers of dimension stock are 

 paying some consumers a third more than 

 they are paying others for the same stock. 

 If they can do this, it shows the inconsis- 

 tency of the dimension trade, but such 

 assertions arc laughed at by the dimension 

 man." 



Late Liverpool Market 



Business has been quiet here during the past 

 lortnight. Imt the optimistic outlooli of the 

 future twelvemonths has not been realized. How- 

 ever, it is lioped that matters will lie on a firmei 

 footing in the course of the next few weeks. 

 I'jver.vone connected with tlio mahogan.v business 

 is bus.v in anticipation of the sales at the end 

 of this week. Prices should be firm and an ad- 

 vance on previous sales is anticipated. Hard- 

 woods generally arc firm, and a better volume of 

 trade is looked for. Ash in all grades is tirm 

 and all (]iialities of logs are bringing propor- 

 tiouatel.v liigh prices. Second growth wood is 

 luucli tinner, and immediate shipments of stock 

 on hand aie recommended. Round biekor.v logs 

 are a good spot and prices all round are very 

 firm. Logs now arriving are bringing second 

 prices and shippers are confidently recommended 

 to ship all available supplies to this port. Birch 

 logs are also good. Ash lumber is good, espe- 

 cially in Xo. 1 common grades. Shipments of 

 this stock can be confidently recommended. 

 Prices are much higher than at this time last 

 year. Poiilar stocks are good and are bringing 

 firm values, as are also kindred woods of a sim- 

 ilar type. Oak is not quite so good : the stock 

 is on the heavy side in both log planks and 

 boards. Boards in prime stock particularly are 

 weak and should be left alone, so far as this 

 port Is concerned. Cottonwood boards in wide 

 stocks are firmer, and arc bringing better prices. 

 White gum is also in good request. 



A square meal is some people's idea of a 

 square deal. 



Most of the fun we have in life Isut the kind 

 we are looking for. 



