34 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



first of the year. The Three States Lumber 

 Company bad been llguring on opening its plant 

 at Burdctte, Ark., Dee. 1.'). but states that It 

 has abandoned this Idea and will not operate it 

 until Jan. 1. Some of the plants which were 

 closed dfjwn temporarily because t»f inability to 

 secure logs have begun running again, but the 

 amount of lumber now being produced in this 

 territory Is perhaps not more than one-third of 

 normal for this time of year. Inquiries re- 

 garding the amount of stock on hand would 

 Indicate a slight Increase compared with the 

 average, and manufacturers feel that It Is to 

 their best Interest to keep production down to 

 as small a level as possible until the demand 

 becomes more active. There is no indication of 

 an accumulated surplus of hardwood lumber 

 and some of the more prominent members of 

 the trade here take the view that consumers 

 may be making a serious mistake in awaiting a 

 decline in the market. They contend that, with 

 the limited production, a resumption of any- 

 thing like a normal demand will probably ad- 

 vance prices. 



The Union Lumber & Manufacturing Company 

 has purchased the plant of the De Soto Lumber 

 Company, which went into the hands of a re- 

 ceiver a few months ago. The purchasing com- 

 pany paid $12,500 for the plant and will begin 

 operations in a short time. This company was 

 organized here a short time ago with a capital 

 stock of .$20,000 for the manufacture and sale 

 of building material of every kind. It is backed 

 entirely by union men and declares that it will 

 give preference to those who are fair to union 

 labor in all their dealings. 



Cards are out announcing the forthcoming 

 marriage of C. W. Holmes of the J. .T. Holmes 

 Lumber Company and Miss Lyle Shoemaker, 

 which will be solemnized Dec. IS. Mr. Holmes is 

 manager of the J. J. Holmes Lumber Company 

 and one of the most prominent of the younger 

 lumbermen in this city. Miss Shoemaker is 

 quite well known in social circles, having been 

 one of the season's debutantes at the Chickasaw 

 ball, one of the leading social functions of the 

 year in this city. She is a daughter of Capt. 

 J. J. Shoemaker, who has been identifled with 

 the cotton business of Memphis for many years. 



The feature of the meeting of the Lumber- 

 men's Club at the Gayoso Hotel, Nov. 30, was 

 the address on fire insurance by D. A. Fisher, 

 one of the most prominent Are insurance men in 

 this section and one who handles a very large 

 portion of the lumber insurance of this terri- 

 tory. Mr. Fisher expressed extreme regret that 

 the tendency of state legislation was so strongly 

 against the insurance companies and Intimated 

 very strongly that all such action tended to 

 operate against the interest of the Insured. He 

 explained in detail the meaning of standard form 

 insurance and urged upon all lumbermen to take 

 the best Insurance obtainable even if It came a 

 little higher than some of the cheaper. He 

 thanked the lumbermen present for the support 

 they had given his inspectors, but said that it 

 was necessary for him to call their attention 

 to the fact that they were not paying as strict 

 attention to "clear space" provisions as they 

 should and that, In failing to do so, they were 

 endangering their own Interests. 



The attendance at this meeting was quite 

 large. George D. Burgess was In the chair. 

 There were several guests present, including 

 John Lyon of Liverpool, who represents some of 

 the Memphis lumber Interests In that market. 



The report of W. H. Greble, chairman of the 

 finance committee, showed that there was about 

 $500 on hand for the Memphis Zoo as a result 

 of the ball game between the lumbermen of 

 Memphis and those of Nashville. On motion 

 Mr. Greble was authorized to turn this money 

 over to Secretary-Treasurer McCIure, who was 

 Instructed to deliver It to the chairman of the 

 Park Commission after Jan. 1. This money will 

 be used presumably for the purchase of an 

 elephant, this being the avowed purpose of the 



lumbermen when It was announced that the ball 

 game would lake place In this city. 



Three new members were elected. They were : 

 J. S. Morris of the Bennett Hardwood Lumber 

 Company, W. E. Hyde of the Hyde Lumber 

 Company, and A. W. (imild nf the Memphis Cnl- 

 unin Company. 



(iporge ('. Khpmann reported tlmt he was In 

 receipt of a letter from the Chamber of Com- 

 merce of Cincinnati asking that the Lumber- 

 men's Club take some action In favor of currency 

 reform. This brought out the fact that the 

 directors had recently endorsed the resolution 

 pa.ssed b.v the American Bankers' Association 

 dealing with that subject. 



The river and rail committee made a rallicr 

 lengthy report upon a subjei-l of decided interest 

 to the Lumbermen's Club. It contained a set 

 of resolutions recommended by the committee, 

 which was referred to the committee on resolu- 

 tions: the final action will be taken at the forth- 

 coming meeting. The club desires that nothing 

 should be said in regard to the subject matter 

 of the resolutions until they have been dis- 

 posed of. 



The two committees appointed by President 

 George D. Burgess to select candidates for offi- 

 cers of the club for the ensuing year have com- 

 pleted their work and the opposing candidates 

 for the presidency are two of the most popular 

 of the younger lumbermen in this city — W. B. 

 Morgan, secretary-treasurer of the Anderson- 

 Tully Company and president of the Morgan- 

 West Box Company, and George C. Ehemann. 

 member of the wholesale firm of Bennett & 

 Witte. The race for the presidency is always 

 a lively one. but with these two young men in 

 the field it is expected that the campaign this 

 year, which may be said to have begun already, 

 will be the liveliest in the history of the organi- 

 zation. Mr. Morgan heads ticket No. 1. while 

 Mr. Ehemann is at the head of ticket No. 2. 

 A. L. Foster is chairman of the first nominating 

 committee and E. E. Goodlander of the second. 

 Other officers nominated by ticket No. 1 are : 

 W. H. Greble, Three States Lumber Company, 

 first vice president ; C. M. Kellogg, Barksdale- 

 Kellogg Lumber Company, second vice president, 

 and S. C. Major, J. M. Thompson and C. I!. Ran- 

 som, directors. Ticket No. 2 has nominated the 

 following : John W. Dickson, the J. W. Dickson 

 Company, first vice president ; W. A. Stark. 

 James E. Stark & Co., second vice president, and 

 J. E. Meadows, Charley Gladden and George M. 

 Brasfleld, directors. John W. McCIure has been 

 nominated as secretary-treasurer by both com- 

 mittees and his election is a foregone conclusion. 



The committee nominating Mr. Morgan was 

 somewhat embarrassed by the fact that he was 

 a member thereof. Mr. Foster asked him if he 

 were willing to abide by a majority vote of the 

 committee and he replied yes. Then he and 

 Mr. Robertson voted that Mr. Morgan retire 

 from the committee. The latter, with offended 

 dignity, announced his willingness to comply 

 with the desire of the other members of the 

 committee, and he did not see the joke until 

 after a third member was appointed in his stead 

 and he was announced as the choice of the com- 

 mittee to make the race for the presidency. 

 Then he immediately bought the drinks and tried 

 to bribe the other members of the committee to 

 secrecy. But it was too good to keep. 



The Arthur Hardwood Flooring Company has 

 installed its additional machinery and this is 

 now in full operation, practically doubling the 

 recent output of the plant. The company re- 

 ports an active demand for flooring, with a par- 

 ticularly good inquiry from the Pacific coast, to 

 which considerable shipments are being made. 

 There is also some business doing with the 

 northern markets and altogether the demand for 

 flooring is much better than for some of the 

 other forms of hardwood lumber sold in this 

 market. 



R. J. Darnell, Incorporated, is installing seven 

 veneer mills in connection with the new double 



band plant In South Memphis. It Is expecte I 

 that the latter will he In operation toward the 

 inlildlc of this month. It will be one of the 

 largest and besl equipped plants In this city or 

 section when it Is ready to run. 



Frank If. Hcibertson. president of the Itoberl 

 son i'ooslie Lumber Cimipany. left this week for 

 a business trip througli Mexii'o. lie will return 

 about the beginning "f the holidays. 



Depositions in the bankruptcy case of Tut bill 

 iS: Pattlson of Sheffield. Ala., have been taken 

 before the referee In bankruptcy In this city 

 during the past few days. A. A. Parsons and 

 J. .\. Tulhill. lioth of whom were connected with 

 the company at one time, have been examined. 

 ■|'hc Investigation has covered not only Tulhill 

 & Pattlson but all allied companies. Including 

 the Fincastle Saw Mill. Wardvllle. La., and the 

 Cypress Lumber Company of Cincinnati. The 

 purpose of the deposition of the Memphis wit- 

 nesses was to ascertain whether or not there 

 were any more assets which had not been listed 

 by the bankrupt firms. It is claimed that the 

 liabilities will reach $1,000,000 and It is now 

 stated that the assets, which were said to he 

 equal to the liabilities at the start, have depre- 

 ciated to $2."iO,000. making it doubtful if the 

 company will pay more than 2'> cents on the 

 dollar. Mr. Parsons was formerly secretary of 

 the company and was employed to sell notes for 

 it. He was behind many of the big deals which 

 were put through, but declares that everything 

 he did was legal and regular. The manipula- 

 tions of the firm were characterized as "kiting," 

 a method of shifting and exchanging notes from 

 one bank to another to stave oft the final show- 

 down. It was shown that accounts were opened 

 with banks in Mempliis. Chicago. St. Louis. New 

 Orleans and Florence. Ala. The Memphis Sav- 

 ings Bank handled a large amount of this paper 

 and stood to lose between $80,000 and .flUO.OOO. 

 and would have done so but that the loss was 

 taken over by the directors. The case is not 

 referred to the referee in bankruptcy here, but 

 the depositions have been taken before him as 

 a form of law. So far no assets other than 

 those listed have been unearthed by the testi- 

 mony taken here. The depositions of both 

 .Messrs. Tuthill and Parsons are declared by the 

 attorney to be very unsatisfactory. Both of 

 them showed a marvelous lapse of memory re- 

 garding important details, and their descriptions 

 of the methods of bookkteping employed by the 

 company indicate that there must have been 

 almost criminal carelessness therein. 



New Orleans.' 



Much concern is manifested here in the state- 

 ment that the New Orleans Lumber Exporters' 

 Association, which was organized in this city 

 some time ago by the lumber exporters doing 

 business at this port, would shortly dissolve be- 

 cause its membership has become somewh^ di- 

 vided as a result of the action of several mem- 

 bers in affiliating with other organizations. An 

 instance is cited in the case of the exporters of 

 yellow pine who were members of the New Or- 

 leans association. These members as a rule 

 joined the new Gulf Coast Lumber Exporters' 

 .Association and left the local hardwood men to 

 carry on the New Orleans organization. The 

 latter do not feel equal to the occasion and the 

 dissolution of the association will very probably 

 be the result. 



The troubles of another big lumber firm were 

 aired before a meeting of creditors in this city 

 last week and the result of the gathering was 

 the organization of a company to take charge 

 of the affairs of the Denny Lumber Company at 

 Moss Point, Miss. This concern has valuable 

 assets and under ordinary conditions would be 

 able to realize on its holdings a sum sufficient 

 to pay its liabilities and leave a surplus of 

 $300,000 or more. However, it was deemed ad- 

 visable to have the creditors take charge and 

 the big concern will now be so operated until 

 every dollar it owes is paid. A committee of 



