HARDWOOD RECORD 



i7 



is civntei- than any previous ono, and from pres- 

 ent ludiontions tlic same condition will prevail 

 next yt'ar. 



lion. Ccopge I.. Meaile and J. Y. Clintock. 

 Uilh of Koiliester. N. Y.. met William A. Ben- 

 nett and a number of oilier business men and 

 dlseussed with them a projeet which, if put 

 into operation, will henelit every business man 

 in the Que. n City. The eastern visitors put 

 up to the local men the proi>osltion of cuttins; 

 u canal to connect with the Ohio river, which 

 would give the Cincinnati Imsiness men a chance 

 to shii) to the Kast by water more quiclily and 

 at less cost than now. The project was I'avor 

 ably received by the local business men and 

 there are prospects of furrlier discussion of thi' 

 subject in the near future. 



Til" plant heinj; constructed by the Karrin- 

 Korn I. limber Company is fast being completed 

 and within the next six weeks lliey intend to 

 have their electric machinery in full operation. 

 The volume of busiui'S.s transacted by local 

 dealers duriug the mouth of December was not 

 as large as the previous nionili. but still there 

 was enough to keep the ina.iority busy. The 

 orders were mostly small, although several large 

 transactions were also made. Toplar still leads 

 in demand and there has been considerable In- 

 terest manifested in plain white and quartered 

 oak. r.uilding has not been heavy here, but 

 still iminiries are being received for quartered 

 oak for large consignments. Walnut, hickory 

 and mahogany have maintained a stcad.v tone, 

 anil Cottonwood and gum have been moderately 

 voiight. There is a general feeling here that 

 ' •insumers are not well fixed on stock, and as 

 scion as the money market shows improvement 

 they will get into the market and purchase Itini- 

 Iter m larger quantities. 



St. Louis. 



The Iinpletuent and Vehicle llojtrd of Trade 

 held their regular monthly meeting and dinner 

 at the Missouri .Vthletic Club December at 

 tj:.*!it p. m. Some eighty-live members and their 

 friends were present. The l)ig turnout was occa- 

 sioned by the announcement that in addition to 

 the regular business meeting there woi>ld be Ji 

 vaudeville performance. The next meeting will 

 be held .lanuary 1-1. and the election of officers 

 for KIOS will take place. 



At a meeting of the Lumbermen's Exchange 

 held last week a resolution offered by ('apt. Lloyd 

 *i. Harris was adopted unanimously, tendering 

 the thanks of the exciiange to .Tohn Wixford 

 "for giving to tlie city the best gift it has ever 

 received — iiright. sparkling, pure, healthy and 

 life-giving water." 



fi. W. AUport, manager of the lumber depart- 

 ment of the Ozark Cooperage and Lumber Com- 

 pany, has been in the South on a visit to their 

 mill. lie says trade has been quite satisfactory. 

 They have been receiving orders right along and 

 are still behind on back orders. .Mr. .\llport 

 says also that cancellations are comparatively 

 few. 



According to the report of K. W. lilnmer, sales 

 manager of the Lothman Cypress Comi)any, con- 

 ditions liave not shown any material change re- 

 lentiy. Iminiries are numerous, but orders are 

 not as many as they would like. The factories 

 seem to be the only ones who are btiying at the 

 present lime. The retail yards will probably not 

 be In the market until after the first of the year; 

 they want to finish stock taking before buying. 



(leorge 10. Hibbard. vice jn-esident of tlie Steele 

 iV llibbard Lumber Ciimpany, says they will have 

 a sali.sfactory year in spile of the many draw- 

 backs, particularly during tlie past few months. 

 Inquiries are Increasing and show that business 

 will begin soon after the new year. !>. JL Bor- 

 gess has been out on the road and has been 

 sending In a satisfactory number of orders. 



C. K. Thomas of the Thomas & Troetz Lumber 

 Company reports inquiries more numerous than 

 he anticipated. They are selling lumber ail the 

 time, although not as large orders as they would 

 be were it not for the financial stringency. 



W. I!. Chivvis reports that he is spending his 

 lime getting In a good stock of walnut lumber 

 in order to be ready for the demand when it 

 comes. He thinks that within a month or two 

 after the beginning of the year business will be 

 active. 



(ieoige i;. t^otlrill. secretary of the American 

 Hardwood Lumber Company, says that inqniries 

 arc plentiful and from indications, with the be- 

 ginning of the new year, liuslness ought to be 

 iiiiicli better than at present. 



Nash'ville. 



.luliu i:. Ilaiisuiii and .lolin W. l.nve liave 

 always been true-blue sportsmen as far as fish- 

 ing is concerned, but during the past week they 

 plunged into a new realm of sport. The.v have 

 become hunters and most enthusiastic ones. A 

 day or two since Walter IMerce. a well-to-do 

 young farmer living near Xashville, invited ,Iohn 

 IS. and .lolin W. to take a hunt with him. Each 

 was keen for the trip and the sjiin to the hunt- 

 ing ground was made in .Tolin W. Love's auto- 

 mobile in recoril time. From all reports tlmt can 

 lie obtained of the trip they killed some game all 

 right and Pierce proved himself well up in the 

 ..'iOO class as a walker. The two lumbermen de- 

 velojied averages way below .200, for as .Tohn W. 

 Love put it. "That fellow Pierce was tlie con 

 foundest walker I ever saw. He liked to have 

 killed us and he was always in front and call- 

 ing back. "Come on.'" 



.John AV. Love tells this one on .Tohn 1!. l!an- 

 .soni : "I never will forget one tiling that hap- 

 pened in a cornfield. Pierce siiied a rabbit sit- 

 ting b.v a fallen cornstalk, lie asked me to come 

 on and shoot him. I walked up there, saw the 

 ral)l)it and told IMerce to .iump him up and give 

 him a <iiance and I'd shoot him. 'Never mind 

 alioiii tliat giving a chance business,' he de- 

 clared : 'you shoot him where he is, for if we 

 iump him up he'll get away certain.' Well, I 

 sli((t tlie rabbit all right and killed him. .\nd 

 I'icrcc lold Hansom tliat I'd killed a settin' rab- 

 bit. I otfereil .lolm I>. the rabbit and. would you 

 believe it. he refused. He said he never had 

 eaten a settin' hen and he knew he never would 

 eat a settin' rabbit, either." 



(Jeorge II. (Iraves, of Ited Itniiin^ ,Spriilgs. 

 'I'cnii.. in Macon county, entertains views tliat 

 -ii-c not in accord with those generally expressed 

 on tile question of the lumber supply. ^Ir. 

 <;iaves was formerly in the lumber business in 

 Nashville. He is now running a big sawmill on 

 liis tract of timber, eiglit miles square, near 

 Carthage, 'i'enn., and is sawing oak. poplar, asli. 

 cliestnut. hickory and lynn. He is working out 

 se\-eral tbousaiid acres of land. One of his con- 

 tracts is that of supplying the ,Iohn B. Uansom 

 Lumber Company with I.OOII.OOO feet of hard- 

 woods. Mr. Graves will astonish the average 

 person by declaring that the stock of lumber in 

 the Cumberland river country of Kentucky and 

 Tennessee is unlimited. He says the big timber 

 there will last for years and that wiiile it is 

 being cut the smaller timber is developing that 

 is. what is known as the second crop. Wlieti the 

 big timlier is used up inferior grades will be 

 used for substitutes while the second growth of 

 bardwiMids is maturing. He sajs a railroad from 

 Cartilage. 'J'enn.. through Macon count.v and on 

 into Kentucky would open up 200.chmi,(||HI feet of 

 hardwood to tlie market. 



\ recent visitor to the city was W. .T. Chaplin 

 of St. Catherine. Ont.. a millionaire lumberman 

 and manufacturer. Mr. Chaplin controls large 

 <-arrIage factory Interests and his visit South 

 was for the purpose of making extensive pur- 

 chases In hickory. Mr. Chaplin la accompanied 

 lui his trip by J. C. Couper, superintendent of 

 Ills works, and together Ihey are making a care- 

 ful Invesllgallon of the limber interesis of Ten- 

 nessee. If Mr. (.'haplin finds what he wants In 

 tills slate it is Ills Intention of locating saw 

 mills here, cutting the timber In Tenessee and 

 tlieri sliliiping it to ills works in Canada. Mr. 

 Cliaiillii U not disturbed much "Vco- the liTiamial 



situation, but believes that things will clear up 

 shortly and be booming again ere long. He fig- 

 uri's that tlie country has enjoyed so much pros- 

 perity during the past ten .years that a little 

 stringency is felt ail the more keenly. 



Salary Is absolutely no object to S. T. Cobbett 

 i>f London. Kng.. who arrived in Nashville a few 

 weeks ago ami accepted a position with the firm 

 of .lolin H. Hansom & Co. .Mr. Cobbett is a son 

 of O. 'I'. Cobbett of tiie firm of Cobbett & Co., 

 London, luie of the best known hardwood firms 

 in Liiglaiid. Tliis firm lias long done an ex- 

 tensive business In yellow poplar from this sec- 

 tion. Young Cobliett. wllh a view of some day 

 stepping into his father's shoes, seems anxious 

 to learn the lumber business "from the grotind 

 up." He is Just out of college and is travelin.g 

 ill .\merica for a year or so .getting experience 

 and knowledge of lumber business. He docs not 

 care wliat kind of work is assigned him and 

 would Just as «oon take a iiencil and work at the 

 chute as in the otlice. Before coming to Nash- 

 ville lie worked iu Michigan and then in Ken- 

 tucky. 



\ special from Cliattanooga. Tenn.. announces 

 that tlie Tennessee Industrial Commercial De- 

 veioiiing Couipauy lias recently been organized 

 for the purpose of developing timber and min- 

 eral inlerests in tlie South. The concern is 

 backed by F. Clay Ilarley & Co., a big eastern 

 firm, and iiroposes to issue .$10,000,000 in bonds. 

 The company proposes to operate from the Ken- 

 tucky line on south. 



A Chicago firm, the Turubull-Joice Lumber 

 Company, has secured the contract of supplying 

 1.258,69.') feet of yellow pine to be used in the 

 work of improving the upper Cumberland from 

 Nashville on uj). There were several bidders, 

 two from Nashville — .lolin B. Uansom & Co. and 

 the A. E. ISaird Lumlier Company. The bid of 

 the (iiicago firm was as follows: ii-lT>.27t deliv- 

 ered at Lock .\ below Xashville ; the same deliv- 

 ered <m the T'nited States barge below Nash- 

 ville, and .'<21.2,"i on the Illinois Central at 

 Nashville. The contract amounts to about 

 ,l;4ii.(ioo. 



The third liig carriage company in Naslivllle 

 lias gone into bankruptcy recentl.v. The last one 

 is the E. E. .Sweeney Carriage Company, with 

 liabilities given at $21.(jt!.").09 and assets aggre- 

 gating about .f l.'i..''iOO. The other two that have 

 gone under are the Del'ord (,'arriage Company and 

 the Oeorge W. W. Sweeney Carriage Co. 



Arthur Ransom of .Tolin B. Ransom & Co. 

 says: "I think the situation will steadily im- 

 prove. We are getting inquiries every day and 

 some orders. We are running one of our saw- 

 mills and will continue to do so until we cut up 

 tile logs we have on hand. We are not buying 

 any big slocks, but are not letting any bargains 

 go by default. Along with another firm here we 

 took 111 i|iiite a good block of poplar the other 

 da.v. 



\'. .1. P.low of the Hiram Blow Stave Company 

 has moved with his family to Louisville after a 

 year's resilience in Nashville. He will still re- 

 tain Ills otlice here and visit Naslivllle once a 

 week. 



'I'he Naslivllle Hardwood Flooring Company 

 lias completed liuprovenients at its plant in West 

 Nashville and will resume operations soon. 



.1. Mc\. Wright, general manager of the -Vt- 

 lantic Cooperage Company at .Tacksonviile, Fla.. 

 was In tlie city the otlier day. He was formerly 

 in Hie slave Imsiness here. He reports business 

 quiet down iu Fbuiiia. but that prices are liolil- 

 ing up well. 



Memphis. 



Financial conditions are easing up and the 

 banks are more proiapt in meeting demands of 

 customers for fiiiids. There Is no change In 

 conditions surrounding production. Practically 

 all the mills which closed down during the 

 financial stringency are still out of operation, 

 b,it many of them are preparing to resume after 

 the holidays. The market shows a good healthy 

 toiii'. but new business Is not developing as rail- 



