HARDWOOD RECORD 



Idly lis llio triKle had iiiitivipnU'il. It Is ostl- 

 iiinted Hint llieie is a ii'dmllim daily or about 

 ■-'..soO.iHMi I'i'ot in the liaidwmid territory con- 

 llsiKius to Jiemphis. Tiiese Hgures may he ac- 

 teplcd as inlrly aciurale. ICven s<iiue of the 

 mills ill Memphis proper have closed down re- 

 cently, huludlns; the plant of the J. W. Dickson 

 Lumber Company in 12ust Memphis, The feel- 

 ing amon"; liimlier dealers Is rather hopetnl, the 

 liellef prcvniliiii; that lliere will he decided bet- 

 terment all around after the lirst of January. 



There is no disposition on the part of lumber 

 interests in this section to sacrlHce holdings. 

 The general decrease in luoduction and the 

 small hnying on the part of consumers and yard 

 men during the past few weeks has left their 

 lumber stocks exceptionally small. There is al- 

 ways a quiet demand for lumber toward the end 

 of the year, as lirms take inventory, and as 

 lliey naturally like to have as much actual cash 

 on band as possible freipiently hold out of the 

 market. A number of prominent members of 

 the trade here say they look for a good spriug 

 business at well maintained prices. 



One of the most important failures in lumber 

 circles in Mississippi since the recent financial 

 crisis is that of the West King Lumber Com- 

 pany, which has. been placed in the bands of a 

 receiver. Assets are scheduled at $700,000 and 

 liabilities at $;410..">0S. T. 1". Ballard, cashier 

 of the Bank of Waynesboro, has been named 

 receiver and has taken charge of the entire 

 business. The plant of the company is located 

 at Waynesboro and is one of the best in East 

 Mississippi. Inability to sell its lumber for 

 cash is responsible for the present trouble. The 

 company has on hand now a stock of lumber 

 worth ,$50,000. Attorneys for the company as- 

 sert that all creditors will be paid in full. The 

 management of the plant expects the business 

 lo be conducted in an entirely satisfactory man- 

 ner and hopes to be able to resume charge when 

 it has met its present obligations. 



The candidates for officers for the Lumber- 

 men's Club for the ensuing year were formally 

 announced at the meeting of the organization 

 lield at the Hotel Gayoso Dec. 14. W. B. Mor- 

 gan, secretary-treasurer of the Anderson-Tully 

 Company, is at the head of ticket number one. 

 the opposing candidate being George C. Ebemann, 

 of Beunett & Witte. A committee, of which S. 

 B. Anderson was made chairman, was appointed 

 at this meeting to decide upon the hour and 

 place of holding the election, as well as the 

 character of luncheon to be served upon that 

 oicasion. The only thing delinite about the elec- 

 tion is that it will occur the second Saturday 

 in January, 



The club voted to continue its membership in 

 ilie National Itivers and Harbors Congress, which 

 it .ioined as a body last year. It authorized the 

 secretary to make payment of the annual dues 

 to this end. The club could not very well do 

 otherwise than continue its membership in this 

 body because it is the chief exponent of the 

 deepening of the Mississippi River, a project 

 dear to the hearts of every member of the club. 



Owing to the approaching election the mem- 

 bership committee of the club has been exceed- 

 ingly busy and brought forth the fruits of its 

 labor at this meeting in the shape of ten new 

 members. This brings the total to 129, three 

 being honorary and the remainder active. 



There was a rousing concatenation of IIoo-Hoo 

 in this city Dec. 14. There was no formal ban- 

 quet such as followed the previous concatena- 

 tion here, but a delightful "on the roof" was 

 enjoyed by all cats, including the newly made 

 ones. Eighteen kittens were inducted into the 

 mysterious light of Hoo-Hoo. 



C. W. Holmes, of the J. J. Holmes Lumber 

 Company, and Miss Lyle Shoemaker, one of the 

 season's debutantes, were married here Dec. 18. 

 Following the ceremony Mr. and Mrs. Holmes 

 left for a three weeks' stay in New York. After 

 Jan. 6 they will be at home in this city. There 

 were a number of out of town guests, while the 



array of presents was exceptionally handsome. 

 Included ninimg the latter was a magnificent 

 chest of silver, tendered by mi'iiiln'rs of ihe him- 

 her fraternlly. 



Lumbermen here are awaiting witli much in- 

 terest tile outcome of the recent hearing of the 

 suit of I. M. Darnell & Sons Company against 

 Ihe City of Memphis. Attorneys for both the 

 comiilalnant and defendant were in Washington 

 during the jiast few days for the purpose of pre- 

 senting their arguments, hut the matter has 

 been taken under advisement by the Supreme 

 Court and this tribunal will not liand down an 

 opinion for perhaps several weeks. This Is In 

 reality a test suit. The city of Memphis made 

 an effort to collect taxes from the I. M. Darnell 

 & Sons Company on the logs and lumber brought 

 to Memphis from other states than Tennessee. 

 The case was decided in favor of the plaintiff in 

 the lower court but was reversed by the Supreme 

 Coui't of Tennessee and then appealed to the 

 Supreme Court of the T'nitcd States on writ of 

 error. It the city should win it would mean 

 large additional revenue, but it would entail a 

 very heavy expenditure upon lumber interests. 

 The Lumbermen's Club has been particularly 

 active in looking after the case, at one time 

 going so far as to attempt to secure co-opera- 

 tion on the part of lumber interests in Chatta- 

 nooga, Xashville. Knoxvllle and other points. 



An oflicial order has been issued by the Cen- 

 tral Freight Association making the minimum 

 weigiit on Cottonwood carload shipments 30,000 

 jiounds instead of ri4.000 pounds for cars 36 feet 

 long or over. This affects all stations in the 

 Central Freight Association territory and points 

 in the Eastern Trunk Line territory. It is to go 

 into effect Feb, 1, 1908, Railroad oflicials for a 

 long while held out on the ground that it was 

 possible to load 34,000 pounds of Cottonwood in 

 n 3(3-foot car, but they have been convinced by 

 practical tests recently that such is a physical 

 impossibility, W. II. Greble of the Three States 

 Lumber Company was one of those who was 

 successful in making a demonstration that 

 effectuall.v changed the views of traffic men on 

 this point, 



J, A, Fox of Blytheville, Ark,, special director 

 of the National Rivers & Harbors Congress, is 

 quite enthusiastic over what was accomplished 

 at the recent meeting of that organization. He 

 regards this as one of the most important con- 

 ferences of the kind ever held, but does not think 

 that a great deal will be accomplished at this 

 session of the National Congress, unless special 

 iiirtuence is bruuglit to bear upon persons who 

 liave the ear of the administration. He believes 

 it a good idea for all commercial organizations 

 throughout the country to take action on the 

 necessity for beginning work as soon as possible 

 and to forward all such documents to Speaker 

 Cannon in order that be may be influenced to 

 this end. 



Taking of depositions of A. A. Farsons and J. 

 A. Tuthill in the bankruptcy case of Tuthill & 

 Fattison Manufacturing Company was to have 

 been resumed before the referee here to<la.v, but 

 the attorney who has been conducting the ex- 

 amiualion for the trustees of the defunct com- 

 pany was unable to be present and the hearing 

 was carried over until after the holidays. Last 

 week an effort was made to secure more definite 

 information from these witnesses regarding the 

 transactions of the Tuthill & Fattison Manufac- 

 turing Company and allied corporations, but it 

 was not successful. About the only fact learned 

 was that the statement purporting to show* the 

 combined assets of the three companies now in 

 the hands of the receivers was prepared by John 

 R. Tuthill, president of the Tuthill & Fattison 

 Manufacturing Company. Mr, Farsons testified 

 that the statement was prepared by either him- 

 self or Mr, Tuthill and later denied that he had 

 had anything to do with the preparation thereof. 

 This statement was made for the benefit of 

 creditors at the meeting of the latter held in 

 Cincinnati some time ago, Mr, Parsons further 



admitted that tiie statement was merely a com- 

 pilation of several guesses and was not based 

 upon actual tangible assets. It Is understood 

 that Investigations will be made In other cities 

 before tile resumption of tlie evidence-taking 

 here which will be begun after the holidays. 



Tile St. Louis .Southwestern Railroad Company 

 has laid off 12.'> men at its siiops at Fine Bluff. 

 Ark., and Hie announcement is made tliat about 

 200 road employes have also been discharged. 

 The company recently laid off 720 men, thus 

 making the total to date more than 1,000. The 

 statt;ment is made that other railroads in the 

 Soutliwest will take similar action. It is cus- 

 tomary every year to lay off some men just be- 

 fore Ihe holidays, but this plan is being carried 

 much further this year than usual. The Cotton 

 Belt states that it intends to reduce its pay 

 roll something like ,?GO.O00 per month. 



The force of employes at the local plant of 

 the American Car & Foundry Company has been 

 greatly reduced during the past few weeks. The 

 management states that this is not because of 

 lack of orders but is a result of inability on Its 

 part to secure prompt payment for cars when 

 they are delivered. This is one of the largest 

 woodworking plants in this city, and lumbermen 

 express regret over the action thus taken. 



T. R. Holmes is now in charge of the plant 

 of tlie Bluff City Lumber Company at Clio. Ark. 

 He suiierseded Arthur Brewster, who was some 

 time ago appointed manager. ^Ir. Holmes is 

 authority for the statement that everything is 

 now quiet at Clio, but expresses the view that 

 the plant will not be operated for some time. 

 All the employes of the company under the old 

 regime have been forced to vacate by orders of 

 the court which has had jurisdiction in all the 

 proceedings since the time Messrs, York and 

 Rutherford were appointed co-receivers of the 

 Bluff City Lumber Company. 



Dispatches received here from Texarkana, Ark., 

 indicate that the traffic congestion in the ter- 

 minals at that point has been relieved for the 

 first time In a year. There were 1200 to 1400 

 loaded cars in the yards of the St, Louis. Iron 

 Mountain & Southern and the Texas & Facific. 

 Some of the higher officials of the companies 

 took the situation in hand some time ago and 

 their action is responsible for the relief. Re- 

 ports received from nearly all points in Missis- 

 sippi and Arkansas suggest that traffic condi- 

 tions are better now than they have been for 

 several years at this season. 



W. R. Barksdaie, president of the Business 

 Men's Club, and also of the Barksdale-Kellogg 

 Lumber Company, has gone to the Facific coast. 

 He received a telegram stating that bis daughter 

 was seriously ill and he left on very short 

 notice. 



W, B. Morgan, secretary-treasurer of tlie 

 Anderson-Tully Company and one of the candi- 

 dates for the presidency of the Lumbermen's 

 Club, has gone on a northern trip for his firm. 



George W. Ard. who is associated with A. 

 Couspiere of New Orleans and Faris. France, is 

 establishing a hardwood logging plant at Lucien. 

 about twelve miles from Brookbaven. Miss. The 

 company will engage in the manufacture of lum- 

 ber and timber for the export market. 



Six out of eight sawmills controlled liy Wil- 

 liam Buchanan of Texarkana, Ark., have iieen 

 closed down because of the rather slack demand. 

 These mills are located along the line of the 

 Louisiana & Arkansas Railroad between Stamps. 

 Ark., and Alexandria. La. About 2,000 persons 

 have been thrown out of employment. No date 

 has been set for resumption of operations. The 

 time for running again will be determined largely 

 by the conditions surrounding the market. 



Ne'w Orleans. 



A thundering echo of the McEnery scrip lands 

 proposition, which has attracted a great deal 

 of attention in the State of Louisiana ever since 

 the legislative session of 1906, has been soyinded 

 by J. W. Frelsen &. Co., who are now advocating 



