HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



localities, and it was a cypress proposition 

 that confronted these newly Hedged Iiimher- 

 nieu. No one who had been sent into the 

 timber had the least idea of the value of the 

 timber from a practical standpoint, but the 

 land agent made it his business to see that 

 some one was along at sundry times to talk 

 up the value of standing timber, based upon 

 size and fine appearance. 



This having been the basis upcm which tlio 

 land was bought the next thing to do was to 

 get ready to put in the mill. A machinery 

 salesman soon had that part of it fixed up 

 for them and the next thing was the plans 

 for the machinery. A millwright was found 

 who took the data furnished him, and build- 

 ing according to the expressed wish to have 

 the mill large and strong enough to be capable 

 of increasing to double the starting capacity, 

 in due time had it ready for sawing. During 

 the building of the mill the tram road was 

 run out in the timber and logging com- 

 menced. Timber was cut and hauled up to 

 the tram for the loader to reach and sawing 

 commenced. Up to this point the prospect 

 ■was not darkened by any appearance of 

 clouds on the horizon, but the rift appeared 

 when the daily cut was not within twenty per 

 cent of the log scale. Something wrong, 

 surely! And it was but a few days before 

 the manager decided that it was because the 

 mill foreman was not a satisfactory man, to 

 him, and arrangements were made for a 

 change. 



The new man arrived and like all new men 

 made the mistake of finding fault with every- 

 thing that had been done. The mill was 

 too high and from that on down to the 

 smallest detail everything was wrong, if you 

 let him tell it. But the same amount of 

 waste remained, and retrenchment began in 

 all directions. Wages were cut all along the 

 line. Good men left and anyone who would 

 work for the wages offered was hired. The 

 mill was continually broken down from some 

 trifling thing or other. The new man in his 

 rushing around to force the work through 

 got caught in the trimmer and lost two fin- 

 gers at one time; was nearly killed at an- 

 other V)y a board being thrown on him. After 

 a month of worry and still greater loss the 

 plant closed down until someone can be 

 found to take the place. The mill company 

 has spent $35,000 on the plant alone and it 

 is almost useless at present. 



Now what was the matter I The mill had 

 cost nearly $7,000 more than the estimate 

 and that was made from known figures as 

 far as the machinery was concerned. The 

 building was known to be of a given size 

 and the cost of erecting could be and was 

 told within a narrow limit. But the labor 

 cost of putting in the mill was five times 

 what it had been with all other mills the 

 millwright had put up — here was the first 

 stumbling block to the success of the mill: 

 The manager was a small stockholder and 

 in order to induce him to take charge of the 

 plant he, being a relative of one of the 

 large stockholders, was given the exclusive 

 boarding privilege of the whole place, and so 



rigidly was this adhered to that one of the 

 men was ordereil from the works for selling 

 a sick man two meals. The food in the 

 boarding-house was not fit to give men, being 

 dirty iu its preparation, poor and scant in 

 quantity, and the first offense the foreman 

 was guilty of was throwing his plate of food 

 on the floor and protesting against the grub 

 and walking over to a farmhouse near the 

 mill for his meals. He knew it settled him 

 with the manager, but he had pride enough in 

 his work to stay and finish the mill before 

 leaving. 



The result of this treatment was that not 

 a millwright would come to the job. The 

 mill had to be built with such tramp car- 

 penters (?) as happened by for a few days' 

 work, and it took three months longer to do 

 the work. It had been the boast of my friend 

 Jones that his mill would be a model for 

 others, inasmuch as he proposed to pay in 

 cash semi-monthly, to run a store with prices 

 that would compete with the nearby large 

 town and would give the men good accom- 

 modations. Payday slipped up to the thirty- 

 day time, prices in the store were as high 

 as the next farm store that did a credit fur- 

 nishing business, and the food continued as 

 bad as ever up to the time tlie mill shut 

 down. , 



But all these things would not stop a mill. 

 The little side exijeriments and fool things 

 that were tried would not make the difference 

 in the log scale and the lumber tally. One 

 member of -the company who was something 

 of an engineer in his own mind, tried all 



sorts of dodges with the boilers — tried to fire 

 with the draft doors closed and the furnace 

 doors open, for instance, sa)-ing a wood fire 

 burned better with the draft across it. All 

 those little things, while intensely aggra- 

 vating, did not affect the logs. 



The mill had been built without a com- 

 petent man to advise, without a timberman 

 who knew what he was looking at, and when 

 the logs were brought out, after all the 

 money had been spent, they showed eighty 

 per cent and over of the poorest sort of Nos. 

 2 and .3 common, splits, shakes, wormholes, 

 peck without end; what was sound was full 

 of ring checks, so that it was practically 

 impossible to get a board sound on both 

 faces, as all of the cypress in that part of 

 the country is known the world over as the 

 shakiest stuff that ever had the chills. 



These, alas, are facts, and now that the 

 cover is off of the brick and the drill has 

 gone into it for the assay, it pans out to be 

 the poorest sort of brass, and they have built 

 a $35,000 mill with stock fit for nothing but 

 lath, and not much of that when the shaky 

 ones are thrown out. Is it possible, you a.skf 

 It is, and is only too true. Just what will 

 be done with the outfit cannot be told at this 

 writing, but it is certain that there is a good 

 mill not far off that could be bought for 

 less than it cost to build. 



Let the shoemaker stick to his last; it is 

 safe to say that there is one set of men who 

 know that the shavings off of notes are more 

 productive of money than are the shavings 

 that come off of lumber, more especially 



cypress. 



— H. C. H. 



News Miscellany. 



New Mexican Operation. 



Authentic advices from the City of Mexico 

 state thut a prominent American has purchased 

 near Mexico City 15,000 square meters (17,0-JO 

 square yards) of land, which Is to be devoted to 

 the establishment of lumber yards, larger than 

 any now in the republic. It is proposed by the 

 company that has been organized to keep in 

 stock large quantities of native Mexican lumber, 

 the pi-uposed buildings to be sufficient to accom- 

 modate S. 000, 000 to 10,000,000 feet of lumber 

 and to compete as much as possible with foreign 

 importers. The company controls large tracts 

 on timber In the northwestern part of the re- 

 public and has already entered into arrange- 

 ments for rates and tariefs to New York, Liver- 

 pool, and Havre. They will probably export 

 through the port of Tampico, which is rapidly 

 becoming one of the great export outlets of the 

 republic. 



Mexican lumber has during the past few years 

 been generally used in the country and has suc- 

 cessfully satlsOed the tests of railroad construc- 

 tion ; hence It Is probable that If the new com- 

 pany carries out Its plans there will be a 

 noticeable decrease in American exports of 

 urcgon and Georgia pine to Mexico. 



Arkansas Hardwood Organization. 

 At a meeting recently called In the city ball 

 of Newport, Ark., to organize a hardwoo<l lumber 

 raaioifacturers' association for the northeastern 

 p.jrlinn of that state, there was so good an 

 attendance and so much enthusiasm that it was 

 decided to make It a state organization. The 

 meeting convened at 10 a. m. and with ouly 

 intermission for lunch remained in session until 

 late In the afternoon ; a number of committees 



met in the evening. The objects of the organiza- 

 tion are to secure a full understanding of the 

 conditions surrounding the hardwood lumber 

 market in the territory covered, the establish- 

 ment of uniform grades for the Insiiectlon of 

 lumber as the only legitimate basis for more 

 uniform prices ; to establish uniform customs 

 and usages among manufacturers of lumber; to 

 procure and furnish to members such Informa- 

 tion as may tend to proteirt them against un- 

 businesslike methods of those with whom they 

 deal, and such other information as may l)e for 

 the benelit of the members. 



The following officers were elected: L. LIpp- 

 man, Newport, president ; E. W. Crayton, New- 

 port, nrst vice president ; U. A, Dowdy of Bates- 

 vllle, second >ice president; J, H. Evans of 

 Jonesboro, treasurer ; George It, llays of New- 

 port, secretary ; these gentlemen, with A. A. 

 Ward and J. A. Uorgman of White and Crajg- 

 head counties respectively, make up the board 

 of directors. 



New Tie Company. 



One of the recent Chicago Incorporations Is 

 the Chicago Tie Company, capitalized at $75,- 

 noo. The president of the company is D. K. 

 JelTrles of the Chicago Car Lumber Company : 

 \. n. Donaldson Is vice president, V. J. Jeffries 

 secretary and treasurer, and W. II. Bcckman 

 manager. The general olUccs of the company are 

 located In the rullman building. Chicago, while 

 the manager's otllce will be maintained at llunts- 

 villc. Ala. 



The company will enter extensively Into the 

 manufacture and sale of railroad ties and al- 

 icady have several Important operations started 

 on the upper Tennessee river, and at various 

 points In Alabama and Mississippi. The pro- 



