58 



HARDWOOD KECOKD 



April 23, 1021 



Bruce's Memphis Plant Starts 



The E. L. Bruce Conipoiiy ct .Miinjilils and Little Kock has completed 

 Its plant 1(11- thi- nianul'acture iit' (lourluK In Memphis and placed this in 

 operation April 21. There are only two units installed, but these will lie 

 run. They have a capacity of about one and one-halt ears per day. The 

 plant has been built for four units and has suBicient boiler power to 

 operate this many, but the two last units will not be installed for the 

 present. Demand for Ilooriiifr. accordiuB to the management, has shown 

 substantial Increase during the past several weeks and is now very good. 

 This company is moving its general otlices to Memphis and will have them 

 installed here by the end of ne.\t week. E. L. liruce is president, It. T. 

 Bruce is vice-president and general manager at both .Memphis and Little 

 Roek ; P. E. liruce, secretary, is in charge of operations at Memphis, and 

 Arthur Bruce is sales manager for the local plant. When this company 

 begins operating all the flooring plants in Memphis will be running, 

 although not all at capacity. 



Lucas Succeeds Jones 



The board of directors of the Colundnis (Ohio) Lumber Trade K.vchangc, 

 at a recent meeting accepted the resignation of W. E. Jones as executive 

 secretary, selecting K. M. Lucas to fill the vacancy. Mr. Lucas is a well 

 known lawyer and has been speoializing in association work. Mr. Jones 

 continues as nominal secretary as the constitution of the organization pro- 

 vides that the secretary must be a mendter. Mr. Jones had been secretary 

 ftir more than a year and accomplished a great deal towards perfecting the 

 organization in that time. Ills ri'signation was cavised by his desire to 

 devote more time to the affairs of the company In which he is interested, 

 the E. J. & W. E. Jones Company, at 406 West Spring Street. 



Aberdeen Company Moves to Chicago 



The general olticcs of ihc .\tM-idccii I.iiiKl-er Ccmpany will be moved from 

 Pittsburgh, fa., to 1221 l.\inilM-r K.Nchange building, No. 11 South La Salle 

 street, Chicago, and open on .\pril 30. The move to Chicago will be made 

 because of the r:ipidly growing business of the company, which necessitates 

 the location of the general ollices In the most centrally situated distributing 

 point, and also a point nearer sources of supply. 



The Aberdeen Lumber Company began operations in Pittsburgh in IDOV) 

 on a small scale, but due to its policy of selling only lumber manufactured 

 at llfi own contract mills and shipping nothing but clean, straight grades, 

 its business has steadily grown until today the company markets the 

 entire cut of five large band mills in Louisiana and Arkansas, with a 

 normal manufacturing capacity of 50,000,000 feet a year. 



Correcting an Erroneous Statement 

 The Park Falls Lumlier Company, Park Falls, Wis., has called attention 

 to the incorrectness of a news item carried on page 57 of the April 10 issue 

 t>f H.\ui>wooD Record, which told of improvements undertaken by the Park 

 Falls company to cost a total of .$1, (►00.000. The correspondent who sent 

 in this statement was plainly very greatly misinformed and this means of 

 correcting his error is gladly used. The fact is that the Park Falls Lumber 

 Ciputpany has mei-ely built a small jdaning mill at Rice Lake and done some 

 remodeling on the mill already there. 



Hardwood News Notes 



CHICAGO 



The Chicago K<'tail Luinbor Dealers' Association was held up to public 

 obloquy by the Dailey joint committee of the Illinois legislature on April 

 18. This committee, which is conducting an exhaustive investigation of 

 alleged graft in the building industry in Chicago, declared that the 

 retail dealers of the city through their profit splitting system are doing 

 much to keep up the price of building lumber. Chairman Dailey declared 

 that while testimony taken by his committee indicated that the practice 

 is legal and the plan does not violate the Federal anti-trust laws, '"it is at 

 least morally and economically wrong," 



Under the plan, as explained to the newspapers by Chairman Dailey, 

 each firm is allotted a percentage of the business done by members of the 

 association. If a member fails to do enough I)usiness to realize the profit 

 which his percentage awards him, he is given ihc <iifference by the others. 

 Those who profit beyond their stipulated shair must divide their excess 

 with their associates. One member explained that this is an insurance 

 guaranteeing the nlembers an equal share in the profits to be made in 

 Chicago, according to Senator Dailey's scornful statement. 



The plan is known as the "Kelly" plan. 



The investigator also castigated the lumber dealers* association for the 

 allegetl issuance of statements of lumbt'r costs to its memln-rs. 



Chairman Dailey in concluding directed attention to the by-laws of the 

 organization, which warned members not to engage in any, illegal fixing 

 of prices, under penalty of severe punishment and fines. The senator 

 chose to regard this as a subterfuge by which to recommend the Kelly 

 plan. "It looks funny that they plan so strong on this particular feature 

 of the law." he said. "Why didn't they put in clauses warning them not 



to commit larceny an<t robbery? That Ihcy are violating the law I do not 

 doubt." 



BUFFALO 



As organized at jiresent, there will he eight companies operating ou the 

 barge canal from Buffalo to New York on the opening date, April 30. 

 The entire list includes above 500 craft, running all the way from tugs 

 to cargo steamers of rather small capacity, then 3O0 to 000 ton barges, 

 and finishing with five barges that can carry 1,500 tons each. It is agreed 

 that this latter class of barge will before long cover routes Including all 

 of Lake Kric, and at the New York end proceeding as far as Hoston in 

 one direction and perhaijs still further in the other. The real test, how- 

 ever, is their capacity for making a profit. If this is demonstrated they 

 will multiply still farther in number and capacity before long. If there 

 is lumber, or othi-r building material to be carried, they can go into that 

 trade also. 



The C. C. Siaght Lumber Company is moving its office from this city 

 to its mill at Morris, Pa. The local office, which is at n23 White building, 

 will be occupied by A. A. Mason, wholesale hardwoo(l>. 



A. J. Chestnut was a few days ago elected one of thf five directors of 

 the KUicott Club, as one of ten candidates running. 



This city has two seventeen-story hotel projects, one site being Main 

 and (Joodell streets, the other Niagara Square. Whether either or both 

 will go up this year is not yet announced, but one fact can be clearly 

 demonstrated, — the city is short of hotel accommodations. 



PITTSBURGH 



The Carolina Lumber Company of Huntington, W. Va., will open a new 

 yard at Second Ave. and 20th St. in that city. W. A. Snyder is president. 

 The Bruckman Lumber Company of the North Side, Pittsburgh, Pa., has 

 gone into billboard advertising and Is showing some mighty attractive 

 displays. It is carrying one of the best stocks of industrial hardwood 

 ever seen in Pittsburgh. 



The Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce is still fighting hard to get wages 

 and costs down so that 2.000 houses can be built in Pittsburgh this year. 



The Center Lumber Company of this city has lately increased its 

 capital from $25,000 to $50,000. 



E. 11. Pickett and L. D. Volk. who recently started in the wholesale 

 business with offices in the Park Building, are getting under way in 

 splendid shape and are doing their share in hardwood selling. 



The Baird & Rees Lumber Company, a new wholesale concern in the 

 Bessmer building, is getting lined up for summer business in first-class 

 form. Its members are thoroughly experienced wholesalers and will have 

 splendid connections. 



March building in Pittsburgh showed a total of SI. 245. 000 for new 

 building and $1,058,000 for all building — this compared with $760,000 

 in February. 1921. 



Fred R. Babcock will represent the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce 

 as a delegate at the annual meeting of the United States Chamber of 

 Commerce at Atlantic City, April 27. 



TJniontown, which Is the capital of the "Coke Region, " has plans pre- 

 pared for $5,000,000 to be spent in new buildings this year. Many of 

 these buildings are already started and the rest are practically assured. 



E. H. Shreiner Lumber Company reports hardwood inquiry very unsat- 

 isfactory. Some orders are being placed but as the usual thing they are 

 cancelled almost as soon as received. 



The Frampton-Foster Lumber Company announces very good buying 

 of hardwood stocks, especially for the railroads. Business in general is 

 slow compared with previous months but the oflBcials look for quite a 

 revival liefore long. 



BOSTON 



Exports from the port of Boston of hardwoods during the month of 

 February, statistics of which have just been made available, are, accord- 

 ing to the collector of the port : Oak boards, 2,000 feet, value $340, to 

 Canada : hardwood boards, 24.000 feet, value $2,591, mostly to Canada, 

 rest to England ; boat oars and paddles, $77 ; wooden chairs, $1,472, most 

 to Great Britain ; wooden office furniture, $1,755 ; other wooden furniture, 

 $54 ; implement and tool handles, $1,396 ; staves, 23.47S pieces, value 

 $5,200. all to Great Britain; heading. $6,000, to Scotland: woodenware, 

 $14,701 ; other manufactures of wood, $176,365 ; total, $209,951. 



William E. Litchfield, head of the L. & H. Lumber Company, for many 

 years a prominent hardwood dealer here, thinks the present situation is not 

 encouraging, that before better trade can come securely we must have a 

 clearing of the credit situation. He thinks that those in need of hardwoods 

 should take advantage of present prices. His opinion is that a boom in 

 demand would very quickly bring a boom in prices. He says that legitimate 

 labor and other costs of producing hardwoods now are higher than they 

 were and that this must be figured on. 



COLUMBUS 



E. G. Dillow. who has been the head of the Franklin Lumber Companj\ 

 of Columbus, since its organization about three years ago, has discon- 

 tinued that concern and has accepted the position as manager of the 



