20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



September 20, 1921 



company's steamer "W. P. Clark," the loggers had just brought 

 down a tree which measured eleven feet in diameter twenty-four 

 feet up from the ground. The great buttresses which support the 

 towering immensity of the many such trees on the company 's opera- 

 tion and sustain them against the fury of tropical hurricanes, com- 

 pel the loggers to cut the trees very high up, necessitating, in such 

 cases, the building of a scaffold, upon which the axmeu and sawyers 

 may stand to do their work. These men chop and saw into the 

 mammoth trees until they begin to crack, then they quickly wedge 

 them and leap to the ground to get away before the crash comes. 

 The majority of these great trees measure 100 to 125 feet in height 

 up to the limbs. One of the photographs presented indicates the 

 great circumference of the buttresses of such trees and another 

 shows the method of cutting from a tall scaffold. 



About 65 per cent of the Insular Lumber Company's cut is Philip- 

 pine mahogany and the remainder other hardwoods which are mar- 

 keted locally. Mr. Edgcomb states that the company's concession 

 has been cruised, showing that it contains sufficient timber to oper- 

 ate the mill at Fabrica for nearly 100 years. 



The Insular Lumber Company maintains its own fleet, consisting 

 of eight steel barges, holding from 225,000 feet to 275,000 feet of 

 lumber each, and one wooden barge. The "Clark" is the largest 

 tug in the Islands and will take two or three barges to Manila, 

 making the round trip in about five days. 



The local sales at the mill amount to about 500,000 feet per 

 month. A great deal of this is taken from the mill on native 

 prows, carrying from 1,000 to 12,000 feet each. "There are from 

 ten to thirty Filipinos on a prow," Mr. Edgcomb said, "and 

 at least half a dozen game cocks to try out against the local cham- 

 pions encountered on the cruise." 



The company employs about 1,000 men in the timber and at the 

 mill. The mill site, Fabrica, is a very pretty town, with comfort- 

 able bungalows for the Americans, separated from the native vil- 

 lage. The company maintains an ice plant and cold storage, dis- 

 tilled water ice cold and electric lights, all of which make living at 

 Fabrica very comfortable. 



The company ships large quantities of lumber to China and 

 Australia as well as the United States, and has been able to run 

 full time with a good many unfilled orders on the books. 



In January, however, when Mr. Edgcomb and his party reached 

 Manila they found as strong evidences of depression as they had 

 just left in the United States. Most of the sawmills were either 

 closing down or curtailing their production. 



Besides the lumber and other industries on Negros Island there 

 are seventeen sugar "Centrals" costing from $500,000 to $4,500,000 

 each, Mr. Edgcomb said. His party visited several of these sugar 

 mills. Each of them has from twenty to ninety miles of railroad, 

 and most of them have been built within two years. The manager 



of one of the mills, who was from Honolulu, said he did not think 

 it would bo long before Negros Island alone would be producing 

 more sugar than all the Hawaiian Islands. 



"This is a very interesting country to travel through," Mr. 

 Edgcomb stated. "There are a great many rivers, which are either 

 crossed on bamboo floating bridges or on ferries built of two dug- 

 out canoes pulled across by means of a rattan rope. The sugar 

 industry in the Islands is in its infancy, as only a small portion of 

 the good sugar land is now under cultivation. With a stable gov- 

 ernment this and all other industries will develop very fast. 



"The independence question has been discussed so much that I 

 will not attempt to comment on it. I might say that I did not find 

 a Filipino who wanted independence, once I got his candid opinion, 

 unless he was a politician." 



On his tour Mr. Edgcomb was accompanied by Mrs. Edgcomb 

 and their son, Ervin; W. P. Clark, president of the company, and 

 Mrs. Clark; J. Sloat Fassett, a large stockholder and director; his 

 brother, James A. Edgcomb, and the latter 's daughter. 



After visiting the company 's operations the party returned to 

 Manila and on May 17 sailed for Hong Kong. After a week's 

 stay there they went on to Shanghai, spent several days there and 

 made a railroad journey to Tientsin and Peking. They discovered 

 that all the large cities in China are very progressive, having wide 

 streets and large office and bank buildings. They were accorded 

 the greatest courtesy at every stage of their journey in China, the 

 Chinese having a special liking for Americans. 



Prom Peking the party went to Korea, stopping two days in 

 Seoul, the picturesque capital. They found the Koreans most inter- 

 esting and entirely different from the other Oriental peoples. "The 

 Japanese have done a great deal for the advancement of the coun- 

 try," Mr. Edgcomb said. 



Leaving Korea the party crosscd'to Japan and took a train to 

 Yokohama. While in Japan Mr. Edgcomb took particular pains to 

 observe, as he had done in Korea, the progress of the Japanese in 

 reforestation. He found that every hill, little or big, was covered 

 with small trees set out in rows, properly spaced. "They seem to 

 be giving this more attention than we are in America," he said. 



"We not only had a very interesting trip through these coun- 

 tries," Mr. Edgcomb said, "but I sold several million feet of lum- 

 ber and established connections which will give us an ever-increas- 

 ing market. This market is very different from any other that I 

 know of. While most of the lumber is used in inch, the Orientals 

 order 90 per cent of it two inches and thicker, a great deal being 

 in large squares. These are taken to the building under construc- 

 tion and sawn by hand to the required dimensions. I asked one 

 Chinaman why they didn't buy more inch lumber. His reply was 

 that their people had to have work." 



Grand Rapids Is on ^ 'Hawk'' Hunt 



By Grand Rapids Correspondent 



Grand Bapids manufacturers have devised a method by which 

 they hope to stop the activities of George S. Hawke, the Cincin- 

 nati attorney, and whoever is behind him in his propaganda against 

 the misrepresentation of woods in furniture. Already many a lumber 

 salesman has felt the spotlight turned upon him in such manner that 

 he will undoubtedly advise his house that this is a good time to 

 use whatever influence the concern may have to "call off the 

 dogs." Manufacturers cannot but feel that somebody interested 

 in mahogany and walnut lumber is behind the movement in which 

 Mr. Hawke is the only one to come into the open. In consequence 

 whenever a lumber salesman calls upon a Grand Rapids furniture 

 manufacturer he is promptly asked: "Is your concern in any way 

 connected with the campaign of propaganda carried on by Mr. 



H.awke? If it is, we want none of your lumber. If you can give 

 me positive assurance that you are not, then we'll talk business." 



This line of talk has been handed out to exexy. lumber salesman 

 who calls on the Grand Rapids trade, and, as a reswitj the salesmen 

 are very busy securing positive assurance from the head of the 

 concern that that particular conipanj' is not only not associated 

 with Mr. Hawke, but does not approve his methods. One sales- 

 man with a handsome order in sight was forced to wait until he 

 could secure such assurance before the order was signed. He got 

 the assurance and the order with it, but furniture manufacturer? 

 are not disposed to give any aid or comfort to the campaign now on. 



{Continued on page 22) 



