10 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



May 25. liiat 



Now it rmist not lie foifjottcii tliiil what imiirovi>iiieiit lias coinc 

 ilivoldpid In till' face of almost total staKiii'tioii in one of tlir 

 gicati'sl Mouri-cs of initlet for hardwoods — bnililiiig. It hci-oincs 

 evident that bnildiiig construction is perinaneiitly iin])rovin); and 

 at this writing it seems reasonalilc to lielieve that the greatest 

 idistacle in the way of eousistont future iiniiroveiiient, namely, 

 excess labor charge, will be removed. This and other avenues of 

 liiinber consumption are piling up deniaiul which eventually must 

 be released. HaiidwooD Becoud believes 1li:il the danger lies more 

 in the possibility of such ]>eiit up business niateiializing tno sud- 

 denly than in continued inactivity. 



AliMig the saino lines it is suggested by certain facts that the 

 annual car shortage will not be so much a myth this year as may 

 have been expected. One railroad oHLcial prophesieil ipiite recently 

 that the real car shortage would develop b.v July I, adding that 

 open top etpiipmeiit is already at a premium, and it is his guess 

 that the railroads can not handle more than seventy-tive per cent 

 of till' Miiinial business in their present condition whereas recent 

 iniproveineiit in car movements has brought their handlings already 

 lip to ;ili(iiit sixty jter cent. These figures are baseil on otlicial 

 recoids and if they maintain generally along ma,ior lines, it is not 

 at all improb.-ible that liis nrediction may be made good. 



Redfield on the Foreign Trade Corporation 



A('LK.\R RKALIZATION of the sjilenilid significance to Ainer- 

 ic.'iii business of the Foreign Trade h^inancing Corporation is 

 induced by the reading of a statement made by William C. Redfield, 

 former secretary of commerce, and president of the American Man- 

 ufacturers' lOxport Association, before the Merchants and Manu- 

 facturers' Association of Baltimore on May 12. He described this 

 corporation as " a new tool" in foreign trade, which "can take the 

 foreign buyer and connect him up with the domestic seller, pav the 

 latter and extend to the former the time ho needs to work out his 

 own pavment. " 



That this is, indeed, a facile instrument, Mr. Redfield makes 

 plain, and American business men everywhere should feel gratified 

 that it is now at their command. Tt is a matter of common knowl- 

 edge that the future well being of American commerce and industry 

 depends in very large measure u]ion the sale of goods in foreign 

 markets. Onr productive capacity has been so developed that our 

 factories and our mills turn out a huge surplus of goods over the 

 domestic needs. Therefore, American industry can not run at full 

 sjieed and the maximum of onr people can not be given profit.ible 

 employment unless enormous quantities of nur products are sidd 

 abroad. But the foreign buyer requires long time credits, a finan 

 cial arrangement very different from that common to the domestic 

 tr:ide, and without which the requisite volume of business can not 

 be done in foreign countries. It is at this point that the Foreign 

 Trade Financing Corporation takes hold and saves the situation. 



Mr. Rcilfield explains th.-it the method iif this corporation is 



similar to the svstem used successfully by Great Britain, which we 

 know is the greatest and most cauny of all trading natious. With 

 the aid of such a scheme, why can not the United States become 

 iqually as great in foreign trade.' 



In a preface to his explanation of the corporation, Mr. Kedfield 

 analyzed international trade conditions which make it of the 

 highest iinportajice to American prosperity that we seize the oppor- 

 tunity to expand commercially in foreign fields. In this analysis 

 he moutioned that "copper, cotton and grain remain unsold;'' 

 that "the great steel industry runs at barely 40 ]ier cent of capa- 

 citv;'' that "there is much unemjiloymcnt and a great deal of idle 

 machinerv. ' ' 



All of this is true and good, but we should like to have had 

 liim specifically mention hardwoods and the idle machinery in 

 hardwood mills. This situation is also of first importance, for 

 hardwood lumber is among the great basic commodities. Of course, 

 he did not mean to show, bj' failure to mention hardwoods specifi- 

 cally, that the hardwood industry is excluded from the benefits of 

 the Foreign Trade Financing Corporation. This is not the case, it 

 goes without .sa.ying; and the hardwood industry can call on the 

 corporation for aid in extending its markets in foreign fields. 



We should like, in this connection, to urge that the members of 

 the hardwood industry give particular stud.y to the possibilities of 

 foreign trade opened up by this Foreign Trade Financing Corpora- 

 tion. It is probable that a more intensive working of foreign mar- 

 kets might so increase sales of hardwoods that the domestic market 

 would be measurabl.y strengthened and stabilized. Surely there is 

 strong jirobability of this. 



Explaining what the corporation is, Mr. Redfield said that he did 

 not intend 'to suggest a patent medicine, but to offar a working 

 tool, in itself not new, but one which we have not vet used, though 

 tried for many years in other lands and found of service and profit. 

 It is -something which conditions have not until today required us 

 to adopt. " 



He continues his explanation in the following interesting manner: 



Tlicrc are men all over America who have goods whicli they can not 

 sell lit home and are able and anxious to sell al>road. There are men 

 nbroad cquall.v eager to bu.v those goods. Neither the' men in Ohio nor 

 tlioir linnks nor the men abroad can do as the.v want in the matter as 

 tilings now are because there is no tool with which to connect them up 

 one witli anotlier. The Foreign Trade Financing Corporation is the tool. 

 It can take the foreign bu.ver and connect him up with the domestic seller, 

 I»ii,v the lattiM- and extend to the former the time he ureds to work out his 

 own pa.vment. 



But on what securities will credits be given? On an,v kind that raa.v 

 prove available and which will stand the test of searching scrutiny. Here 

 the deposit of government, provincial or municipal securities: here the 

 i>ledge of city or port revenues ; here the guarantee of a government Itself : 

 bcre a good first mortgage ; here the deposit of salalile commodities : yon- 

 der the guaranttH- of a bank or a sufficient endorsement. Tollateral of 

 many kinds exists, not alw'ays, indeed as what we know as bankable 

 security, meaning that which is instantly convertible, but yet collateral 

 sonn.l iiiul good for an institution which has no liquid liabilities and whose 

 jtiirimse is to furnish credits of a kind wbirb shall ftuitde its debtors to 

 work out their i>wn payments. 



Table of Contents 



REVIEW AND OUTLOOK: 



General Market Condi tirns 15-16 



Redfield on the Foreign Trade Corporation 16 



SPECIAL ARTICLES: 



Motion Study as a Basis of Correct Cost 17 



Analyzing the Two Capper Bills 19, 20 & 28 



Home-made Redrier for Small Veno<*r Room , , , 34 & 38 



POWER LOGGING AND LUMBER HANDLING: 



Appalachian Logging Methods 28 



NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL CAPITAL: 

 Recent Tax Decisions Explained 



.22 A 24 



CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS: 



Miscellaneous 



President May Address National's Annual. 



Efficient Distribution Is Vital 



Northern Wholesalers Are Confident 



Piano Builders Hold Convention 



51-S2 



18-19 



18 & Zl 



24-25 



.31. 32 & 48 



HARDWOOD NEWS M-S« 



HARDWOOD MARKET 56-81 



CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS 64-66 



HARDWODS FOR SALE 66, 68 & 70 



ADVERTISERS' DIRECTORY 63 



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 -Advertising copy must be received five days in advance of publication dates. 



Entered as Perond-rliis.s matter May 2ti. 1902. at the postotfice at Chicago. 



