30] 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



March 10, 1919 



And they were small mills, so small that the daily output rarely 

 crawled above the equivalent of two thousand feet board measure. 

 Speed was unknown and not desired. The usual erevi" consisted of 

 one man, his wife, his father usually if the old gentleman was able 

 to get about under his own power, and half a dozen growing boys. 

 They peeled every log before it went to the saw, and stacked all 

 side boards for drying, shutting down the mill each time these 

 tasks were to be done. The equipment ordinarily consisted of one 

 portable steam engine and boiler combined, capable of delivering 

 about fifteen horse power. The saw-rig was a light husk frame 

 carrying a very thin circular saw, and a steel carriage with crank 

 set-works, hand fed by the operator who walked along pushing 

 from one end. No cut-off saw was used, while edging was done on 

 the head-saw as well. The task of bucking a truck load of beech 

 blocks on the main saw, with the carriage pushed out of the way 

 at one side, was disgustingly laborious. 



Logging was done by main strength and awkwardness, using two 

 wheeled carts. The mill crew would assemble with a horse and 

 cart and going to the nearest stumps would proceed to lift each 

 log aboard until a load was obtained. Then they drove to mill 

 and dumped the load to the ground by the same lifting method. 

 All logs were cut short, the longest being four meters only, while 

 the standard log was two meters long. 



Naturally, with mills so small, the output of any one was not 

 great enough to supply the needs of a barracks shop and a hard- 

 wood shop as well. In fact Monsieur Bebec operated from three 

 to six small mills continuously, and at one time was taking the 

 product of twelve or more. These were scattered from one end of 

 the department to the other, and the material came to Lorient on 

 motor trucks and the big two wheeled carts of the country, which 

 were wonderfully good load carriers. 



With one factory turning out wooden shoes for sale in the im- 

 mediate vicinity, another working on wagon parts for the battle 

 front and a third producing barrack buildings for both French ami 

 British armies, there was business in plenty for one man. The 

 writer was fortunate enough to accompany M. Debec on an auto- 

 mobile run to the north coast of Brittany in search of lumber. 

 The foresters had yielded up as much as they could to the army 

 engineers from the vicinity of his plant, and he was obliged to 

 call upon a distant engineer depot for manufactured material to 

 supplement his small mills. The man with whom he traded was an 

 ex-lawyer and knew very little about lumber. We inspected several 

 stacks of American fir and French pine, and the army director 

 promised to ship several carloads at once. But within three days 

 the armistice was signed, so probabl.y the stuff never was nor will he 

 shipped. 



Pertinent Legal Findings 



Negligent Burning of Timber 

 When an owner of standing timber awards a contract for its 

 cutting, authorizing use of a steam engine for that purpose, he is 

 liable for loss sustained by another through a fire caused by op- 

 eration of the engine by the contractor. 



Status as Employee 

 Where defendant lumber company contracted to buy logs, and to 

 allow the seller not to exceed $50 a month for the services of each 

 scaler employed in scaling the logs, one who was working under the 

 seller at wages of $70 per month could not be regarded as an em- 

 ployee of the lumber company in such a sense as to render it 

 liable under the Texas workmen 's compensation act for injuries 

 sustained by such employee in the course of his employment as 

 scaler. 



Contracts to Buy Machinery 



Plaintiff sold certain second-hand machinery to defendant, tak- 

 ing an order on a regular printed form used an the sale of used 

 machinery. This form contained a clause to the effect that the 

 seller made no warranty concerning the condition or capacity of 

 second-hand machinery. But as the agent did not have on hand 

 a duplicate copy of the form, he furnished defendant with another 

 form used in selling new machinery. In this form there was a war- 

 ranty of the condition and capacity of machinery. The plaintiff's 

 salesman indorsed on this form the statement: "This copy should 

 be written on a second-hand order blank, but it is understood this 

 blank takes its place. ' ' 



The machinery proved to be unsatisfactory and defendant re- 

 sisted liability on the purchase price that there had been a breach 

 of verbal representations made by the salesman concerning the 

 capacity of the machinery. The controversy turned mainly on the 

 question whether it was open to defendant to assert the making of 

 verbal representations in the face of the clause in the order form 

 above mentioned, expressly stating that there was no warranty 

 of the condition or capacity of the machinery. 



Deciding the case in favor of the defendant (J. I. Case Thresh- 

 ing Machine Company vs. Southern Veneer Company, 205 South- 

 western Reporter, 978) the Arkansas supreme court holds that al- 

 though one who signs a written contract is ordinarily bound by- its 

 terms, this rule could not prevent defendant from relying upon 



the ambiguity created by the salesman 's act in writing the de- 

 fendant company's copy of the contract on a form differing from 

 the order sent in to plaintiff's office. Under the peculiar circum- 

 stances of the case it is decided that the veneer company was en- 

 titled to show that it honestly relied upon the salesman 's repre- 

 sentations and supposed that they were covered in the order as 

 sent in. 



American Lumber Congress 



Walker D. Hines, the new director general of railroads, will 

 address the American Lumber Congress at its morning session, 

 April 16. A wire just received by the National Lumber Manu- 

 facturers' Association announces his acceptance of the invitation 

 to speak on the day named. 



This general lumber congress to which all branches of the in 

 dustry are invited, will be held in Chicago at the Congress hotel, 

 April 14, 15 and 16. Methods of retail service and the merchandis- 

 ing of lumber will occupy the first day's session; the manufac 

 turers and distributors of lumber will discuss their problems in 

 the meetings of the 15th and the next day 's sessions will be de- 

 voted to governmental relations questions. 



It is hoped that the Congress will result in the formation of a 

 national policy for the lumber industry and it is expected that the 

 meetings will be an aid and stimulus to all interested in this great 

 industry. 



Needed Work Must Stop 



At the time the armistice was signed the Forest Products Labora 

 tory at Madison, Wis., was carrying on a number of experiments 

 and tests in the utilization of wood and was accomplishing results 

 of great value to the users of wood in practically every line. The 

 work was being carried on at a cost of $700,000 a year, and the 

 funds provided by regular appropriations were only one-fourth of 

 that sum. The balance was being supplieil by the war and navy 

 departments in order to keep the work going and to obtain results 

 demanded by the war. The help from the war and navy depart- 

 ments will stop, and the laboratory finds itself with a large, train?il 

 working force, with a great deal of highly important work to be 

 done, and no funds. It looks as if the tests and experiments must 

 be called off and the working force disbanded. Congress has not 

 provided the necessary money for going ahead. 



