14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Many insects begin their lives in water and end them on land, 

 but few plants do it. The mangrove is an exception; but it is the 

 exception only in exceptional cases. Ordinarily the mangrove is a 

 water tree. It is planted in water, grows from a seed designed by 

 nature to take root in the bottom of shallow water; and millions 

 of the trees near the low^ shores in southern Florida never stand 

 anywhere but in water. fThey fringe the dismal shores of ponds and 

 banks of rivers in dense masses, rising usually from ten to twenty 

 feet above the water's surface. The trunks under such circumstances 

 range from one to four inches in diameter. 



Their branching habits are peculiar, and resemble those of the 

 banyan tree of India, though mangrove and banyan are not closely 

 related. After the stem has _obtaiued its start and has developed a 

 small crown of branches, aerial roots put in an appearance. These 

 spring from the branches and hang down like rope ends, slowly in- 

 creasing in length untU their tips touch the mud at the bottom of 

 the water. There they anchor. A single small tree may have dozens 

 of such roots, each an inch in diameter and ten feet or more in 

 length. They look like slender props placed to sustain the tree's 

 limbs. The shores of some of the tidal estuaries in South Florida 

 are so thickly fringed with growth of this kind that it is almost im- 

 possible to make a landing from a boat. These fringes often stand 

 in water from one to three feet deep. 



When the trees increase in size they are apt to careen, and the 

 tangled mass then defies efforts of man and of most animals to 

 penetrate. The stems are stronger and more elastic than the 

 toughest hickory. In time of storms, waves sometimes sweep in from 

 the sea and beat and maul the mangrove thickets for days, and 

 scarcely a branch or trunk is broken. 



The mangrove is a land builder. The thickets collect sediment 

 and drift, and in course of time the water is displaced and the 

 thicket stands on land which is dry most of the time. The tree is 

 not in the least discommoded by the change. In fact, it usually grows 

 faster after it gets out of the water. The largest trees are on 

 land, and they quit sending down roots from the limbs; but those 

 already established continue to grow. Some of them attain diame- 

 ters of several inches, while the main trunk grows to a diameter of 

 two feet or more. The picture shows such a tree that has been a 

 long time on land and has outgrown most of its aquatic habits. 



Mangrove wood is exceedingly heavy. Dry logs rolled into water 

 sink like stones. This adds to the tree's value as a land builder; for 

 when trunks fall they do not float away, but sink to the bottom where 

 they assist in collecting sediment and debris, and the mass gradually 

 rises above the surface of the water to form flats and islands. 



Destruction or Conservation 



A WRITER ON WOOD TURNING couples this statement and 

 *^ advice : "In the wood turning business there are but two 

 grades, good and poor. Send to your customers the good grade, to 

 your fireman the poor." 



If the manufacturer of products of the lathe were the only person 

 concerned the policy might be good from his selfish standpoint, for 

 it would raise the price of his output. The prospective buyer who 

 could not afford to pay the price could go without the article; but 

 this is not in accord with the spirit of conservation which now is 

 abroad in the land. Forward-looking lumbermen and all wood manu- 

 facturers are trying to lessen the activities of the waste burners at 

 their factories. It is devoutly hoped that the time will speedily 

 come when the smoke of the burner will ascend no more, and when 

 the last board-end, the last truckload of shavings, and every shovel- 

 ful of sawdust can be put to some good purpose, with profit for all 

 who handle them. The tendency is to decrease, not to augment the 

 profitless ash heaps when fire has burned the waste from wood-using 

 factories. 



It would be pretty hard at this day to go back to the custom once 

 prevalent in white pine sawmills where the best went to market and 

 the rest went into the river or into the fire; yet that is what is 

 advocated as the policy of wood turners. It has been demonstrated 

 many times that some industries can make money from materials 

 which others throw away. Progressive manufacturers are searching 



for means of carrying such utilization still further. If there are 

 buyers for turned stock of low-grado material, such material should 

 be sold then, and not burned. It is a short-sighted policy which 

 would destroy part in order to get a better price for what is left. 

 The better plan is to devise means of getting profit on all. This 

 usually results when one industry uses all of its material that wUI 

 pay, and turns the remainder over to some other industry to convert 

 into other commodities. 



The Income Tax 



THE INCOME TAX came so suddenly that little time was given 

 the public to analyze and comprehend its terms. It was a case 

 of leaping first and looking afterwards, and the leap having been 

 taken, the business men of the country are beginning to look. The 

 prospect is not reassuring, according to an address delivered a 

 few days ago by Levy Mayer before the Chicago Association of 

 Credit Men. He declared that when the income tax has been added 

 to the taxes levied for state, county, and municipal purposes, the 

 total rate will exceed that of any European country whose people are 

 loaded with taxes to support enormous standing armies, and navies 

 of corresponding size. 



The law is clumsy in construction, bewildering in its details. Law- 

 yers are uncertain of its meaning, and cannot intelligently advise 

 their clients on certain questions which have already come up. De- 

 cisions of courts will be necessary to settle points which ought to 

 have been made so plain that any one could understand them. The 

 more the law is studied after its enactment, the more apparent be- 

 comes the fact that it was not studied before its passage. It betrays 

 the work of theorists who are always strong on generalities and 

 deficient in particulars; who pile up deck loads totally out of 

 proportion with ballast, and who put to sea without regard to 

 storm signals. 



Mr. Mayer suggests that there should be a department at Wash- 

 ington to draft and write the laws. Experienced men could at least 

 formulate laws which could be understood and applied. One of the 

 blunders of the income tax act has already become widely known; it 

 relates to the tax on the income of married persons. The makers 

 of the law supposed they were favoring marriage, but as a fact 

 they discouraged that step by an extra tax on married people, both 

 of whom have taxable incomes. 



No protection is given in case of an absconding collector who 

 runs off with his employer's money. The latter must pay the income 

 tax on what he lost. 



The analysis has just begun. Every day brings to light new 

 crudities and eccentricities. In some instances, it is claimed, it will 

 cost bankers two hundred dollars to collect twenty dollars tax from 

 their clients and turn it into Uncle Sam 's strong box. The govern- 

 ment compels citizens to collect this tax without pay. In some in- 

 stances it would be cheaper for them to pay it out of their own 

 pockets than to try to collect it. It is a similar case to that in 

 Irving's Knickerbocker History where the judge ordered each litigant 

 to give the other a clear receipt, and compelled the constable to 

 pay the costs. 



There has been little or no opposition to the income tax on prin- 

 ciple. The criticism appears to be directed wholly against the kind 

 of law and the manner of its enforcement. It has been denounced 

 as impracticable in its present form, and the only remedy seems 

 to lie in amendments. 



Another Convert 



THE NEW YORK TIMES, in an issue of recent date, gives 

 further evidence of change in sentiment on the part of the 

 more intelligent and fair-minded editors of the daily press regarding 

 the justice of substituting the steel car for wood. This issue con- 

 tains an editorial entitled "After Steel Cars — What?" The article 

 quotes from the Sague report on the use of steel cars in the United 

 States for diminishing fatalities as follows: "It must be acknowl- 

 edged that the wheel weights now being used upon both cars and 

 locomotives in the United States are so great as to be entirely with- 

 out precedent in railroad history, and the combination of speed and 



