16 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Madison, Wis., wiieroby tho island woods will be tried out. Sam- 

 ples of such as aro regarded particularly promising will bo for- 

 warded and they will be converted into veneers at tlio laboratory. 

 These will be put through seasoning processes to deterniiiie their 

 behavior in the kiln and alter they have been manufactured into 

 furniture. 



The Philippine islands are rich in woods, both in kinds and 

 amounts. Some are beautiful, others extremely plain. Most are 

 very heavy, though a few are noted for their lightness. Woods so 

 richly figured as walnut and mahogany do not appear to be plenti- 

 ful. Dark colors prevail in most of the samples received in this 

 country. Some possess great strength and hardness. 



Thus far tho woods from the islands have failed to get much 

 of a foothold in this country. One buyer seems to have waited 

 for another to do the first buying and trying out. A notion has 

 prevailed that the woods will give trouble in the seasoning 

 process, though there is little real knowledge on which to found 

 that opinion. That they will be hard to work is another opinion 

 which may be changed upon fuller knowledge. There can be no 

 question that exact intoi'uiation concerning the woods from beyond 

 the Pacific wiU bo appreciated in this country. 



An Important Bill 



A BILL HAS BEEN INTRODUCED in the House of Repre- 

 sentatives at Washington by Mr. Bartlett of Georgia and in 

 the Senate by Mr. Bacon of the same state, which may be classed 

 as important because, if passed, its effects will be far reaching. 

 The measure has the support of the American Federation of Labor, 

 and that organization is carrying on an active and aggressive cam- 

 paign to have the bill passed.- Its terms may be summarized as 

 follows: 



It shall not be unlawful for persons employed or seeking emploympnt 

 to entpr Into any arrangements, agreements, or combinations with the 

 view of lessening the hours of labor, or of increasing their wages, or of 

 bettering their condition ; nor shall any arrangements, agreements, or 

 combinations be unlawful among persons engaged in horticulture or agri- 

 culture when made with the view of enhancing the price of agricultural 

 or horticultural products. 



Tho obvious purpose of this proposal, in view of the well-known 

 attitude and declarations of its proponents, is to abolish civil or 

 criminal liability for the prosecution of a boycott by a labor 

 combination, to prohibit injunctive protection for employers or 

 non-union workmen during a strike, and to exempt labor organiza- 

 tions from the Sherman act. In an effort to give the measure 

 added political strength combinations of farmers are equally prom- 

 ised the benefits of its exemptions. The Federation of Labor 

 endorsed this measure in its conventions of 1912 and 1913, instructed 

 its executive committee to procure its immediate enactment without 

 change, and through that committee has presented these demands 

 to the President and Congress, and now by circular appeal, is 

 directing the organization of committees to wait upon senators and 

 congressmen in each state during the coming holidays and to procure 

 the sending of individual letters to representatives, demanding the 

 immediate passage of this measure without alterations. 



Business men and workers should fully understand what this meas- 

 ure means and be ready to protect their interests. 



Further Transgressions 



AUTHOEITATFVE FOREIGN REPORTS that come from Liver- 

 pool are to tho effect that exporters are continuing to ship 

 round hickory on cousignment in the face of a very considerable 

 accumulation at that point. This report is deplored from the fact 

 that this policy is utterly foolish and based on anything but log- 

 ical reasoning. The consignment evil has been pretty thoroughly 

 exploited, and it is only fair to say that as a general business 

 proposition it is meeting with less and less favor, but it still 

 exists nevertheless, arid in this particular case it seems to be 

 rather flagrantly in effect. 



It is to be hoped that the handlers of this very desirable product 

 will see their way'clearly in the not too far distant future to dis- 

 continue the employment of such policy in the interest of the 

 trade at large. 



"And You, Too, Brutus?" 



THE ILLINOIS COMMERCIAL MEN'S ASSOCIATION (L C. M. 

 A.) takes a lick at the lumberman in a circular recently sent out, 

 with pictures showing a bad train wreck and one where only one per- 

 son happened to be killed. It claimed that because a flagnuin failed 

 to do his duty, wooden cars were responsible for the loss of life in the 

 bad wreck. An attack on the lumberman's business from that quarter 

 was hardly to be expected. 



The Eucalyptus Game 



IT WOULD SEEM TO BE about time that California should take 

 a hand in the eucalyptus game that is being played on her credit. 

 The misrepresentations of the promoters have been exposed again 

 and again by Hardwood Record and by other lumber journals; but 

 the game goes on. California land is being hawked about the 

 East, under pretense that fortunes can be made in from ten to 

 twenty years by growing eucalyptus timber. The wood is adver- 

 tised as a substitute for and superior to oak and hickory; and the 

 claim is made that a plantation can be cut, milled, and sold at an 

 enormous profit in a few years. 



Circulars boldly quote the Government as authority for the 

 preposterous claims of profit, notwithstanding the fact that the 

 United States Forest Service has warned the public against the 

 deceptive claims of the promoters. Hardwood Record published 

 a review, in its September 25 and October 10 issues, covering nine 

 pages, of the report made on eucalyptus for the Government by 

 H. D. Tiemann, who spent parts of two years in California making 

 a special study of this wood. 



The report by the Forest Service clearly shows that the only true 

 claim for eucalyptus made by the promoters is that the trees grow 

 very rapidly. The Government report says the tree "is not suit- 

 able for lumber until it has passed an age of at least forty or fifty 

 years, and a diameter of three feet or more. ' ' This warning is 

 repeated almost verbatim in another part of the Government report 

 which says that a tree "under two and a half to three feet in 

 diameter, and less than forty or fifty years old, should not be con- 

 sidered as a lumber-producing tree. ' ' 



The reason why younger and smaller trees are worthless for 

 lumber is because the wood warps, shrinks, checks, splits, and 

 behaves so abominably that it defies the woodworker to do any- 

 thing with it. 



This is a vital matter, and it is the point persistently ignored or 

 persistently misrepresented by the promoters of eucalyptus planta- 

 tions who claim that cuttings from young stands are good for 

 furniture, finish, handles, vehicles, and lumber. A statement was 

 said to have been made at the recent Land Show in Chicago that 

 "a eucalyptus tree six inches in diameter will sell for sixty dollars 

 for ax handles." Such a tree will not sell for sixty cents or six 

 cents for ax handles to any handle maker who knows his business 

 and knows the wood. 



That is an extreme instance of misrepresentation. Most of them 

 are milder than that, but they are none the less intended to deceive 

 or, at least, they do deceive those who are not posted. Eucalyptus 

 grows very rapidly. The wood is valuable as fuel. Some old 

 trees — only a few — have produced fairly good lumber. That is 

 about as much as can be truthfully said of it. The promoters 

 quote and distort Government and other publications, using a line 

 or a paragraph here and there, to boom their land. Those who art 

 thinking of buying eucalyptus land should first ask the Forest 

 Service, Washington, D. C, for Mr. Tiemann 's report. Aftei 

 reading that, if they still want to invest in eucalyptus land, thej 

 have a perfect right to do so. 



California owes it to her good reputation to look into the euoa 

 lyptus game as it is being played in the East. That state standi^ 

 pretty high in the esteem of the people generally. It has so man}; 

 valuable and honest resources that there is no excuse for foolinj 

 people into making investments there which will inevitably lead ti 

 disappointment. 



