HARDWOOD RECORD 



33 



good business man is on the lookout for changes in the general 

 commercial situation which will affect him in any way. In addi- 

 tion to taking an active part in associaitons in his own trade, it is 

 well worth his while to belong to organizations of a general nature, 

 which have for their work keeping him advised of what is going on 

 in the lichl at large. 



HARDWOODS IN THE ENGEAVING FIELD 



Manufacturers of photo-engravings have called attention lately 

 to the fact that the use of sectional steel blocks as bases for plates 

 is becoming more popular in the printing business. This is a 

 matter of some general interest, because at present the engraver 

 supplies a wooden block which goes into the form and supports the 

 ■ ugraving during the printing process. This is a rather important 

 • onsuming factor, also, for in view of the large increase in adver- 

 tising and publishing operations, the use of engravings has likevrise 

 been placed on a broader basis. The engravers say that wood is 

 not altogether satisfactory, and that steel is answering the purpose 

 better, the sections being made small enough to enable any size to 

 be provided. The situation seems to suggest investigation by those 

 interested in the continued use of wood, with the idea of finding 

 out the engravers' troubles and enabling him to dispose of them. 

 Cherry and birch have been used in this field for the most part. 

 ONE ADVANTAGE OF THIN STOCK 



At least one advantage of making thin lumber is that it can be 

 put into the dry kiln as soon as cut, and shipped out promptly after 



being dried. In other words, the time required for seasoning on 

 the yard is eliminated, and the turn-over of the capital invested can 

 be accomplished in a much shorter time. Of course, trade condi- 

 tions do not always permit the constant mo-.ement of stock from 

 the mill to the kiln to the car, but when this is the case the rapid 

 progress of the stock is in sharp contrast with the long tie-up of 

 green stock of thicker dimensions on the lumber yard. In the same 

 connection it is also to be noted that the concern which devotes 

 itself to making thin lumber usually manages to build up a reputa- 

 tion in this respect, so that when consumers think of thin lumber 

 they are likely to think at the same time of the concern which 

 devotes most of its attention to this business. 

 GETTING THE FALL LIST 

 One leading manufacturer of dimension stock has decided to 

 accept business only when the consumer is willing to give the 

 manufacturer his entire list of cuttings. In other words, this 

 concern figures that it can cut up the lumber to advantage only 

 when it has the entire list to work on, and that to try to get out 

 one or two sizes only, relying on orders from other sources to take 

 care of the waste, is poor policy. It seems, from the experience of 

 this company, that the business will gradually work itself out in 

 this way. Consumers who decide that the dimension idea is a good 

 one should be willing to turn all of their cutting operations over 

 to the mill, instead of using the plan only on sizes which are most 

 diflScult to get out. 



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Under the J^ew Tariff 



The tariff subject was worn threadbare a good many years ago. 

 Tariff talks are nearly always drearj', and digging for facts among 

 tariff figures is generally dry work. Still every business man in 

 the country should find something of particular interest in the first 

 month 's business under the new tariff law which constitutes the 

 first radical revision that we have had for some time. The figures 

 for the first month's imports and exports since the inauguration 

 of the new tariff have recently been supplied by the division of 

 statistics of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. 



Some have talked of jokers here and jokers there in the tariff 

 bill, but the biggest joke of all has happened in connection with the 

 first month's business; or rather, the biggest joke of all is in the 

 fact that nothing happened. The figures show that notwithstand- 

 ing the talks of flooding this country with foreign goods, and the 

 stories by newspapers of every inch of bonded warehouse space 

 being taken to store goods awaiting the new tariff, and the reports 

 from various points of entry of extra help being put on to handle 

 the rush, October, 1913 — the first month under the new tariff — came 

 near to being the smallest October for imports in three years. 



The exact figures for October show a total of imports amounting 

 to $132,893,960. For October, 1912, the imports were $177,987,986. 

 For October, 1911, the imports were $132,605,751. 



If we hadn 't had a new tariff law passed and if so many people 

 hadn 't said so many things about it and made so many predictions 

 about what would happen, these figures would just be mere dry 

 facts, and the total imports for the month of October would hardly 

 receive a second glance. It would be regarded as just a normal 

 month 's business with perhaps a little tendency to sluggishness. 

 But when we consider the things that were said and done by 

 various industrial interests, "it is to laugh." The lumber frater- 

 nity made its plea against free lumber, and made it strongly; the 

 beet sugar people maintained a press bureau at Washington with 

 which they put up all manner of pleas for their industry, and pre- 

 dictions as to disaster that would follow free sugar. The wool 

 people wooled around considerably, and on all sides and from every 

 direction came protest enough to make one think that letting down 

 the tariff wall would immediately bring such a flood of imports 

 that disaster would follow. 



There were millions of dollars worth of goods brought in, of 

 course — that is usually the case, as our import trade runs into the 



millions every month, but there were not any more millions than 

 usual, and as compared to the activities in the export trade or 

 import trade, was remarkably light. Moreover, while there may 

 have been millions of dollars worth of goods piled up in bonded 

 warehouses, there was probably nothing unusual in all this. A 

 little parenthetical note accompanying the statistics says that the 

 statistics for October, 1913, include entries under the tariff law 

 of 1913 beginning with the fourth day of the month. The entries 

 of the first three days of the month under the law of 1909, amounting 

 to approximately $13,665,000, are included with September totals. 

 This raises the question if people stopped bringing in goods under 

 the old tariff and were piling up, there should not have been any 

 appreciable amount of entries during these first three days. Tet 

 the figures show that the entries went on just about as usual. 



If those who are given to waxing warm over tariff matters and 

 their effect on the business world will just take these statistics and 

 paste them in their hats where they can glance at them any time 

 they feel impelled to discourse on tariff and its influence on trade, 

 it should prove an effectual stop to spellbinding oratory on the 

 tariff in the future. These figures prove quite conclusively that while 

 the tariff may be a factor in business, there are many other factors 

 that have grown bigger, and the tariff itself has become so insignifi- 

 cant in its influence that the new law doesn't make even a ripj)le 

 in the flow (ft trade. 



The thing about this report of international trade under the first 

 month of the new tariff that deserves serious consideration is our 

 export trade. Our exports for October, 1913, amounted to a total 

 of $271,558,726, which was not only the biggest October business 

 in three years but, as may readily be seen, it amounted to more 

 than twice the total of our imports for the same period. It is, 

 therefore, our export trade, especially the export trade in manu- 

 factured articles, that is the big factor in our industrial life. 

 What we need is to foster and continue the development of this 

 export trade for we have become a manufacturing nation requiring 

 a world's market. Our exports of manufactured goods have long 

 since passed the exports in foodstuffs in total value, and with the 

 steady enlargement of equipment and the increasing number of 

 industries the great thing to make the country prosperous in all its 

 industrial branches is a wide market and a bigger export trade. 



J. C. T. 



