18 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



That Ten-Hour Law in Arkansas 



TIIK l,().\(i SIKI''KKIN(i LfMIIKK- HI sINKss s s t.i lie licai- 

 iiij; till' liniiit lliese iIhvb of ninny illnilvisi-d n|>|>li('alions of foil 

 oinl nnil state stntutes referriiij; tii tlie strict letter (if ttie law. Tlio 

 MissDiirians nre .just nlimit lieKmni'iK t" realize the import of the 

 recent ouster case, while from Arkansas comes the complaint of the 

 application of a law fjoverniu}; the workiuf; hours of \vorkin}{ men 

 H'liioli tlirentened for a time to set a numlier of the liijj operators in 

 that state in pretty serious trouble. However, the latest advices are 

 to the effect that nothiu); very serious in the matter of actual prose- 

 cution will result. The main effect will lie the discontinuance of the 

 plan which has been in effect for some little time among Arkansas manu- 

 facturers, which was instituted solely in the interests of the men 

 themselves. Thus by the insistence of the authorities on strict I'oni- 

 plian<-e to regulations reganling tlic tcn-liinir liinit for the working 

 day. the very class which the autlnpiitics ;irc trying to benefit are 

 being robbed of a provision which they have greatly appreciated. 



The matter hinges upon the question of working ten hours ami a 

 half for five days in the week in order that on the sixth day employes 

 may be enabled to (piit at noon. This as set forth by those in charge 

 of the administration of the laws is a direct disobedience of the 

 strict letti'r of the law. and must be sfop[ied. 



When the i|uestion was first seriously agitated a number of ]ironii 

 nent manufacturers were made defendants and were threatened with 

 severe tines. However, so far the result has been that only one con- 

 cern was fined and then on only two counts, for $2') on each. It is 

 the purpose of the authorities, according to their statements, simply 

 to enforce the letter of the law in the future rather than to ])rose 

 cute those who have in the jiast gr;nited this favor to their emiiloycs. 



Unexpected Results 



C i:\IOb'.\i. STATK.S ,i,m1 a iiu.nbcr of nations have laws for the 

 ►J purpose of conipen.sating employes who meet with accidents 

 while engaged in their orilinary work. These law^s have been in 

 ojieration ,a sufficient time to give an idea of their operation along 

 eertain lines. Some of them are bearing unex]iected fruit. For 

 example, it was generally suiqiosed that one of the first results of 

 such laws would be to decrease the number of accidents. It was 

 argued that employers vvoubl make comlitions as safe as possible, 

 for self-interest if for no other reason, ami thereby lessen ilaugei 

 to workmen. It was further supjiosed that employes would be 

 trained and instructed in the art of taking care of themselves; 

 and that ought to result in a decrease of accidents. 



Kxpectatious have not been realized. One of the latest states 

 to be treated to surprise and disappointment is Washington. Coni- 

 jieusation for aicidents brings more accidents, ft has not lieen 

 charged that employes deliberately injure themselves in order to 

 collect Jiay for suffering and lost time; but somehow more aici- 

 dents occur. Possibly some are now reported which formerly were 

 not heard of. A pincheil finger or a bum|i on the back may seem 

 much more serious to a man if he expects ]iay for it than if he 

 does not. In Washington the reported accidents have increased 

 forty jier cent since the compensation law went into effect. If 

 results in that state stood alone, a number of explanations might 

 be offered; but (iemiany has had the same exjierience, and a recent 

 review says that the unfortunate feature is that cheating excites 

 neither public contempt nor loiideninatioii. 



An instance is cited from rcionis in (icrmaiiy. Before there 

 was compensation for in.iuries, the average time of recovery from 

 a broken collar bone was from fifteen to forty days, depending 

 largely on the age of the patient. The young recovered more 

 quickly than those in middle life. Since pensions for the injured 

 went into effect in (iermany the average time required for recovery 

 from a broken collar bone is eight months. 



It is to be regretted that laws intended to benefit deserving 

 unfortunates must be made a cloak to hide the false pretenses of 

 cheats. There are always plenty of peojde trying to get something 

 for nothing and they are quick to take advantage of every oppor- 



tunity to accomplish their jiurpose. Pers<ins of that kind are 1 he- 

 greatest hindrance to real reforms and commendable charity. 



The Year's Lumber Business in Chicago 



Till-: i,r.Mi;i:i;MK.\"s assik iathin of iiii(A(;() has j.ub 

 lished statistics of the lumber trade in Chicago in li)i:i. The 

 cpiantity consumed iiroke all former records, though the amount re 

 shipped fell a little below that of lid'J. During the year just ended, 

 the city consumed l,859.4Hi>,ll)7 feet, compared with l.(i4.J,()S)4.947 

 feet last year. The reshipments in lill.', totaled !l4 1. «■.'!. (1(10 feet, 

 and in 1912 they were 99().9ri().l)(l(l. The total amount of lumber in 

 the Chicago market in 191H. imduding what was consumed and what 

 was reshipped. was 2,801,31)3.1(17 feet, and in 1912 it was 2,()42,().")ii. 

 947. The gain is 158,640, KiO feet. The lake receipts were 204,- 

 31S.000 feet in 1913, which was nearly 20.000.000 less than in 1912. 

 Kail receipts were 2,536,958.000 feet in 1913, an increase of 150.- 

 858,000 feet over 1912. During the year 522.435,250 shingles were 

 used in Chicago, or reshi]iped, which was a gain of 25.000.000 over 

 1912. The liarilwood lumber on li:iii.| in i|iii;igii .-it the close of 

 1913 was about 100.000,000 feet. 



Chicago's claims to prei-minent importance as a lumber center' 

 .nc pretty definitely established by these statistics. 



Should Not Be Overlooked in Kiln-Drying 



L.\S'r ISSCK IIakdwooii Ukciikd contniiierl an cNtensivc article 

 entitled "Scientific l.unilier Drying," and an editorial comment 

 on that .-irticlc in which the following statement was made: "It 

 does seem that the loosely piled load will dry faster than the one 

 that is closely stacked. Isn't the capacity of a kiln determined by 

 the amount of dry lumber it delivers rather than by the number of 

 feet that can be crowded into it?'' 



The writer of the article referred to criticises some of the sugges- 

 lioiis irinde in Hardwood RgroRD's editorial comment in the last 

 issue, but says that he is entirely in accord with the idea expressed 

 regarding the piling of lumber in the kiln. It is unquestionably a 

 fact that the great bulk of stress has been laid u[ion the mechanical 

 layout and actual ojieration of the various types of dry kilns as advo- 

 cated by the manufacturers of the different drying appliances now 

 on the market. It is also a fact that while in some cases the manu- 

 facturers of the different kilns of modern construction and design 

 have investigated pretty closely the technical side of lumber drying 

 as applied to the action of the different methods upon the wood itself, 

 they have not given as much thought to the arrangement of the 

 boards in the kiln during the drying jirocess. 



It is conceded that any proper cheiuical or mechanical eft'ect which 

 kiln-drying has upon lumber is of vast iiuportance and cannot be 

 too closely sfudied. and the results too closely observed. On the 

 other hand, the arrangement of the Ijoards as they are put into the 

 kiln preparatory to drying is of almost equal iiuportance and can be 

 worked out along certain lines dependent upon actual rules of physics. 

 It is not necessary, however, to delve exhaustively into the physical 

 laws in order to arrive at proper methods in this particular. 



The rush of work often necessitates crowding the kilns to their 

 capacity, and here is where the mistake is very often made. Misun- 

 derstanding as to the term "capacity" as applied to the dry kiln 

 in the editorial in last issue of Hardwood Record, is the keynote 

 of the whole truth. It is natural that the owner of a dry kiln wants 

 to get as much lumber through it in as short a space of time as pos- 

 sible, and he not only wants to get the lumber through, but wants 

 it to come out in the most desirable condition. Hence, if he specifies 

 a certain number of hours for certain species and thicknesses of 

 lumber it seems reasonable on the face of it to suppose that he will 

 get the biggest daily output from his kiln, observing his rules for 

 specific classes of- lumber, by loading his truck to the utmost capacity 

 on each load. Such, however, is not always the case as investigation 

 might disclose that by piling his lumlier more loosely he can dry it 

 more quickly and also more thoroughly, and it might very easily 

 work out that even were he getting good results from piling his 

 boards comparatively solidly, the saving in time on proper drying in 

 more loosely stacked piles might more than offset the additional 

 lumber dried in each truckload. 



