August 25, 1917 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



33 



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The Mail Bag 



B 1132— Wanted Plain Oak and Maple 



Philadelphia, I'a.. August 14. — Editor IlARDwnon Kkcoud : Could you 

 advise us where we could buy tho following glued-up kiln-dried stocli. plaiu 

 oak and maple, sap no defect ; 4/4x14" wide x 15" long surfaced and 

 S2S to Vi, 5/4x8" wide x IG'." long, surfaced and S2S to 1%", 6/4x8" 

 wide X 10%" long, surfaced and S2S to IW ; the above could be multiples 

 in width. We could use a car per mouth at least. . 



B1133 — Ash Dimension Wanted 

 Rock Falls. 111., August 23. — Editor Haiidwooi> Record : Where could 

 we get clear ash dimension stock to finish 1^x2x7' (>", or 2" ash in lengths 

 to make these strips, which wotUd have to be either S' or 16'? 



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Clubs and Associations 



Committee on Japanese Oak 



Earl Palmer again heads the special committee on Japanese oak just 

 appointed by President John M. Woods of the National Hardwood Lumber 

 Association. Lawrence W. Ford, also of Memphis, is also reappointed, 

 while Frank F. Fee of Dermott, Ark., takes the place of Wm. M. Hopkins, 

 who has no longer an active connection with the hardwood business. 



Lumbermen Resign 



W. A. Gilchrist has resigned as memlier of the board of directors and 

 of the executive committee, and C. H. Worcester as member of the execu- 

 tive committee of the National Lumber ilanufacturers' Association. C. A. 

 P.lgelow was appointed to fill Mr. Gilchrist's place on the board of directors 

 and executive committee, and Cliarles S. Keith was appointed to fill Mr. 

 Worcester's place on the committee. 



Will Compile 1917 Lumber Statistics 



The National Lumber Manufacturers' .\ssociation will co-operate with 

 the L'nited States Forest Service in collecting and compiling statistics of 

 the output of lumber in this country for the year 1917. This will be a 

 continuation of the work carried out last year. The results were given to 

 the public last year much more promptly than ever before, and it is to be 

 hoped that equal .success will attend the work this year. 



Safety and Sanitation Congress 



On September 10 there will open for one week a "safety and sanitation 

 congress." in the Grand Central Palace, New York City. One of the most 

 important matters that will come before this meeting will relate to the 

 thousands of novices and inexperienced laborers who arc entering the fac- 

 tories and mills to take the place of the skilled men who have gone to the 

 war. These green hands must have special protection while learning the 

 work, and every safety device possible sh(udd be used for the purpose of 

 diminishing their danger. The New York congress will take steps to 

 launch at once the greatest safety appliance campaigns ever known in this 

 country. 



Annual Meeting of Retail Dealers 



The first annual convention of the National Retail Lumber Dealers' 

 .\ssociation will take place September 7 at the South Shore Country Club. 

 Chicago. There will be a business progr.nm during the day and enter- 

 tainment in the evening. The members will assemble at the Congress 

 hotel, Chicaifo, and proceed, at nine o'clock in the morning, to the club- 

 house. Among the items on the program are the following : 



''Why the retail lumber business suffers in comparison with other lines, 

 and the remedies for it," Julius Seidel, St. Louis. Mo. . 



"What the needs of the retail lumber dealers are in municipal, state, and 

 national legislation, and how they can be obtained," Warren J. Duffy, 

 Toledo, Ohio. 



"Do retail lumber dealers need solicitors to secure their business for 

 them ?" W. R. Hudson. Detroit. Mich. 



"Why there is many times a lack of unity between mills and retail dealers 

 ami how it can bo overcome/' Edward Hines, Chicago, 111. 



With the Southern Traffic Bureau 



J. II. Townshi'iHl, secret:ir.\-iiiiiiiagfr of the Southern Hardwood Traffic 

 .Vssociation, is in receipt of information from Washington that the Inter- 

 state Commerce Commission has ordered a reduction of .S to 4 cents per 

 hundred pounils on shipments of ceilar from Carolina points to destina- 

 tions in Central Freight Association Territory, Complaint was filed more 

 than a year ago by the Southern Hardwood Traffic -Association in behalf of 

 George C. Brown & Co., Memphis, against the Southern Railway and the 

 Seaboard Air Line. The reduced rates become effective November ir>. 



The association is in receipt of information indicating that, effective 

 October 1, the carriers propose an increase of two cents per hundred pounds 

 for transit privileges. This ruling will not affect Memphis, which has no 

 milling in transit privileges, but it will affect quite a number of Memphis 

 lumbermen who own mills at outside points where such privileges are 

 exercised. It will also affect lumber moving through Cairo and other 



points having such privileges. Lumbermen are therefore being cautioned 

 liy the association to be very careful in the matter of rates on lumber 

 that will be shipped after the date in question. 



Requests for Co-operation with Hardwood Emergency Bureau 



The Southern Hardwood Emergency Bureau sent the following letter 

 from Washington, D. C, to the Hardwood Manufacturers' Association for 

 the purpose of enlisting the co-operation of all hardwood manufacturers 

 in the efforts of the bureau to schedule the complete facilities of the 

 country for handling the government's needs in hardwoods : 



The lumber committee of the Council of National Defense requests us to 

 file with it a list of mills co-operating in the work of this bureau. It is the 

 desire of the lumber committee as well as of this bureau that all partici- 

 pate in the operations of the bureau, to which all hardwood lumber manu- 

 facturers are eligible. Invitations have been sent by mail giving details 

 of the bureau's working plans, but due to the magnitude of the task of com- 

 piling complete lists and the limited time available for the work, the names 

 of a number of manufacturers have doubtless been inadvertently omitted. 

 To all such we wish to say that their co-operation with the bureau is 

 earnestlv solicited and that they will oblige us by addressing the bureau's 

 office in the Union Trust building, Cincinnati, O.. and full particulars 

 will be sent on^ receipt of such communications. As the lumber committee 

 is awaiting the filing of the letters it will be necessary to receive early 

 responses. 



Hardwood Record is publishing elsewhere In this number a complete 

 synopsis of the plan under which the emergency bureau is being operated 

 and a schedule of the work it is carrying on 



Important Traffic Meeting 



The Southern Hardwood Traffic Association has been very busy during 

 the past few days in connection with the transportation problems which 

 have arisen in the hardwood lumber industry as a result of the shortage 

 of both flat cars and cars for handling outbound shipments. A meeting 

 of the governing board was held in Memphis, August IS, ami a meeting 

 of the car efficiency committee was held August 20. 



At the meeting of the governing board it was decided to send John W. 

 McClure to the meeting of the United States Chamber of Commerce to be 

 held at Atlantic City September 18-21 as national counsellor for the 

 Southern Hardwood Traffic Association. The latter organization is very 

 much intere'sted in two of the subjects to be discussed : Transportation 

 efficiency and the priority law recently passed by congress giving the 

 president the right to determine what traffic shall be given the preference. 



At this meeting of the governing board the following new members 

 were announced : M. C. Smith, hardwood lumber manufacturer under 

 his own name, Moorehead, Miss. : Bedna Young Lumber Company. Jack- 

 son. Tenn. ; Welsh Lumber Company, Memphis ; Sycamore Plantation 

 Company, Osmeek, La. ; Weis & Lesh Manufacturing Company, Jackson, 

 Tenn. It may be stated that these additions bring the' total membership 

 to 147. including those of the branch offices at Louisville, Ky., and 

 Helena, Ark. 



At the meeting of the car efficiency committee, of which W. II. Russe is 

 chairman, it was decided to send out post cards to all members of the 

 association for daily detailed reports regarding the number of flat or box 

 cars required, the number received, the number of switchings wanted ami 

 the percentage of these furnished and other phases of the transportation 

 priiblem. These returns will be tabulated by the association and if, in due 

 course, the hardwood people do not receive the service to which they think 

 they are entitled, the association will, on the basis of this detailed infor- 

 uuition, take the subject up with the proper authorities. These cards 

 will be distributed within the next day or two and the replies will then 

 begin to be received. 



Col. E. H. Egan, superintendent of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley line 

 of the Illinois Central System and chairman of the Memphis Car Service 

 Commission, which is .subsidiary to the National Car Service Commission at 

 Washington, assured the members of this committee that, if the lumbermen 

 w.iuld load cars to capacity and load them and unload them promptly, he 

 wiuld see that they received from all the roads in his jurisdiction all the 

 switching they wanted, whether day or night ,and that he would do his best 

 to .see that the lumbermen enjoyed a better service. Col. Egan also announced 

 that, as an emergency measure, he would rescind the order prohibiting the 

 loading of logs on the right of way of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley line 

 at points between stations from Memphis to Clarksdale. This order was 

 to l)ecome effective soon, but it will be rescinded for the period of the war. 



J. H. Townshend, secretary-manager of the association, estimates that 

 lumber manufacturers in the southern hardwood territory deiiendent on 

 the carriers for their log supplies are not receiving more than 30 per cent 

 of their requirements and that the same interests are not getting more 

 thau .")0 per cent of their requirements in the way of cars for handling 

 outbound shipments. A number of mills at Memphis have already closeil 

 down and others are threatened with having to cease operations If there 

 are not more cars given them for handling logs. A number of mills at 

 Helena and at other points on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern 

 are woefully short on cars for handling logs and their manufacturing 

 operations are suffering accordingly. Some Mississippi mills are suffering 

 in the same way. And, to make bad matters worse, streams are com- 

 paratively low, with the result that handling logs by water is not quite 

 as easy as lieretofore. In fact the only interests securing plenty of logs 

 now are those that operate their own logging equipment and are therefore 

 independent of the carriers. Next to them come those who depend on 

 water transportation, while next to the latter are those at junction points 

 where they have more than one road on which they can depend. Those 



