38 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



November 10, 1917 



duplicated, making a full day off, and this disease affects aljout fifty 

 per cent of the niggers iu this section. 



Should Keep Sepakate Costs on Specials 



The special specifications seem to be more unusual at this time duo 

 to the demand for airplane stock, ship timbers, etc., and it has brought 

 to the attention of the management more vigorously the necessity for 

 running a special cost ticket in making particular stock of this char- 

 acter. In the first place, these requirements call for unusual sizes, or 

 particular stock, that is not included in any inspection. Very often 

 it is necessary to select one tree out of five thousand, and often prac- 

 tically requiring special service. It is like sending a doctor from 

 Mem]ihis to St. Paul to cut a man's leg off, hiring a special train to 

 deliver him there ahead of the regular. In other words, the increased 

 cost of gettiug out this special material is so apparent that no average 

 cost can be considered as a basis for a charge. 



That reminds me that there are a lot of people criticising the activ- 

 ities of the lumber men at home and at Washington who are there 

 iu a patriotic spirit. But believe me if those criticising critters were 

 to turn the glass on themselves they would probably have more reason 

 to criticise themselves than the patriots. I haven't seen any indication 

 among any of the boys right next to the War Department or in their 

 own home town, that they do not want to do everything possible to win 

 this war, and I am glad to say that most of them begin to realize that 

 it is no Saturday afternoon job. It is a long and serious responsibility, 

 and as our government is made up of the people, the burden must be 

 shared by each one of us. But that need not prevent our getting a 

 profit on any business we ship to Uncle Sam. On the present tax basis, 

 none of us is making any money on business done and turned over to 

 Uncle Sam, and every man I have seen does so gladly, but you cannot 

 work both ends against the middle. You cannot lose money on busi- 

 ness you are shipping, and pay taxes on surplus profits at the same 

 time. You must realize, however, that if our government is going 

 to spend fifteen billion dollars a year, the present government tax on 

 railroad mileage, theatre tickets, etc., is only a drop in the bucket 

 compared to what it will be necessary for us to raise in revenues to 

 keep Uncle Sam in cash to meet any contingency. 

 Kegabding the Eight-Hour Day 



Then we are confronted with the eight-hour day. Several of the 

 Southern states are going to insist on it practically. It may be that 

 our economic conditions wUl enable us to work this out properly, but 

 it is none the less difficult, and labor is scarce to meet those conditions. 

 Most business men are paying about forty per cent for lack of 

 efficiency now, and to maintain ten-hour wages for an eight-hour day 

 just adds to the cost figure again. With the nigger labor in the South 

 it isn 't the long day that worries them ; it is the desire to get the extra 

 pay, and most every one feels the necessity of paying it because of 

 the high cost of living, but to put into force an eight-hour day even 

 under normal conditions severely tests the cost figures and makes it 

 necessary to know actually what everything costs, whether it is a 

 specialty or the regular manipulation of stock. 



It has got to be customary these days for institutions to hire an 

 expert to cheek up their methods of doing business and to find the 

 imperfections in their bookkeeping systems, and I know some operators 

 that are handling their oflSee and cost work at a reduced cost per 

 annum because of the diagnosing of their methods by an expert. 

 Although, when you hire a cost doctor, do not expect him to reor- 

 ganize your whole bookkeeping system. The probabilities are that 

 he will not be able to do so. You better use the best part of your 

 system and the most modern part of the other fellow 's to make it 

 absolutely up to date. 



Timber Investments and Stump-\ge Values 



There is still uncertainty in the minds of some operators now days 

 as to whether it pays to invest three or four hundred thousand dollars 

 in stumpage at the present valuation. Of course, the man who bought 

 timber a long time ago bought good timber and had the result to guide 

 him, but it has turned out more than once, and particularly so recently, 

 that purchases made on the highest valuations were about the best 

 investment a man had. The fact is that the present prices and the 

 overrun pays a pretty high stumpage value. Timber that was orig- 

 inally purchased with a large selection to choose from made the invest- 



ment originally as well as at the present time, a basis that is not easy 

 to duplicate. Good hardwood timber is always worth while, and unless 

 a man does not know anything about his business and buys some other 

 material than he is supposed to buy, he has not much chance to lose on 

 timber investments. It is true that in purchasing timber tlie carrying 

 charges now days are different from what they were in the old times 

 wlien they were a third of the present cost, and it was not necessary 

 to develop timber investments so quickly. " 



Oak Looks Good 



It looks like oak was coming back to its own. One of the prettiest 

 panels I have ever seen in my life is being utilized in Memphis, both 

 in home and office, quarter sawed and plain oak. The man who is 

 building his home today can use oak to good advantage in his living 

 room and hall, or his dining room, because of the beauty and adapta- 

 bility of oak. If it was a good thing to do thirty years ago, it is a 

 good thing today, and if you don 't believe it I can prove it to you. I re- 

 cently visited a dining room which was not only finished in oak, but the 

 furniture was in like material, and in speaking to the fellow who lived 

 there and who built the house, he said, "Of all the woods, and I have 

 eight of them in my house, I am of opinion that oak has no superior," 

 and he did not even use quarter-sawed — just the plain sawed stock 

 in good figured logs. 



What the Boys Are Doing 



Geo. Kerns of Chicago spent a few days at Memphis and Mounds 

 last week. He reports quite a good demand for all kinds of hard 

 wood. 



Sam E. Barr of New York blew into Memphis, spent a few days in 

 New Orleans, Louisville and other points last week. He says the 

 trade ought to take advantage of the present weather and what cars 

 they can get, to prepare for the times when the embargoes will prac- 

 tically shut off the supply from the timber sections. He has great con- 

 fidence in the utilization of hardwoods during the early spring, and 

 believes that the Government wiU be pretty near operating the rail- 

 roads at that time, and also that there will be a scarcity of labor, 

 and bad delays occasioned by winter conditions. 



A local manager said to me the other day, ' ' What is the use of 

 taking an order when you cannot fill it, and do not intend to fill it as 

 offered?" This only means a bunch of trouble nine times out of ten, 

 and it is not the style now days to take orders with the full knowledge 

 that they will not be filled according to the terms of sale. In other 

 words, the present conditions in the trade do not warrant mixed grades. 

 Notwithstanding that fact, there is more need for the lumbermen get- 

 ting closer up to the consumer and helping liim work out his problems 

 in utilizing lumber at the present prices. 



F. E. Gary of the Crenshaw-Gary Lumber Company was at his desk 

 the other morning, and the mail man placed in his hand a number of 

 checks. He remarked that there never was a time in the trade when 

 he found collections so satisfactory as now. ITor shipments in Sep- 

 tember the company collected more money than the invoices sent out, 

 indicating that not only the consimier, but the handlers of hardwood 

 were taking advantage of every discount. 



Uncle Moses Katz of Wausau, Wis., migrated with the birds to the 

 Southland, when the snow flurries started in Wisconsin several weeks 

 ago. He is now visiting at Memphis where he is counselor and friend 

 to his nephew, Sam Katz, and Joe Thompson, who operate the Biel- 

 Kadel Lumber Company, dealing in ash. 



C. B. Dudley of the Dudley Lumber Company, has had his hands fuU 

 lately. His order book is full, and his yards at both Memphis and New 

 Orleans are pretty busy loading and unloading cars. He seems to be 

 busy not only in the airplane business, but his other ash customers are 

 pushing him right along to get ash into their warehouses. Dudley has 

 great faith in the continued increasing demand as well as the advancing 

 price of their ash. He spent several days this month at New Orleans 

 where he has probably three million feet of ash on sticks. 



John Utley of the Utley-Holloway Company of Chicago has been 

 in the South most of the time for the past two or three weeks. Their 

 new mill in Mississippi wiU be in operation shortly, and they are 

 making every effort to get every shipment forward possible. Mr. Utley 

 reports a good volume of business. 



