November 1**, VM't 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



39 



Lawrence Fonl of Goodlandor-Robertson Company of Memphis, and 

 a number of the liimher jacks were down at Vieksburg recently, anil 

 report buyers from all sections arc spending the bright November days 

 in the lumber yards buying not only new stock, but trying to get as 

 much of their present orders on schedule filled and delivered to their 

 customers North. ' 



Mr. Ford as well as a number of the lumbermen are very busy in 

 Memphis this week at the opening of the new Chickasaw club. They 

 rented an old-time residence on Madison street, and it looks like it is 

 going to be a very homey place. The lumber crowd will be repre- 



sented on the board of directors by Clias. Hansom, chairman of the 

 entertainment committee; Lawrence ForjJ, chairman of the house coni- 

 niittee, and Pop Dickson, "private" on the directors. The member- 

 ship is composed of a large number of the* lumber trade and there is 

 more enthusia.sm over starting the ball rolling than often occurs in 

 the club life of Memphis. 



In speaking of clubs it reminds me that the old Tennessee is just as 

 hospitable as ever, and W. H. Russo is still president. I do not know 

 whether this is a life job or not, but it looks that way. 



E. H. Depebaugh. 



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Export of Hickory 



Hickory may be regarded as the most important item in our timber 

 resources. There is no real substitute for hickory, and there is no 

 commercial hickory growing naturally anywhere else in the world, 

 while there are many uses for which it is essential. For this reason 

 and because of the growing scarcity of this wood, it has long been 

 contended that we should put a cheek on the export of hickory in log 

 form, and insist upon shipping it out of the country only in the sli.ipe 

 of manufactured goods, and at that the trade should get enough for 

 the product to make a good profit. There is very little if any excuse 

 for sacrificing our hickory for nominal returns. 



Following a conversation with an important user of hickory in 

 handle work, who has been a persistent advocate of good prices for 

 this product for fifteen or twenty years, the writer was moved to 

 look up some of the export figures and other data on hickory. We 

 had discussed the question of how much hickory is exported in log 

 form, and whether or not it should be so exported. This manufacturer 

 questioned the quantity going abroad, and said that he had upon 

 investigation found considerable going out of a southern port some 

 years ago. He had installed a plant near there to gather up that 

 hickory and manufacture it, thus putting a cheek on the exports 

 from that particular point. 



After tabulating the figures from our commerce reports, the follow- 

 ing letter was written to this manufacturer: 



Dear Sir : Following my conversation witli you yesterday I looked up 

 the figures on the export trade in liickory logs which I find to be as 

 follows : 



Hickory Log Exports. 



1912 8,476.000 feet 



191S 8,957.000 feet 



1914 6..36S,000 feet 



1915 2,300.000 feet 



1916 1,986,000 feet 



Total in 5 years 28,193,000 feet 



The total log exports for last year inchidinj; hickory, oak, walnut and 

 others was 51,714.000 feet, while the total In 1913. which was the biggest 

 year In our export trade, was 159,930,000 feet. 



It may be presumed that after the war, unless some effort i.s made to 

 check it, there will be a resumption of the big export In logs. We may 

 be sending ten million feet of hickory logs abroad in the year following 

 the declaration of peace unless some plea Is made to the government to 

 either check or prohibit the export of such timber in log form. 



My contention Is, and has been, that we should export hickory only in 

 the manufactured form, so that we may get more value out of It, more 

 employment for our industries and the people employed therein. 



The fact that the wood grows nowhere else in the world gives to 

 the hickory manufacturers of this country absolute control of the 

 world's trade in hickory products, provided shipping out in log form 

 is restricted. 



We have been told by good authorities that it is the hickory handle 

 that helps carry the American ax and other tools to all the markets of 

 the world. Moreover, it is our hickory which helps make the superiority 

 of harvesting machinery which is called for all over the world. People 

 in other countries may prefer to buy the logs and work them to suit 

 themselves, and naturally it would give them more work, and involve 

 the sending of less money out of their own country to get this 

 material. It was common report that the Krupp gun works were 



formerly buyers of enormous quantities of hickorj-, and they wanted 

 to work it up to suit their own notions. 



Any man with hickory stumpage or logs feels that he has a perfect 

 right to sell them where they will jirofit him most. If some export 

 buyer will pay better money and make bettor terms than the domestic 

 consumers, there is his market, and he would regard it as a hardship to 

 have a check put upon it and be forced to sell in the domestic trade. 



It is the duty and should be the mission of hickory manufacturers 

 in this covmtrv to make the domestic demand the best market for 

 hickory timber in all forms, so there would be no special inducement 

 to sell logs for export. Perhaps enough effort along this line would 

 result in removing any necessity for legal restrictions on the export 

 of hickory logs. 



The supply of hickory coming out of the woods is comparatively 

 small. Lumbermen do not seem to care to got it out, and manufac- 

 turers who need it must hire it cut and brought to the f.actories, at 

 an increase in cost. This increased cost makes the value of hickory 

 products today perhaps twent.v per cent higher than they were a year 

 ago, and even at that the margin of profit is comparatively small. 



J. Crow Taylor. 



Power Trucking Possibilities 



Hiuid trucks play an important part in the veneer industry, and 

 there are some power trucks used for handling logs and blocks. A 

 new question is coming into this matter in the factory, a question of 

 l)Ower trucks, where they are adaptable and where they are not prac- 

 tical. In many instances where previously hand trucks were used to 

 convey material about the plant, the electric power truck has now 

 entered to relieve the burden of hand labor. 



Nearly every man who has been around a veneer cutting plant for 

 any length of time has seen instance after instance of one, two or 

 three men dropping other work to push a loaded truck from a veneer 

 machine to the drier or to some other point in the factory. Electric 

 power would relieve this man-power, and there is need for something 

 of this kind because of the scarcity of help. 



On the other hand, there is a question of whether or not enough is 

 to be gained from the power truck to justify the experiment. In 

 some factories the trucking problem can be relieved by more attention 

 to smooth and clean floors. The moving of an ordinary truckload of 

 dry veneer or panels over such a floor should be done easily by one 

 man, and since only one man is necessary even with an electric power 

 truck there is a question whether any saving wouhl bo effected. 



At the cutting end it is a little different. Wet veneer is heavy, the 

 problem of trucking cores enters, of transporting logs and blocks from 

 one place to another. Some of this work today is done by overhead 

 trolleys, some by cranes, and some by log hauls. It is very likely that 

 in some instances an improvement could be had by using electric power 

 trucks. 



The present purpose is not so much to argue specifically for the 

 l)Ower truck around the factory as to bring the subject up for thought- 

 ful attention. Whether or not there are possibilities depends much 

 on local conditions. Each man will have to settle the matter for him- 

 self. The important fact is that the electric truck is entering the 

 industries quite extensively to take the place of the hand truck. 



