44 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



NoveiiiiMM- 1(1, 1917 



Furniture Making in South Africa 



Consul J. r. Brny nt Joliaiiiicsburs writes iis follows In a i-pcent report ; 



The wooden hedstea.l flcures laryely in the stores at the present time 



It h.K lieen thouu'ht that It was a return ol the somewhat liekle lanc.v ol 



he nihil, to a. "her stvh.. hut that is not the case The steel tuhe faetores 



■ ■ArininK'liani ""<1 eisewhere are probably being utlll/.eii for other material 



market. A dozen maple trees should go far toward supplying a family with 

 sugar, and many a farm has more than a dozen trees that might be made 

 productive. 



nrlee has been inereased for all these commodities. On the other hand 

 the nuantitv of general furniture shows a large ileerease. as Indiealed by 



tile total of i2'.i7,o4:i in lui:!, rjunjii:! In 1!)14, s:ii2.\-:\ m mm. and 



^■^Slme'last year the Imports have dwindled to a very small flgure. Kor 

 Mnv last thev were CI, 120 against t21,:jOS in May, 191(1, while for the 

 ilve^ n'onths ended May :!1 the total was £8,490 agaiu.st £:!S,2:{9 in the 

 eorrespondlng |ierlod of 191(1 



Cost of Cordwood in Holland 



The coal supply In Holland Is totally Inadequate and the forests an? 

 being cut for fuel. The price of cordwood ranges from .$2.j and .$."iO per 

 cord, liependliig upon the kind. Kven at those prices the supply Is going 

 so rapidly that the government is planning fuel tickets to limit the use 

 of wood to the lowest possible flguri' in order to iiri'vent the destruction 

 of the forests. The people of the mited States complain of fuel prices 

 when tliey are paying less than one-fourth what the Hollanders pay. 

 At prices they are paying it would be a poor acre of woodlaml which 

 wouhl not bring a gross return of ?40n for cordwood. .\t such prices, 

 Itic Ii'iiipriitinn tn cut forests Is very great. 



Since IMirr the bulk of the furniture has come from America, in pro- \>s>ji.^:xi:Jii<:ix>x/sJXJimv.-<XiXi:J!^^ 



portion as I'lie exports from the Inlti'd Kingdom have fallen olT From 1-%.T "^T. I 



,^apan already fairly cousidiTable quantities ,d lunntun. made aller H nrnilinnn N^lll^ l\l nti^^ 



I.-iiVniiean stvles are being imporlivl. The .lapanesi- have not long been ±XU.I U.UJkJIJIA J.^*iC4yO J.>\-/l-C>0 ! 



ICu'roppan stvles are being imporl.vl. 'I he .lapanes.- have not bnig been 

 encaged in this class of export traile. and their product Is not ol the 

 be.st quality, hut with characteristic adaptability it is expected that they 

 will soon accommodate themselves to new requirements. 



Meantime since the outbreak of war and the rapid increase In the price 

 of the Imiio'rti'd article, the furniture industry of the Union has shown 



„1„. ucnal growth. The larger factories are still at the coast — (ape 



Town Uurbaii and Tort Klizabeth — where labor Is considerably chi-aper 

 than It is in .lohaniiesburg. i.ai-ge new factories have sprung Into life 

 In all those centers, more particularly In Cape Town. 



Most of the raw material Is obtained from America and .Tapan at 

 nri'sent and consists of various woods suitable to the purses of middle- 

 class people Teak and oak are tlie favorite woods, and the style ol 

 fur'uitlire is that which has been called .lacobeau. There are several 

 beautiful native hardwoods in the Union suitable for the manufacture 

 of furniture • but the expense of the work, according to a well-known 

 manufacturer, is prohibitive to the ordinary trade. The well-to-do house- 

 holder Is the only customer for this class of furniture. 



The effect upon inilustrv in .lohannesburg is seen in the opening up of 

 many small establisliments where the finishing stages of furniture manu- 

 facture are completed. Small employers have erected machinery and plant 

 sufficient to employ as many as a couple of dozen more or less skilled 

 hands Nevertheless the main body of the manufacturing trade is still 

 at the' coast, and will remain there so long as the difference in the scale 

 of wages Is maintained. „ ^ ,,,. , j 



The opinion is not lightly expressed by many of the well-established 

 business houses that the class of furniture now being made in South 

 .\frica for ordinary every da.v use is rather superior to the furniture 

 which in past years was imported from overseas in pieces and joined 

 together in this country. 



Mangrove Bark in the Philippines 



Commercial .Vgeiit C. K. Bosworth. writing of tanning material, says: 

 Mindoro is one of the larger islands of the I'hilippine group. It is a 

 provlnci' by itself and contains :!,9S:i square miles. It Is distant from 

 Manila a little more than 100 miles or twelve hours by steamer. .\Iong 

 the shores of this island are considerably more than ;!0,000 acres of 

 mangrove swamps, with large trees in practically virgin growth, con- 

 servatively estimated to yield 50,000 tons of bark, readily convertible 

 into approximately 17.000 tons of cutch. Just why this advantageously 

 located growth of our own should have remained untouched for so long 

 it is hard to understand. 



The Fly Swat Handle 

 The handle of a fly swat is about the smallest handle cm the market, 

 hut in the aggregate these sanitary machines consume a lot of wood. 

 .\ city in Australia has let it be known in the United States that it 

 would like to try out a sample lot of 5,000 such handles, and If they 

 prove satisfactory, large orders will he placed. The order would have 

 to be large if it could not be filled from the waste of nearly any large 

 sawmill in this country. 



Killed by High Postage 



.\ movement was under way for s(niie time looking to the puldlshing 

 of a magazine by the National Lumber Xlanufacturers' .Association for 

 the purpose of increasing the use of woinl. It now seems that the scheme 

 is on the shelf for the time being. The proposed increase in rates of 

 postage, which went into effect November 2, puts a quietus on the project, 

 according to a statement in a special bulletin issued by the association 

 giving the proceedings of a meeting held in Chicago October 9-10, by the 

 standing comniittees of the association. 



Maple Sugar's Great Opportunity 



The scarcity of cane and beet sugar and its high price In all parts of 

 the world ought to give maple sugar a chance, such as it never had before. 

 There is no possibility, that enough .sugar can be made from maple to 

 make up what is lacking from other sources, but those who have grove.s 

 of trees ought to he able to make a profit next spring from the output. 

 In addition to what will be made for commercial purposes, thousands of 

 farmers in all parts of the sugar maple's range will be able t(\ supply 

 themselves, wliolly or in part, from trees growing on the farm. Thi.s 

 will help the general situation by lessening the demands upon the sugar 



>< MISCELLANEOUS >• 



The capital stock of the Western Uefrigerator i<. .Maniifacluring Com- 

 pany, St. I-ouis, Mo., has been increased to .$7.''i.(100. 



The WeslHeld Box & Slioid< Company, WestHebl. Mass., has sustained 

 a loss by flre. 



\ meeting of the creditors of the Brown Hawkins Lumber Company, 

 lietroil, Mich,, was called recently. 



.\t Helena, .\rk., the Superior Chair ("ompaiiy has been incorporated 

 with a .?12,01I0 capitalization. 



The Superior Wood Heel Company is a ni!w corporation at Haverhill. 

 Mass. The capital is ,112.^,000. 



.\ creilitors' meeting of the Coats Manufacturing Company, Wellsville, 

 .\. Y., has been called. 



The following increases in capital stock have been made by Wisconsin 

 concerns : the Badger Basket & Veneer Coiuiiany, Burlington, to $."10,000, 

 and that of the Fountain-Campbell Lumber Company, Ladysmith to $250,- 

 000. 



The Kusk Box & Furniture Company. Hawkins, Wis., is now operated 

 under the style of the Uusk Manufacturing Company. 



The Mouse Folding Crate Company has been incorporated at Detroit. 

 Mich. 



The Phoenix I'laniug Mill Company, .\tlanta, Oa., is an involuntary 

 bankrupt. 



The Williams Lumlier Company, with headquarters at Fayettevllle, has 

 bought out the Virgin Hardwood Lumber Company at (jonce, .\la, 



.\t Huntington, W. Va., the United Casket Company has been incor- 

 porated. Other recent incorporations are : The Blue liidge Timber Com- 

 pany, High Point, N. C. ; the Liverpool Hardwood Company, New York. 

 N. Y*. ; the Big Kapids Furniture .Manufacturing Cimipany. Big Rapids, 

 Mich. 



The Oil City Woodworking Company has moved from lieno. Pa., to 

 Oil City. 



The Traphagen & Hull Manufacturing Company, Kingston, X. Y.. has 

 filed an involuntary petition in bankruptcy. 



=■< CHICAGO >• 



Frank B. Robertson of Ferguson & Palmer, Memphis, showed on the 

 Clilcago horizon about the middle of the week and added his quoto to 

 Chicago hardwood sales during a stay of a few days. 



J. A. Gorman, sales manager for the Viles County Lumber t'ompany 

 with offices in Chicago has been given a commission in the second forest 

 regiment (20tli engineers). He has been in training at Ft. Sheridan. 111., 

 in the second officers' training camp and was transferred to the forestry 

 regiment at the instance of lumber friends. 



W. M. Farris of the Farris Hardwood Lumber Company of Nashville, 

 Tenn.. spent some time in Chicago last week. 



Charles Gill of the Gill-Andrews Lumlier Company of Wausau, Wis., 

 was In Chicago last week on a brief business trip. 



n. B. Goodman, O. T. Swan and other prominent Wisconsin operators 

 and prominent officials in the Northern Hemlock and Hardwood Jlanufac- 

 turers' .\ssociation were in Chicago tliis week in conference with prominent 

 Chicago members of the association on matters of vital interest to the 

 northefa hardwood trade. 



W. W. Dings of the Garetson-Greason Lumber Conipany, St. Louis, Jlo., 

 was in the city a few days of last week. Mr. Ding's hardest work when 

 here is to find time to do his busine.ss. He has so many warm friends 

 that he is considering the expedient of holding a giuernl reception on his 

 day of arrival in the future, thus giving him a chance to shake hands all 

 around and still have time to sell a few cars of lumber before he leaves. 



S. M, Burkholder from Crawfordsville, Ind., the dean of the Hoosier 

 hardwood fraternity, spends quite a bit of his time with his son Koy who 

 is running the company's big hardwood mill at Homer, La. Mr. Burk- 

 holder, Sr., was in Hardwood Record offices last week. He expressed 

 the belief that it won't be long before the southern negroes who have 



