20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



.Mi.nli U), 1018 



bo tried in a southern state, for southern states are considered rather 

 conservative, and slow to change established customs for new. The 

 vote, either on the bill in the legislature or on the measure by the 

 people at large, has not yet been taken. 



The bicameral plan of state legislation will be maintainoil by having 

 eight commissioners stand in place of the present lower house of the 

 legislature, and five for the senate. Tlie commissioners are to be 

 chosen on the basis of congressional districts and from the state at 

 large. 



The experiment, if it goes througli, will be watched with interest. 

 There is no question that much dissatisfaction exists with state legis- 

 latures, not in principle, but in practice. Tliey are expensive and often 

 are composed largely of a rattier incompetent class of men, with little 

 disposition or power to do good, and capable of doing much harm if 

 they beconie subservient to corrupt men, stronger tlum tliemsclves. 

 Legislatures are noted for their slowness and their penchant for 

 verbosity and debate. "Weeks and montlis are fooled away in talk, 

 and the people pay the biDs. 



But would a commission do any better? It has one advantage in 

 that it does not contain so many persons, and the time spent in airing 

 individual opinions ought to be shorter; but that depends largely upon 

 the kind of men. Two or three hot-air artists can talk as long and 

 say as little as a score, and they could do tlie talking as well in a com- 

 mission as in a legislature. 



The most serious objection that has been urged against a commis- 

 sion form of government is that the commissioners being so few, they 

 are in more danger of bribery than are the larger numbers composing 

 a legislature. That objection undoubtedly should be given some 

 weight, but experience has not shown that bribery scandals are any 

 more frequent in commission rule than in any other kind. The facili- 

 ties of a commission to economize in time and to save money for the 

 public ai'e the points that are given most weight with the people. 



Costs and Other Things 



ELSEWHEEE IN THIS ISSUE appear two articles, one an in- 

 terview on the thick oak controversy, the other a common- 

 sense appeal to the hardwood interests to get together on cost 

 figuring and find out what the true cost of producing is. These 

 articles are commented on together because they have the rela- 

 tionship of cause and effect. As stated in the cost article there 

 would have been no controversy on the selling price of the vehicle 

 oak had the lumbermen always known just what their expense 

 was in producing and just what they would have to sell for. They 

 are nearer to that knowledge today than ever but the rule of 

 thumb methods of some minimize the benefit from the most careful 

 figuring of others. The plea contained in tlic article merits imme- 

 diate action. 



The official interview on the thick oak argument leaves a good 

 deal to be desired by the lumbermen. The interview, however, 

 clearly states that the prices offered were not determined by 

 investigation of manufacturing cost although the vehicle commit- 

 tee states it desires and has attempted to enlist cooperation from 

 the hardwood men. The fact remains though that those selling 

 the material had no hand in setting the figures. It is claimed that 

 the prices represent the market but they surely do not coincide with 

 available, ofBcial figures for the same items as published at 

 present. 



The vehicle committee is undoubtedly sincere in its assertions 

 of desire to cooperate but the verj' best way to evidence that 

 sincerity is to make a real effort to find out if the unanimous 

 claim of the hardwood men that the prices are too low, is not 

 entitled to as much weight in the matter as is the vehicle man's 

 judgment of what it costs to produce lumber. 



Germany's Mortgage 



A GERMAN STATESMAN, representing the war party in that mili- 

 tary country, recently made a speech which was evidently intended 

 for home consumption only; but a report of it escaped the censor and 

 reached the outside world. He declared that unless Germany could 



defeat her enemies and collect from them enormous indemnities, the 

 country would be bankrupt for years to come. The empire's debt at 

 present, according to his figures, is $32,000,000,000. To carry that 

 debt, in interest and sinking fund, will call for a yearly tax averaging 

 seventy dollars for every man, woman and child in Germany. It wUl 

 not be possible for the people to raise that sum of money yearly ; so, he 

 says one of two things must be done. An indemnity must be collected 

 from enemies, or if that cannot be done, the property of Germans must 

 be confiscated. The confiscation would not fall on the rich alone, but 

 would take estates as small as .$2,500. That means that practically all 

 the property in Germany would liave to be put on the block and sold by 

 the sheriff. Who would buy it? 



^Yhen tlie kaiser turned the war loose in 1914 he thought six months 

 would see it tlirough and that ho could collect sufficient indemnity from 

 conquered enemies to pay all his debts many times over. His plans fell 

 through, and he now finds a mortgage on his country. The word mort- 

 gage means "death grip," and that is about what the kaiser is finding 

 it to be. He brought it on himself and on Germany and tliey will have 

 to stand it; and every day tlie war lasts only draws the " death grip" 

 tighter. It will not be the allies that will destroy Germany; it is de- 

 stroying itself. Though the close of the war will find the allies terribly 

 in debt, they will be in good financial condition compared with Ger- 

 many. No wonder that Hindenberg would willingly sacrifice a million 

 men on the west front in an attempt to get Germany out of its 

 predicament. 



The Country's Supply of Iron 



THEY HAVE BEEN COMPILING FIGURES on the supply of 

 iron ore in the United States and estimating how long it is 

 likely to last. The prophecy was made in 1902 by Andrew Carnegie 

 that within sixty or seventy years from that time, the good de- 

 posits of iron ore would be exhausted. That forecast has been 

 quoted with apprehension in view of the fact that the ore is being 

 used nearly twice as fast now as when Mr. Carnegie announced 

 his pessimistic prediction. " 



This is looked upon somewhat differently from the warning that 

 timber is approaching exhaustion, because the situation would be 

 more serious. When iron has been taken from the ground, it is 

 gone forever, but when one forest is cut, another can be grown 

 in its place. The exhaustion of the iron supply would be at least 

 as disastrous as the depletion of the resources of wood. People 

 have been able to live without iron (the American Indians) but it 

 is not known that any people ever lived very long without wood. 

 At any rate, to use up all the wood or all the iron would produce 

 a crisis in human affairs. 



However, Prof. James Furman Kemp, of Columbia University, 

 says there is nothing to be alarmed at, so far as the iron situation 

 is concerned. The last annual report of the Smithsonian Institute, 

 Washington, D. C, prints Prof. Kemp's statistics and sums up his 

 conclusions, thereby showing that there is enough good iron ore in 

 sight in this country to last the people of the United States 750 

 years, even with a considerable increase over the present rate of 

 consumption; while if low-grade iron ores are counted, there will 

 be enough to hold out as long as a human being remains on earth 

 to mine it. 



Some hickory handle men contend that it is better from a com- 

 mercial standpoint to burn up low-grade handles than to sell them at 

 a low price, for it prevents the sale of just that many high-grade 

 liandles at a good price. This is a queer way to figure, and it looks 

 as though there is room for some argument on the subject, for tim- 

 ber, and especially hickory, is too scarce for any useful part of it 

 to go to the slab fire. 



Our export lumber trade is not yet what it ought to be, but it 

 is improving some. Meantime there is the biggest lot of food 

 stuff going abroad on record, which with other army supplies, is 

 bringing better times to the money situation. 



