April 10. 191S 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



41 



Interesting Information 



M. Wulpl, commissioner of the Central Uureuu ot Casket Mnnufac- 

 lurers, Chicago, has Issued an Interesting circular containing statistics 

 on Japan, gathered by the New York Evening Post. Mr. Wulpl presents 

 the statistics In a circular, believing they form a basis for careful study 

 l.y those anticipating competUlun lo foreign markets after the war. Ac- 

 cording to the tlgurcs Japan has : 



Fifty-three million population existing on 147,655 square mllCE. 



Three hundred and forty-two population to the square mile. 



Twelve million living In cities, the balance in villages and mostly farms. 



The goTernment of Japan is the largest Industrial enterprise In the 

 world. 



It operates the largest Japanese steel mills and 85 per cent of the 

 railroads. 



Manages telegraphs and telephones and manufactures army and navy 

 tqulpn.ent. 



It exercises but little control over private enterprises. 



There are almost no factory laws beyond elementary regulation. 



The tariff Is made to favor Japan Industries. 



Taxes on business are low. 



Average rate of Interest 10 per cent In 1908 to 7 per cent In 1915. 



Average dividends 1906 : banks 9.2, railroads 6.7, manufacturing 14.6. 



Labor is practically unorganized. 



Wages low, but labor very inofTicicnt. 



Waterway Tonnage Reaches Immense Figure 



The National Rivers and Harbors Congress, Washington, D. C, Issues a 

 most Interesting statement of inland water haulage In support of its 

 propaganda for scientific development of our inland waterways. The 

 statement says : 



Three hundred and seventy-six million tons of freight were handled on 

 the waterways of the United States in 191G. That Is enough to fill 

 9,400.000 average forty-ten freight cars, or about four times as many 

 cars as our railroads own today. That shows that the waterways are 

 still of some service even after fifty years of cut-throat competition by 

 the railroads. 



For the past eighteen months the traffic history of this country has 

 been one continuous succession of delays, congestion, embargoes and car 

 shortage. On May 1 and again on November 1 Last year shippers aslied 

 for more than 1G5.000 cars which could not be supplied. Then came a 

 winter of extraordinary severity and a coal shortage which amounted to 

 a national disaster. 



In a table prepared for Secretar,v McAdoo by W. P. Manss, industrial 

 agent ot the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, it is estimated that in eighteen 

 of the principal manufacturing cities of the country the losses resulting 

 from Dr. Garfield's celebrated order amounted in workmen's wages and 

 manufacturers produ'jts to $4,344,070,000. Ttie total losses since the car 

 shortage began, in September, 1916, are probably not less than $8,000,- 

 000,000, and may be as much as $10,000,000,000. 



Bad as was this huge financial loss, the sickness, suffering and death 

 due to lack of coal — which was due to lack of cars — were vastly worse. 

 Worst of ail was the delay in shipment of supplies and munitions which 

 were urgently needed by our own Army and Navy at the front and by 

 those with whom we fight. At one time no less than 213 ships, loaded 

 and ready to sail, were held in New York for lack nf l>unker coal. 



We have hundreds of harbors and 28.000 miles ot waterways classed as 

 navigable, of which less tlian 2.000 miles have been sufficiently Improved 

 to have rlependable channels. One-tenth of the amount lost by the people 

 of the United States during the last eighteen months would have been 

 more than enousih to thoruugbly improve every mile of our navigable 

 waterways, and if th-it had been done, and we bad been wise enough to 

 foster and develop water transportation, instead of allowing it to be 

 crushed by railway competition, there would have been no car shortage, 

 no coal shortage, no staggering financial loss, no peril to our armies and 

 our cause through delays to ships, and many homes would still be bright 

 which today are full of sorrow. 



The Rivers and Harbors bill which provides for the maintenance and 

 improvement of our waterways and harbors Is of Interest to every citizen 

 of the United States, to those who live upon the prairies or among the 

 mountains no less than to those who live by ocean, lake or rlvei. Every 

 thousand, or million, or liundred nillllon, tons of freight sent liy water 

 leaves freight cars free to serve those whom the waterways cannot reach. 

 Manufacturer and mechanic, merchant and clerk, farmer and miner, every 

 mother with a son now. or soon to he. in France, and every loyal citizen 

 who wants to win this war should do everj'thing possible to make It sure 

 that our waterways and harbors are maintained, Improved and used to 

 the limit of their capacity. 



Hints for Expediting Mail Service 



BTeryone has probably noticed the delays in mall delivery incident to 

 the abnormal conditions prevailing throughout the country. The postofflce 

 department has Just sent out a statement explaining the difBcuItles and 

 suggesting means by which movement may he expedited. 



The causes to which the delays are attributed are speeding up of war 

 shipments, which materially reduces facilities for postal transportation ; 

 great Increases in bulk of mailing and practices with business houses in 

 regard to hours of mailing, for Instance, the common practice of holding 

 ' outgoing mall until the late afternoon necessitating handling sixty or 

 eighty per cent of the matter within a period of three or four hours. It Is 

 apparent that if this could be spread over twelve or fourteen hours it 

 would be handled much more efnclently, and that much time will be gained 

 In Its forwarding. 



The department suggests the advisability of signing and preparing 

 for dispatch ail letters and m.ill accumulating up to noon and of posting 

 them at that time, thereby assuring their being in transit before the close 

 of the business day. 



It also suggests that all heavy accumulation of mall be properly assorted 

 as to size of containers and properly "faced" for cancellation ot stamps. 



Wagon Figures Include All Contracts Let 



The wnoilstock committee ot the vehicle Interests through A. B. Thielens, 

 chairman, makes the following statement regarding the number of contracts 

 for army wagons : 



In several publications reference has been made to the equivalent of 

 from 240,000 to 200,000 army wagons without explaining that this is 

 the total quantity. Including spare parts, that has been ordered from the 

 beginning of the war for requirements up to June, 1919. 



The report then goes on to state that this creates a wrong Impression 

 in the minds of sonic as to the immediate requirements, and does not 

 take Into consideration the number of wagons which have already been 

 delivered, of which there are several thousand now in warehouses await- 

 ing distribution. The report states that it Is desirable to give this infor- 

 mation to the itimber people so as to avoid disappointment if contractors 

 are unable to give them orders. 



The statement says further : 



.Vnyone that can produce material suitable for this work, if not already 

 supplied with a list for tlie recommended prices, will be furnished same 

 upon application to the Woodstock Committee, 619 LaFayette St.. South 

 Bend, Ind. If prices are acceptable to him, upon committee being so 

 advised together with Information in regard to his facilities and approxi- 

 mate time when deliveries can begin, information will be glveu to all con- 

 tractors of record witli the committee. 



It is, of course, obvious from this report, as well as from other Indica- 

 tions, that the vast bulk of these wagons must yet be built, and It Is not 

 likely that the quantity of lumber estimated as being necessary for the 

 lumbermen to furnish will be materially reduced by the number of wagons 

 already manufactured. Obviously such a huge total order for wagons 

 would not call for immediate delivery, and even with fifteen months lee- 

 way for completion would necessitate rush work. Hence it is hardly 

 likely that the lumbermen's plans for supplying raw material needed will 

 be appreciably altered by the announcement that the wagons contracted 

 for cover a year's requirements. This seems especially true, as undoubt- 

 edly most lumbermen realize, that at least a year's requirements must be 

 involved in such an enormous production. 



A Large English Oak 



An English trade paper has the following account of an oak of unusual 

 size. The peculiar thing about it is that the tree was only 400 years old, 

 which is less than might be expected of an oak of its size : 



The following is a description ot the Golenos oak, felled and converted 

 in the year ISIO. It grew about four miles from the town of Newport, 

 in Monmouthshire. The main trunk, at 10 feet long, produced 450 cubic 

 feet, one limb 355 cubic feet, one limb 472, one limb 235, one limb 156, one 

 limb 133, and six other limbs nf inferior size averaged 93 feet each, mak- 

 ing the whole number ot 2.426 cubic feet, equivalent to 19.408 surface 

 feet, of sound and convertible timber. The bark was estimated at six 

 tons, but as some of the very heavy body bark was stolen out ot the barge 

 at Newport, the exact weight is not known. Five men were twenty- 

 five days stripping and cutting down the tree ; and a pair of sawyers were 

 five months converting it, without losing a day (Sunday excepted). The 

 money paid for converting only, independent of the expense of carriage, 

 was $140, and the whole produce of the tree when brought to market 

 was within a trifle of $3,000. It was bought standing for $2.025 ; the 

 main trunk was 914 feet in diameter, and in sawing it through a stone 

 was discovered 6 feet from the ground, about a yard in the body, tlirough 

 which the saw cut ; the stone was about 6 inches in diameter, and com- 

 pletely shut in, but round it there was not the slightest symptom of decay. 

 The rings in its butt were carefully reckoned, and amounted to above 

 400 in number, a convincing proof that this tree was In an improving 

 state for upwards of 400 years : and as the ends of some of its branches 

 were decayed and had dropped off, it is presumed that it had stood a 

 great number of years after it had attained maturity. 



Progress in Ship Building 



Two hundred wooden ships of the American merchant fleet, with which 

 the United States will uullify the activities of the kaiser's submarines, 

 should be in the water liy June 30, and a total of 434 already are scheduled 

 for construction. These and many other facts indicating how gigantic 

 Is our shipbuilding program and how rapidly it is being carried out were 

 disclosed at the annual meeting of the Southern Pine Association by J. O. 

 Heyworth, director of the wood ship division of the Emergency Fleet 

 Corporation. No man need be ashamed of the production of southern 

 pine for government uses during the last six or seven months, Mr. Hey- 

 worth told the convention. The West is abundantly doing its share also. 

 The schedules for wooden ships call for more than 305.000.000 feet of 

 lumber. Two hundred and forty inlilion feet already have been delivered. 



Arranges for Exhibit of American Lumber in London 

 War Commissioner John R. Walker, who is investigating economic con- 

 ditions In England in behalf of the lumber trade of this country, reports 

 that he has arranged for excellent quarters for proposed American lumber 

 exhibit in London In a large room in the Royal Institute of the British 

 Architects. This he .says in a recent letter is the very best location that 

 could be found anywhere in the Kingdom. The arrangements for the 

 exhibit will be handled by prominent men in England and Mr. Walker 

 feels that tangible results are in sight. 



He emphasizes the hope that nothing will delay the assembling and 

 forwarding of the exhibits, full details of which he has worked out and 

 sent to this side. 



■Various American lumber associations have for some time been work- 

 ing out the details through the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce 

 ot e.Nhibits already arranged that will soon be forwarded to the other side, 

 exact duplicates will be assembled and forwarded to France within the 

 near future. 



