'4 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



July 10, luie. 



Tlie tree is of uiuisnnl <liapo, ns tiwiirfs iiml giants often arc. 

 Measures as they arc commonly applied to oilier trees would bo out 

 of place if applied to this one; nevertheless nothing is detracted from 

 it by subjecting it to the tnpeline. The two forks which originate 

 about twelve feet from tlie ground are respectively nearly eight and 

 nine feet in diameter. Kithcr by itself would be large, but they 

 represent the tree's diviiled trunk. Seven feet below the base ol the 

 forks, the trunk measures fourteen feet in diameter, and one foot 

 above the level of the ground the diameter is fifteen feet. The 

 present ground level is considerably above the former surface of 

 tlic soil. For many years the wash from the o\-crflow of the White 

 river has been depositing sediment around the base of the trunk, 

 and a section of unknown length has been buried. However, the tree 

 must be taken as it is found, without surmises as to what it might 

 have been if no ground filling had taken place. 



The trunk is hollow, as the case has been with every uncommonly 

 largo sycamore on record. All interior growth rings are lost by 

 decay and this destroys the record of the tree's age. For that reason 

 the life spans of the largest sycamores are unknown. Size Is the only 

 criterion of longevity, but it may be supplemented by the usual 

 growth rate of such trees. The remaining rings are very narrow. An 

 estimate of a thousand years as the age of the tree shown in the 

 picture is moderate, but there is probably no wood that old now 

 in the trunk, because the oldest wood was near the lieart and that 

 has disappeared through decay. 



Other sycamores as large as this are on record, but i)erhaps thij 

 is the largest now standing. One of equal size once stood in Missis- 

 sippi county, Mo., and another on an island in the Ohio river below 

 Wheeling, W. Va. The latter was measured by George Washington 

 in 1770 and a careful record of its size was made. It was measured 

 at intervals during many subsequent j-ears and its increase in size 

 was scarcely noticeable. 



The sycamore is commonly understood to attain a larger trunk 

 diameter than any other broadleaf tree of the United States; but 

 in volume of trunk it must yield first place to yellow poplar, because 

 the latter carries its size to a great height, while sycamore does not. 



The Federal Trade Commission 



Vjr^ORK IS BEGUN by the Federal Trade Commission which the 

 »» President appointed by authority of law passed during the last 

 session of congress. The work thus far has consisted in holding 

 meetings in New York and elsewhere in the East and arranging for 

 similar meetings in the South and West. Thus far these meetings 

 seem to have been somewhat informal and for the purpose of getting 

 acquainted with business men and laying a foundation for work 

 which is to follow. 



The appearance of this commission in the field of American busi- 

 ness is a somewhat peculiar historic event, inasmuch as no one who 

 has yet spoken on the subject seems to have a clear and concrete idea 

 of what the commission can do, will do, or was created to do. It 

 has been reported that the members of the commission themselves 

 are a little uncertain as to where and how their work is to be done. 

 The law which created the body is not explicit on that subject, or at 

 least it appears to be wanting in detaUa. 



Joseph E. Davies, chairman of the commission, delivered an address 

 on June 20 before the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World, 

 in their convention in Chicago, and spoke of the scope of the com- 

 mission's opportunities; but a careful reading of the printed speech 

 gives only a vague idea of what is to be done. There are platitudes 

 and generalizations with which any one can agree, but mighty little 

 pointed information concerning what the commission means to do 

 and how it proposes to go about it. It is stated that the commis- 

 sion "was designed to furnish a non-partisan body of men expert 

 upon matters connected with business and industry, to aid in the 

 enforcement of the law for the benefit of the whole country. ' ' Again 

 it is said that "congress created it as an agency to destroy what have 

 been termed the seeds of monopoly." Further it is declared to be 

 "clothed with the power to prevent unfair practices of competition 

 in commerce. ' ' At another place the commission is spoken of " as an 

 adviser upon the facts to the courts," again as a bringer of "first 



aid to the competitor injured before tho patient is cxImuBtcd by long- 

 drawn-out tochniculitieg." Ita duty is said to include also the pro- 

 tection of American industry against harm caused by dumping cheap 

 foreign merchandise on our Khores; but by citing the case of 

 Australia, it is intiuiate<l that it will not be necessary to resort to a 

 protective tarifl;' to bring relief from the activities of foreign 

 monopolies. 



The discussion goes far afield without getting anywhere in particu- 

 lar, and the reader of tho address by Mr. Daries must feel that 

 information is still lacking as to what tho commission intends to do 

 and how it expects to do it. If it is merely an agency for giving 

 advice, will it give advice to all comers — to the courts which are try- 

 ing cases? to litigants and prospective litigants? to business men 

 who contemplate large transactions? to the trader who suffers from 

 foreign competition which he thinks is unfair? If it is something 

 else than an advisory body, what else? 



Perhaps the public should not grow^ impatient or chafe at un- 

 certainty. Time has solved many a problem in the past, and it can 

 do it once more. The vagueness regarding the commission's powers 

 and duties is due to the law creating the commission, and not to the 

 men composing it. They have been sent upon new seas without 

 chart or compass to guide them; but in spite of that it may bo de- 

 pended upon that they will do the best they can to reach solid land 

 somewhere. 



Sensible Wood Propaganda 



A1'L.\N IS DESCRIBED in this issue as instituted by the Ohio 

 Association of Retail Lumber Dealers, under wliich a concerted, 

 defijiite and apparently effective campaign to interest the using 

 public in the use of wood is described. This is not only the first 

 general effort in this direction, with the exception of the recent 

 Forest Products Exposition, but has tho earmarks of being one of 

 the most sensible, educational and well-thought-out ideas which has 

 yet been presented in behalf of the continuance of the legitimate 

 markets for lumber and its products. 



The first requirement in any plan to advertise any commodity, raw 

 material or equipment, is that it may be effective in reaching the 

 people at whom it is aimed. The second requirement is that the 

 expense be not so great as to prohibit its use. In that this cam- 

 paign will establish a personal and immediately effective contact 

 with the people who buy lumber for building purposes and similar 

 lines, it answers the first requirement admirably. In that a remark- 

 ably largo number of people will be reached directly through thh 

 means and appealed to in a direct way and at a minimum cost, 

 means that the plan qualifies under the second requirement. 



Further details are noted in an account appearing elsewhere in 

 this number. Briefly it provides for an auto trip of several thou- 

 sand miles through Ohio territory to be made by the association 

 secretary. Stops are arranged for at numerous points and efforts 

 will be made to interest the local retailers directly in this con- 

 certed effort to boost the material from which they have made their 

 living. The good offices of the local papers will be enlisted; in 

 short every possible advantage will be taken of the opportunity pre- 

 sented for getting in touch with the people directly and for foster- 

 ing a more cooperative spirit among the retailers whose interest lies 

 in the promotion and exploitation of the markets for lumber and 

 products made from wood. 



The Ohio association has been at the front in the "building with 

 wood campaign," and being located and having its membership 

 throughout a developing country this new effort is sure to have a 

 marked effect in a general plan for assisting the legitimate exploita- 

 tion of markets for lumber. 



Occasionally we hear the complaint from factory owners that 

 really good foremen are hard to find. Perhaps they have in mind 

 an impossible ideal of perfection, otherwise they are mistaken. The 

 country is full of good, hustling foremen, busy at work every day 

 and turning out an enormous quantity of product. If it were not so 

 we never would be so conspicuous and so progressive as a manu- 

 facturing nation. 



