IS 



llAKDWOOD RECORD 



.SoptomlMT 10, lUlJ. 



Tho u<"Mi •- io^i".' •.-loii.i'i 111 till- lumber market. 1l liii.^ ktiii. 

 tlie l>o»l eiiNtorii ii|iriic<> for iiiOHt purposes and is sold not only on tlio 

 Pacific coust and in utiier reijions west of tho Mississippi river, but 

 likowiM* ill eastern Htntes, in Kiiro|H> and in oriental euuntrics. 



A Sliameful Showing 



TllK MKMMKKyilll" ol" tlie Natioiml Veneer & Panel Manufac 

 tiirers' A-.sdciation <lid not earn for itself the reputation of 

 seeing much beyond its own nose through the showing in atteii<laiice 



made at Uie >! i:il nn'i'ting called for Soptombcr 7, which convened 



at Chicago. 



Tho purpofx' ..i iiii> meeting wna to discuss nnd determine n plan of 

 action regarding the biggest question which has yet confrontcil the 

 veneer and luniliering iniliixtries, tliat is, the question of reclnssifica- 

 tion of freight rates. The final settlement of this proposed re- 

 classification will mean either hundreds of thousands of ilolhirs loss 

 or hundreds of thousands of dollars gain, and it is diflieult to con- 

 ceive of n more narrow-minded attitude than that exhibited by in- 

 numerable members of various as.sociations which will be directly 

 affected when the Interstate Commerce Commission has turned in its 

 final decision. 



This special meeting resulted in an attendance of only fifteen out 

 of a meinltership of about five times that number. Those who stayed 

 away did so either because they are willing to let somebody else do 

 the work for them, or because they have not enough breadth of vision 

 to appreciate the vast importance of handling this question in- 

 telligently and successfully. In either case their absences are to be 

 depjorcd and should be censured by those wideawake members who 

 went to the trouble and expense of making the trip to Chicago. 



Incidentally, it was shown conclusively that those who were wide- 

 awake enough to appreciate the significance of the meeting are also 

 broad enough to pass up the local consideration for the benefit of the 

 whole question. It is mighty diflicult to handle a meeting of this 

 character, where factions from four or five different sections of the 

 country are pulling in different directions for their local interests. 

 It is diflScuIt to convince them that they should forget their personal 

 desires and interests for the sake of bringing to a successful con- 

 clusion the efforts of the body as a whole. In handling the situation, 

 President Lord did remarkably well in getting united, unanimous 

 action out of those members who were present. The least that the 

 absentees can do now is to heartily endorse the action taken by 

 those members who had the ambition to take upon themselves the 

 necessary work. The plan of procedure as adopted gives about the 

 only means of arriving at any tangible results, and the efforts of 

 the committee appointed by the president should be made as light as 

 possible through hearty co-operation in their efforts to dig uj) the 

 necessary information. If the absentees will devote themselves in- 

 dustriously to getting together the information when they are re- 

 quested to do so, and to see that it is in such complete and usable 

 shape that it can be worked up wiliout further effort by the com- 

 mittee, they will have in a measure mitigated the offense of their 

 absence from the meeting. If they do not show themselves willing 

 to do even this, they thoroughly deserve tho further burden which will 

 be placed upon their shoulders by reclassification as at present con- 

 templated by the railroads whose word will carry if it is not dis- 

 puted by intelligent effort on the part of the shippers directly affected. 



A Successful Advertisement 



/^UT OF DEBT and four months more to run is the announcement 

 ^^ of the exposition which has been sent proudly forth from San 

 Francisco concerning the exposition. Twelve million people had 

 passed through the turnstiles by the end of August, and a bonfire 

 had been made of the redeemed mortgages and notes, thus clearing 

 the books and affirming the success of the exposition from the 

 linancial standpoint. 



That does not mean that the whole of the money expended in as- 

 sembling, placing, and operating the great show at the Golden Gate 

 has come back in the form of gate receipts. Nobody expected such a 

 thing. Considerably more than fifty million dollars would have to 

 come back to square the cost; but most of that is expected to come 

 back in form other than gate money. Most of it was invested as 



an advertisement by tho Pacific t..„^i !■;.,:■ ^, j.i incii>nlly by California. 

 The idea was to place the resources nnd iiuluHlrics of that progressive 

 region before the world. Returns will not all nuiterialir.e in the form 

 of cash at once. They will continue to come as traile for years. 

 Every real estate dealer on tho coast will increase his business nnd 

 get some of the benefit ; the fruit growers, the grajie shippers, the 

 wine m.-ikers, the producers of all the varied articles which the peo- 

 ple of the Pacific coast send to market, will increase their business 

 because of tho exposition which drew visitors from all parts of the 

 world. 



The lumbermen of the far West saw their opportunity and made 

 tho most of it. The western woods were shown in variety and pro- 

 fusion, and they made an impression on visitors, if one may .iudge 

 by the testimony of those returning. Tho ]>eople have become better 

 acquainted than ever before with the forest resources of that enormous 

 country. The opinion has been quite general, though erroneous, that 

 the principal resource of the western forests was certain trees of 

 enormous size. In reality such trees are little more than interesting 

 freaks, and have no more relation to the real forest wealth of the 

 West than the freak fossil sigillaria of the coal measures have to 

 the mineral wcaltli of Pennsylvania. The exposition has successfully 

 emphasized that fact by introducing western lumber to the people 

 of the East and of the world. 



The campaign based on the slogan "See America First" received 

 an impetus from the exposition which will lead to great and per- 

 manent results. Many persons went to San Francisco who were never 

 there before, and they planned their routes in a way to present to 

 them many scenes surpassing the worn-out show places of Europe. 

 This has been merely an introduction. They will go again to see 

 more. On their recommendations others will go. The tide of tourist 

 travel has set in that «lirection and it will continue to flow. 



Here again the exposition has served as an advertisement whose 

 returns will continue to come in during many years. The people 

 of the Pacific coast who went deeply into their pockets to finance the 

 exposition and assure its success, have made one of the best business 

 investments of their lives. They promised value and they have made 

 good. No visitor who invested the price of a railroad ticket and 

 other expenses in the exposition has been heard to complain that he 

 did not get his money's worth. The enterprise can be set down as 

 the largest and one of the most successful advertisements the world 

 has ever seen. 



A Lesson in Forest Waste 



FREAKS OCCUR IN FOREST WASTE as well as elsewhere. In 

 this country much of the waste consists of branches and tops 

 where logging operations are carried on, while the tree trunks are 

 taken to the mills for conversion into lumber. Seldom can limbs and 

 branches be used for any purpose, and it is customary to regard them 

 as absolute waste. , 



Conditions are reversed in southeastern Russia, according to a 

 recent trade report. The problem there is to find use for the tree 

 trunks, while the branches have an immediate market. That is par- 

 ticularly true of the extensive beech forests which abound in that 

 region. Charcoal and potash are in demand, and lumber is not, be- 

 cause of high transportation cost. The best charcoal and potash are 

 made from branches rather than from body wood. Consequently, 

 forests are cut down, only the limlis and tops are taken, and the 

 trunks are left to rot in the woods. Frequently the trees are not even 

 cut down, but climbers lop off the limlis and the pollarded trunks 

 are left standing until decay weakens them and they fall. 



The lesson to be learned from this is that the matter of saving 

 waste is usually a local question. No universal rules can be laid 

 down. What may be turned to account in one place is useless in 

 another. Because a certain class of material can be profitably mar- 

 keted in one locality is no proof that the same thing may be done at 

 another place. Local conditions govern ; and what is a good policy 

 in one region may be folly in another. This is a view of the question 

 often overlooked by enthusiastic but not well informed conserva- 

 tionists. They cite examples of economy in forest work in Switzer- 

 land, France or in some other thickly populated region, and because 



