14 



MAKDWOOD RECORD 



Si-plPinbcr 2ft. 11U5. 



ping blindly, not knowine what lumber is nevded or whotlior tlicre 

 U :\ ' • •• ,r certain linen of lumber, ia playing the ostrich 



gfi: <i\»'akiaii, of hiding his head in the sand, in the 



belit: thut tjcttiiit; lumber off his yard ami at some foreign port 

 if l><%!n^ tn hxl|> him nut loeallv. Dbviciuxly this in fnr fmiii tlir 

 lr\i' !. well piled and cared for is much l>etter off in 



the ■- own yard Ihnn it ih in dome foreign dork or 



warehouse where it is literally "eating its head off" while waiting 

 to bo s<dd to some kind-hearted buyer. 



It is undoubtedly » f'ct that England is conserving hor own 

 industries in as normal a condition ns possible with the idea of 

 being in the best shape to go after the world 's trade as soon as 

 she has the war game off her hands, and is making Uncle Sam 

 hold the bag in the matter of production of the uniisiiiil coinniodi- 

 Um slio is now in need of. It is not reasonable to suppoite that 

 the usual lines of industry, such as the monufacturo ol" fiiriiitnrc, 

 trim and other products made from .Xmcricnn hiinlwoods, iiro 

 operating on nnything like the normal basis. Any abnormal demand 

 for lumber would be for certain specialized lines, which rather 

 roe«t the abnormal situation which confronts England at the pres- 

 ent time. Exports of lumber should be made only with a thorough 

 knowle<lge of the exact requirements of the foreign fr.ndf in mind; 

 otherwise there will develop a situation abroad whicli will be 

 anything but pleasant. If American shippers do not look out for 

 themselves, they will have English ports loaded up with so much 

 hardwood lumber thot the market will be demoralized for a good 

 many months to come. It is within reason to suppose that tliere 

 is a big demand for such stock as goes into the manufacture of 

 various war equipment and for crating and bo.xing purposes, and 

 also for structures of a semi-temporary character. But there is no 

 logical roa.«on for believing that there is any abnormal dcm.ind 

 for the higher classes of hardwood lumber in any of the English 

 markets. 



The Cover Picture 



LAKE MICHIGAN HAS BEAUTIES by night as well as by day. 

 An important point is that the beauties are nearly always asso- 

 ciated in some way with trade and commerce; for this great sheet 

 of fresh water, bordered by four wealthy states, is alive with busi- 

 ness during the whole year, except a short period in winter when ice 

 interferes with navigation. Even at that time some of the strong 

 vessels continue to navigate the lake and break their w.ny through 

 the ice wherever they are sent by their owners. 



The cover picture which illustrates this number of Hardwood 

 Record shows a summer scene off the Michigan coast, near Luding- 

 ton, and it is apparently a still summer night with enough moonlight 

 to show the boat in clear silhouette against the horizon. The high- 

 lights that trail across the water enable the observer to .iudge the 

 distance and estimate the size of the vessel which forms the center 

 piece of the picture. It may be noted that the cross arms of the 

 wireless rigging stand out sharp and distinct, which is remarkable for 

 a picture taken in an atmosphere so dark. 



The boat is given up almost wholly to freight of the most bulky 

 sort. It carries trains of cars across Lake Michigan or delivers 

 them at various points on either shore. Shipments are thus carried 

 over the lake without breaking bulk. The im{)Ortant problem of 

 transportation these busy days is cheapness and speed. Both are 

 secured by the arrangement here sliown. Cars with their loads are 

 picked up bodily, without disturbing their contents, and in a few 

 hours are carried from one side of the lake to the other, are shunted 

 upon a track on shore, and in a few minutes are speeding upon their 

 overland journey to their destination. If these cars had been un- 

 loaded and the freight shipped across the lake, there to be loaded 

 again on other cars, two or three days would have been lost. No- 

 where is land and water transportation more closely associated than 

 on the Great Lakes. 



How Woods Are Used 



D EADERS OF HARDWOOD RECORD will not overlook the 

 *^ study of Indiana's wood-using industries now running serially 

 in these pages. This report embodies what is probably the most com- 



plete investigation of wood uses ever ma-lo by the government within 

 a single 8tat«, and no private report npiirouchcs it in details and 

 completeness. The Icngtli of the document makes it neceraary that 

 its publication bo continued tlirough a number of issues; but manu- 

 facturers who are intenstcd in the subject will be well repaid if 

 they carefully follow the remarkable utilization story to the end. 

 It will be noted that ench of tlic ronimereiiil woods is separately con- 

 sidered, so far as tliey hold a i)lace in the factories and shops of 

 Indiana. The utilization of wood ii- highly developed there. The 

 extent to which specialization is carried is shown in the long lists 

 of uses which :iro arranged alphabetically for convenience of refer- 

 ence. These lists stand at present ns the last word in special and 

 jiiirticular uscb of wood. Practically cvorything for which the wooil 

 is known to bo suitable is there shown, following numbers of the 

 .si'ries will take \iy each industry as a separate study and will present 

 statistics to show what woods are in demand by that industry, what 

 :iniount.s are required yearly by factories in the state, the average 

 prices paid for the delivery of the material at the factories; and 

 following this will be a list of the manufacturers in tho state who 

 furnisiied tho data on which the report for that particular industry 

 is based. 



Solitude or Conservation? 



IT WAS SAID of Caligula, the Roman emperor: "He made a soli- 

 tude and called it peace." The late constitutional convention of 

 New York took measures to make a solitude and call it conservation, 



Tho state owns 1,600,000 acres of forest land, much of it among 

 the Adirondack mountains, and the new constitution which the com- 

 mission wrote and which the people will be asked to adopt, and prob- 

 ably will adopt, provides that the timber growing on this land shall 

 not be used, and the land itself shall remain unused by the people 

 who own it. Though trees may die, decay and fall, they shall not be 

 sold or devoted to any purposes. There shall not be built a road, 

 path, trail, or bridge which may injure any living tree. That means 

 that no improvements shall be carried out. No provision is made in 

 all of that vast expanse of forest for a camp, a sanitarium, a resort, 

 or anything that bears the least resemblance to use. There shall be 

 no signboard of "welcome," but in its place the doleful warning 

 "forbidden." In short, the forest lands of New York are to be 

 transformed into a region answering the poet's discription of "The 

 White Czar's Dominion:" 



"An empire chartless, a realm unknown. 

 And glacier-barred from the human race," 



The constitutional convention which wrote these inhibitory pro- 

 visions into the state's organic law turned its back on progress, and 

 it is claimed that distrust and fear drove it to take that stand. The 

 makers of the new constitution were afraid to leave a loophole 

 through which thieves could enter and make a raid on the state's 

 forests. If use of the reserves were not absolutely prohibited, it 

 was feared that some future legislature might pass a law which would 

 turn the forested lands over to private c.\]iloitation, and they would 

 be stripped of their timber or otherwise lie converted to private 

 use. To guard against that possibility, it was decided to lock up 

 the state's lands and leave them a wilderness in which the whip-poor- 

 will can sing his monotonous song unheard and the fox can dig his 

 hole unscared. The convention's barriers constructed to keep New 

 Yorkers out of the state's forest reserves are almost as absolute as 

 was the nine-fold wall which Milton's imagination built round hell 

 to keep the devils in : " Three fold were brass, three iron, and three 

 of adamantine rock impenetrable, impaled with circling fire. ' ' 



The convention 's lack of confidence in the honesty of future New 

 York legislatures is manifest in the measures taken to remove temp- 

 tation. Experience may justify the precautions. At any rate, the 

 constitutional convention was unwilling to take any chances. But 

 in taking that stand, a hard blow was struck at conservation. Keep- 

 ing resources under lock and key is foolish and miserly economy 

 which stunts and destroys. No person should ever think of conserva- 

 tion without coupling with it the idea of use. The two go together. 

 The i>eople of New York should not be fenced out of their forest 

 reserves, because of fear that some future legislature may open a 



