Oi-tohi'i- 10. lillo. 



Qiierieti on questions arif:ing on any points ini-olring the law as it is applied to lum-beriny and allied industries uHll he given proper 

 expert attention through thin department if submitted to Hardwood Record. There mill be no charge for such service, but Hardwood 

 Record reserves the right to publish questions and answers without designating names or location of inquiries unless specifically requested 

 not do do so. 



Contradicting Written Agreements 



Tlie well established rule of law that a writteu agreement can- 

 not be contradicted by either party by showing a concurrent verbal 

 understanding in the face of the writtenterms has just been applied 

 liy the United States circuit court of appeals for the ninth circuit. 

 in the case of Parker vs. C. A. Smith Ijumber & Manufacturing 

 Company, 224 Federal Reporter, .347. 



Plaintiff was employed in defendant's sawmill as a millwright, 

 and while so engaged sustained personal injury. His claim against 

 the company was compromised without suit and he signed a writ- 

 ten release of further claim, "for the sole consideration of the sum 

 cf $410.75." Afterwards he was retained in the company's em- 

 I'loyment for several months, but was later discharged. He there- 

 upon brought the suit above mentioned to recover damages, elaim- 

 iug that at the time he executed the release there was a verbal 

 understanding that he should be given permanent employment at 

 such work as he could do, such as measuring lumber, acting as 

 timekeeper or storekeeper, or operating a trimmer. The trial judge 

 decided the suit in plaintiff's favor, but the circuit court of appeals 

 reversed the judgment, holding that the case fell within the rule 

 against contradiction of written agreements. 



Authority of Lumber Company Officers 



In ijaukruptcy proceedings atiainst tlie Laiioe Ijuniber Company, 

 224 Federal Reporter, 598, the United States district court for the 

 eastern district of Pennsylvania declared: "The authority of the 

 treasurer of a corporation to make and issue its promissory notes 

 must be conceded. That an officer has no right, and in this sense 

 no authority, to issue such notes for other than corporate jnirposes, 

 is clear. Wlien such obligations are issued by an officer acting with 

 apparent authority, and within the general scope of his powers, 

 and in the regular course of busmess, there is a presumption, and 

 any one dealing with him has the right to assume, that the obliga- 

 tion is that of the corporation. When, however, the person with 

 whom he is dealing has knowledge, or is put upon inquiry that would 

 lead to knowledge, that the officer is acting without authority or in 

 fraud of the rights of the corporation, the latter is not bound by 

 what he does." 



A deed executed in the name of a lumber corporation by the 

 company's general manager is valid, if it was authorized by the 

 corporation. (Alabama supreme court, Bell Lnmber Conijiany vs. 

 Dothan Lumber Company, 69 Southern Reporter, 419). 

 Employee's Assumption of Risk 



An employee injured in a sawmill, through placing his foot against 

 a uuiviug belt to keep it from slipping from the pulley on w'hich it 

 revolved, is not entitled to {-ecover for injuries sustained in conse- 

 quence of the act, if adequate facilities were available to him to stop 

 the machinery and replace the belt in a safe manner. (Mississippi 

 Supreme Court, Adams \s. Ovett Land & Lumber Company, 69 South- 

 ern Reporter, 499.) 



Powers of Lumber Corporations 



In a recent case the Alabama Supreme Court recognizes the fact that 

 there is a growing tendency among the courts to enlarge the implied 

 powers of a corporation so as to sustain the validity of acts assented 

 to by its stockholders, although not strictly within the purposes for 

 which the company was organized. The court declares that a lumber 

 company clearly has power to contract for insurance covering all its 

 property, as an' incident to its transaction of business. (Sales-Davis 

 Company vs. Henderson-Boyd Lumber Company, 69 Southern Reporter, 

 527.) 



Liability for Freight Charges 



Ordinarily, a shipper of goods is liable for freight charges on the 

 consignee refusing to accept delivery and pay the charges; there being 

 an implied guaranty of payment on the part of the shipper, in the 



absence of express agreement to the contrary. And where a sawmill 

 company ships lumber without disclosing to the railway company 

 that it is merely acting as agent for another, it is individually liable 

 for the freight charges, under the general rule of law that when a 

 person makes a contract in his own name without disclosing the fact 

 that he is acting merely as agent for another, he will be prevented 

 from afterwards asserlir.g the agency for the purpose of avoiding 

 personal responsibility. (Alabama Court of Appeals, Cincinnati, New 

 Orleans & Texas Pacific Railway Company vs. Vredenburgh Sawmill 

 Company, 69 Southern Reporter, S28.) 



"Carload" and "Cargo" Defined 



A late case before tlu' Supreme Court of Alabama draws attention 

 to the general rule of law that whei'e a contract of sale calls for no 

 specific quantity, the agreement calling for delivery of a " carload ' ' of 

 lumber, the amount which the seller is bound to deliver and the buyer 

 to receive is the quantity usually contained in a car, unless it appears 

 that there is a custom in the trade calling for a definite quantity. 

 Iti the absence of special agreement or trade custom defining what 

 ipumtity the parties intended when they used the word "earlo.ad, " 

 it will ordinarily be held to mean the capacity of a car used for trans- 

 ])orting the p:uticular kind of goods sold. Similarly, it is generally 

 held that when the quantity is designated merely as a "cargo," the 

 full capacity of the vessel will be presumed to have been intended. 

 (Ward vs. Cotton Seed Products Company, 69 Southern Reporter, 514.) 



Osage Orange Underestimated 



An item a Inch is going the rounds of trade papers quotes a para- 

 graph from a government publication as follows concerning a well- 

 known tree of the southwestern part of the country ; 



"The osage tree grows in great profusion in Texas, along the Mis- 

 sissippi valley, and in other sections of the United States, and has 

 been regarded as absolutely worthless up to the time the bureau of 

 forestry took up the tree as a possible source for a yellow dyestuff. 

 The European war has sent the price of fustic soaring, while difficulty 

 is experienced in getting supplies here from Mexico and Jamaica, 

 the principal sources of the product. This country can easily pro- 

 duce 50,000 tons annually of osage material for making yellow, which 

 is more than the amount of fustic heretofore used in the industries in 

 this country. Osage can be produced at between $14 and $15 a ton. as 

 against $18 a ton, the price of fustic before the war began. Experi- 

 ments so far show that the osage product gives a bright, permanent 

 color, besides having the advantage of being free from a certain red 

 powder in fustic, which is a detriment in dyeing operations. ' ' 



A valuable tree receives scant justice in the foregoing quotation. 

 The osage orange never was regarded as ' ' absolutely worthless. ' ' Ex- 

 actly the opposite is true. It is and always has been one of the most 

 valuable woods of the United States, and it has been more widely 

 planted than any other wild tree of this country. Its chief use is 

 for posts, poles, hovise foundations and wagons. A wagon with osage 

 orange wheels sells for ten or fifteen dollars more than one of oak or 

 hickory.' The "experiments" spoken of as recent, and showing that 

 this wood yields yellow dye, are somewhat misleading as to date; for 

 the people of northern Texas were using this wood as a household dye 

 seventy-five years ago. 



From the illogical doings of the world we are inclined at times 

 to believe that consistency is more of a joke than a jewel. Here 

 we have safety first as a world-wide slogan, and take all manner 

 of pains in safeguarding machinery to prevent harm to man, while 

 right now a big part of the "civilized" world is straining energies 

 for ways and means to cripple and destroy man. Verily incon- 

 sistencj- is universal, while consistency looks like a farce. 



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