i8 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



wheat and pork and things. Nearly every- 

 body has left the farms and those that re- 

 main don 't work. I tell you the country is 

 going to the dogs. Look at the strikes. 

 You've got them in Chit-ago. What are they 

 striking for? More pay.' What do they 

 want with more pay? To get themselves more 

 to eat! Why, it is ridiculous the way things 

 are! I travel through the country and try 

 i" pick up a pound of butter now and then 

 for my own use. Can I do it.' No sir, and 

 it isn 't the price. I don 't rare if they charge 

 me thirty-five rents a pound for it, but I 

 i -I r it. No sir. J can 't get it! " 



1 told him I realized the price of butter 

 was too high but I didn't see how We could 

 help ourselves. 



"Hi Ip ourselvi -' Lei ; I help 



us! Let them appoint a i ion and fix 



the price of everything; thai is the only 

 solution I can - 



"I wouldn't 1"' in favor of fixing 



at over twenty-five cents a 

 pound," -aid 1. 



'•That's right, twenty-li is enough, 



and then make them take it. [f ^iey won't, 

 just throw them into jail. I f a man won '1 

 butter for twenty-five cents, send him 

 up for six months and maki him work. H .- "<1 

 lie glad to do it then! And fix tli prici 

 labor and everytlm 



.lust here the man in front of us got up 

 and nml out. 



• • Phew, ' ' said t! ■ g philosopl 

 ■ • a hi ■ Us bad around here, Thai 

 farmei has been oul in I hi ba rn this morn- 

 ing and go! s ■ of it on Ins clothes. He 



has been smelling like a glue factory all 

 morning. Durn the luck, anyhow!" 



1 thought i hi teat - would surely eon e no 

 so I took occasion to go out into the smoking 



car. 



A Modern Sewing Machine. 



I find that our sewing machine is ou) • I 

 date. I bought it six or seven years ago and 

 paid fifty-five dollars for it, bul during my 

 \ isit to Edinburg Henry Maley showed me 

 through a factory, which he and Mi. Sterzik 

 havi .it thai place for the manufactun 

 sewing machine cabinets, and I discoyi 

 that ours is eompl telj ou1 oJ 



I have always been rather proud of our 

 sewin I have mad.- it a point to 



endeavor not to make a parade of it urn I 

 about it unduly. Imt it undoubtedly tonus thi 



central ornament of our sitting room. To 

 see my wife seated at it, turning out shirt- 

 waists and things, forms a picture of domes- 

 ticity which is pleasing to my soul. A wo- 

 man sitting at her sewing machine is like a 

 queen seated on her throne. 



Those days are over, it seems. I find that 



the Edinburg factory is making a sewing 



machine cabinet that you can't tell from a 



i churn to save your life. They send 



them up to Kankakee, where the crazy folks 



tire, and have the works put in, and then sell 



them for sixteen dollars apiece, on the in- 



aent plan. Now, our sewing machine is 



plainly a sewing machine. We have never 



-■■>i nor attempted to disguise that fact. 



The in -t casual observer would recognize it 



for what it is, at a glance. Not so the 



ue. If you call on a woman and 



- to be sow ing when the bell i 

 — slin ng! The whole tiling disappears 



e nothing but a patent churn that 



looks like a washstand. and you go in and 

 make your call. u hat appears 



in vim i.. be u cross between a washing ma 

 a kitchen cabiw t. * ► t maybe yon 



Ii g and sit down upon it, 



i'i, .no bei lining att i 



keep up a witty eonver 



on the topics of the day. When you 



.■I re e ai lering what kind of 



impression yon have made, and are think 

 tbi i i ightj smai I things you might 



■ --■lorn-. ' ' I 'in 



how ' ' ' throws back the lid, the 

 g machine arises from the inside 

 where and 3hi goes td sewing like mad, mak- 

 ing up for lost time. 



Ami all this time you have beep i hfertain 

 ing a a wing machine unawares, you have 

 had i lea thai the room contained one al 



all. That is just what is wrong about the 

 iv ho e business! Here is Eenrj Ma lej . who 

 has I" in Dearly fifty yours building up a n pu 

 tation for honest and square dealing, making 

 a lot of washing machines that look like pat- 

 ent ehuihs, and working them off on peo- 

 ple f.o- sewing machines! It is too much! 

 I run scarcely bear to think of it! I didn't 

 expect anything better of Sterzik, for any- 

 body that will swim in the Ohio river at 

 Evansville for a wild duck, will do almost 

 anything. But Henry Mahy! 



Chahi.ks I). Strode. 



'Builders of Lumber History. 



NUMBER 



John Noble Penrod. 

 Xot long ago, when the offices of the 

 American \\ alnut ' ompanj were at I hicago, 



a prominent bardw I lumberman of Hebrew 



- i ion dropped into thorn, and, not Bee 

 iresident of that great concern, in- 

 i. ' ' Ish dor valnut king in .' ' ' 



The Hardwood Record is pleased to say 



that John Noble Penrod, "the walnut king,'' 

 is "in" this issue, in the form of its por- 

 trait supplement. 



Mr. Penrod, who has many times been given 

 the royal title, and whose domain is wher 

 alnut is I. ought or sold, was born near 

 North Manchester, Wabash county, Ind., in 

 ls.Vi. His education was somewhat limited, 

 confined to the district schools of his 

 locality, where he remained on the farm un- 

 til he was twenty-nine years old, at which 

 time he went into the business of selling 

 lumber. 



In 1888 the firm of Lesh, Penrod & Co. 



was launched at Goshen, Ind., for the manu- 

 facture and sale of hardwoods, particular at- 

 tention being given to walnut. Although Mr. 

 Penrod continued with this firm until 1892, 

 in lsOO he became identified with the firm 

 of Lesh, Prouty & Abbott, East Chicago, 

 Ind. In 1892 the Goshen company was 

 changed to Penrod & Wood, under which 

 name it continued until l.S'jli. when .Mr. Pen- 

 rod removed to Kansas city and organized 

 the Penrod Walnut Corporation, buying and 

 exporting logs and manufacturing walnut 

 lumber. In 1904 this company was consoli- 

 dated with otln-r leading walnut producers 

 under the name of the American Walnut Cor- 

 poration. Of this company he has been presi- 

 several years, and he is also viee- 

 ■ t the K. & P. Lumber Company of 



anati, ami vice-president of the East St. 

 l.i. u is Walnut Company. 



The American Walnut Company carries 



ik of 7, i,(l(iu feet of walnut logs 



and lumber and its annual handlings rep- 

 v, ell inward 20,000,000 feet of logs 

 :,iul lumber, more than half of which goes into 

 export. In connection with the export 1 rude. 

 Mi. Penrod will leave New York Apr. 29 for 

 Europe, returning about the middle of June. 

 Ho will visit London, Glasgow, Liverpool, 

 Belfast, Havre, Paris, Marseilles, Antwerp, 

 Rotterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, Copenhagen 

 itiania, at till of which places he 

 is a well-known ami welcome \isitnr of the 

 lumber fraternity, as this is his seventh trip 



el in his companies ' interests. 



John N. Penrod was baptized John Noble 



Penrod, and his middle name seems to have 



prophetically bestowed. While he is a 



thorough business man and knows the work in 



, Im is engaged more intimately than any 



i man ill the world, his greatest attributes 

 of sui geniality of disposition, spon- 



tanea gi ero ity, unostentatious but cordial 

 hospitality and unswerving loyalty to his 

 friends. Those who have known him longest 

 saj that John Penrod makes friends easier 

 and holds them longer than any other man 



of then- acquaintance. He seems i" have 

 taken to heart that advice which was given 

 •u Lai rti - ■ 



L'hose friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, 

 pie lie in iii thj Boul with hooks of steel. 



Ue values the good will of bis friends at 

 the highi -i degree, and there is nothing in 

 reason he would not do for one to whom he 

 has given iiis confidence. 



Mr. Penrod is sympathetic and ever ready- 

 to help tlo.se iii distress. His energetic work 



for the ilnl of the Kan-us ' ity tlood suf- 

 ferer- at the disastrous time in 1903 is a 

 striking example of this trait. When it be- 

 known that twenty-five thousand people 

 in Kansas (ity had been driven from their 

 l s, must of whom were absolutely with- 

 out the necessities of life, ho was one of a 

 committee oi Beven appointed by the lumber- 

 men nl I In i ity In personally a ppea I i»i help 



to the gi nerosity of the lumber trade of the 

 country. Mr. Penrod not only contributed 

 liberally to this fund, but he took off his coat 



