HARDWOOD RECORD 



10 



NeWs Miscellany. 



New Inspector General N. H. L. A. 



The Hardwood Record takes pleasure in pre- 

 senting to its readers a brand new portrait of 

 George L. Smith, the surveyor general of the 

 National Hardwood Lumber Association, taken 

 expressly for this paper. 



Mr. Smith is not only a hardwood lumber in- 

 spector by reason of a life-long training in the 

 pursuit, but is a lumberman by inheritance as 

 well. His father, Austin K. Smith, was a pioneer 

 lumberman of Rush county, Indiana, where he 

 operated a primitive sash mill for many years. 

 George L. Smith was born at Milroy, Rush 

 county, in 1862. His earliest work in life was 

 about the little sash mill under bis father, and 

 it was here that he had his first experience in 

 inspecting lumber. In 1S88 he went to Cincin- 

 nati and engaged with C. Crane & Co. as in- 

 spector, where he remained about a year. He 

 then entered the employ of the L. H. Gage Lum- 

 ber Company at Indianapolis, afterwards going 

 to Memphis when this company transferred its 

 headquarters to that point. With this house he 

 was engaged for four years. In 1894 and 1895 

 he was employed by William Curphey of Vicks- 

 burg, and with L. A. Kelsey, inspecting lumber 



GEORGE L. SMITH, INSPECTOR GENERAL 

 N. H. L. A. 



at various Missouri mills. Maley, Thompson & 

 Moffett of Cincinnati engaged Mr. Smith's ser- 

 vices in 1897 as lumber buyer and inspector 

 throughout various parts of the South. In 1898 

 his services were sought by E. E. Taenzer & Co. 

 of Memphis, as chief inspector, with whom he 

 remained for five years. In July, 1904, he be- 

 came Memphis deputy inspector for the National 

 Hardwood Lumber Association, and continued in 

 this capacity up to May of this year, when his 

 excellent work for the association was rewarded 

 by his appointment as inspector general of the 

 association. 



From this. brief extract of the lumber career 

 of Mr. Smith it will be seen that he has had a 

 wide experience in the inspection of both north- 

 ern and southern hardwoods, and with it has 

 come an acquaintance with inspection methods 

 that should be of inestimable value to the asso- 

 ciation in the work in which he is now engaged. 

 He has always had the highest reputation for 

 Integrity, and in his present undertaking has 

 adopted as a motto the sentiment expressed by 

 President Roosevelt which was quoted in the 

 address of President Palmer at the last annual 



lie as iation : "A square deal to 

 every man, no more, no less." 



Mr. Smith possesses manifest advantages In 

 the trying employment in which he is engaged. 

 as he Is certainly competent to know when the 

 work of his deputy inspectors is fairly and justly 

 accomplished. In a recent Interview with the 

 editor of the Hardwood Record he frankly made 

 tliis observation; "Every deputy inspector of the 



National Hardwood Lumbei i i has been 



thoroughly impressed with the fact that the 

 only duly that lies before him is to give every 

 man a square deal, and he furthermore knows 

 that if he does not do this he will be out of a 

 job." 



Conditions of the Country. 



Lewis Doster, the enterprising secretary of 

 the Hardwood Manufacturers' Association of the 

 United States, supplies the Habdwood Record 

 with a consensus of the present and prospective 

 commercial and agricultural conditions of the 

 country up to August 1. These expert opinions, 

 abstracted by Mr. Doster, have a very Important 

 bearing on the lumber demand for the rest of 

 the year and therefore are well worthy the pe- 

 rusal of every lumberman who wishes to keep 

 well up with his business. 



IRON AND STEEL. 



Dun's Review says : "Inquiries for steel rails 

 in the Chicago market are far more numerous 

 than is noticed from the actual sales, and new 

 structural work is constantly under negotiations. 

 It begins to look as though the midsummer dull- 

 ness would vanish earlier than usual, which is 

 partly due to the fact that it was never as con- 

 spicuous as in recent preceding years. While the 

 most sanguine expectations may fail of reallza 

 tion, the outlook is encouraging for a brisk 

 business in the iron and steel industry during 

 the last five months of 1905." 



The Iron Age of July 20 comments on the 

 market in iron and steel as follows : 



CHICAGO. 



"The most important event of the week Is the 

 advance in the price of pig iron. Northern fur- 

 naces are firmer, and it seems as if the time had 

 come when sellers can name terms. Notwith- 

 standing the 70,000 tons surplus accumulated 

 during the month of June in southern furnaces, 

 the foundry iron market is considered statistic- 

 ally strong, because melters are believed to have 

 allowed their stocks to run down. Inquiries for 

 standard section steel rails aggregate 75,000 to 

 100,000 tons, while actual sales closed this week 

 are possibly 15,000 tons." 



PITTSBURG. 



"There has been a heavy movement in south- 

 ern pig. The largest single buyer was the cast 

 iron pipe interests, which take 35,000 tons or 

 more. Altogether reports here indicate that 75.- 

 000 tons or more of southern iron have been sold 

 in the past week. In northern iron the move- 

 ment has only slightly increased, but inquiry is 

 much heavier, and furnaces feel in a much firm- 

 er position." 



PHILADELPHIA. 



"The iron and steel markets have swung 

 around considerably during the past few days. 

 Those who would hardly consider a proposition 

 to buy iron a week ago are now glad to receive 

 quotations subject to short options, which are 

 not given Indiscriminately. The change of tone 

 is remarkable, and certainly indicates a si 

 buying movement in the near future." Then In 

 referring to structural material, we quote : 

 "Business in this line is active in all del 

 ments. Some mills are so overcrowded that de- 

 liveries can not be promised until late In the 

 year, and In some cases makers decline to 

 at all. simply because they do not know w ben 

 they can make deliveries." 



CINCINNATI. 



"The complexion of the market has undergone 

 a radical change since our last report. At that 

 time all that seemed necessary to start a bi 

 movement was for several of the heavie. 

 sumers to come forward, which it was predicted 

 would have had the effect of Injecting stability 

 Into what would otherwise be considered a very 



led state of affairs. The prediction 

 now become an actual fact, and It I 

 that the minimum price has been reached, 

 the market Is again on the upward gr 



NEW YORK, 



pig i, ,.n ; "Const ' 



iir amount of Iron In og up 



. iible quantities have 

 it this territory and in en 



oral trade 

 v in activity. The 

 Dg material Is 



n the operations of 



Will 



wheat ere;, 1 the yield 



ii Is 

 ■onntry baa 

 produced, with the at 1001, which 



was bushels more. Notwlth- 



Btandli taction, prices will not suf- 



fer. I 



ing of the devastated warring nations, are great- 

 er than Inst year. :ilic| after our home require- 

 me! the expert market will, we be- 

 lie ve ,-are of any surplus. 



H \ccording to a 



St. P h, a scarcity of labor for 



harvesting o affect adversely the quan- 



tity Of wheat that will he secured In good con- 

 dition, and be available for the market. More- 

 ctisiurhanees among the peas- 

 ants, of which reports are becoming more and 

 more frequent, are not unlikely to have a 



rable Influence In the same direction. The 



Russian rye crop, too, seems likely to be under 



average, and this may cause some reduction In 



[uantlty of wheat that Russia will be able 



to export." 



CORN, 



"The corn crop, l.arrlng the ravages of early 



or late dro atively estimated 



a| 2,000,000,000 bushels, and with the late rains 



;ni,i subsequent boi weather, s,, favorable to 



the developme corn, the crop is practically 



assured." 



In speakln of grain for ex- 



port, the Crop Reporter has the following to say: 



"There were 22,216,673 hush. 'Is of grain el- 

 icited from gulf ports during the five months 

 ending New Orleans received about 



nine times as much grain (wheat, corn and oats) 

 as for the corresponding period of last year. 



"The grain exports from the Atlantic ports 

 for the five months ending May 81, 1905, 

 amounted to 38,724,986 bushels. From Phila- 

 delphia alone there n sent 

 abroad, and from Hoston 1.530.238 bushels, this 

 latter being 1,200,000 bushels In excess of the 

 same period In 190 I." 



CON 

 •The visible cotton crop In the I'nited States 

 up to July 7 totals 2,050,376 bait birds 



of the world's production, as against 1,01 

 bales for the corresponding period ol 1904. The 

 movement of raw cotton for export would indi- 

 cate an Increased demand, particularly to Japan. 

 For eight months ending last February we ex- 

 ported to Japan 67.785.875 pounds, as aga nst 

 20,177,171 pounds tor the same period of last 

 i eai 



Big Shipment of Hardwoods. 

 The Brlttlngham & Young Company of Mad- 

 ison, Wis., one of the largest handlers of hard- 

 wood lumber In the North, has just made an 



ense hardwood shipment to the East. The 



order for this lumber was received abont July 

 is. and on the 27th mpany started a train- 

 lead of fiftj two ems over the Chicago, Milwau- 

 kee .v St. Paul, on which the order was lot 

 It was made In large new forty-foot box cars. 

 and the train required two engines to haul It. 

 rain bad a caboose and a passenger coach 

 , i, Edward J. Young, the general 

 manager ol the company, accompanied by a 

 IS hand, went with the 

 train as far as Chicago. This hardwood 

 Is declared to be the largest single 

 shipment ever executed by one firm In the North- 



T|li .,„ ,. SToung Company started In 



small way four years ago. as 



1 Company, and It has 



grown within this short time to be one of the 

 during and wholesale hardwood 

 in try. 

 I- B Brlttlngham Is president of this com- 

 pany. J. U "'■ ;l '" 1 Edward 



Hardwood Timber Deal in the East. 



Vt, 

 whlcb 



