16 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



December 10. 1920 



Builders of Empire 



ANEW ILLUSTRATED BOOKLET, '-The Yazoo Mississippi 

 Delta," has been received by Hardwood Becord from the 

 Southern Alluvial Land Association of Memphis. This handsome 

 compendium of information of the argrieultural riches of the Yazoo 

 Delta follows an equally attractive brochure entitled ' ' The Call of 

 the Alluvial Empire," and precedes another booklet which will 

 soon be off the press, advertising the "The West Side Delta." 



They all remind Hardwood Eecord of the magnificent construc- 

 tive force that is back of them — lumbermen, planters, bankers, mer- 

 chants, livestock breeders, who are building an empire upon the 

 fertile alluvial soil of the lower Mississippi Valley. We feel a sense 

 of romance and of the movement of gigantic and heroic forces as 

 we contemplate the work which the publishers of these booklets arc 

 doing. They constitute the chief motive force that is developing 

 the tremendous raw potentialities of this region to the service of 

 civilization. Theirs is the broad vision, theirs the courage to build, 

 as the Titans did, who reared mountain upon mountain. While 

 these men are all interested directly in this region by their invest- 

 ments, they are not a niggardly crew, who see only narrow immedi- 

 ate and direct personal profits. They are building for the future 

 and with no narrow individual aim. The Southern Alluvial Land 

 Association has nothing to sell; it deals neither in lands nor the 

 products of lands. It is merely a voice created to direct the atten- 

 tion of the world to the potentialities of the alluvial region and en- 

 courage their development. They know that the materials of a 

 great agricultural empire are in that region and that only the 

 brains and energies of men are needed to mold them into the propor- 

 tion of empire. 



It is such strong and clear-thinking men as these that have 

 lifted civilization out of the primeval wilderness. It is due to such 

 men that the United States in a few hundred years has grown from 

 thirteen struggling colonies, hanging precariously upon the Atlantic 

 seaboard, to the greatest nation in the world, spreading its teeming 

 millions of prosperous people over the greater part of a far-flung 

 continent. 



And these things are not said in a mere effort to be fulsome and 

 beat up the sound of reverberating words. But they are uttered 

 in a sincere attempt to direct the attention of those who care to 

 know to the fact that the day of empire building is not yet gone. 



Omens of Victory 



A 8 TIME ADVANCES and the Supreme Court 's decision in the 

 American Hardwood Manufacturers' Association case grows 

 imminent, it is reassuring to recall certain incidents of the hearing 

 before the high Federal tribunal, which indicated a favorable con- 

 ception of the defense's case by certain of the Justices. These 

 judicial minds seem to have appreciated the fact that the appeal 

 involved the question whether business men could be legally con- 

 demned for merely collecting and disseminating statistics of the 

 facts concerning their actual business operations. Several of the 

 Justices revealed this train of thought when they put certain dis- 

 concerting questions to Assistant Attorney-General Henry Mitchell, 



who represented the Department of Justice in the argument. For 

 instance. Justice Van Devanter, asked Mr. Mitchell whether the 

 practice of the Citrus Association in collecting data of the prices 

 and crops and markets was a violation of the law. In reply the 

 Assistant Attorney-General said that he preferred to restrict his 

 attention to the case actually before the court; but Mr. Justice Van 

 Devanter retorted that the courts are obliged to employ a large 

 vision, and to consider what the effect of a desired decision might 

 be upon other industries as well as that directly involved. 



This concurs with the contention of the defense from the first 

 that the large principle of business freedom is involved in the 

 case and that the settlement of it means more than merely putting 

 the restraining, we might say, repressive, hands of the law upon, 

 or giving carte blanc to, a group of producers of hardwood lumber. 



Another interlocutor of the Government's attorney, Mr. Justice 

 Brandeis, who by the way has the reputation of being liberal in 

 the direction of the masses, wanted to know whether counsel 

 thought a man might properly seek membership in the New York 

 Stock Exchange in order to ascertain what was going on in the 

 world of business and finance. For the second time Mr. Mitchell 

 insisted that he be permitted to confine himself to the case in hand. 

 Finally Chief Justice White asked the Assistant Attorney-General 

 if he had ever heard of "Schuster's Notes" relating to the prices 

 for long-leaf pine, which, he said, had been a common way of 

 circulating information concerning the condition of the market, 

 legality of which had never been brought into controversy. The 

 Chief Justice inquired whether the counsel for the Department of 

 Justice thought that the publication and circulation of these notes 

 was a violation of law. 



There is the additional good sign that public opinion is now feel- 

 ing some revulsion against governmental repression of business, 

 and that the people feel that a policy of laissez faire is the best to 

 pursue. We do not mean by this remark to suggest that a Supreme 

 Court Justice would lend his august ear to the murmurings of the 

 mob. But we do contend that any man, whosoever he may be, if 

 he is educated and of an active mind, feels the large impulses of 

 thought that flow through the minds of the people. No man can 

 entirely escape the thought of his time. 



Break the Buying Strike 



A MOST INTERESTING AEGUMENT against the "buying 

 strike," which recently appeared editorially in the Boston Her- 

 ald, has been called to the attention of Hardwood Eecord by a lum- 

 berman to whom it made an especial appeal. 



This writer urged a reasonable resumption of purchases by the 

 buying public, in order to warrant the continued operation of the 

 factories and prevent their shutting down and reducing production to 

 the minimum. This, it was said, would create a shortage of commodities, 

 which would react very unfavorably to the public. Quoting Clarence 

 W. Barron, a leading financial authority, this editorial said that the 

 country is really short of the great basic commodities, never having 

 caught up since the curtailment of production by the war. It is a 

 bad thing to further accentuate this shortage by refusing to buy and 

 forcing the producers to cease or greatly limit their operations. 



Table of Contents 



REVIEW AND OUTLOOK: 



General Market Conditions 15 



Omens of Victory 16 



Break the Buyers' Strike 16 



Builders of Empire 16 



SPECIAL ARTICLES: 



Refinancing the Lumber Industry 17 



Woodworking Engineering Is Featured 18 



Engineering in Furniture Factories 19-20 



Hardwood Men Seek Tax Improvement 21 



The Romance of Mahogany 29-32 



Western Veneer Manufacturers Orgsoiize 36 & 38 



POWER LOGGING AND LUMBERING: 



Co-operation Between Tractor Manufacturer and Owner 22 



NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL CAPITAL: 



Miscellaneous 24 & 26 



CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS: 



National Lumber Manufacturers Will Move to Washington 45 



Chicago Hoo-Hoo Initiate Sixteen ; 45 



HARDWOOD NEWS 46-52 



HARDWOOD MARKET 52-56 



ADVERTISERS' DIRECTORY ; 57 



CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS 58-60 



HARDWOODS FOR SALE 60-62 & 64 



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