October 2D, 1920 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



ramifications exert a wliolly paral3'zing effect on both industry and 

 commerce. 



This stagnation in both foreign and domestic demand is largely 

 responsible for conditions confronting manufacturers of hardwood 

 lumber and for the decision they are rapidly reaching to put them- 

 selves in position where they may "stop, look and listen" before 

 accumulating further supplies of hardwood lumber. The hope is 

 expressed in some quarters that a larger demand may develop imme- 

 diately after the presidential election, particularly if a Republican 

 administration is chosen. Some members of the trade, however, ex- 

 press the view that business is pretty well over for 192U, while 

 others go so far as to intimate that there may not be return to 

 normal buying of southern hardwoods until the spring campaign of 

 building gets under way. In any event, there is little belief in a 

 revival of business in the immediate future and lumber interests are 

 simply making the best of a situation which they describe, in the 

 suddenness of its reversal, as wholly without precedent. 



One Big Railroad Order 



One prominent hardwood firm, with headquarters in Memphis, has 

 closed a contract with the Southern Pacific railroad for approxi- 

 mately 125,000,000 feet of timber, which is to be delivered in the 

 form of cross ties and switch ties. This contract runs over a period 

 of five years and calls for more than 3,000,000 of the ties in ques- 

 tion. It has been "signed, sealed and delivered," but the firm tak- 

 ing it has not entirely completed its plans and for this reason 

 desires that its identity be concealed for a time. This is the largest 

 order for hardwood timber placed by any railroad operating 

 through the southern territory and it is accepted as a most hopeful 

 sign. A fund of $600,000,000 has been provided for the purchase of 

 equipment by the railroads and hardwood interests anticipate that 

 there will be a big demand for hardwood timbers, cross ties, switch 

 ties and other structural materials as soon as the railroads can get 

 their program of track and terminal enlargement and equipment 

 expansion under way. The automobile industry appears to be 

 undergoing almost as great a crisis as the hardwood lumber industry 

 itself, and reports from furniture manufacturers are not particu- 

 larly encouraging at the moment. Thus the prospect for large buy- 

 ing on the part of the railroads of the country is regarded as doubly 

 favorable for the reason that the outlook in other consuming chan- 

 nels is not particularly glowing at the moment. 



New Walnut Tree Near Tomb of Washington 



Another living walnut tree now stands near the tomb of Wash- 

 ington, and in course of time will cast its cool shade about that 

 historic monument. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of 



Canada, Sir Francois Eemieux of Quebec, and Prime Minister of 

 the Province of Quebec, turned the first spade of soil over the roots 

 of the tree, an Amer- 

 ican walnut sapling, 

 planted in honor of 

 the "Father of His 

 Country" by the In- 

 ternational Commit- 

 tee of the Fifteentli 

 International C o n- 

 gress against Alco- 

 holism at its first 

 meeting in the United 

 States. This was on 

 September 25, and 

 Thomas Quinn Bees- 

 ley of Georgetown, 

 D. C, who lives in a 

 home furnished in 

 walnut 110 years old, 

 oflSciated as master 

 of ceremonies. He is 

 a walnut enthusiast 

 and sent the photo- 

 graph of the planting 

 to George N. Lamb, 

 secretary of the 

 American Walnut 

 Manufacturers' As- 

 sociation. 



This tree will taki 

 the place of thi' 

 famous walnut tree 

 which formerly stood 

 over Washington 's 



Walnut Burl Which Once Hung Over Tomb of 

 America's "Father" 



tomb, holding on one large limb a gigantic burl, about 100 years old. 

 This burl was five feet through when placed in the National 

 Museum recently. The tree was planted by Washington's father 

 and was estimated to be 150 years old when it died in 1916. 



Prime Minister of Province of Quebec Planting Walnut Tree at 

 Washington's Tomb 



Wood Using Industries Associate 



Pursuant to resolution passed at a conference on reforestation 

 held at Madison, Wis., July 23, a meeting was held in Chicago on 

 September 28 of representatives of twenty-four wood using indus- 

 tries, which resulted in the formation of an organization to be 

 known as the Association of Wood Using Industries. 



E. E. Parsonage of the John Deere Company officiated as chair- 

 man. 



The several secretaries present outlined the necessity for having 

 machinery established through which the wood using industries 

 could clear matters of reforestation, of wood conservation and leg- 

 islation activities of common interest to all industries fabricating 

 wood. 



Talks were made by Col. W. B. Greeley, Chief Forester of the 

 Forest Service; by Hugh P. Baker, secretary of the American 

 Paper and Pulp Association, and a paper on Forest Conservation by 

 Better Utilization was presented by 0. M. Butler, assistant director 

 of the Forest Products Laboratory. 



The nominating committee then made its recommendations, which 

 were likewise adopted, and the following officers were duly elected: 



Wood Using Industries Represented 



President — E. E. Parsonage, implement and vehicle. 



Vice-president — Hugh P. Baker, paper and pulp. 



Secretary — Wm. E. Baker, furniture. 



Treasurer — F. A. Vogel, miscellaneous. 



W. A. Babbitt, wood turners. 



John Foley, wood preservatives. 



W. Harry Davis, containers. 



The office of the secretary is 531 Monadnock Building, Chicago, 

 111. 



