December 10, 1915 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



27 



of an extremely friendly nature, a fact wbic'.i makes for the smoothness 

 and efficiency with which this organization is officered. When the names 

 of the candidates are made known, proper committees to have charge 

 of the election will also be announced and other arrangements will like- 

 wise be completed. 



The committee which was appointed to raise $.'500 by subscription, rep- 

 resenting the amount' pledged by the Lumbermen's Club of Memphis to 

 the trade extension department of the National Lumber Manufacturers' 

 Association, reported that it has completed its work. The money was 

 turned over to the treasurer with instructions to forward it to the 

 proper officials of the association. This lias already been done. The com- 

 mittee, of which J. D. Allen, Jr., was chairman, has been honorably dis- 

 charged with thanks as a result of the excellent work it did. 



The attendance at this meeting was exceptionally large, foreshadowing 

 the interest in the forthcoming election of officers. There were seventy 

 members and visitors present. Among the latter were .John M. Woods 

 of Boston, E. Payson Smith, Minneapolis, and G. P. Hall of London, Eng- 

 land. All three of these gentlemen were called upon for brief talks and 

 responded in very happy vein. 



North Carolina Forestry Association to Meet in January 



Secretary J. S. Holmes of the North Carolina Forestry Association 

 announces that the executive committee has decided to hold the sixth 

 annual forestry convention in Newbern, N. C, on Tuesday and Wednes- 

 day, January IS and 19, 1916. This is the Drst time the association has 

 been called to meet in the eastern part of the state, and Secretary 

 Holmes expects that the departure will be Justified by increased attend- 

 ance. 



Newbern is in the heart of the coastal plain region, where is located the 

 North Carolina pine industry, which Is the largest lumbering region 

 northeast of Louisiana. 



Commissioner Hurley Talks to Advertising Men 



Edward N. Hurley, vice-chairman of the l->deral Trade Commission. 

 addressed the .\ssociation of National Advertisers in New York on Decem- 

 ber 1. After lauding modern advertising methods and the uplift that is 

 given to business, he went into a discussion of the trade commission work. 

 One of the results of the commission's efforts to date has been collectinjj: 

 and compiling a vast amount of essential data regarding business in the 

 United States. The compiling of this dope is not yet completed, but when 

 presented to the trade in the form of simple statistics, will be of immense 

 importance. There are, however, already some significant items beginning 

 to appear. Mr. Hurley says : 



Leaving out of consideration the banking, railroad and public utilities 

 corporations, and referring only to those that have to do with trade apd 

 industry, we find that there are about 250.000 business corporations in the 

 country. The astonishing thing is that of those, over 100,000 have no net 

 income whatever. In addition 90.000 make less than .$5,000 a year, 

 while only the 60,000 remaining, the more successful ones, make $5,000 

 a year and over. 



Turning now from net income to the total volume of business done by 

 those 60.000 corporations we find that 20,000 have sales of less than 

 $100,000 : 20.000 more sell from $100,000 to $250.000 ; 10.000 additional 

 from $230,000 to $500,000 ; 5.000 corporations ship annually half a 

 million to a million dollars worth of goods ; 4.500 have total sales from 

 a million to five million dollars ; while only 462 Industrial and mercantile 

 corporations in the United states do an annual business of $5,000,000 

 or more. 



These striking figures exhibit a condition which has existed for many 

 years. They show conclusively that big business, wliile important, con- 

 stitutes but a small fraction olf the trade and industry of the United States. 

 They make clear that there is an unduly large proportion of unsuccessful 

 business concerns. Do they not need help Why have we not paid more 

 attention to small and middle-sized business? Is it not worthy of our 

 consideration? What measures are we to take to improve these conditions? 



Commissioner Hurley came out strongly in favor of precise, thorough 

 business methods, such as those which characterize trade and industry in 

 Europe. He spoke in favor of standardized systems of bookkeeping and 

 cost-accounting, maintaining that with only proper accounting can the 

 smaller business man stay profitably in business. 



One of the most forcible reasons for uniform cost accounting is the 

 benefit to the manufacturer's credit. With an up-to-date system of account- 

 ing he will be able to borrow money when needed, whereas the banker would 

 not want to take the risk unless he knew absolutely the possibilities of 

 the deal coming through successfully. 



Commissioner Hurley gave the unmistakable impression that the trade 

 association will not be regarded with suspicion in the future as in the 

 past, but rather be given encouragement. 



The following words from his remarks on association work are significant ; 



So today the associations of manufacturers, associations of jobliers, asso- 

 ciations of merchants, associations of advertisers, are doing good work, 

 and if conducted in a spirit of mutual helpfulness, with the machinery 

 of the government standing by subject to call, will help solve problems and 

 remove many of the present handicaps of business. 



In speaking of trade possibilities abroad and the necessity of planning 

 now to successfully meet the situation immediately following the war, Mr. 

 Hurley made the following remarks. 



The .\merican manufacturer should realize that not a smokestack has 

 been destroyed during this war in England, Germany or Italy, and only 

 a few in a small part of Prance, t'nless we take advantage of the great 

 opportunity we now have, we will find that ninety days after the war is 

 over Germany, France and England and other European nations will be 

 on their way to a position in the markets of the world even stronger 

 than they occupied before. 



He rather intimated in this connection that the commission can see the 

 reasonableness of concerted action in handling the new foreign trade. 



• i QiTOt^iaaKwtwMwwitTOTOBtg^^ 



^A^ith the Trade 



University of Washington Adds Short Course in Forestry 



Hugo Wiukenwerder, .^I. F., professor of forestry and dean of the Col- 

 lege of Forestry, University of Washington, announces the installation 

 of a short course in forestry and lumbering to be given at tiie university, 

 this winter from January 3 to March 2S, 1916. This is a short, prac- 

 tical course, intended especially for young men who have not had the 

 good fortune of a high school education and cannot afford to spend a 

 long time at the university. It gives an exceptionally good opportunity 

 for men regularly engaged in woods work to get a practical education 

 of a little more advanced character than the ordinary, practical work 

 affords. 



In commenting on it, Mr. Wiukenwerder says : "I would be glad to 

 hai-e you emphasize the fact that we are this year offering a special 

 course in lumber and its uses for the first time. This course is out- 

 lined with special reference to presenting this Information for the use_ 

 of persons engaged in office woVk at the sawmills, lumber salesmen, 

 architects, builders and building inspectors." 



Issaquena Lumber Company Moves Head Office to Chattanooga 



The head office of the Issaquena Lumber Company, Issaquena, Miss., 

 has been moved to 916 James building, Chattanooga, Tenn. The move was 

 for the purpose of bringing the office closer in touch with the consuming 

 trade, and all communications for the sales and general offices should be 

 addressed to Chattanooga from now on. 



The Issaquena mill has oeen running steadily for several months and 

 has now on hand about 4,000,000 feet of choice hardwood lumber, con- 

 sisting largely of 4/4 to 8/4 plain red and white oak, red gum, etc. The 

 mill is cutting about 50,000 feet of lumber per day. 



The company owns about 6.000 acres of virgin timber of an unusually 

 high character. 



Severs Connection With Oconto Company 



Four years ago H. B. Leavitt became vice-president and general manager 

 of the Oconto Company at Chicago, 111., and Oconto, Wis., and of the 

 Bay de Noquet Company at Nahma, Mich. He has severed his connection 

 with these firms, selling out his entire interest to George J. Farnsworth, 

 president, and while he has not definitely decided the direction of his 

 next activity in the lumber business, it is understood that Mr. Leavitt is 

 considering western operations as offering more room for expanion. 



Mr. Leavitt takes with him the best wishes of the officers and directorate 

 of the Oconto Company. He took up the position with the Oconto Com- 

 pany for the purpose of putting into effect certain ideas that had been 

 considered prior to then. This referred especially to the disposition of 

 the hardwood product, which at that time became a new feature of the 

 company's line of manufacture. President Farnsworth will continue to 

 have charge of the company's operations. 



Mr. Leavitt's assistant during the years of service at Oconto and Chicago 

 was Charles E. Good, whose father is superintendent of the plant of the 

 Bay de Noquet Company at Nahma, Mich. He will succeed Mr. Leavitt 

 as general manager. Mr. Good was in the 1909 class of the University of 

 Michigan, and from there went directly into the lumber business. 



Paine Lumber Company Sale Consummated 



.V final decision was reached in the tie-up over the sale of the Paine 

 Lumber Company's holdings in the Langlade Land & Timber Company 

 on December 7. George E. Foster and Mr. Latimer of Mellen, Wis., and 

 associates were the successful bidders. This group entered the original 

 bid. but later a second bid was entered by August H. Stange and associates. 

 After a lengthy and heated controversy an order giving the receivers leave 

 to accept the bid of George E. Foster and his associates and to make 

 assignments and conveyances in accordance therewith was entered by the 

 court. 



The final deal was closed up on December 7. The controversy was over 

 the lateness of the bid of the Stange interests, who maintained that they 

 were not cognizant of the situation until a very late date and did not 

 want to lose the opportunity to make the purchase. 



As finally accepted the Foster bid on its face amounted to $1,30.S,000 

 for the Langlade Land & Timber Company, while the bid of the Stange 

 group on its face amounted to $1,327,000. The Foster bid was divided 

 into $735,000 in cash. $25,000 in common stock of a corporation now 

 existing or to be formed, and the assumption of a mortgage of $530,000 on 

 the property and the payment of the 1915 taxes thereon, estimated at 

 approximately $18,000. 



The atange bid was $775,000 in cash, the assumption of the $530,000 

 mortgage and interest thereon, amounting to about $4,000, and payment 

 of the taxes. 



Notwithstanding the apparently larger bid of the Stange bidders, the 

 creditors' committee recommended the acceptance of the Foster offer after 

 assurance was given that their proposal included the payment of the 

 taxes. The Stange interests fought for the acceptance of their proposal, 

 which they bettered by an addition of $25,000 over the hid they made in 

 the forenoon. 



The creditors opposed the acceptance of either bid, claiming a larger 

 consideration could be obtained by giving a third group an opportunity 



