14 



HARDWOOD RECOKD 



Jaouarx 10, 1019 



The ]•! • ill a III.: ■ The popor bircli iiix-* <'i 



th« cabin .■\t that tl- i« not in the 8outli, rn-rnuM 



jjrowg at a rosiK»!al.l>. ilintnnro only north of Mnton 

 ; but the p>r'< n* n mciins of xolnro nn>l rumfort i( 

 iiMt ciri-iiniiicribcd br p ' linen. It i« jimt na piitont on 



til- !>lii>ren of Lake I'ont' .s on the dOiinilinK roimtii of Ijiko 



> ; ' nor. It is not a respecter of persona. It is an poirerfiil in tl<e 

 »owJchapp«r's cabin as in the pnlnre of any soap millionnirc. It 

 lioeomes a monarch lietter than his crown. The pipe's smoke minijles 

 witli the smuko of buttle where nrmion nro ileeimnted, and it bloii.lg 

 with the shimmer of the creek whore tlu- truant bov with In^ic'.iin); 

 fy liinii ttu" «\i. k'T high anil ilrv. 



Til.' iirti.st Willi iiiiido tiie photograph which is copied on the front 

 rover was instructed by IlAiinwoon Record to "pose nobody rnd 

 catch nature as it is." He caught it. All the posing that could 

 lio done for effect would not improve the case and clognnco of that 

 "itting. Photographers and nature fakirs go all the way to Africa 

 to snap wild animals in their homo haunts. One picture of a soke 

 1.-; ]i> its native bush is worth a hundred in a zoo; and so it is in 

 •1.. [resent case. The lumberjack by his hut door, at peace with 

 tlio world, and preparing a smoke, is wortli a thousand yards of 

 moving picture reels of lumbermen 's banquets where scores of 

 Hnvanas pierce the blue haze in the background. The former is 

 natural, the latter artificial. The lone smoker, communinj; with the 

 peace of his own soul, is the highest personification of satisfaction 

 that it has been given to mortal ma^n to know. 



Looking Forward 



BUSINESS IN THIS COrXTHV lias been stimulated by war 

 orders, which came at a time when they were needed and served 

 to bridge over a precarious situation in our industrial affairs, for 

 which nearly everybody is thankful. But what lies ahead? The war 

 will not last indefinitely, and when peace comes to the troubled na- 

 tions, and "the war drum throbs no longer and the battle flags are 

 furled," what sort of business will the United States 1)C able to carry 

 on with the countries which have been so badly shot to pieces? They 

 have been paying money for munitions. We are draining their ready 

 cash to this side of the Atlantic; but that process will not continue 

 after the war closes. War business will give place to peace business, 

 or to no business at all. 



The question is, shall we continue to sell to those people? If so, 

 what shall we sell them? What shall we take as pay? It cannot h4 

 doubted that they will need all the commodities of ordinary life that 

 we can send them, but will they be in a position to buy? That will 

 depend upon what and how much we buy from them. Normal trade 

 consists of an exchange of what we have for what they nave. It is 

 not made up of sales in which articles are disposed of for cash, each 

 side receiving money for what it parts with. 



Now, when the war is over, be the time short or long, the European . 

 people will come to us with merchandise which they will bo anxious 

 to exchange for what we have to offer; but there will not bo much 

 gold in the transactions. It will bo a swap. They will not take 

 from us what they can produce at home. In view of that, we shall 

 have to revise our list of exports. But it will not be so much our 

 exports as our imports that will call for serious thought. 



A French commission is now in the United States investigating our 

 manufacturing resources with a view to purchasing large quantities 

 of our machinery with which to equip French factories at the close 

 of the war. That industrious people is getting ready to sell again 

 to buyers in all parts of the world. There is no reason to suppose 

 that Germany, Austria and England will not do the same. They will 

 become our business rivals in a competition as keen as the world 

 ever saw. We are carrying on trade now pretty much on our own 

 terms; but there will be a change when the devastated countries 

 across the sea rebuild their factories on modern lines. That keen 

 competition will not be confined to the soil of the European countries 

 now at war; but it «-ill be worldwide. We shall be obliged to fight for 

 markets in South America, in Mexico, in Africa, and in the Orient. 



But the severest fight of all will be in our own country; because 

 that to us is the most vital. European commerce will challenge our 

 manufacturers at their own doors. Can the shop in Michigan, or in 



Mmouri, or in W.. ■-, wlnrh j'Hto ili hilp from ten to thirty 



dollars a week, nn ' ally the com|>ctitioM of the French, Ger- 



man and Kngliiih ^llu|. ulncli pnyi only half iih much? That ques- 

 tion must bo answered very »aon after pritcc in dednrod. Ilorctoforo 

 our better machinery and more skillful worknwin and fnvornlilo tariff 

 have made it possible for us to com|)eto in some lines with the cheap 

 labor beyond the sen; but ttic French eommiBsion now in tJiis country 

 has dropped n hint that their" machines will lie ns upfo-dnte aa ours, 

 because they intend to buy Uio best we have and Install them over 

 there. 



When that happens, not only will Uiey have the advantage of ua in 

 every foreign market l>ecauN> of their cheaper Inljor, but when wo 

 want to trade with Europe we must take our pay in nrticleH which 

 may be in direct competition with what we make at home. 



Many an American who hag heretofore looked upon the tariff quo«- 

 tion as something vague and theoretical, and of interest to politician* 

 only, will soon have occasion to clinngo his viewpoint. 



The Lumbermen's Reputation Is Established 



TiK LONG .SIGH OF KKLIEF whiih tin- IuuiImt trade is, figura- 

 tively speaking, now enjoying, the lontentim-nt which it brings 

 following the long, lean years of deproitsion, economy and scheming 

 to hold things together brings out in striking contrast the darkness 

 of the period that now seems to bo well over. It emphasizes what 

 the lumber trade has passed through and makes apparent the vic- 

 tory which has been won. 



The exact figures are not available showing proportionate fail- 

 ures in various lines of business for the past two years, but opin- 

 ions on this subject rather point to the fact that in the lumber 

 business there has been a less proportion than in almost any other 

 line. At least lumbering is well down toward the end of the list. 



It is plain that this is not the result of less stringent conditions 

 in lumbering, as no other line of business feels depression so 

 quickly or recovers so slowly as does lumber. Lumber has been in 

 the dumps as deeply and as consistently and for as long a period as 

 any other line of commercial activity in this country. -At the 

 same time nobody will deny lumbering has really made a record. 

 What, then, is the fundamental reason for this, for there must bo 

 one reason which is primarily responsible? Isn't it because lum- 

 bermen as a whole arc more stable, more reliable and more straight- 

 forward than the average group of business men, that their con- 

 tact with the open has developed a solidity which has been of 

 remarkably poignant moment in their credit arrangements? As 

 men they are more simple and as business men their methods are 

 more simple than those of most men in business in this country. 

 They leave less to the imagination of the financial man. This very 

 simplicity of personality, this straightforwardness and simplicity 

 of methods has undoubtedly, even though unconsciously perhaps, 

 been of tremendous weight in effecting more favorable considera- 

 tion on the part of those to whom the lumberman is responsiblo 

 for his credit. Without doubt it is this ability to get assistance 

 at the crucial time that has kept the lumber trade in such generally 

 sound shape. Lumbermen can face the new year congratulating them- 

 selves not only on the improvement and the bright hopes for the 

 future, but on having accomplished a victory due directly not only 

 to their efforts but to themeslves as men and as parts of a confi- 

 dence inspiring whole. 



Safe from Substitutes 



SUBSTITUTES HAVE FOUGHT LOSING BATTLES in all their 

 efforts to displace the wooden crosstie. Efforts to accomplish that 

 end have been many and long-continued, and the result has l)een 

 practically nil. The earliest crosstics were of wood; but railroad 

 building had not advanced far in England where wood was costly 

 before an ambitious trial *as given to stone as a substitute. Granite 

 ties were cut to shape and a section of road was built. It was to 

 be the everlasting road. It was never to wear out. The decay of 

 wooden ties and their crushing and cutting beneath the rails were 

 early recognized as the seat of the chief expense account in railroad 

 maintenance. The granite ties were expected to cure that evil once 



