Febniary 10, 1916 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



15 



thought it was necessary to have forty-odd heights of wagon wheels; 

 but it has been found that four are enough. If any one wants an odd- 

 sized wagon he can have it made to order; but it is no longer con- 

 sidered necessary for dealers to keep odd sizes in stock. 



Lumber grades have ieen standardized or have approached very 

 nearly that condition. It has been accomplished through associations 

 where a few men are authorized to act for many. There is an open 

 field for additional work along similar lines. 



Boys and Men. 



RETIRING PEESIDENT GEORGE J. POPE, of the Chicago 

 Lumbermen's Association, in his address before the annual 

 meeting of that body recently, departed somewhat from the usual 

 theme of business addresses on such occasions, and had a few- 

 words to say for the boys who are beginning at the bottom in the 

 yards, offices, and mills to learn the lumber business. They are 

 now messenger boys, chore boys, and they do small odds and ends 

 of work. So long as they do their work tolerably well, they attract 

 little attention from those above them. 



Yet these boys will be the lumbermen of the future, and the 

 speaker said he wished to say a few words on the subject, par- 

 ticularly along the line of the value of a good example. Nearly 

 every one of these boys, consciously or unconsciously, has his eyes 

 on the men over him. He notices what they say, what they do, 

 and how they meet questions and emergencies that come up. The 

 men in responsible places are thus molding and shaping the char- 

 acters of the boys, but often are unaware of it. The future 

 business man thus receives impressions which will remain with 

 him through life, and which may make or mar his fortune. 



The speaker urged his hearers to give serious thought to that 

 matter and be mindful of the responsibilities resting upon them, 

 and to so live and act that their examples will bear honorable 

 fruit in future years. Few higher compliments can be paid a man 

 than that paid by imitating him and followung him as a model, and 

 he should endeavor to be worthy of imitation and safe as a model. 

 Once a year, at least, it is proper that business men should lead 

 their thoughts for a little while along that line. 



The Teacher's Cottage 



f T IS A rAE-REACHING CAMPAIGN which has been taken up by 

 ■!■ E. S. Kellogg, secretary of the National Lumber Manufacturers' 

 Association, for the purpose of buUding cottages for the use of teach- 

 ers in the rural schools of the United States. Mr. Kellogg is not mak- 

 ing a lone fight, but has joined hands with educators and school 

 authorities in all parts of the country; and the XT. S. Bureau of Edu- 

 cation is giving powerful help in a cause which in importance can 

 scarcely be overestimated. 



Rural education is making rapid progress. Conditions are improv- 

 ing rapidly. Schools are much better than they were a few years 

 ago. Teachers are preparing themselves better for this work. Coun- 

 try communities are building better roads and making it easier for 

 pupils to come and go. Better school houses are replacing the old. 

 But in one particular, a great want is felt. It is often difficult for a 

 teacher to secure a suitable boarding place. That difficulty is reported 

 all over the country. It often is so serious that a teacher leaves the 

 country work as soon as possible and goes to town, and thus the best 

 teachers are forced out of the country schools. 



If that applies to unmarried teachers, it applies more pointedly to 

 teachers who have families and are following teaching as a profession, 

 and are therefore the best teachers. It is often impossible for them 

 to rent houses in the country where they can live while they teach the 

 rural schools. 



The movement is taking form all over the country to provide at 

 public expense cottages for married teachers in particular. The move- 

 ment seems to have gained most headway on the Pacific coast, but it 

 extends from ocean to ocean. It is an old custom in some European 

 coimtries where its success was long ago proved. The plan is being 

 tried here and there in most of the states in this country, and it is 

 rapidly gaining in popularity because it is giving satisfaction where- 



ever it is tried. Better teachers are secured and they remain year 

 after year. 



The significance of this movement to lumbermen is clear. Lumber 

 is the natural building material for such cottages. The quantity 

 required for one cottage is small, but if such cottages shall be built 

 all over the country, it wiU mean the sale of a great deal of lumber. 

 The state of Washington has 108 teachers' cottages now, and only a 

 beginning has been made. Even in the South, where the people are 

 considered a little conservative in following innovations, the move- 

 ment is gaining ground. A single county in Alabama has six such cot- 

 tages for its rural teachers. 



Lumbermen who lend their influence to this campaign, in whatever 

 part of the country they may happen to live, wiU be forwarding a 

 good cause and at the same time wUl be creating a market for prod- 

 ucts which they have for sale. 



After War Lumber Prices 



TN ENGLAND THE MEN ENGAGED IN THE LUMBER BUSI- 

 A NESS are earnestly discussing the problem of prices of lumber 

 after the end of the war. It is not a matter of mere academic in- 

 terest, but is a live question since plans are being laid for the 

 future. Bu3dng from hand to mouth cannot continue indefinitely. 

 Speaking on tliat subject a recent number of the London Timber 

 said: "The time when it was thought that it would be dangerous 

 to hold any large stock at the conclusion of peace is quite in the 

 past, and merchants now appear thoroughly convinced that there wiU 

 be no fall in prices when the war ends; not at any rate until there 

 is a drop in freights to somewhere about their normal level which 

 will be many months after the war ends. Indeed, so accustomed 

 have shippers become to a rising market that the view has beer, 

 expressed in Sweden that values will rise after the war in conse- 

 quence of the tremendous consumption that wUl be necessary." 



The American lumber market is not controlled by conditions and 

 opinions in Europe; but that influence is important. If prices con- 

 tinue high there, the tendency will be to maintain prices on this 

 side. That should hold in our export business, at any rate. But, 

 aside from our export trade, high ocean freights on lumber should 

 not have much effect on the business at home, and it is well understood 

 that our domestic lumber business is the biggest part of it. But so 

 long as lumber sells at high prices in Europe, values wUl be steadied 

 here. The follovring further quotation from Timber shows the 

 feeling among dealers in Great Britain: 



There is only one topic in the timber trade today — tlie extraordinary 

 prices and the apparent Impossibility of the limit of values being reached. 

 The timber merchant's lot is indeed a happy one (as far as any lot can 

 be happy in these gloomy times), and the optimism which obtains in the 

 trade among sellers and buyers alike is not without very good foundation. 

 There are, of course, many industries which have profited by the war to 

 a far greater extent than has the timber trade ; tor example, shipping, 

 iron and steel, and, in fact, all those businesses which have to do directly 

 with tiie equipping of the army, and those engaged in making the muni- 

 tions of war, but theirs is, let us hope, a temporary "boom." The manu- 

 facture of war material and the equipment of armies is, from the economic 

 standpoint, most unproductive labor, and. without any uncharitable feel- 

 ing for the munition workers, we may trust that the "boom" in their 

 department may not be of very long duration. But with the timber 

 trade the case is very different. The present "boom" — for it is a "boom" 

 in a small way — is also concerned with government and army work at 

 present, but when the war is over and munitions in large quantities arc 

 no longer required, the uses for timber, far from decreasing, are certain 

 to be largely augmented. And this is the real reason why timber mer- 

 chants are justified in looking hopefully at the situation ; the prosperity 

 of the timber trade should be no temporary matter. For many years 

 after peace is declared we look for a market in which the demand for 

 wood will far exceed the ordinary supplies, and when consequently busi- 

 ness will be easily conducted, and the work of selling rendered compara- 

 tively smooth. 



Some furniture factories convert their varnish room into a dry- 

 ing room at night. In some cases the watchman keeps up the fire 

 by burning refuse and maintaining the proper temperature. This 

 may work satisfactorily in a small plant where the watchman can 

 make his rounds in a short time, but if it were practiced in a 

 large plant the watchman would be compelled to neglect some very 

 important duties. 



