44 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



whole lot to go into mousetraps in a single state in one year, but that is 

 the tale told by statistics. 



It is claimed tliat each trap is good to catch 365 mice a year. Some 

 do much better, but take that as a conservative average and figure results. 

 It means the capture of 5,475,000.000 mice a year. The average length 

 of a mouse, tail and all, is at least tour inches. String these dead mice 

 out, nose to tail, in a straight line, and the line would reach from the 

 earth to the moon, \sith enough mice left over to reach four times round 

 the earth at the equator, and a residue of mice remaining, stretched out. 

 nose to tall, in a line four thousand miles long. This is astounding, hut 

 any one acquainted with Pittsburgh will not doubt it. Besides, the 

 government collected the figures which show the amount of wood going 

 into mousetraps, and that is the basis of the whole estimate. 



Enormous Apple Wagons 



Specializing goes to the extreme limit. At Martinsburg, W. Va., which 

 is the center of a famous apple region, an enterprising vehicle manufac- 

 turer has put an apple wagon on the market, and it is said to be filling 

 a long felt want. It carries a 24.000-pound load of fruit from the 

 orchard to the railroad. That is from six to ten times the ordinary 

 load of apples carried by farm wagons. Evidently the orchardists of 

 that region are not in favor of too many trips, and prefer taking larger 

 loads and fewer of them. They are favored by a nearly level country 

 and the finest limestone roads in the world. That region lies in the 

 famous valley of Virginia which was so completely devastated during 

 the Civil war that it was said "a crow flying over must carry its knap- 

 sack with it, it it expects to eat anything on the way." The apple 

 wagons are made by the Auburn Wagon Company, Martinsburg, W. Va. 



Wage Regulations in Mexico 



There is small likelihood that American workmen will be tempted to 

 leave jobs on this side of the line in hope of bettering their condition in 

 Mexico. 



A decree under date of September 15, 1914. by Governor Eulalio 

 Gutierrez, fixes the minimum wage in the state of San Luis Potosi at 21 

 cents, American money, per day, to be paid in cash. In mines the mini- 

 mum wage is fixed at o5 cents. United States currency. The 9-hour day 

 is also decreed. Employers who have been paying more than the mini- 

 mum are forbidden to reduce wages to the minimum. Workers on farms 

 must be supplied free water, wood, and shelter. By the same decree com- 

 pany stores are abolished. .Vll debts contracted by lal>orers to employers 

 expire by limitation in one year. Employers are prohibited from placing 

 any obstacle in the way of laborers who desire to change their place of 

 employment or to accept other employment. The wages of laborers are 

 exempted from garnishment. 



Probably the most important article Ol the decree provides that in view 

 of the exceedingly low wages heretofore prevailing all loans and advances 

 heretofore made and now outstanding against the laborers, must be con- 

 sidered as a voluntary supplement to the inadequate wages and are 

 therefore declared liquidated and canceled. 



Woodworking Machinery Markets 



The London Timber Trades: .Journal advises British manufacturers to 

 get busy and capture the woodworking machinery markets which the 

 Germans have relinquished under stress of circumstances. If any markets 

 are to change hands, the United States manufacturers will doubtless be on 

 the ground to profit by the redistribution. 



The empire of Russia also offers an unlimited market for woodworking 

 machinery, and the demand in that country after the war will be unprece- 

 dentedly great. With the exception of a few American, Swedish, and 

 Norwegian machines, the trade hitherto done in that vast field has been 

 by German firms. A good opportunity presents itself for well-known 

 American makers to push their trade by opening show-rooms and offices gt 

 Petrograd, Moscow, and other centers, employing capable Russian trav- 

 elers, and making arrangements to modify and adapt their terras to the 

 customary conditions of Russian trading. 



The South American market is also another sphere in which the Gor- 

 man manufacturers have not been slow to push their goods. Enterprise 

 on the part of American manufacturers should open up an extended sale 

 among the Spanish-speaking people in that vast quarter of the world. 



City and Country School Children 



Primary schools and the lumber business may not appear to be closely 

 enough connected to justify a discussion of such schools in a lumber 

 journal ; yet there are some points of contact. Whether the lumberman 

 works in the woods and lives in the country, or sells lumber at the yard, 

 or converts it in a factory, and lives in the city, if he is a man of family 

 he is interested in the welltare of his children while they are passing 

 through their first years at school. He not only pays taxes to help 

 support the schools, but he should be and usually is interested in neigh- 

 borhood betterment. 



A recent number of the West Virginia School .Tournal discussed the 

 comparative health of country and city school children. Statistics from 

 various state and national commissions, committees, and investigators 

 were quoted as authority for interesting and somewhat astounding state- 

 ments. It will prove a surprise to most persons to learn that the country 

 school child is from fifteen to twenty per cent more defective physically 

 and mentally than the city child. 



In Pennsylvania a study of l.S.Sl rural school districts was contrasted 



with a similar study of the health of the school children in Harrisburg, 

 Pittsburgh, and Altoona. The percentage of defective children in Altoona 

 was 69, in Pittsburgh 72.2, while in the rural districts studied, the 

 aggregate of defective children studied was 75 per cent. This means that 

 three-fourths of the 294,427 country school children in Pennsylvania are 

 in need of special care and treatment, while even in New York City only 

 72 per cent of the children are at all defective. 



The investigation of specific defects gives the same results. For 

 instance, a comparison of the school children of Orange county, Va., 

 with those of New York shows that with all the dangerous surroundings 

 and disadvantages of city life, the number of New York school children 

 with lung trouble amounts to less than one per cent, while o.7 of all the 

 school children in Orange county, Virginia, sulTer from some affection of 

 the lungs. 



When the nutrition of rural school children was considered, it was 

 supposed that here, of course, the country child would greatly surpass 

 the child in the city, yet such was not found to be the case. The same 

 startling results are found when figures for mental defectives are com- 

 pared. Statistics from twenty-five cities, and from rural districts in 

 Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Idaho and Virginia were com- 

 pared, showing that the average of mental defects among city children 

 was 0.2 per cent, while the average among rural school children was O.S 

 per cent. Heart disease is twice as prevalent among country children as 

 among city school children. City school children have only 0.13 per cent 

 of curvature of the spine, while rural scliool chibiren have 3.5 per cent. 

 Ear troubles are five times and eye troubles are four times as frequent 

 amoung country children. -Vdenoids are found in city school children 

 S.5 per cent, but in the country the percentage is 21,5. The children In 

 twenty-five cities showed an average percentage of enlarged tonsils of 8.8, 

 while a similar number of country children showed over 30 per cent, and 

 in Idaho the percentage ran up to 43.9. 



It was found that even in the slums of cities, where the pinch of 

 poverty is the sharpest, the food is better prepared than it is in the 

 countr.v, while llie distance from dentists, octilists and clinical advan- 

 tages accounts for the large number of defects in sight, hearing and 

 teeth. Country houses are often dratty and overheated. The chances 

 for house infeclion are greater and children are more exposed to cold, 

 heat and dampness. The school houses are often old and carelessly built 

 and have Insufliclent equipment In seven states there is no regulation 

 of the sanitation of country schools. Heating Is generally by means of a 

 stove, and bad ventilation Is usually the result. Seating accommodations 

 are had and general sanitary conditions often unspeakable. Frequently 

 the only provisions for cleanliness are a pail of water, a dirty basin and 

 a common towel. Drinking arrangements are bad and drinking water 

 often contaminated. Now take into consideration the many other con- 

 tingencies which the country child has to meet — physical labor, chores 

 before he starts for school in the morning, a badly assorted breakfast, a 

 long walk over bad roads — tlien subject him to Infection, to had water, 

 and It Is no wonder that he falls prey to a dozen maladies more readily 

 than the city child. 



The result of this survey of rural schools cannot fall to shatter some 

 of our previously conceived views regarding rural conditions, and at the 

 same time point out the remedy. 



Will Curtail Mahogany Cutting 



It Is stated in the London trade papers that African importer? have, 

 since the outbreak of hostilities, taken steps to stop cutting mahogany, 

 and as steamers are not returning to the West Coast of Africa, it follows 

 that there will be no boat? to bring even available supplies forward. The 

 holding of auction sales are determined l)y the sellers, and, as they be- 

 lieve conditions favor tbeni, It follows that full advantage is likely to be 

 taken of diminished supplies so as to advance prices. 



Hardwood 'News iSfotes 



.< MISCELLANEOUS >• 



The Baby Tabic Company of ,Taiiiest'i\s-ii. .V. V.. has recently been 

 reorganized. 



J. D. Pribble, Glasgow, W. Va., is planning the establishment of a 

 veneer mill at that point. 



The Central Cabinet Company has filed an application for a charter 

 at Pbiladel|)bia. Pa. 



The Booth Manufacturing Company of Howard City, Mich., has filed 

 a voluntary petition In bankruptcy. 



The Kansas City Mill Work & Moulding Company of Kansas City, 

 Mo., is reported to be out of business. 



At Parkersburg, W. Va., the Parkersburg Handle Company is a new 

 incorporation, its capital being $10,000. 



The Charleston Veneer Works has been incorporated at Charleston, 

 W. Va.. with a capital stock of .$15,000. 



The Rhoda Lumber & Veneer Company has been Incorporated at Rhoda, 

 La., with an authorized capital of ,flO,000. 



The Brookston Box & Lumber Company has been incorporated at 

 Brookston, Minn., with a capital of .$25,000. 



