HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



wagon roads are practically unknown. What little merchandise is 

 taken inland is carried on mules. Of course, the importation of lumber 

 is out of the question in places like that. From 1907 to 1909 the town 

 of Tegucigalpa in Honduras, with 35,000 inhabitants, had only one 

 visit from a commercial traveler, and he had whisky to sell. A mule 

 path a hundred mUes long is the only avenue of communication with 

 the outside world; and that is not a solitary instance. There are many 

 like it all over Central America. There is no earthly show of selling 

 lumber, furniture, farming implements, or other forest products under 

 such circumstances. 



There are, however, some railroads in Central America, and there 

 are harbors where vessels may land cargoes. Likewise, there are rivers 

 by which freight is carried by boats to the interior. 

 Business Attitude of the People 



Most business in Central America is done on a small scale. There 

 are many natural resources in those countries, but the natives show 

 little disposition to develop them. In some instances, foreigners long 

 ago would have carried out works of development, but for their fear 

 of investing money where danger of confiscation was so great. In 

 some of the Central American countries every conceivable line of 

 business has been sold by the government as a concession or monopoly, 

 and the holder in many cases is concerned only in squeezing as much 

 money as possible out of the business in the shortest time. It is not 

 so bad in other parts of the country; but considering the resources of 

 the region, very little development is being carried out. 



In some of the states, revolutions and tyrannies are chronic. There 

 IB no encouragement under such circumstances for persons to engage in 

 honest business. They have no chance. For that reason, some parts of 

 Central America are very poor while the resources are in sight to make 

 them very rich. Sales of lumber under such circumstances must be 

 limited. This is forcibly brought out by the statement that the annual 

 sales of lumber and timber of all kinds, including railroad ties, in the 

 whole region from the Eio Grande to Panama, are smaller than the 

 sale of longleaf pine alone to the single country, Argentina. It would 

 seem that there ought to be room for increase in lumber sales when 

 such a showing as this is made. These countries, lying at our very 

 border, and enormously rich in natural resources, are not able and 

 willing to buy as much lumber as a single farming country five thou- 

 sand miles farther away. 



Financial Condition 



Everybody knows the financial situation in Mexico. It would not be 

 fair to say that all Central America is like it, but some of it is even 

 worse. Some of those countries have defaulted in the payment of 

 interest on their national debts. In some cases not a cent of interest 

 has been paid for thirty or forty years; others are not so much in 

 arrears. The bad situation in most instances is due to graft and 

 extortion on the part of officials in past time. One of the republics 

 borrowed $100,000,000 for railroad building, and when fifty-seven miles 

 had been built, the money was all gone. That is an example of high 

 finance in some of those countries. The paper money is so depreciated 

 that it is worth little more than Confederate money in the spring of 

 1865. The purchasing power of the people is necessarily low. They 

 sell coffee, bananas, some cotton, ores and minerals, hides and horns 

 of cattle, and some cabinet woods. They might increase their exports 

 enormously, and thereby augment their purchasing power; but little 

 tendency in that direction is observable. 



Following are the origins of the names of some of the countries 

 south of us: Mexico is the native Indian name for the country, origi- 

 nally written ' ' Mejica. ' ' An American hearing the name pronounced 

 in that country would suppose that the native was trying to say 

 ' ' Michigan. ' ' 



Nicaragua is named for a native Indian chief Nicaras. 



Salvador is Spanish for Savior. 



Costa Eica in the Spanish language means "rich coast." 



Honduras means ' ' fathomless, ' ' so named because the sea is very 

 deep off the coast and the Spanish explorers had difBculty in finding 

 anchorage for their ships. 



Guatemala is an Indian word which has been translated "land of 

 forests. ' ' 



Yucatan is an Indian term meaning ' ' I don 't understand. ' ' When 



the Spanish, discoverers asked the Indians the name of their country 

 the reply was ' ' Yucatan, ' ' which the explorers supposed was the 

 country's name. 



Many valuable books on Mexico and Central America have been 

 published. Those who wish to obtain general idea of the countries and 

 the people in a short time might begin with ' ' Mexico in the Twentieth 

 Century," 2 volumes, 1907, by Percy E. Martin, an Englishman; and 

 "Central America and Its Problems," 1909, by Frederick Palmer. 

 Mr. Palmer 's book contains few statistics, and mentions trade only 

 incidentally; but it describes conditions in a manner which leaves an 

 impression on the reader. An extract from Mr. Martin's work on 

 Mexico will indicate his manner of presenting his subjects : 



"There is scarcely a private oflBce, bank, or public building which 

 one enters which does not contain obviously American furniture; for 

 its mathematical angularity and generally unattractive appearance are 

 unmistakable. Thousands of rolltop desks, revolving chairs, tables, 

 bookshelves, settees, sofas, and rockers find their way into Mexico from 

 across the border, in spite of the heavy duties which are imposed. 

 Chairs, beds, dressers, and bedroom tables cannot, however, enter on 

 account of these duties, and the consequent high prices at which they 

 are retailed. Quantities of good agricultural implements are being 

 introduced into Mexico, the more intelligent among the haciendados 

 at length consenting to purchase after years of persuasion. American 

 light-bodied carriages are also becoming popular, as are a certain 

 number of American automobiles, although the favorites among the 

 wealthy classes are still those of French, Italian, and British make." 



Oak in the Furniture Trade 



Oak always has been and always will be an important item in furni- 

 ture making. Still one can hardly go through a furniture exposition 

 or make a round of the displays in the show windows without being 

 impressed with the idea that oak is being overshadowed more than it 

 should by other woods which have come into favor lately. As one 

 student of the situation puts it, it looks at times like oak has stood by 

 unobtrusively and let other woods run away with a large share of the 

 furniture trade. Among the features of late furniture shows have 

 been walnut as perhaps the newest thing in prominence, and prior to 

 this mahogany was a favorite, followed by Circassian and figured 

 gum. Birch, too, has been more in evidence lately, and all around 

 there is evidence of bringing to the front other favorites, with oak 

 manifesting a sort of modest or retiring disposition. 



There is oak in evidence, of course; there always has been and 

 always will be. Some beautiful effects are seen — some in period stock 

 with brown stain and some with grey, some plain and some quartered 

 • — but for all that oak is not nearly so conspicuous in the furniture 

 trade as it has been at times in the past. No one feels inclined to 

 find fault with other woods for coming into favor and capturing their 

 share of the trade. We have many excellent native cabinet woods and 

 the list of attractive imported woods is increasing right along. These 

 things are as they should be, too, for we need the variety in the furni- 

 ture and cabinet trade and we can take care of even more variety 

 in attractive woods. All this, however, doesn 't mean that oak should 

 take a back seat and veil itself with the obscurity of the onlooker 

 instead of being an active participant. Oak is really entitled to a 

 bigger and better place in the furniture world. 



Persistent concerted effort at exploitation has helped materially in 

 popularizing other woods in the cabinet world. This exploitation has 

 taken on various forms and in some instances the work of exploitation 

 here has overshadowed the oak boosting. This suggests that those 

 interested in the promoting of oak may make a bigger and more con- 

 spicuous place for it in the cabinet world and also in interior trim 

 by more attention to exploitation. There has perhaps been too much 

 assuming that oak is so well known and its qualities are so thoroughly 

 established that it needs no one to speak for it and no special adver- 

 tising or exploiting. Logic of this kind might have applied with some 

 force in the days gone by, but in this day that which is not persistently 

 exploited and brought to the attention of the public in new lights from 

 time to time is soon forgotten and generally neglected. This may weU 

 be given consideration by those interested in oak and desirous of see- 

 ing it occupy a more prominent place in the furniture trade. 



