HARDWOOD RECORD 



19 



stagnation under the non-progressive Moslem would end. This is 

 speculating somewhat in the future, and predictions are conditioned 

 on uncertainties, but in that corner of the world lie large possibilities, 

 and it is worth while to glance a moment at what might happen if 

 real progress should obtain a start in that region where the hand of 

 death has been laid upon all enterprise for hundreds of years. 



The cradle of human civilization was in the Euphrates valley, and 

 it was a high civilization. When the Greek Herodotus visited that 

 region 450 B. C. he refused to describe the luxuriance of the vege- 

 tation, because he feared that people would not believe the truth; 

 and when Xenophon led the "retreat of the ten thousand" through 

 that country, the hardest obstacle that his army had to overcome was 

 the network of irrigation canals whicTi covered extensive regions. 

 Nebuchadnezzar's great irrigation canal was the largest in the 

 world, ancient or modern, and its ruins today are worthy of com- 

 parison with the Panama Canal. It was 250 feet wide and 480 miles 

 long. There were hundreds of other canals from 60 to 200 feet wide. 

 Some are today in such good state of preservation that with some 

 repairs water for irrigating the country could again flow through them. 



There is abundance of water to redeem the country, but under the 

 nonprogressive governments of the past centuries, waste and ruin 

 have reigned supreme. Every attempt by European to develop the 

 country has been hindered by the Turks. Some railroads have been 

 built and others have been planned, but the blight of oriental non- 

 progressiveness has been upon every effort. The native population has 

 been unable to understand what progress consists of, and, of course, 

 incapable of taking any effective steps to bring it about. The natives 

 liave been content to remain two thousand years behind the times in 

 one of the most fertile regions of the world. 



If the present upheaval should throw that country open to civiliza- 

 tion, a large market for American lumber would be one of the first 

 results. The region has no timber. It was cut down 3,000 years ago. 

 The natural source of timber for railroads, bridges, houses, boats, 

 and all other purposes, including vehicles and agricultural implements, 

 will be the United States. In figuring on that market, one is dealing 

 with the future, but the consummation may not lie far in the future. 

 If the country is given relief from lawlessness and oppression, it may 

 be expected to develop with phenomenal rapidity. 



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It is easy to sustain the argument that letter writing plays a much 

 more important part in business life today than ever before. Many 

 things have been invented to facilitate correspondence and as a 

 consequence much of the business of the world is carried on by 

 mail. Tet with all the modern facilities for doing the work and with 

 the recognized importance of the letter in business transactions, it 

 seems to be a fact that we are in the midst of an era of unparalleled 

 carelessness so far as letter writing is concerned. Men have attained 

 that point iu letter writing where they feel they are through with 

 the task the minute a letter is dictated, and do not take the time 

 and trouble to read it over and sign it before mailing. 



Many mistakes have occurred because of this carelessness. There 

 have been so many of them that some people print in their letter 

 heads that they will not be responsible for stenographic errors, and 

 others stamp on their letters "Dictated but not read after transcrib- 

 ing." Better cut out that kind of carelessness, boys, and read your 

 letters over before signing and mailing them. To blame errors on the 

 stenographer and then try to correct them on this basis afterward 

 is not good business. Eather prevent some of the errors by reading 

 your letters over after they are written. 



Not long ago a lumberman was looking for a stenographer. He 

 said he had just discharged the one he had because she didn't 

 exercise judgment and show good sense. When pinned down for 

 specific explanation it developed that the stenographer had failed to 

 correct certain errors in quotations being sent out, errors that had 

 been made admittedly by the lumberman himself, yet he discharged 

 her because she didn't notice them. 



This is expecting too much of a stenographer. A man hires a 

 stenographer at prices ranging from $10 to $25 per week, depending 

 upon the magnitude of the business and the skill of the stenographer. 

 Sometimes one pays a stenographer a good salary, that is for 

 stenographic work, but it is not a salary commensurate with the 

 requirements if one is to shoulder on to the stenographer all the 

 responsibility of auditing errors and checking up business judgment. 

 Talent and brain work of this kind is worth more money than that 

 and is of the order that belongs to managers, not clerks. In other 

 words, the very work and responsibility that some business men are 

 inclined to put upon their stenographers is work, judgment and 

 responsibility that they are supposed to be exercising themselves. 



Letter writing can not become a fine art so long as a man lets it 

 go after dictating. It is not enough, neither is it satisfactory to use 

 a rubber stamp calling attention to the fact that the letter has been 

 dictated by so and so but not read after typing. This is a poor way 

 to conduct correspondence and it is the duty of every business man 



to read over his letters after they are wi-itten. There may be excuse 

 for neglecting this duty now and then under the stress of certain 

 occasions, but to do it regularly day in and day out is a poor 

 business policy. J. C. T. 



Kentucky's Compensation Law Invalid 



The Kentucky court of appeals sent the workmen's compensation 

 act of that state to the legislative boneyard just as the law was about 

 to go into effect, although the decision was announced on a narrow 

 vote of four to three of the justices of the court. At least, the court 

 holds that the law is invalid, so far as it may be construed as being 

 coercive in its effect, and that is the life of the law. The court 

 intimates that the parties to employment contracts may validly limit 

 the amount which shall be recoverable against the employer for injury 

 to the employe irt the course of the latter 's work, but holds that, 

 under the organic law of Kentucky, the legislature is without power 

 to coerce such action, as is found would be the effect of the law if 

 it were upheld in its present form. The court of appeals, however, 

 expresses favor for a proper form of compensation legislation. 



In addition to a limitation of amounts recoverable for personal 

 injuries, the court decides that the new law is objectionable on 

 account of its provision to the effect that where an employe is killed 

 in the course of his employment, and leaves no dependent relatives, 

 part of the award to be paid on account of the accident shall be 

 paid into a fund available for the payment of compensation for 

 injury to other workineu. In other words, the act would "rob Peter 

 to pay Paul. ' ' 



In Kentucky, the effect of the decision will be to defer, if not 

 permanently defeat, the final adoption of an enforceable compen- 

 sation law there. In other states, the action of the court of appeals 

 will afford a strong precedent for the overthrow of similar laws 

 which have not yet been submitted to the judicial test. 



In parts of the West where trees are scarce, sage brush is used 

 for fuel. In Nevada the large main stems are trimmed by Indians 

 at $3.00 a cord and delivered to the user at about $6.50. Sage brush 

 burns rapidly and is rather dirty, but produces good heat. 



A log raft containing 1,000,000 feet of cedar, said to be the largest 

 ever floated on the Pacific, recently made the trip from British 

 Columbia to Puget Sound. It was 100 feet long and 70 feet wide ; it 

 stood 15 feet out of the water and 20 feet under. 



