Ji-NE 10, 1918 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



25 



colored. However, in the territory in and contiguous to Memphis, 

 the majority of the female labor is colored and is to be found in 

 the veneer factories, panel factories, box plants, etc., doing prac- 

 tically all of the lighter work, audi as operating the edgors, trim- 

 mers, driers, dippers, glued stock, etc. Women are to bo found also 

 in many of the lumber yards, where their work consists mainly of 

 driving, although a few load and unload lumber. Some operators 

 do not take kindly to employment of this charnctor for women. 

 Then it must also be considered that the women are not very apt 

 in grading lumber, and if a load of No. 1 common gets piled up 

 with some No. 3, or in the wrong alley, there is considerable ex- 



pense attached to the reloading, inspecting, etc. One operator 

 objected to women because the men paid more attention to the 

 women than to work, while another was planning to employ women, 

 figuring the men would remain whore the women were to be found. 

 However, the solution of the labor problem has not been found. 

 One operator will experience fair success in retaining help, which 

 with another results in failure. Really, there does not seem to be 

 a practical solution at present, though labor requirements would be 

 materially reduced at some plants if more up-to-date equipment 

 were installed, liaiulling facilities revised, or the motor truck 

 utilized. 



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The Lumhermans Round Table 



Forcing Out the Broker? 



Here is an experience in another field which is suggestive, and 

 which is undoubtedly playing its part in the hardwood trade. 



The man referred to is a paper broker. He has been in the 

 habit of going out and selling high-grade, high-priced book and 

 bond paper, placing the business where he could get satisfactory 

 discounts, and either carrying the account himself or having the 

 shipper put it on his books and pay him his commission direct. 



Right now he is on the ragged edge, and is preparing to go out 

 of business. He can sell paper all right — but he can't get de- 

 liveries. The mills don 't require much assistance in the way of 

 getting markets for their products, but they arc Imving their 

 troubles with materials, labor, shipping conditions and government 

 requirements, the result being that they are 'tending to their 

 knitting and taking care of their own business first. , 



The trade of the broker can shift for itself, as far as they are 

 concerned. 



The man in mind has a lot of paper profits on his books, but 

 mighty little cash in the bank. He has just about decided to go 

 to farming or some other productive work, and quit trying to 

 maintain a position in a market which seems to have very little 

 use for him. 



There are comparatively few brokers of this type in the hard- 

 wood trade. There are, however, a good many legitimate jobbers, 

 who buy and sell outright, carry their own accounts and frequently 

 finance producers. There will always be a place for them. The 

 man who is being shoved into the background, and who is sure to 

 lose out, entirely regardless of possible governnn?nt regulations 

 on the subject, is the one who contributes nothing to the transac- 

 tion, and who, when all is said and done, is a purely fictitious 

 character, as far as real distributing value is concerned. 



In a way he is a commercial parasite — and these are not times 

 that are favorable for the pleasant and continued existence of 

 parasites. 



The Good Oak Barrel 

 Whisky manufacturers are probably resigned to the fact that 

 their business is about to depart to that place where, according to 

 Bill Nye, the woodbineth twine. Whisky making, as well as 

 whisky drinking, is about through. 



It makes one stop, however, to recall how many million feet 

 of good oak timber have been made into tight barrel staves for 

 the whisky trade, since they began converting cornjuice into fire- 

 water. Some of the finest white oak that ever grew has been 

 devoted to holding the output of the still, and to aging the product ■ 

 which called forth one of Ingcrsoll 's most famous apostrophes. 



Some time ago a visitor walked through a whisky warehouse, and 

 saw gleaming in the staves of the barrels beautiful figured wood 

 that would have looked fine in a table or piece of interior trim, 

 but somehow seemed a bit out of place there. Figure has no in- 

 trinsic value, of course, and is valuable because of its esthetic 

 appeal; yet there is no getting away from the fact that a beautiful 

 piece of wood might have a finer mission than catering to the 



needs of those who burn out their gizzards with highballs, even 

 when the materials thereof were made in old Kentucky. 



The passing of the whisky trade, while an immediate misfortune 

 to those who have been supplying the tight barrels needed for it, 

 will ultimately be a good thing for all branches of the forest prod- 

 ucts industry, because splendid material that has been devoted to 

 making whisky barrels will now find a place in more useful prod- 

 ucts, where it will be appreciated and will serve the wants of gen- 

 erations of people. 



As a final paragraph, it may be noted that those in the whisky 

 business are well taken care of, as something like a 200 per cent 

 increase in the value of whisky stocks has occurred since whisky 

 making was stopped last Sei)tember. And even some of our friends 

 in the stave business no longer worry since they have discovered 

 oil in districts where the principal industry formerly was hewing 

 out bolts for whisky and beer barrel staves. 

 Looking a Bit Ahead 



A certain Chicago veneer warehouse contains a big stock of 

 materials for doors. There is no demand, to speak of, at this par- 

 ticular time for door stock, because the building trade is pretty 

 well shot to pieces. Nevertheless, the veneer manufacturer seems 

 to be satisfied with his property, because he knows that one of 

 these days he won't be able to supply the door people fast enough, 

 and that in the meantime he can afford to carry the stock and wait 

 for conditions to change. 



That is the philosophic attitude to take, and the only one worth 

 assuming at this stage of the game. If business is dull in one direc- 

 tion, there is always more to be had somewhere else. Nowadays 

 it is not much trouble to find people who are willing and anxious 

 to buy lumber, veneers and other products of the mill, and those 

 who have stock which is not especially suited for present needs 

 can afford to hold it until the pendulum swings back and there is 

 again a need for that particular material. 



What is happening, however, in the door trade? It is said by 

 those in a position to know that a good many of the door manu- 

 facturers have turned, to the production of aeroplane materials, 

 and that they are holding their organizations together and serv- 

 ing the country in an effective way by helping to make airships. 

 Here again it is a case of doing the thing that lies nearest: if one 

 product is unsalable, make something else. 



But it will be some scramble for "position" when conditions 

 are restored to normal — and the house which has been looking 

 ahead and keeping a grip on its old market by study and cultiva- 

 tion in a limited way should be able to regain the favored place 

 it formerly held when the opportunity to do so is restored. 



Lumber can be put through a planer at speed rates varying from 

 about 50 or 60 feet a minute to about 200 while the rate of feed 

 through a drum sander is from 12 feet to 24 feet a minute. It is 

 easy to deduce from this that the smoother the planing is done and 

 the smaller amount of sanding required to secure a finish the more 

 economical will be the work of machining. 



