46 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



June 10, 191S 



Excellent Crop Prospects 



The outlook now Indicates that this seasons wheat crop will amount 

 to 900,000,000 bushels. The crop of oats promises to be large, and the 

 cotton crop is much more promising than it was at this time last year. 

 Not only in this country, but also in England, France, India, Canada, and 

 Australia are the crop prospects excellent. In the British Isles more 

 potatoes have been planted than In any year of the past. Prospects, how- 

 ever, are poor in Russia, not because anything is wrong with the weather, 

 but because the people have been so absorbed in the problems of reform- 

 ing mankind that they have not had time to do much planting. 

 The Wooden Ship Program 



The program calls for building 400 wooden ships this year, and 200 next 

 year. The tonnage of this year's product. If the program is carried out, 

 will aggregate about 2,000,000 tons, and next year's wooden ships will 

 add another million. The tonnage of the steel ships now planned will 

 be about 6,000,000. It is possible to expand the wooden vessel program 

 almost indefinitely, since there is plenty of timber and plenty of room. 

 The worst shortage is in laborers ; but machines for doing the work are on 

 the increase, so that more work can be done by fewer men. The wooden 

 ships are being constructed at various points on the Pacific coast, the 

 Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic coast. A 4000-ton ship is sufficient to 

 carry supplies for 1000 men In France. The 2,000,000 tons of wooden ships 

 to be completed this year will supply 500,000 men. The steel ships under 

 way should serve 1,000,000 men. 



Lumber Furnished for War Purposes 



It is shown in the report of the war service cuiiiiiiittee of the National 

 Lumber Manufacturers' Association that the luinlicrmen have already 

 supplied the government with more than two and a quarter billion feet of 

 lumber for war purposes. The supplies came from the different bureaus 

 as exhibited in the following figures : 



Feet 



Northern Hardwood Emergency Bureau 9.000,000 



West Coast Lumber Emergency Bureau 435,000,000 



Georgia-Florida Emergency Bureau 308,800,000 



Alabama-Mississippi Emergency Bureau 45,000,000 



North Carolina Emergency Bureau 318,000,000 



Southern Pine Emergency Bureau .1,155,521,878 



Total .2,271.321,878 



Timber Shortage in Australia 



A government trade report from Mell.ciurne, Australia, states that in 

 the face of a supply of timber whicli K ,iliiiii-t inexhaustible, the State 

 of Victoria is threatened with a tiiiil" r innin. unless some change is 

 made in the forestry policy. The priii.i|iiil r:Mi„, ,,1' the decrease In the 

 output of timber is the fact that duriua llie lirst two years of the war 

 large numbers of mill employees enlisted. Some mills have closed down : 

 others are working with three-fourths their former force. In addition 

 to the decrease in home production there has also been a falling off in 

 imports, due to the shortage of shipping. 



The output from forest mills in Victoria tor the year ending June 30, 

 1914. was 64,391,000 superficial feet, and for the year ending June 30, 

 1917, 51,503,000 feet. 



The German Merchant Marine. 



A review of the German sea prospects, from the German viewpoint, 

 appeared March 31 in a Hamburg paper. The article was written by 

 Oskar'Linder. Following are the opening paragraphs of the article : 



With no branch of Germany's economic life has the world war pla.yed 

 such havoc as with German over-sea shipping. A good two-thirds of the 

 collective German trade fleet has, up to the present, through seizure or 

 capture, fallen into the possession of the enemy or been sunk, or else 

 appears to be greatly imperilled. 



To this must be added the frequently overlooked fact that German over- 

 sea shipping firms have, since the beginning of the war. despite the absence 

 of any income worth mentioning, been obliged to spend, month In and 

 month out. enormous sums for keeping their ships lying in neutral harbors 

 In good condition, for harborage, and for the hire and support of the sea- 

 men on these ships — expenditures which have, of course, gradually become 

 less with the entrance of the majority of the states originally neutral into 

 the coalition against us, yet which still today require considerable quotas. 

 There must, furthermore, be added the taxes at home, the cost of keeo- 

 ing in condition the ships lying here, the usual business expenses, the 

 support of those employees who have joined the colors and of their 

 dependents, and much besides. 



The handsome profits which some of the large German shipping firms 

 have gathered since 1916 through the transportation of iron ore and coal 

 in the Baltic Sea can. in the face of these expenditures, hardly be con- 

 sidered as more than a drop upon a hot stone. 



If the predicament of the German over-sea 

 ♦he very face of matters to be an extremelv di 

 must meet on the world's seas after the eml o( 

 companies of the neutral and enemy '(,11111111 

 fantastic sums during the years of the wu I 

 been in a position to declare divirteii'l 'i im 

 Biore perilous when it is compared with lin 1 

 in ndditiiiu to this also transferred v;i.i vum^ 

 funds, whereby their 



It one, it appears srni 

 ' war, for the shipping 

 mve earned altogether 

 Iiave thereby not only 

 r'li-nted size, but havo 

 mi competition that i' 

 rrseive and emergency 



of con 



sed 



L-tition with 



\WMe)iwatiiWimtm:!iig!iaiTOtTOmm^ 



Hardwood News 'Notes 



< MISCELLANEOUS > 



The Wadsworth Lnmber & Manufacturing Company, Wadsworth, O., 

 has changed its name to the Wadsworth Milling & Lumber Company. 



The death is announced of Thomas J. Pringle, president of the Mil- 

 waukee Casket Company, Milwaukee, Wis. 



The following are recent incorporations : The Akron Table Company, 

 Akron, O., and the Wilmington Saw Mill Company, Wilmington, O. ; the 

 Empire Moulding Company, New York, N. T., and the Grayling Box Com- 

 pany, Grayling, Mich. 



The Interior Hardwood Company, Indianapolis, Ind., and the G. H. 

 Barnes Hardwood Lumber Company, St. Louis, Mo., are both reported 

 closing out. 



The Ehinger-Vogt Company of Palmyra, Mich., has consolidated with the 

 Economy Drawing Table Company at Adrian, Mich., and Toledo, O., and 

 the latter concern is now known as the Economy Drawing Table & Manu- 

 facturing Company. 



The High Point Show Case Works, High Point, N. C, has sustained 

 a fire loss. 



The Bon Air Lumber & Manufacturing Company, Nashville, Tenn., has 

 incorporated with a capital of $100,000. 



The Ohio Valley Casket Company has been incorporated at Lawrence- 

 burg, Ind. 



The capital stock of the Kosse, Shoe & Schleyer Company, Cincinnati, 

 O.. has been increased to $100,000, and that of the Hyde Lumber Company, 

 South Bend, Ind., to $150,000. 



The Shoals Wood Products Company, with a capitalization of $10,000, 

 has been incorporated at Shoals, Ind. 



The Porter Manufacturing Company. Ann Arbor, Mich., has changed its 

 name to the Commerce Body Company. 



Wagner & Plymale. Gallipolis, O., is now conducting business under the 

 style of the Plymale Wagner Company. 



^-< CHICAGO >• 



The Central Millwork Company, Chicago, is liquidating. 



The Benton Furniture Company has incorporated at Benton, Hi., with a 

 capital of $10,000. 



G. H. Rittmueller has succeeded F. Rittmueller & Son at Addison, III. 



The Baker-Matthews Lumber Company has moved Its sales oflSces from 

 Chicago to Bank of Commerce & Trust building, Memphis, Tenn. 



W. o. Kins. Cliieago hardwood wholesaler and one of the stockholders 



in ■ .if 111.' Ill m. St operations in British Columbia, accompanied by the 



genmil iniini-. i- .,r the same company, has been spending some time in 

 the W.'sf, K. iiini; ready to build their new saw and paper mills and com- 

 mence the manufacture of their big timber holdings. 



G. M. Chambers, who has been manager of the Newark, N. J., office of the 

 Kendall Lumber Company, has been commissioned as captain in the quar- 

 termaster's corps, construction division of the national army, and reports 

 to Washington this week for service. Mr. Chambers is one of the active 

 salesmen In the East, having had experience in the sales and as general 

 manager of the Kendall Lumber Company, and is well equipped to be of 

 service to Uncle Sam at Washington. We hope to hear he has become a 

 general one of these days, as he certainly will do his best for the elimina- 

 tion of the Hohenzollerns. 



=■< BUFFALO >- 



The lumliermen are trying hard to move their stocks in advance of the 

 raise in freight rates, but they have not been able to do much at it, be- 

 cause the cars are moving so slowly. The boost in freights Is considered 

 a pretty stiff one by the lumbermen, who are not certain as yet what the 

 effect is going to be on their trade. They are sure that war industries 

 will need lumber, even though it costs a good deal more than at present. 



The lumber team which worked in the interest of the Red Cross cam- 

 paign was successful in bringing in quite a few thousand dollars. The 

 total quota for this city was $1,500,000, but the campaign was so suc- 

 cessful that the amount raised ran over $2,400,000. 



One of Buffalo's best-known lumbermen, Julius Dietz, died suddenly 

 on May 29, while at church. He left home in apparent good health, but 

 was stricken by apoplexy. He was seventy years old and had been Identi- 

 fied with the local lumber industry since he was eleven years old. He 

 grew up with the old business of E. & B. Holmes, becoming a partner, and 

 when the heads of that concern died he established the Builders' Planing 

 Mill Company. Up to five or six years ago this was a well-known con- 

 cern, but in more recent years Mr. Dietz was the representative of out- 

 of-town lumber companies and a familiar figure in the selling line. He 

 was one of the founders of the Buff.alo commandery. No. 14, Knights of 

 St. John. A widow and daughter, Mrs. W. F. Schweighert, and a sister, 

 Miss Susan Dietz, survive. 



Several million feet of lumber have thus far been received by li^ke and 

 the movement has lately shown improvement, after a quiet start. Freight 

 rates are quite high, which has the tendency of discouraging the bringing 

 in of lumber. Among hardwood cargoes recently arriving was one of 

 several hundred thousand feet of birch for the Yeager Lumber Company, 

 which has not been engaged in lake lumber trade for several years, but 

 has a good demand for this sort of stock. 



Maurice A. Wall, son of James B. Wall, president of the Buffalo Hard- 

 wood Lumber c'ompany, has left the training camp for military service 



