14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



more accuracy than he the quantity, quality and botany of the 

 timber; I believe I can stand behind his band saw and manufacture 

 a log into lumber with as much intelligence and skill as any sawyer 

 in his employ ; I believe I can go upon a pile of hardwood and 

 inspect it with accuracy, in strict accordance with any set of under- 

 standable rules ever promulgated; and again I believe I can go on 

 the road and sell just as much lumber at just as good prices as 

 he can. 



Mr. Kusse will kindly note that there is no qualification in the 

 above statement, but he will pardon that, not being overburdened 

 with modesty himself. 



If I had time to write it and could get some other newspaper to 

 print it, I would like to tell the true history of Bill Eusse's life, and 

 show the vivid contrast between that gentleman 's opinion of himself 

 and the estimate placed upon him by the majority. He couldn 't 

 consistently expect me to print this, because he is not an advertiser 

 in the Hardwood Record, and he understands the lumber press is out 

 ' ' for revenue only. ' ' 



Seriously, I am rather fond of Kusse and he should like me — the 

 quantity of "gall" we both have should make us kindred spirits. 



— H. H. G. 



Editorial Announcement. 



The special edition scheme of some of the distinguished contempo- 

 raries of the Eecord seems such an easy and profitable way of graft- 

 ing on the supporters of the trade press that it has been decided to 

 issue a double golden anniversary edition of the Hardwood Eecord 

 in commemoration of its one hundredth anniversary. This number 

 of the paper will be printed on Oct. 10, 1995. Kindly remember the 

 date. 



This edition will contain an article profusely illustrated with 

 historical prints by the chief of the United States Forestry Bureau 

 of Washington, D. C, telling about the wonderful forests that once 

 existed in the United States. 



The editor's great-grandson will make a comprehensive review of 

 the life work of the present editor of the Eecord. 



The President of the United States will contribute a timely article 

 on the subject of what the Panama Canal has done for the lumber 

 industry. 



• The editor will comprehensively review the prospects of the even- 

 tual accomplishment of universal hardwood inspection. 



One of the chief purveyors in cement building blocks will tell how 

 once wood was used in the construction of even ordinary home and 

 farm buildings. 



The chief of the Forest Service of the Philippines will tell the 

 story of how the Philippine forests have not been wasted. 



The leading factor in the vehicle trade will contribute a timely 

 article on steel farm wagons and motor cars. 



This is only a brief outline of the delightfully interesting text 

 with which the paper will be enlivened. This we hope will make a 

 fitting vehicle to hold up the publication's clients for anywhere 

 from one to ten pages of advertising, at so much per page. Of 

 course this special issue will have no earthly interest or value save 

 to the publishers, but like newspaper men of all times, it is expected 

 that the Hardwood Eecord principals will then, as now, "need the 

 money. ' ' __ 



What Do You Think of the System ? 



A Mississippi hardwood manufacturer sends in a circular letter 

 from a man in Chicago stating that he has just started in the hard- 

 wood lumber business and wants to buy lumber to be shipped direct 

 to his customers on the basis of cash less two per cent. He holds 

 out this tempting bait: "It will make no difference to me what 

 you ship as long as my customer is satisfied." 



This man is typical of a great number of alleged wholesale hard- 

 wood lumber dealers with offices in their hats, who attempt to scalp 

 lumber, and incidentally get a living, on the basis outlined. The 

 sooner owners of lumber and wholesale consumers cease doing busi- 

 ness with this class of people, the better for the trade. There is no 

 room for the grafter in the hardwood lumber business and the sooner 

 he realizes that fact, the better. 



The Manufacturers' Lumber Supply. 



One of the most conservative and influential furniture papers of 

 the country is The Furniture Journal, of Chicago. In its issue of 

 November 10 this publication discussed the manufacturers' lumber 

 supply. The article is worthy of reproduction, because it gives 

 straight-from-the-shoulder advice that would not be presumed by even 

 the most radical of lumber journals. 



In these times when the manufacturer of furniture is confronted 

 with a steady advance in the cost of the lumber which enters into 

 his product, with no corresponding advance in the price which 

 lie is able to obtain for his own product, it behooves him to buy 

 his lumber under the fairest and best conditions. The time was — 

 and that not very long ago — when the furniture factories of the 

 country cut into stock the material found at their doors. Wis- 

 consin and Minnesota furnished the lumber used by the factories 

 in those states, and the forests of Michigan provided about all 

 tin' material which the factories at Grand Rapids and elsewhere 

 throughout the state needed — and so on all over the country. 

 Every district had its own standard of grades, and inspection was 

 more or less local in scope, and stock was purchased on a basis 

 well understood between producer and factory man. 



But all this, is changed. The lumber used in the furniture 

 factories of the country is shipped long distances, and is bought 

 in almost every market. It is important then that there should 

 be a well established and universal standard of grades, so that 

 when the manufacturer in Grand Iiapids, in Rockford, or Chicago 

 or Minneapolis, buys a car of oak or birch, or anything else of a 

 certain grade, in Memphis, St. Louis, Chicago, or at mill points 

 elsewhere, he will know with reasonable certainty what he is 

 going to get. 



Because this is the case The Furniture Journal has upon repeated 

 occasions approved the effort first fathered by the National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association for a universal inspection and grading 

 system for the so-called hardwood lumber, and has been disap- 

 pointed that the result has not been accomplished. Something 

 like thirteen years have been spent by the organization named, and 

 success has not been achieved. The Furniture Journal is therefore - 

 compelled to look in another direction for such a system as is 

 under consideration. Five or six years ago the Hardwood Manu- 

 facturers' Association of the United States was brought into 

 existence. This association has undertaken the proposition. In 

 all the other branches of the lumber industry the making of grades 

 is in the hands of the manufacturers. The middle man has no 

 part in it. And the anomalous condition that the middle man is 

 in control in the National Hardwood Lumber Association is prob- 

 ably responsible for the failure of that organization to make a 

 uniform system of inspection for hardwood lumber that would 

 prove acceptable. There are few yards in which any considerable 

 stock of hardwood lumber is carried. The average furniture 

 manufacturer buys for his own use each year about as much 

 lumber as the wholesaler or yardman handles for retail purposes. 

 As between the lumber maker and the furniture dealer, it is 

 therefore a matter of "from mill to factory." The interest of 

 the furniture maker is therefore with the lumber manufacturer In 

 this matter. I'rice is aoverned by grade, not grade by the price. 



The Hardwood Manufacturers' Association has made a standard 

 of grades, inaugurated a system of inspection, and is in a fair way 

 of securing a standard which will be universal. The manufac- 

 turers of furniture can help on this desideratum by stipulating 

 in buying lumber that it shall be on "Manufacturers' Grades." 



An Important Question. 



A leading manufacturer of hardwood lumber in the South forwards 

 the following excerpt from a letter he has just received from a New 

 York correspondent, which he says exactly meets his views: 



Did you look at the "Important Question" cartoon on page 15 of 

 the Hakdwood Record of November 10? It is a serious question 

 and it should be answered by all honest lumbermen, and it ought 

 to be the duty of all lumbermen who do make an honest grade 

 to see that their brother members in their association, no matter 

 which it may be or what the rules are, do likewise, no matter 

 what the cost may be. I hope that page will be found in all 

 lumber offices ; and there is not a lumberman in America who could 

 not read every issue of that magazine with profit to himself. 

 The cartoon page particularly seems to strike at the very root of 

 lumber matters. 



This endorsement of the Eecord 's campaign for an honest inspec- 

 tion is but one of scores of like commendatory lp^ters that are daily 

 reaching the editor's desk. 



