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HARDWOOD RECORD 



attributable to this present two-system inspection prevailing in the 

 United States. 



As a matter of fact the actual difference in results, under com- 

 petent interpretation of either system, amounts to very little. Many 

 prominent buyers insist that they do not give a twopence under 

 which inspection they buy, but nevertheless the rules are expressed 

 a little differently, and there is always the chance for the line boards 

 going one way or the other. There is really not difference enough 

 to require more than a day's deliberation on various minor points, 

 to get the two systems framed into one. This accomplished the 

 formation of a disinterested, impartial, competent inspection bureau 

 to handle reinspection on this uniform basis, not only for the two 

 big associations, but for all the minor hardwood lumber exchanges 

 of the country would logically follow. 



Let the spirit or mutual concession, good will and common sense 

 go on, and if the happy result be accomplished it should lie recalled 

 that the credit for the movement is largely due to the Indiana 

 Hardwood Lumber Association, which for many years lias so per- 

 sistently advocated it. 



The Hardwood Dimension Business. 



The department of hardwood manufacturing known as the 

 dimension business is at last coming into its own. For years it has 

 been the "poor house" end of lumber production, and the average 

 manufacturer who made it an important part of his operations has 

 ordinarily charged up a good deal of money to experience. This 

 dimension business covers a line of production suitable for wagon 

 making, furniture making, chair making and an infinity of other 

 purposes. Buyers long contended that it was a product resulting 

 from mill offal and that they should pay for it only practically labor 

 cost. As a matter" of fact, while considerable dimension material 

 can be made from slabs and crooked trunks, limbs and other forest 

 and mill refuse, the greater portion of it requires material that 

 would make good lumber, and it should command a price commen- 

 surate with its basic value. 



Manufacturers have learned as the years go by. to properly 

 make and season dimension material into forms entirely suitable to 

 the specific requirements of the wholesale manufacturing trade, and 

 have educated each other up to the values of their product, so that 

 year by year they are getting a much increased price for their 

 product. On the other hand, as consuming manufacturers become 

 convinced that they can secure a sufficient supply of this sort of 

 material to keep their plants going, they have grown not only willing 

 but anxious to buy it in preference to lumber. With this feeling 

 values are constantly increasing. 



A leading furniture producer recently said : "In my business 

 well-manufactured dimension material is worth to me fully twenty 

 per cent more than firsts and seconds. When I buy it I am not 

 buying firsts and seconds but I am buying clear lumber which goes 

 through my factory without waste, and when I can buy this material 

 at the price of firsts and seconds I am buying cheaper material than 

 the highest lumber product." This is a common souse statement 

 of fact and should be fully digested by every hardwood manufacturer 

 and wholesale consumer. 



Two years ago on the average dimension material was going 

 upon the market at considerably less than the juice of No. 1 com- 

 mon. Today it is vacillating between the price of No. 1 common 

 and the price of firsts and seconds. Within this period there has 

 been an average accretion of at least thirty per cent in the price 

 of this stock, and it has considerably more coining to it before it 

 commands its just value. Lumber manufacturers who in the past 

 have "ducked" dimension production, can now- undertake it with 

 the surety of getting very good results from their mill and forest 

 waste, and it should be produced by many operators whose offal 

 now rots on the ground or goes to the burner. 



The Memphis Meeting and Its Possibilities. 



The recent meeting of the Hardwood Manufacturers' Associa- 

 tion at Memphis was the largest in attendance, the strongest in wise 

 legislation, and the most thoroughly enjoyable one ever held by that 

 organization. The legislation enacted makes for the betterment of 



hardwood conditions; seeks to enlist governmental aid for the im- 

 provement of waterways and a drainage system for the Mississippi 

 Valley; looks toward economy in hardwood production by the utiliza- 

 tion of the small percentage of odd length lumber that accrues in 

 manufacture, and endorses a plan whereby the buyer of lumber 

 shall have a voice in the control of its reinspection machinery. 



Of paramount and vital interest to the meeting was the spirit 

 of fraternity manifested between its supporters and the many promi- 

 nent and influential members of the National Hardwood Lumber 

 Association present. Presidents of both the associations made most 

 admirable speeches in advocacy of the entire hardwood trade of the 

 country getting together on a basis of uniform inspection. If the 

 wholesome advice of these principals is followed, in a very short 

 time this desideratum will undoubtedly be an accomplished fact. 



Another Interesting Hardwood Story. 



A prominent West Virginia operator tells the Record of an experi- 

 ence he has had with the shipment of a ear of lumber. At the 

 instance of an alleged Columbus jobber, he shipped him, thoroughly 

 mixed, a car containing one-third firsts and seconds poplar and two- 

 thirds No. 1 common. Shortly afterward he received an inquiry from 

 another alleged jobber stating that he understood the car had been 

 shipped by him and inquiring the original contents. The jobber was 

 truly advised, but came back with the statement that he had pur- 

 chased the car for two-thirds firsts and seconds and one-third com- 

 mon. A week later the West Virginia millman had another inquiry 

 relating to the same car from a Buffalo man, stating that he had 

 purchased the car for a straight shipment of firsts and seconds and 

 he also was anxious to know what the original shipment was. This 

 man was also truly advised. 



"Now," says the shipper, "both jobbers No. 1 and No. 2 have 

 had the nerve to ask me for a rebate, in reply to which I have 

 politely invited both of them to go to ! " 



It may be that this method of certain intermediaries in the lumber 

 business is going to continue forever, but the Hardwood Record 

 has its doubts about it. The wholesale consumer, the manufacturer 

 and the upright merchant in hardwood lumber are fast ceasing to 

 countenance this sort of business, ami the sooner it is ended, the 

 better for all concerned. 



Report oi the Memphis Meeting. 



This edition of the Hardwood Record contains the only com- 

 plete report that has been printed of the fifth annual meeting of 

 the Hardwood Manufacturers' Association, held at Memphis January 

 29 and .'lit. Furthermore it will be noted that the report is illustrated 

 with pictures of the officers, executive board and directors, and 

 chairmen of all leading committees. The document will prove 

 profitable reading to all those interested in the evolution and 

 development of hardwood affairs. 



January Building Operations. 



Last month's building operations throughout the United States, 

 as compared with January, 1900, show a falling off of seventeen, 

 per cent in the aggregate, according to reports from the American: 

 Contractor of Chicago. Optimists contend that this fact is occa- 

 sioned by insufficient supply of building material ; but before the 

 year is over it will very likely be demonstrated that people who con- 

 template large investments in the way of structures of various kinds 

 are deciding to take a chance on waiting for these new improve- 

 ments until materials and labor cost seek a somewhat lower plane. 



Although a seventeen per cent reduction in building operations; 

 seems large, the losses are so widely distributed, and so interspersed 

 with gains in many cities,, as to indicate that the movement is fol- 

 lowing the regular rule of supply and demand. In New York a 

 falling off of twenty-nine per cent is reported, but this still leaves: 

 the enormous amount of more than $14,000,000 expended for Jan- 

 uary of this year. The chief cities that show gains are Atlanta, 

 Buffalo, Chicago, Chattanooga, Davenport, Duluth, Indianapolis, 

 Memphis, Moline, New Orleans, Omaha. Philadelphia, Pueblo, Roch- 

 ester, St. Paul, Syracuse, Washington and Worcester. 



