14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



been made by the rotary cut process; i. e., a log has been projected 

 against a fixed knife and slices of the wood thus removed in a con- 

 tinuous sheet. This system is adaptable to many varieties of wood 

 and has cheapened veneers very materially. With the cheapening 

 process has come a great development in tin- use of veneers for 

 many purposes. Today the greater proportion of hardwood doors 

 are veneered. Vast quantities of furniture panels, table and dressei 

 tops are of built-up stock. In fact every day shows a new use for 

 laminated woods, and still the veneer and panel industry is in its 

 infancy. 



This trade is divided into three classes: The manufacturer who 

 makes sawed, sliced and rotary cut veneers only; the manufacturer 

 who makes veneers and built-up stock or panels, and the manufac- 

 turer who buys his veneers and makes panels only. 



Through the creation of the National Veneer & Panel Manufac- 

 turers' Association these three elements of the trade are working in 

 entire harmony and are gradually establishing a basis of grading 

 veneers and panels and a uniform base of cost which will eventually 

 result in a comparative uniformity of values. The business in its 

 general character being a new one, manufacturers have had a great 

 deal to learn about it. It. may In- said that the veneer and panel 

 industry lias been passing through experimental stages. It is a 

 business which "looks good" on paper, but which cost figures have 

 never proved to lie so. Paper profits of a hundred per cent have 

 dwindled down to twenty-five, to ten per cent, to cost, and in quite 

 a number of eases to less than cost. The veneer'trade is just learn- 

 ing how to figure cost, and when this desideratum is reached there is 

 ]nts in store for the skilled veneer and panel producer. 



Manufacturers of furniture, doors and a good many other articles 

 of general utiJitj hove discovered that the veneer and panel people 



have not 1 n "onto their job," and ever since the production of 



v,., is bias grown to be a leading pursuit thej have bought this 



material at very low prices. In fart, their original reason fur Inly- 

 ing veneers was that they could produce a laminated rail, panel or 

 furniture table top from this material of a better quality and at a 

 less cost than they could make it of solid \\ I. 



Although the National Veneer & Panel Manufacturers' Associa 

 lion has been in existence only a little more than a year, tin/ efforts 

 of its enterprising members have resulted in educating themselves 

 as well as the trade at large up to making cost figures that will 

 result in a vast deal of good to the trade. While today the veneer 

 and panel manufacturers of the United States are behind their 

 orders from sixty days to six months, it is believed thai the ednea 

 tional work performed by the association will result in the evolution 

 of a uniform system of manufacture and grading, and that the 

 coming year will see a base of values established for this line ol 

 goods that will show a handsome profit for the producers. 



Reciprocal Demurrage Law Convention. 



The American Lumberman has issued a call for a national ear 

 demurrage convention to lie held in Chicago on Friday, January 4. 

 next, to discuss the present ear situation, its causes and remedies, and 

 if its members shall so decide, t.'i devise and arrange for the presenta- 

 tion tn Congress of an amendment to the Interstate I rce law. 



which shall provide: 



That shippers and receivers of carload freight shall pay to 



'railroads without delay or recourse .-i fixed a mi per car per day 



beyond a certain fixed time allowed I'm- loading or unloading, sucb 

 amount and time to be determined by tin- interstate Commerci 

 Commission ; 



Thai, reciprocally, failure by a railroad to place cars for loading 

 within a reasonable, fixed time after demand for cars shall be 

 made by prospective shippers shall subject such railroad to a like 

 charge or penalty ; 



That, failing to deliver a car at destination within a reasonable 

 time, the railroad collecting the freight charge shall pay to the 

 consignee or party holding bill of lading such amount per car per 

 day of delay as the Interstate Commerce Commission shall decide 

 to be just and equitable; such payment to be automatically col- 

 lectable, perhaps by having stamped on the receipt or bill of lading 

 given by the railroad the date of delivery of car to the railroad, 

 and the* mileage to destination, the consignee having the right and 

 power to make payment in full o£ freight bill by tendering the 

 amount of the bill, less the penalty for delay shown to have ac- 

 crued ; 



Or to take such other action, or to recommend such other meas- 

 ures, as the members of the convention shall in their assembled 

 wisdom decide to be equitable, practicable and wise, having due 

 regard to the rights of the railroads or other common carriers 



engaged in interstate coin rce as well as to the interests thej 



[ epresent . 



With all due respect to the enterprise of an esteemed eotemporary 

 in attempting to assist in legislation that shall ameliorate existing 

 transportation evils, At is the belief of the Hardwood Record that 

 little can be done in this way to bring about this much-ueeded relief. 

 In fact, the Record is entirely in accord with Weyerhaeuser & < o.. 

 who express themselves on this subject as follows: "We believe 

 the proposed reciprocal demurrage law utterly impracticable. It will 



impede rather than expedite movement of cars. * * * Self- 

 interest will produce better railway service than government regula- 

 tions. The railways need more cars, more motive power, more track. 

 but legislation will not produce them." 



It is getting to be a general belief that there already is too much 

 railroad legislation. If the position of shippers has been in auy 

 wise improved by Interstate Commerce laws during the past few 

 years it is not generally conspicuous. In the very nature of the busi- 

 ness railroads cannot be expected to increase their supply of equip- 

 ment to such an extent that they can take care of double or treble 

 an average month's business during the few weeks of active move- 

 ment of farm products. It would lie asking too much. Mr. Weyer- 

 haeuser has apparently sounded the keynote of the situation when 

 he says that self-interest will produce better railway service than 

 governmental regulations. 



However, the proposed convention can do no harm, and it may 

 result in threshing out certain problems that will prove of eventual 

 good to both transportation companies and to the shipping public. 

 It is a piece of newspaper enterprise that is highly commendable. 



The Lumber Combine. 



Press dispatches announce that Commissioner of Corporations Gar- 

 field has begun an investigation of the operations of the so-called 

 ' ' lumber trust." 



The operations of the said lumber trust are receiving a good deal 

 of consideration in Congress. Senator Kittridge of South Dakota 

 introduced a resolution in the Senate some days ago directing the 

 Commissioner of Corporations to investigate the cause or causes of 

 the high price of lumber in its various stages of manufacture from 

 the log, and to ascertain whether or not a lumber trust exists. A 

 resolution to the same effect was introduced in the House by Repre- 

 sentative Miller of Kansas. It is alleged that preliminary informa- 

 tion shows that during the past three years the prices of lumber have 

 advanced by regular -logos, indicating at least uniformity of con- 

 trol, and that the advance has ranged from $5 to $10 a thousand feet. 



Commissioner of Corporations Garfield can be. advised in advance 

 that he will not find any lumber trust, or any trust methods that 

 have contributed to the increase of the prices of hardwood lumber 

 at least. The prices of hardwood have advanced from the very 

 .lie ii nt and natural cause of insufficient supply for the demand; 

 from the diminished area and greater stumpage cost of the timber, 

 and the very materially increased cist of lumber production. Under 

 these conditions it is surprising that the rise in hardwood lumber 

 values has not been much more than it has. 



It is also suggested that possibly the $1^ tariff on lumber has con- 

 tributed materially to increased cost. From the viewpoint nt' t 



hardv. I operator he would m.t .-are a rap if lumber was on the 



tree list, because he has no fear of competition from oak, poplai 

 Cottonwood or gum from any other section of the world. In fad. 

 if all lumber was mi the free list it is doubtful if the price would 

 In- diminished on any item. The important advantage that would 

 accrue from abrogating the lumber tariff would be to prolong the 

 lit',, of the forests of the United States. 



Fire Losses for 1906. 



It is authoritatively stated that the lire losses foi the year draw- 

 ing to ;i close will exceed by hundreds of millions of dollars the lost 

 for any previous year in the history of this country. Tin- San 

 Francisco earthquake fire alone entailed losses aggregating nearlj 

 three times the total losses resulting from the I hicago fin 

 of 1871, seven times the total of the Boston fire of 1872, 

 and ten times the loss in Baltimore from the 1904 fire. The statis- 

 tics recently prepared by the National Board of Fire Underwriters 

 indicate an average per capita fire loss of $3.10 for a period of five 

 years in 252 American cities. This great tax upon American nianii 

 fa.tuiers and merchants has sent scores of old line insurance com 

 pi is into bankruptcy during the year. 



In the face of this fire loss history is it not worth the time of lum- 

 bermen and the manufacturing clientage of the Hardwood RECORD' 

 to consider the success that has been attained by the various purelj 

 lumber insurance companies of the United States.' These companies 

 commencing in a small way have gradually grown in strength until 

 today an ordinary sized fire risk in strictly lumber or in a lumbei 

 consuming industry can be placed among a few of them with a 

 positive guarantee that their protection is sure, and beyond that tin 

 are securing this protection at from twenty-five to thirty-live pel 

 cent less cost than offered by the old companies. The underwriters 

 of lumber risks have demonstrated beyond peradventure that the 

 lumber trade in the past has paid too much of the proportion of 

 losses for other lines of trade and have therefore not been buying 

 1 1 1 s 1 1 1 .- at a just price. 



