HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



recede as far as their 1907 quotations, there are plenty of wholesalers who 

 will speculate and buy the stock, holding it lor better times which are 

 lx)und to come sooner or later. It is apparent to all of us that the 

 increased cost of stumpase and of manufacturing will not permit any such 

 cut as this, and would only rr^nit- in the sacrifice of t', '::: M . irnril 

 margin upon stocks \vlii> h n. m to return to their ii n 



general business condin.n n. i ik t.i normal. It is ,. n 



that with the return m nu: m. -, :iclivity, tins sulh i.l 



stock will move qUll-kll .mmI.ih m.]. ; ].i .du. , |..i, ■.■,im.. 



are co'nfident that if ijciinn i- i i , ! 



prices for their stocks, i h. > l^ i . ,.: i .. 



be moved by any anion ur .ii' |.i i. ■ . ut i iiu , i h. i . i. , . .[, i -, mj i !,. j.i -.;i i to 

 themselves instead of diverting it into tin' liands .jf tlie speciilntinij 

 jobber. 



Your committee believes that wc are already ove 

 present depression. There are many cnconraging sign 

 note as follows: The government's report on the grain crop; all records 

 for grain receipts In Chicago recently broken. This alone should, and no 

 doubt will, take care of a large proportion of our excess No. 3 hardwood 

 and hemlock for grain doors. The American Steel & Wire Company has 

 circularized the trade withdrawing all quotations. This has always, in the 

 past, proved an infallible guide in Indicating better general business condi- 

 tions. Yellow pine slii|im. nis f..r .liine were 10,000,000 feet in excess of 

 the cut, or nearly thi- I, condition was the immediate cause 



of the advance of .'SI hc — which advance is being (irmly 



maintained. Hcporis i I In the lumber trade Journals from 



all the southoiii lunji. s are universally optimistic. There 



has been !in : i si. 00 per M in fir. 



Mr. KelluL i in Hemlock and Hardwood Manu- 



facturers' .\s V, imder date of July 17, as follows: 



'■I have jusL ii.. , ,,...,. ., i,.,. up through the northwestern part of 



the state, wlirie 1 louud llie lumber manufacturers well supplied with 

 orders and fo<'linj; vrry cheerful over the outlook for the fall trade. While 

 there is quite a little more lumber in pile now than a year ago, there is 

 only a normal supply and some items will quickly get scarce if a strong 

 demand develops. I think this especially applies to low-grade stock." 

 Hemlock 

 , . . , ,,.^„ 21000,000 less than was actually 



feet more on hand now than one 



..f this excess is No. 3 or culls *and 



Ills of yellow pine in our markets 



. itself felt in the South is 



■ If is liardly any dry mer- 



mont, in the hands of our 



low stocks, and if the car 



xl'iit railroad officials predict, it 



1 will be wanted and at prices that 



1. It this proves true, then some 



. ., .. ill were entirely unnecessary and did 



tlic 1. ;isi. The heavy decline in the business 



IS .■.mseil the surplus of No. 3 or culls but a 



sijon cousume the surplus, for we do not have 



0, 11 and 12 to And larger stocks in hemlock 



only by comparison with 1913 stocks. 



Hemlocic Lath 



Demand strong — Prices firm. 



To sum up, your committee believes that there have been no changes in 



ralues of the various woods as shown in our last report. The market Is 



dull ; the amount of lumber moving is below normal, but prices as shown 



by recent reports of sales made by our members are firm with the possible 



exception of a little weaKness in No. 1 and No. 2 common in some of the 



woods. Tlie higter grades are firm and No. 3 also is fairly firm. We have 



attended many meetings when the outlook was darker than it is today. 



Unless all signs fail, we have a reasonable right to expect better conditions 



to prevail for the balance of the year than have existed for the past three 



months. 



Secretary Knox read a letter of the same optimistic tenor as the 

 market report, which was sent to him by W. T. Culver of Lud- 

 ingtdB, Mich. 



G. Von Platen of Grand Eapids raised the question as to whether 

 or not the reports of new members should be considered in filing 

 stock reports. He maintained that only those figures submitted 

 by men who were in the association last year should be counted. 

 This seemed to be the sentiment of other members. 



C. A. Bigelow of Bay City talked regarding stock conditions 

 and moved that the report of the market conditions committee be 

 accepted. This motion was carried. 



The interesting report of C. P. Hickok, chief fire warden em- 

 ployed by the Michigan Forest Fire Protective Association, fol- 

 lows in part: 



Report of Forest Fire Protective Department 



During the years of 1912 and 1913 we passed through several dry 



periods, the intensities of which we were led to believe were as severe as 



Our estimates for VM 

 cut in 1913, and yet i 

 year ago. However. ,i 



all the excess is .-itti n 

 and the car sid ; u. ,, 

 going to bene ,11 ■ 

 chantable luii;i>" i , 1 1 

 members ami i in i i i 

 shortage dev.l.,|.. in : 

 will be an i.\ ■ n ,i,:iin. 

 will be satisrii.i.ii, ; 

 of the cut pn.cs uluei. 

 not benefit the situatiui 

 of the box mnnufacluro 

 resumption of business 

 to go farther back tlian 

 than at present. They s 



might be expected. lu this conclusion we must admit we were in error. 

 The belated spring fires which occvrred in the month of May this year 

 were, by far, the worst the wardens and the puljlic have had to contend 

 with in the three years of the activities of this department We are con- 

 vinced that, but for the efforts of a large majority of the people living iu 

 the fire zone and especially those residing within the slash and forest area, 

 a repetition of the disastrous Arcs of 1908 would have been the result. 

 There were several days between the 11th and 20th of May when it seemed 

 III It ■iiiiiii large areas were doomed to destruction by fire, but through 

 II iiit.rest taken by the public in general in subduing forest fires, 

 1 ' III 'ii lin liar fire was prevented. 



I li 1 1 Ti.> question but that the educational campaign carried on by 

 your wardens during the past two years was responsible for the intelligent 

 manner iu which the fire situation was taken hold of. During the recent 

 severe fire days we received co-operation beyond our expectations and but 

 for this action on the part of those who have learned that forest fires are 

 desperately destructive the losses would have totalled many thousands of 

 dollars. Nearly all of the supervisors and township officers in the fifty- 

 three townships patrolled gave their hearty cooperation in the work of 

 saving property from destruction. However, in four cases, supervisors 

 were lax and when a condition of this kind exists loss to property and 

 criticism of the methods employed by the department usually follows. 



For the period between April 15 and July 1 252 fires were discovered 

 by your men and either put out at once cr gangs of fire fighters organized 

 through supervisors, lumbermen and settlers. In most cases fires were con- 

 trolled without loss to properties. Following is a list giving the number 

 of fires, their cause, area burned, and the damage sustained : 



Cause — Number Percent 



Settlers 12a 50.38 



Kallroads 61 24.39 



Fishermen 13 o.07 



Campers 3 1.17 



Smokers 32 12.48 



Malicious 4 1.56 



Log loaders 3 1.17 



Glass bottle 1 gO 



Lumbermen 1 -3 J 



Lightning 1 „-29 



Unknown ' -■<' 



Total number of fires 252 



Total area burned 72,360 acres 



LOSSES 



Pellston District— 4,463 ;ord? chemical wood $ 6,694.50 



15 M hemlock logs „^*'-9'' 



Springi-ale District — 800 cords chemical wood 1,270.00 



Gavlord District — 430 M standing timber damaged ^'iJSSx 



Deward District — 160 cords chemical wood ^iSXj; 



15 M standing timber damaged 45.00 



Total loss «10.465.50 



Of the above total loss $8,180.50 was to chemical wood. We may call 

 this a small loss when we consider the large areas of slashings that were 

 swept by fire in whicfi were located thousands of cords of wood. When 

 many fires are burning it is Impossiljle to bring all of this product through 

 without some of it being burned. Of the many thousands of feet of logs 

 in decks in the fire zone you lost but 15,000 feet, valued at $90.00. Other 

 loss was damage to standing timber to the extent of $2,195.00. Not to 

 exceed one-tenth of one per cent of the remaining acres of standing timber 

 owned by the association has been touched by fire so far this season and 

 in only two cases has damage been done. 



Between May 10 and June 6, 192 fires occurred burning over 68,759 

 acres. The most severe period of these fire days was during the week end- 

 ing May 23. For this week 92 fires were recorded, burning an area 

 covering 38,375 acres. It was during these severe and trying hours that 

 most of our losses occurred and at this point I wish to commend your 

 wardens for the faithful and conscientious manner in which they attacked 

 a situation that at times looked hopeless and, but for the splendid methods 

 employed iu the organizing of fire fighters, the property owner and com- 

 munity dweller would have suffered many times the loss set forth in this 

 report. 



Your wardens are better fitted than ever before to handle bad fire situ- 

 ations. Most of the men have the benefit of three years' experience in the 

 work and, while we do not claim that our organization is past the stage of 

 improvement, yet we are aware that much property has been saved through 

 their efforts and it is the aim of the department to bring the system to a 

 standard of higher efl5ciency in forest protection. 

 Government Recognition 

 Under the government co-operative plan as outlined in the Weeks law, 

 the Forest Service has appointed three of your men to act as federal 

 patrolmen on the headwaters of the following navigable rivers : Vander- 

 bilt district warden covering the Cheboygan river : Johannesburg district 

 warden, Au Sable river and the Sigma district warden for the Manistee 

 river. This appointment in no way interferes with the work of protecting 

 your properties. It simply is a matter of the government recognizing the 

 effort being made to protect north Michigan from destructive forest fires 

 and, acting in compliance with a law enacted for the purpose, they are 

 contributing to the work in a substantial manner. 



Co-Operation et Railroad Companies 

 The reauction in the percentage of fires chargeable to railway locomoUves 

 is very noticeable this season. In 1912, 67 per cent of the fires recorded 

 by this department were found to have been set by railway engines. In 



