HARDWOOD RECORD 



25 



of plauk have been lair. JStocks of desirable qualities are said 

 to be light and demand good, with an improving tendency. Good 

 hickory is in moderate request. 



In oak boards the demand for both plain and quartered is said 

 to be satisfactory. There have been no direct shipments of Jap- 

 anese oak to Liverpool recently, and the wood is evidently falling 

 in appreciation there, as it is on the Pacific coast of the United 

 States. 



Another report indicates very firm values in oak wagon plank, 

 and that oak wagon boards of excellent quality are desirable at 

 satisfactory figures, but inferior lumber is not wanted. 



While in general hardwood stocks are reported low in the Liver- 

 pool market, there is nothing in the situation to warrant increased 

 exports, and consignments especially should be deprecated. 



Annual National Hardwood Lumber Association 



Every hardwood man in the country, whether he be allied 

 with the National Hardwood Lumber Association or not, should 

 not miss attending the annual meeting of this organization to be 

 held at the Sherman House, Chicago, Thursday and Friday-, June 6 

 and 7. There are matters of such paramount importance to be 

 presented at this meeting that no hardwood manufacturer can af- 

 ford to be absent. From the social side of the affair much is to be 

 expected, as Chicago lumbermen are simply going to outdo all rec- 

 ords in the line of entertainment to give the expected thousand or 

 more visitors the time of their lives. 



It now looks as though this function would result in the heal- 

 ing of all breaches between every element of the hardwood indus- 

 try, and it is hoped that every member of the association will 

 come to Chicago with a friendly spirit in his heart, and in the 

 thorough belief that mutuality of concession, friendship to his 

 fellows in the trade, and loyalty to the good of the industry, 

 shall be the slogan of the meeting. 



Appalling Disasters 



For a moment, in the concrete example of the appalling dis- 

 aster of the sinking of the Titanic, the public has almost lost 

 sight of the tremendous loss of life and untold suffering that is 

 being encountered by probably more than fifty thousand people 

 in the flooded districts of the Mississippi valley. While the gov- 

 ernment is spending a moderate sum of money in relief work, 

 there is much more to be done on the part of a spirited and 

 charitable public in alleviating the distress over a large area of 

 the South. 



The total loss of life during this flood will probably never be 

 known, but it doubtless will equal in number that of the Titanic 

 disaster. However, it is to the suffering living that the public 

 owes its duty today, and it is to be hoped that heroic efforts 

 will be made to relieve the distressed condition of the great num- 

 ber of both whites and blacks that are undone by this untoward 

 calamity. 



Importation of Foreign Woods 



There are some government figures just available showing the 

 value of woods invoiced through the American consulate at Liver- 

 pool to the United States during 1910 and 1911. In 1910 the 

 value of mahogany exported through Liverpool to the United 

 States was $1,230,286; in 1911, $787,308. Of teak the value in 

 1910 was $23,314, and in 1911, $13,110. Of Circassian walnut 

 in 1910 the value was $130,200, and in 1911, it grew to $193,038. 



Liverpool is the large, central exporting market of the three 

 woods named, and by wood exports through this port, judgment 

 can be pretty closely based on the situation prevailing in other 

 localities. Here was a decline in exports of mahogany through 

 Liverpool in one year of well towards a half million dollars, 

 which accounts quite logically for the substantial advance that 

 has obtained in mahogany values, both in this country and abroad 

 thus far during 1912. There is a legend that, owing to the wide 

 range of territory in which mahogany grows and its isolated 

 character of growth, there will be a supply of this wood to meet 



all reasonable demands for an untold number of years. How- 

 ever, it now looks as though mahogany sections that produced 

 any great quantity are pretty well exploited and have been fairly 

 exhau.sted within reasonable distances from water transportation. 

 It is also logical to believe that mahogany from now on will com- 

 mand a much higher price than it has in the past, and this price 

 will constantly rise. Moreover, it is fair to assume that the days 

 of cheap mahogany are over, and that it no longer will compete on 

 the basis of price foot by foot with oak and other high-class 

 American woods. 



The increasing quantity of Circassian walnut exported during 

 1911 is explained by reason of the very high prices obtained for 

 this wood. It is well known that the quality of Circassian being 

 obtained is constantly deteriorating, and that comparatively few 

 high-class logs are now available. The Black and Caspian sea 

 region, the only place of the growth of this wood, is very elosely 

 depleted, and within a short time Circassian walnut will be re- 

 garded as one of the precious woods of commerce. It would not 

 be surprising if, within a few years, it will be :forced out of gen- 

 eral utilization, not because of its price, but on account of an 

 absolute inability to obtain the wood. 



The Wood Substitute Game 



Every since last September Hardwood Kecord has carried a series 

 of articles under the above title in which have been recited numer- 

 ous striking examples of the failures encountered by the several 

 materials that latterly have been introduced as substitutes for 

 wood. A continuation of this series of articles is not contained in 

 this number. This is not owing to the fact that the subject has 

 been exhausted, but is occasioned simply from a lack of room. 



The most striking example of the failure of steel cars that has 

 occurred during the past few days is the derailment on April 2 on 

 the Missouri Pacific mail train No. 2 running from Kansas City 

 to St. Louis. The fault of the derailment lay with the steel mail 

 cars, although several of the wooden coaches followed these cars 

 off the track. There were no fatalities. It is noted, as is usual 

 in steel ear wrecks, that the engine did not leave the track. The 

 average newspaper story of the wreck has it that the "lives of 

 the passengers were saved" from the fact that the baggage and 

 mail cars were of steel, but there is just about as much reason as 

 visual for this deduction. 



On April 15 a wooden train derailment took place on the Rocky 

 Mountain Limited on the Denver & Eio Grande Eailroad in Colo- 

 rado. There were twenty-three passengers in the wooden chair 

 car, which went oft' the track at a high embankment, and turned 

 completely over twice in its fall. Not a passenger was killed. There 

 are other causes aside from the rigidity of the wooden ear that 

 were to blame for this derailment, but there are no editorials 

 appearing in the press the country over reciting that this remark- 

 able railroad accident resulted in no loss of life by reason of the 

 cars being of wood construction. 



It is growing more apparent every day that steel passenger equip- 

 ment is fast coming into disrepute, not onl}- with the traveling 

 public but with railroad authorities themselves. The ticket agents 

 of various lines radiating from Chicago state that a larger portion 

 of the passengers buying tickets demand that they shall have 

 reservations in wooden cars. 



It is equally manifest that a good many other wood substitutes 

 are losing favor in general appreciation, and this is particularlj' 

 true in the case of owners of 1911 models, steel-body automobiles 

 which, in nine cases out of ten, look as though they had been built 

 of rusty stovepipe iron. There is an increased demand among auto- 

 mobile purchasers today for wooden bodies on their cai-s, and be- 

 yond question a good many more wooden bodies will be utilized 

 during the present season than for several years past. One promi- 

 nent automobile body builder, in sending H.4rdwood Record his 

 list of lumber requirements for the current year, wishes to have 

 trebled the quantity of No. 1 and panel poplar employed over the 

 quantity' used last year. 



