22 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



"Let us apply this principle of compelling the almost instant 

 adoption of the latest improvements to something else than the 

 railroads. Most of the towns and cities in this country are largely 

 built of wood. This causes an appalling loss of property and life 

 by fire, as compared with European countries where brick and 

 stone are generally used for building houses. Here we have posi- 

 tive proof that wooden houses are a menace to life and propertj' in 

 all thickly settled communities. ' ' 



It may and it may not be true that what the railroads think is 

 public sentiment would work an injustice to them. The steel car 

 unquestionably has certain advantages, but as emphatically urged 

 in these columns on numerous occasions, the supremacy of the steel 

 car is not in any wise proven. If the railroads have to suffer they 

 can blame their misfortune to a too keen competition for passenger 

 traffic. In their effort to secure the major portion of such traffic for 

 themselves in each instance, they have perhaps been too hasty in 

 taking up the proposition which, while it had advantageous fea- 

 tures, was still balancing between success and failure. 



The most significant thought in the above quotation is the com- 

 parison of fire losses in this country and in European countries, the 

 difference being based on the fact that the prevailing form of 

 construction in the United States is wood, while abroad it is of 

 stone and brick. It is a fact that the fire loss in European coun- 

 tries is far below what it is here, but it is very doubtful if this can 

 be traced directly to the difference in the type of building. In 

 the first place, while residences in Europe may have stone Or brick 

 walls, they certainly are not of stone or brick inside, but contain 

 just as much inflammable material as the average American resi- 

 dence. How many fires actually consume the entire structure? 

 Isn't it a fact that in most instances fires are confined within the 

 walls themselves, merely gutting the house? It seems reasonable 

 to suppose that instead of the low fire loss in Europe being at- 

 tributable to brick and stone construction, other causes come into 

 play which have a far more dominating influence on the question. 

 Conditions in residential sections abroad are far dift'erent from 

 here. All these things should be taken into consideration before 

 making the statement that the high fire loss in this country can 

 be traced directly to the fact that most of the residences here are 

 of frame construction. 



Labor Troubles in the South 



It seems to be impossible for a certain element of the laboring 

 class to realize that it never has nor never will accomplish its 

 aims by the use of violence or illegal methods. All the victories so 

 far won by the working people looking toward better conditions 

 and increased remuneration have come through compromise and 

 after judicial consultations with organized employers on the part 

 of organized labor. It is not to be believed that some of the 

 atrocities perpetrated by so-called laboring men would be sanc- 

 tioned by the bulk of the laboring class. It has always been a 

 significant fact that the perpetrators of these atrocities were in no 

 wise laborers themselves, but agitators, in most cases witiout au_v 

 knowledge of any particular trade, but merely lived upon the real 

 workers by reason of their persuasive qualities. 



An element in the ranks of labor which has been a sore spot in 

 this particular has been the Industrial Workers of the World, which 

 group of men is made up of the ordinary element of the working 

 class. In its ranks are found anarchists — the most bitter of the 

 socialists and agitators — trouble-breeders without number. It is 

 this element, unsanctioned by and in direct antagonism to the 

 American Federation of Labor, which has been responsible for 

 most of the grievances and violences which have characterized 

 labor fights against so-called injustices of modern industrial con- 

 ditions. An example of their method of doing things has been 

 pretty clearly brought out in the agitation in the southern states 

 looking toward the unionizing of sawmill labor. 



The culmination of the eft'orts of the timber workers' brother- 

 hood, which is really the woodsman's and sawmill man's union, 

 was an attempt on the part of some of the most radical of its 

 members to force the employes of the Galloway Lumber Company, 



of Grabow, La., to join their ranks. Having failed utterly by 

 ordinary means of persuasion to get these workers to join the 

 union, it was decided that ' ' direct action ' ' should be taken to 

 accomplish this end. As a consequence a mob of several hundred 

 of this disturbing element, headed by President Emerson of the 

 Brotherhood of Timber Workers, marched to the plant of the 

 Galloway Lumber Company, armed with rifles and shotguns, and 

 under the guise of making an address, Emerson grosslj^ abused and 

 insulted the non-union men, and as a result of his harangue his 

 followers were brought to a condition of great excitement. In the 

 midst of this scene someone fired a shot, which was the match that 

 started the general confiagration that followed. 



A serious pitched battle resulted in which hundreds of shots were 

 fired. After the smoke cleared away it was found that three men 

 -were dead and seventeen men injured. 



The action of the union men is absolutely unsanctioned by the 

 sane friends of labor and entirely unjustified by circumstances. 

 Emerson and his men were trespassing on property from which they 

 had been duly warned, and it is equally evident that he was in- 

 citing his men to violence and riot. As a result of the difficulty 

 state troops were called in to quell the disturbance. A number of 

 arrests have been made and it is firmly believed that with the 

 co-operation of the police authorities the millmen will be able to 

 successfully stamp out this type of violence in the future. Con- 

 certed action is looked for and it is not to be doubted that the yel- 

 low pine manufacturers will not concede in any way to the course 

 of violence and demands of the so-called union woods laborer. 



Concerted action looking toward refusal of employment to union 

 men by the members of the pine association would undoubtedly 

 work serious hardship to the pine manufacturers in the face of pres- 

 ent favorable market conditions, but such action would be abso- 

 lutely necessary to insure them against future trouble from this 

 source. 



An Old Friend Gone 



A variety of emotions undoubtedly rippled over the lumber fra- 

 ternity upon receipt of the news of the resignation of Herbert Knox 

 Smith, commissioner of corporations for the United States govern- 

 ment. The name of this gentleman has become a sort of by-word 

 in the homes of lumbermen. Personally Mr. Smith has had the 

 advantage of a likeable character detracted from by a mission odious 

 to the men he was in close contact with— or rather the nature of 

 its execution was odious. The story of his long and fruitless search 

 for a lumber trust is too common knowledge to warrant further com- 

 ment. May this be a step in advance both for him and the long- 

 promised report. 



Taking Care of New Citizens 



The American people have always been proud of their treatment 

 of the immigrant, and of the fact that the downtrodden from the 

 various countries of Europe and Asia have looked to the United 

 States as a sort of haven of refuge. The immigration system of 

 this country, with the numerous and comprehensive methods of 

 taking care of the immigrant after he arrives, are distinctly meri- 

 torious, but it has remained for a South American nation to make 

 the latest move in the direction of kindly and proper treatment 

 of incoming strangers. 



The director-general of immigration of Argentina has ordered the 

 printing of passbooks, which will be furnished to all newly arrived 

 immigrants, which are inscribed with the following: 



"This passbook is to be returned to the director-general of 

 immigration when its owner, the immigrant of today, may be the 

 employer or land-owner of tomorrow." 



The book contains a complete description of the immigrant with 

 ink thumb impressions and other data for Identification. It also 

 contains the port of his embarkation and the date of his arrival. 

 Then follows a commendation addressed to the national, provincial 

 and territorial officials asking that the newly arrived immigrant be 

 kindh' received and treated. There also is inserted an excerpt from 

 the national constitution showing the form of government; ex- 

 tracts from the immigration laws defining the immigrants' duties 



