HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



is safe to state that it must be remunerative 

 wliere its components are properly Ijalanced and 

 wliere an economic site is obtainable for its 

 conduct. 



The components of a business investment in 

 conservative forestry are partly derived from 

 nature (natural gifts, natural powers) and 

 partly made by man. The natural components 

 are usually at hand in primeval forests — which 

 does not mean to say that they are at hand in 

 proper amounts. The components made by man 

 are added to those made by nature and consist, 

 above all, in investments permanently employed 

 for forest utilization. 



In the case of well-stocked virgin woods, the 

 aggregate final investment is likely to be lower 

 than the original purchase price of the forest, 

 when the virgin forest contains a surplus of 

 mature timber exceeding in value the expense 

 required for the establishment of the essential 

 artificial components. 



In the American forests, after the usual lum- 

 bering operations, very little is left of the nat- 

 ural components ; as a conser|uence, relatively 

 heavy additional investments are required (as a 

 rule without a chance of deriving immediate 

 revenue) in order to make the aggregate, in time 

 to come, a permanent source of revenue. 



The conclusion is simple : Unless the owner, 

 before he begins to operate primeval woods, de- 

 cides to embark in conservative forestry, the 

 chances are slim that he will ever embark in it. 



In German working plans the necessity of 

 ascertaining the most opportune amount of capi- 

 tal to be invested in forestr.v is invariably over- 

 looked. The explahation lies in the following: 



1. The value of the growing timber and of the 

 soil comprises, say, ninety-five per cent of the 

 investment. 



2. The means of transportation are already at 

 hand, developed at a time at which financial con- 

 siderations were not made in forestry. 



The "period of installation" should cover as 

 many years as are required to obtain the proper 

 total and the proper composition of the forestal 

 investment. 



It is unfortunate that the period of installa- 

 tion in conservative forestry must comprise a 

 number of years ; whilst other investments can 

 be fully installed in the course of a few weeks 

 or a few months. Whosoever has traveled in 

 recent years through Germany with an eye to 

 the forest cannot be in doubt that every state 

 and every county offers innumerable sites at 

 which conservative forestry can be conducted as 

 a remunerative business. Indeed, economic sites 

 are at hand in Germany wheresoever the trees 

 do not happen to occupy farming soil. Such was 

 not the case in Germany two hundred years ago : 

 and such is not the case in Russia, Canada and 

 the United States today. Economic sites are those 

 where stumpage values range high ; where natural 

 reproduction is easy ; where the danger of fires is 

 small : where the land is unfit for agriculture ; 

 where forest taxes are low. These conditions 

 prevail, particularly, in the pineries of the 

 coastal plains and in the hardwood forests of 

 the higher Appalachian region. 



It must be clearly understood that these con- 

 ditions did not — or did not all — prevail some 

 twenty years ago; further, that the absence of 

 such conditions in the West annn 1907 does not 

 render conservative forestry in the West for all 

 times impossible. It is unfortunate, indeed, that 

 the majority of these conditions ari.s(es only at a 

 very late hour, to-wit, invariably after the gen- 

 eral disappearance of the primeval woods. No 

 man in the United States has had, so far. suffi- 

 cient confidence in conservative lumbering to 

 postpone the tapping of his primeval woods until 

 the "economic site" for conservative lumbering 

 bad locally arisen. 



The man who does will never live to regret 

 his confidence. 



NetOs Miscellany. 



Pending Mercantile Tax Bill in Pennsylvania 



.\bout two mouths ago twenty-tour of the 

 representative mercantile bodies of Philadelphia 

 met in the Lumbermen's Exchange rooms and 

 inaugurated a movement looking to the abolish- 

 ment of the mercantile license tax, which they 

 consider an objectionable one for several reasons. 

 An allied association was accordingly formed b.v 

 the various committees, with W. C. MacBride of 

 Ilaney-White Company as chairman and Robert 

 G. Kay. secretary, since which meetings have 

 been held at various periods, which have been 

 well attended by representatives of every trade 

 organization in the city, and the result of which 

 has been submitted to the committee of ways 

 and means in Harrisburg, impressing upon this 

 committee the universal opinion of the mercan- 

 tile bodies in Philadelphia and throughout the 

 state that the bill is a most obnoxious one, and 

 for these reasons : It requires every business 

 man to make public his private affairs ; it 

 returns to the state a too small proportion of 

 the amount collected : and it was instituted at 

 a time when the state needed the money, which 

 condition does not now exist. The bill has 

 passed a second reading before the House, and it 

 is believed will pass the third ; it will then go 

 before the Senate, where it is surmised it will 

 meet with some opposition. 



A well attended meeting of the Allied associa- 

 tion was held in the rooms of the Lumbermen's 

 Exchange on April ."iO. at 1 :30 p. m., William C. 

 MacBride in the chair and Robert G. Kay, acting 

 secretary. It was unanimously agreed to send 

 representatives to appear before the senate com- 

 mittee having charge of this bill, and that the 

 chairman and secretary be authorized, in event 

 of the bill passing the House, to make arrange- 

 ments for a day to be set aside when the repre- 

 sentatives of this allied association could appear 

 and be heard on this matter. 



that the cost of furniture production is greatly 

 increased. Not only Is this true of the lumber, 

 however, but of other supplies entering into fur- 

 niture manufacture — iron, copper, varnish, tur- 

 pentine, glass and glue. Oak, walnut and ma- 

 hogany have increased from thirty to forty per 

 cent, according to kind and quality, and manu- 

 facturers, with a few exceptions, are without 

 stocks on hand. Thus it is that with the in- 

 creased prices necessarily demanded for the fur- 

 niture itself, retail dealers are going very slow- 

 on purchases, with the result that many smaller 

 manufacturers will be obliged to close down 

 their factories for lack of orders, and this in 

 turn will mean that nearly 3,00U workmen will 

 be thrown out of employment. 



New Oklahoma Hardwood House. 



Announcement is made of the formation of the 

 .Turden-Akin Lumber Company of Muskogee, 

 Okla., with general offices in suite .j, Colo- 

 rado building.- The company is composed of 

 R. L. Jurden, recently with the I'enrod Walnut 

 & Veneer Company of Kansas City, and Benja- 

 min Akin, late with the K & P Lumber Com- 

 pany of Cincinnati. The company will manu- 

 facture and deal exclusively in hardwoods, mak- 

 ing a specialty of oak, ash and Cottonwood. It 

 controls considerable stumpage and a number of 

 mills, and announces that it will be able to give 

 customers prompt shipments and honest grades. 



Belgian Furniture Business, 



The most important industry in Belgium is 

 the manufacture of furniture as carried on at 

 Malines, writes Consul Atwell from Ghent, but 

 its future seems to be dubious owing to the 

 fact that large quantities of American lumber 

 are imported annually for use in this business 

 and prices are now reaching such a high altitude 



The Grading Bules Conference, 



According to plans announced in the last issue 

 of the RecokDj a protracted conference between 

 the inspection committees of the National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association, the Indiana Hardwood 

 Lumbermen's Association, the Michigan Hard- 

 wood Manufacturers' Association and the Wis- 

 consin Hardwood Manufacturers' Association 

 took place in the rooms of the National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association this week. The ses- 

 sions are still in progress as the Hardwood 

 Record goes to press. However, it is under- 

 stood that before adjournment on Wednesday 

 evening an agreement was reached which con- 

 templated recommending for adoption at the 

 annual meeting of the National association. May 

 23 and 24, rules lUnt w-ill take into consideration 



both sides of a piece of lumber in its inspection ; 

 the injection of a new grade between firsts and 

 seconds and No. 1 common, to be known as 

 selects ; a give-and-take system of measurement 

 on the half-inch basis, and the admission of 15 

 per cent of odd lengths in all grades. The only 

 matter remaining unsettled for Thursday morn- 

 ing's session was speciflcations covering the 

 poorer side of Nos. 1 and 2 common. It is re- 

 garded as certain that the representatives of the 

 various associations will come to an amicable 

 agreement and will go to Atlantic City fully 

 pledged to attempt to secure the adoption of 

 these recommendations. 



Representing the National Hardwood Lumber 

 Association at the conference are Theodore 

 Fathauer of Chicago, H. C. Humphrey of Apple- 

 ton. Wis., and D. F, Clark of Minneapolis. Rep- 

 resenting Michigan are C. A. Bigelow of Bay 

 City, F. A. Diggins of Cadillac, D. H, Day of 

 Glen Haven and R. J. Clark of Sault Ste. Marie. 

 Representing the Wisconsin manufacturers arc 

 M. J. Quinlan of Soperton, A. R. Owen of Owen, 

 G. E. Foster of Mellen, B. W. Davis of Phillips, 

 F. H. Pardee of Wausau, B. F. McMillan of Mc- 

 Millan, E. J. Young of Madison, J. T. Barber of 

 Eau Claire and Daniel Arpin of Grand Rapids. 

 Representing the Indiana association are C. H. 

 Barnaby of Greencastle and J. M. Pritchard of 

 Indianapolis, respectively president and secre- 

 tary of the organization. 



Program N. H. L. A. Meeting at Atlantic 

 City. 



Secretary Fish of the National Hardwood 

 Lumber .Association has made public a most 

 interesting program which will be carried out at 

 the forthcoming annual meeting of his organiza 

 tion at Atlantic City, May 23 and 24. It is as 

 follows : 



THUIISD.IY, MAY 23. 



11 a. m. — Reception of members and guests in 

 convention hall at Steel Pier. 



12 noon — Opening session. Address of w-elcome 

 by ^layor Stoy of Atlantic City. Reports of 

 officers. 



1 p. m. — Intermission for luncheon. 



'J :3(} p. m. — Reports of standing committees by 

 respective chairmen. Address on ".Associate 

 Obligations." by Earl Palmer: on "A School 

 of Inspection." b.v B. C. Currie, .Tr. ; on 

 "Cherry Inspection," by W. L. Sikes. 



.S p. m. — Smoker and entertainment for members 

 at Rudolph Grotto. 



.S p. m. — Entertainment for ladies at Steel Pier. 



FRIDAY, iJtAY 24. 



it a. m. — Members will reassemble. 



10 a. m. — Call to order : report of committee on 

 officers' reports : address on "The Wholesaler ; 

 Why He Is Necessary," by Robert W. Higbie : 

 on "Forestry." William L. Hall : on "Rivers 

 and Harbors," Jolin A. Fox ; introduction of 

 new business. 



1 p. m. — Intermission for luncheon. 



2 :30 p. m. — Unfinished business. 



4 ;30 p. m. — Election of officers and directors. 



5 :30 p. m. — Adjcuirnment. 



*> p. m. — Meeting board of directors. 



.S p. m. — Entertainment on Steel Pier for all. 



Meeting National Lumber Manufacturers' 

 Association. 

 It should not be forgotten that the annual 

 meeting of the National Lumber Manufacturers' 

 Association will be held in the .Auditorium of 

 the .Jamestow-n Exposition grounds near Norfolk. 

 Va., on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 2S and 

 20. The hotel headquarters of the delegates 

 will be the Hotel Chamberlin, at Fortress Mon- 

 roe, from which point they will be transported 

 to the exposition grounds by steamer. Delegates 

 to this convention from the Hardwood Manu- 

 facturers' Association of the United States are 

 H. II. Vansant, Ashland, Ky. : John W. Love. 

 Xashville. Tenn. : W. M. McCormick, Phila- 

 delphia, Pa. : .1. W. Oakford, Scranton, Pa. ; 



