HARDWOOD RECO&D 



27 



lumber associations and exchanges, with loca- 

 tion and names of otficers ; inspection and grad- 

 inj; rules of ditferent organizations ; laws af- 

 fecting the iumlier interests ; iist of iumber jour- 

 nals with location, name, dates of issue, sulj- 

 scription price, etc. : followed b.v classified lists 

 of lumber manufacturers, giving power, kind of 

 saw and lumber used, capacit.v, etc. ; wholesale 

 and retail dealers: planing mills : furniture man- 

 ufacturers ; loggers ; logging railroads : imple- 

 ment manufacturers and allied industries : all 

 arranged in a most metliodicai and handy wa.v. 

 It is compiled by H. L. Polk & Co. of Chicago, 

 Baltimore and Detroit, and is a valuable addi- 

 tion to a lumber library. 



Eucalyptus and Catalpa for Ties. 



The Illinois Central has been i>lauting Imn- 

 dreds of thousands of catalpa and other trees 

 on its lower reaches down in Louisiana. Catalpa 

 of the right variety is a quick-growing and sym- 

 metrical tree and answers remarkably well for 

 railroad ties. Not al! roads are as well equipped 

 as the Illinois Central for growing timber on 

 their own property, but land could be secured 

 by others for that purpose, and under proper 

 management would prove a source of great profit 

 i-ather than of expense to the companies, besides 

 helping the work of reforestry in large part and 

 assisting to conserve the timber now standing. 



E. O. Falkner will go to Australia in Septem- 

 ber for the Santa Fe. he being manager of its tie 

 and timber department. lie expects to remain 

 there about two years for the purpose of study- 

 ing the growth and habits of the eucalyptus or 

 blue gum, with a view to its culture in this 

 country as tie timber. Mr. Falkner has an es- 

 tablistied reputation as an authority on the siib- 

 iect of tie timber and has made his dejiartment 

 of great value to the Santa Fe. He has superin- 

 tended the construction of tie treating plants 

 along the lines of his road, the one at Somer- 

 ville, Tex., being the largest of the kind in the 

 world. 



Eights of the Seller. 



The n.iRDWOOD Record has received from K. J. 

 Ifarnell of Memphis the sub.ioined analysis of 

 his position in connectiou with the rights of 

 the seller in being repi'esented when his lumber 

 is being inspected and delivered and expressions 

 of opinion on the subject that he has received 

 from many prominent memljers of the trade. 

 This is a subject well worth tlie consideration of 

 hardwood lumbermen and therefore the document 

 is published in full : 



"I have read with a great deal of interest the 

 several articles in the trade papers regarding the 

 question of the seller's rights in the matter of 

 inspection. The American Lumberman says : 



" 'If the seller thinks that he has not received 

 justice he can apply for reinspection and if his 

 claim is sustained thereby he can collect direct 

 from the association, which in turn can recover 

 (m tlie inspector's bond. Seller and bu.ver have 

 identjcal rights, privileges and protection.' 



"In reference to the above I will point out 

 that the seller would never know whether he had 

 received the correct or proper inspection either 

 in quantity or qualit.v. if he has no representa- 

 tive present when the lumber is inspected : he 

 would not have the right to make a complaint 

 because he would be in absolute ignorance as to 

 the inspection made. The buyer only has an op- 

 portunity to reinspect the lumber when it is 

 received in his yard, and if it overruns in meas- 

 urement or is a very high grade he is satisfied, 

 but if it falls short either in grade or quantit.v 

 he protects himself by having it reinspected by 

 the National association. The seller has no such 

 I)rivilege, because he would never know the quan- 

 tity or quality that had been shipped. 



"The American Lumberman further states : 



" 'The seller is supposed to know the grades of 

 lumber in his yard, and in certain piles, and can 

 inspect the particular lumber sold as often as he 

 pleases before the official inspector goes upon it.' 



"It seems tltat the editor of the Lumberman is 

 not familiar with the usual methods of handling 

 hardwood lumber. There are few, if any, manu- 



facturers of hardwood lumber who know exactly 

 the quantity and grade in any one pile of lumber. 

 He can tell perhaps within a certain per cent, 

 but not exactly, because few of them ever meas- 

 ure their lumber as it goes in piles, depending 

 upon the inspecting of the lumber when it is 

 shipped, and if a pile of lumber was put up to 

 be firsts and second.? and some of the lumber de- 

 velops into lower grades, it must be laid out. If 

 the seller knew exact^ly what was in his piles of 

 lumber it would not be necessary to inspect it 

 when shipping it, but that is the object of the 

 inspection' a matter which the American Lum- 

 berman overlooked 



"The proper thing to do would be to correct 

 some of the rules of the National association. 



"The Hardwood Record in its issue of July 

 HI has the following to say : 



" 'The Hardwood Record has invariably ar- 

 gued that it is a weakness on the part of any 

 association to attempt to prescribe inspection 

 rules in the interpretation of which ail parties 

 in interest do not have an equal part, i. e., a 

 basis upon which the purchase and sale of lum- 

 ber is conducted. It has repeatedly contended 

 that buyers of lumber, whether they be jobbers 

 or consumers, should be represented in the in- 

 spection system. The same arguments should 

 certainly apply in favor of the sellers of lumber. 

 They undoubtedly have the right to be repre- 

 sented when delivery of their lumber is being 

 made, and it is doubtful if the National associa- 

 tion can maintain the opposite stand in this par- 

 ticular.' 



"I have personally discussed this matter with 

 a ntimbor of prominent lumbermen, . and every 

 one has agreed with me that the seller should 

 be represented, and every one of them has de- 

 clared that he 'would not allow an inspector, 

 unless personally acquainted with him, to go on 

 his lumber and make shipment without being 

 represented. 



"In discussing the matter over the 'phone 

 with Mr. Russe he advised that at the late 

 meeting at Atlantic City the matter was taken 

 up. and there were about fifty present, and they 

 .'ill agreed with the association rules except 

 .1. \V. Thompson, and I take it that Mr. Thomp- 

 son was the only one out of the fifty that was 

 correct, the balance, or forty-nine, being wrong. 



"I will give a reply to one of my letters from 

 the S. Burkhokler Lumber Company, Crawfords- 

 ville, Ind. : 



" 'Keferring to your circular letter of the 2d 

 regarding the right of the seller of a car of 

 lumber to put one of his inspectors on the pile 

 with the National inspector : 



" 'We would not let any inspector on our lum- 

 ber and not know what he was going to do to 

 it. and no inspector should object to having an- 

 other inspector on the pile with him. If any 

 inspector could be influenced by our inspector he 

 is not capable of being a National inspector. I 

 do not think there is a man or a firm in the 

 association that would keep an in.spector that 

 could be influenced by another inspector on the 

 pile with him. They tell you that you are pro- 

 tected by his bond. How is the seller to know 

 what kind of inspection has licen given him 

 when the lumlier is in the car and gone? Every- 

 body knows that the buyer with a National in- 

 spection certificate will not notify you tliat he 

 has a better grade than he should h;ive had. 

 When we are buying lumber we always have 

 the seller on the iumber with our inspector and 

 we insist on having our inspector on the lumber 

 with a National inspector.' 



"I wish to direct particular attention to the 

 following lines in the above letter ; 'How is the 

 ' seller to know what kind of inspection has been 

 given him when the lumber is in the car and 

 gone'/ Everybody knows that the buyer with 

 a National inspection certificate will not notify 

 you that be has a better grade than he should 

 have had.' 



"Reply to letter written .T. W. McClure, 

 secretary of the Lumbermen's Club : 



" 'We duly received copy of your circular let- 

 ter of the ist, which in itself did not call for 

 a reply, and we now have your letter of the 9th 

 inst. a'sking (or our views on the matter treated 

 of in vour^letter. 



" 'We can not say that we agree with you 

 on the stand that you have taken. The whole 

 theor.v of National inspection rests on the foun- 

 dation that the National inspector is a disinter- 

 ested party, acting for both seller and buyer 

 under bourl to give full justice to both and en- 

 tirely free from the influences of either. We 

 think that this theory is somewhat defective for 

 the reason that inspection is largely a matter of 



judgment and an inspector's judgment is sus- 

 ci'Piibie to variance caused by outside influence 

 acting either consciously or unconsciously on 

 the mind of the inspector. 



" 'We believe, however, that the only way in 

 which national inspection can be mad? at all 

 satisfactory and serviceable to the members of 

 the association is to have the inspectors as free 

 as possible from any influence. Manifestly, this 

 would not be possible if either the buyer or 

 seller were permitted to put a representative on 

 the lumber pile to keep check on the national 

 inspector. The seller, if he chooses, has the 

 same privilege as the buyer in checking up the 

 national inspector's work, that is, the seller has 

 Ibe privilege of measuring and inspecting the 

 lumber before tlie national inspector goes on it 

 just as the buyer has the privilege of measur- 

 ing arid inspecting it after the national in- 

 spector, but in our judgment it would not be 

 fair to either to allow a representative of ttie 

 other on the pile with the national inspector, 

 and. if botlr buyer and seller were represented, 

 naturally there would be no necessity for the 

 services of a national inspector. 



" 'We are therefore of the opinion, as already 

 expressed, that the only method by which na- 

 tional inspection can be made practical and 

 useful to the members of the association is for 

 the inspector to- be kept free from all outside in- 

 fluence, which his bond indirectly requires him 

 to do.' , 



, "If, as Mr. McClure states, the seller's repre- 

 sentative would influence the inspector — if th<> 

 national association has such inspectors they 

 had best get rid of them. They should be 

 above reproach and influence. 



"Again Mr. JlcClure states that the seller 

 has the same privilege of inspecting tlie lumber. 

 This everyone knows would incur a useless ex- 

 pense of handling, which Mr. McClure should al- 

 ready know, and can be saved by the seller's 

 representative being present while being first in- 

 spected. Mr. McClure states that the national 

 inspector is disinterested and acting for both 

 parties. This can not be true, for it is only 

 the buyer who demands national inspection, and 

 he inspects for the buyer, and we must not be- 

 lieve that national inspectors are to he influ- 

 enced, but to be able to apply the rules regard- 

 less as to who is present. 



".\mong many others from whom I have re- 

 ceived letters agreeing with me are the follow- 

 ing ; 



"Garetson-Greason Lumber Company, St. 

 Louis : McLean Lumber Company, Memphis ; 

 Trimble-Tilman Lumber Company, Decatur, 

 Ala.: Three States Lumber Company, (not mem- 

 bers of the association) : Anderson-Tully Com- 

 pany. Memphis : Green River Lumber Company, 

 (not members of the association) : ,1. W. Thomp- 

 son Lumber Company, Memphis : Darnell-Taen- 

 zer Lumlier Company. Memphis : Barney Ilines, 

 Memphis : Bennett & Witte, Memphis : Memphis 

 Sawmill Company. Memphis : Gayoso Lumber 

 Company, (not members of the association) : 

 Scatcherd & Sons, Mem))his : Memphis Rim & 

 Bow Company, Memphis, besides a large number 

 witli whom I discussed tlie matter personally. 



"I will say in conclusion that it is no reflec- 

 tion upon the inspector nor upon the rules of 

 inspection that we have taken the stand that 

 we have, but it has been a rule of ours for a 

 long time to always be represented when ship- 

 ping lumber to the customer, except in a few in- 

 stances where we were personally acquainted 

 with the inspector and were certain that he 

 would do us justice. 



"My opinion of these conditions when sim- 

 mered down is that the first inspection of the 

 lumber from a seller's yard is not an arbitra- 

 tion, but if the shipment is made by the seller, 

 and the buyer finds any fault, and he brings 

 in a national inspector, this is an arbitration 

 and the national inspector, in this instance, is 

 an arbitrator. 



"We believe that the inspector himself should 

 be better pleased with a representative being 

 present than fun any chance of dissatisfaction 

 after shipment has been made. We maintain 

 that we are right and will continue to do busi- 

 n'ess in the same manner and will always re- 

 ,]uire one of our reiiresentatives to be present 

 when shipments are made by a national in- 

 spector or anothei-. R. J. Darnei^i.." 



