20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



ports of wood and saw products for the 

 fiscal year ending June 30, 1907 — a total of 

 2,299,017,000 board feet, representing a 

 value in round numbers of $83,000,000. The 

 detailed report shows that both the volume 

 and average values had increased over the 

 record of the previous year. Imports of 

 wood and saw products for 1907 readied a 

 total value of ,$42,969,000, a substantial in- 



crease over the showing for the previous 

 year. 



It nuist be remembered in making a com- 

 parison of the figures for 1905 and 1906 and 

 tliose for 1907 that for the two earlier years 

 forest products in their entirety were eon- 

 .sidered while for 1907 only wood and articles 

 manufactured from wood are included in the 

 total. 



The Coming Handle J\Ieettng. 



The forthcoming meeting of handle nmkers 

 to be held at the Great JSTorthern Hotel in 

 Chicago, October 8, promises to be well at- 

 tended. It is to be hoped that an association 

 will be formed at this time which will ac- 

 complish some definite results and assist 

 materially in the betterment of the handle 

 industry. Of the more than one hundred let- 

 ters received from various handle makers 

 throughout the United States there has not 

 been one that was unfavorable to this move- 

 ment. On the contrary the promises of at- 

 tendance and support are almost unanimous. 

 It is to be hoped that every handle maker 

 in the country will make it his personal affair 

 to be present with the distinct understand- 

 ing that he is "out for business," as one 

 correspondent puts it. The meeting will be 

 called promptly at 10 a. m., in one of the 

 large club rooms of the hotel, and posters 

 will be displayed in the lobby giving the 

 definite location of the room. In the last 

 issue of the Hakdwood Eecokd a number of 

 letters from handle manufacturers were pre- 

 sented and following a few others are at- 

 tached, which are typical of the entire number 

 received : 



Xew Albany, Ind., Sept, 4. — Editor Hard- 

 wood Rkcord : We have copies of your paper 

 telling about the proposed handle meeting, and 

 it matters shape themselves in the proper way 

 we will probably have a representative at Chi- 

 cago, October 8. — I. F. Force Handle Company. 



Stony Brook, L. I., August 24. — Editor 

 Hardwood Record : At the present time w.e are 

 making only a line of special small tool handles 

 which hardly come under the scope of the pro- 

 posed association ; we are nevertheless deeply 

 interested in the matter for the reason that we 

 are even now negotiating for the purchase of a 

 handle factory in the South, Owing to lack of 

 material in this section we will be obliged in 

 the near future to find another location, and 

 with that end in view we are preparing to take 

 our plant south, where we expect to locate with- 

 in a year or so, and would then like to join the 

 association, providing we can see that this would 

 be for our interest. — Carl Stossel. 



Fife, Va., Aug. 26. — Editor Hardwood 

 Uecord : We have your letter and iuclosure of 

 .\ugust 8 and note what you say in relation to 

 forming an association of the handle industry. 

 We would be glad to assist in any way we can 

 and to hear from you further. What we want 

 and need is more unity of action and a better 

 knowledge oj^nderstanding with each other, and 

 then rules agreed upon for grading handles. 

 If your paper has a price list of all handles 

 l)y grades we would be obliged to have it. Can't 

 you get one up? We will be glad to assist in 

 any way we can to form an association. — Fae- 

 Row Spoke & Handle Manufacturing Com- 



I'ANY. 



Knoxtillb, TeSn.. Aug. 22. — Editor Habd- 

 wood Record: We are at all times willing to 



i-(}-operate in any movement for the betterment 

 of the hickory handle business that promises a 

 successful issue, and if any plan can be sug- 

 gested with a binding force that will hold an 

 association to an agreement we shall be glad to 

 join. We would suggest that there is no affilia- 

 tion between ash and hickory handle manufactur- 

 ers, and nothing could be gained by joining them 

 together. They should be separate associations. 

 We would further suggest that it would be a 

 mistake to introduce buyers in a conference with 

 makers of hickory handles, even thougb it were 

 possible. Tbe trade will be satisfied with any 

 grades established, provided they are fixed and 

 standard. We feel sure tbe most good that can 

 be accomplished from a meeting of handle manu- 

 facturers would be along the line of a revision 

 of grades, as there is no defense of the present 

 custom of buying raw material under two or 

 three grades and selling the manufactured goods 

 under six or more. We believe a shortening up 

 of the grades would be found more satisfactory 

 to the makers and find quick favor with the 

 buyers of handles. With best wishes for the 

 success of the venture and your publication. — ■ 

 Standard Handle Co.mpany, Ltd. 



Winston-Salem, X. C, Aug. 17. — Editor 

 Hardwood Record : This- question is surely a 

 hard one. The association formed some years 

 ago has culminated in the control of something 

 like forty factories by one concern, while the 

 original owners arc now trying for a new start. 

 The old association was a fake of the first 

 water, and, as you know, history repeats itself. 

 We cannot at this time go into the details as 

 we would like to do. However, we will say this 

 — you mistake when you say that the same 

 system of grading is in effect today as a cen- 

 tury ago. The fact is, the quality of grades has 

 increased nearly double what they were a few 

 years ago. Here is the curse. Timber is bring- 

 ing all it is worth, with us : we are getting 

 fair prices for handles ; but the grading is rob- 

 bing everybody. It would be a great thing 



and a feather in somebody's cap if this could 

 be overcome, and we are ready to help. — Win- 

 ston Handle Company. 



Dahlonega, Ga.. Aug. 22. — Editor Hardwood 

 Record : We think you are on the right line 

 and should meet with proper encouragement, 

 and we feel sure it will be a good thing to have 

 an association. There ought to be grading rules, 

 and they should be attached to price lists, so 

 the buyers could not say the grades are not up 

 to standard. Prices should also be overhauled 

 somewhat, as goods are now too cheap, in view 

 of the present cost of producing them. Will be 

 glad to hear from you in future, and hope you 

 will organize the handle industry. Should you 

 have the meeting referred to, the writer will 

 try to be present and represent our little fac- 

 tory. — Dahlonega Handle Factory. 



Hillsboro, Ind.. Sept. 5. — Editor Hardwood 

 Record : Will say that we are much in favor 

 of an association of handle manvifacturers such 

 as broom, fork and hoe men, but not including 

 axe. pick and hammer handle men, as the two 

 kinds of handle manufacturers have nothing in 

 common at all, selling to entirely different 

 classes and using different kinds of timber and 

 machinery ; not only that but they have a good 

 alliance of their own. The broom handle men. 

 with the kindred lines of fork and hoe and dow- 

 els should get together. Broom handles and 

 dowels are both too low in price considering tbe 

 cost of timber and labor. Competition is called 

 the life of trade, but when misused in such a 

 way as it has been in the broom handle and 

 dowel trade it is also the death of legitimate 

 profits. We do not say that there are more 

 manufactured than are needed, as from the 

 orders we receive it seems to us there could be 

 more factories making these goods and then not 

 have enough. Then why cut prices, is what we 

 would like to know. We have orders several 

 months ahead all the time, and when we find it 

 necessary to raise our prices a little there is 

 always someone willing to make the goods 

 cheaper. There is no sense in this, as there is 

 plenty of business to keep every factory in the 

 United States running every day, and still make 

 a living profit. We have found it necessary to 

 double the capacity of our factory in order to 

 get ahead on incoming orders, and do not have 

 to cut prices a penny to get them, as we accept 

 orders with the intention of getting out the 

 exact kind and quality of stock that our cus- 

 tomers want. If there is to be a meeting to 

 organize, we want to be informed where and 

 when and will have a representative there. 

 Thanking you for this opportunity to speak 

 our little piece. — Hillsboro Novelty Works. 



The Teredo. 



Doubtless the great majority of tbe readers 

 of the Hardwood Record know very little 

 about Teredo Navalis, and some perhaps, es- 

 pecially those living far in the interior of 

 the country, have never even heard of it, and 

 have no knowledge whatever of the vast de- 

 struction wrought in all kinds of wood and 

 marine timbers by the borings of this worm- 

 like mollusk. 



The teredo is known to have existed for 

 age.s, as the remains or traces of his borings 

 are found in fossil and petrified woods, but he 

 first attracted the attention of men about 300 

 years ago when they began to seek some way 

 to stop him from devouring the wooden hulls 

 of the clumsy ships of those days. The field 

 of his operations is as wide as the combined 

 area of the seas of the earth. He is found 

 in all salt water except the Arctic or Polar 



regions; therefore, a short illustrated article 

 in regard to this destructive animal will un- 

 doubtedly be of some interest to the readers 

 of this paper. The teredo may be hatched 

 from one egg of a bilUon of the Sporadic 

 .offspring of the same parent which is herma- 

 phroditic, or of both sexes. They are hardly 

 as thick as a pin at this stage of life and 

 are scarcely noticeable, though they move 

 about in the water with some rapidity, and 

 attach themselves to any wood th^_ may come 

 in contact with and immediately "^gin to en- 

 ter it by boring a tiny hole. The body of the 

 teredo is enclosed in an exceedingly delicate 

 bivalve shell, and they are said to have eyes 

 which disappear as soon as they are buried 

 in the wood, where they spend most of their 

 lifetime, sealed up in this wooden cell. Tlie 

 animal has a foot or soft muscular sucker- 



