24 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



NeWs Miscellany. 



A Surprise to the Trade. 



Tbe Belding-Hall Manufacturing Company, 

 manufacturer of refrigerators, witli principal 

 office at 196 Monroe street, Chicago, and witli 

 three large plants at Belding, Mich., has for 

 years Been regarded as one of the strongest in- 

 stitutions of the kind in the country. During 

 the last week, however, out of a clear sky comes 

 the annodncement through creditors that the 

 house is in linancial ditficulties, and that an 

 audit of its affairs is in progress. The president 

 is Jesse F. Hall of Winnetka. a Chicago suburb. 

 He is said to be broken down in health and 

 mind and has taken refuge in a sanitarium near 

 Windsor, Ont. It is denied that Mr. Hall is a 

 defaulter and it is thought that the company's 

 assets will be sufflcient to pay creditors in full. 

 It is undeniable that the company owes a large 

 amount of money, and that Mr. Hall has been 

 engaged in some outside investments which have 

 not proven profitable. The lumber trade are 

 creditors to a considerable extent, but the chief 

 ones are Chicago bankers. 



Later. — The accounts, which were audited 

 shortly before this paper went to press, are said 

 to show that for the past two years Mr. Hall 

 has been "borrowing" for his own uses at least 

 .f 315,000 of the corporation's funds, merely giv- 

 ing his personal note as security. As far as 

 can be discovered every dollar of this money 

 went into mining stock which was backed up 

 with no tangible property, theatrical ventures 

 which made no money and other securities which 

 the creditors are willing to sell in a lump for 

 approximately $4,000. Mr. Hall's fortune is said 

 to consist of only ifSO.OOO worth of the com- 

 pany's stock. The further astonishing discovery 

 was made that Mr. Hall had distributed some- 

 thing like $40,000 additional of the company's 

 funds among irresponsible persons connected 

 with the concern — the only apparent reason tor 

 this being that they knew about his financial 

 affairs. Frank H. Jones of the American Trust 

 and Savings bank has been appointed receiver 

 and has taken possession of the three factories 

 at Belding, Mich., and the offices at 190 Monroe 

 street, Chicago. An audit of the stock at Beld- 

 ing is said to show liabilities of about |645,000 

 and assets of perhaps $425,000. 



Car Order Bureau. 



The innovation put into being by Edward 

 Bach, an old railroad man. at Xew Orleans 

 sliould prove of material lienefit to lumbermen. 

 Mr. Bach is established in the Hibernia Bank 

 building and his New Orleans Car Order Bureau 

 is for the quick handling, tracing, ordering and 

 placing of cars, loaded or unloaded, at that port. 



The bureau has already proved that there is 

 a need of its existence, and through the intelli- 

 gent operation of Mr. Bach has saved consider- 

 able in demurrage. Orders for cars for any 

 of its patrons are placed by the bureau, which 

 then keeps right after the railroad until the 

 cars are furnished either for loading or un- 

 loading. An institution of this nature, abso- 

 lutely independent of any organization, is sure 

 to be a success. 



Two Big Fire Losses at St. Louis. 



On the night of August 3 Are broke out in 

 lumber yard No. 4 of the Charles F. Luehrmann 

 Hardwood Lumber Company on the Iron Moun- 

 tain Railroad at St. Louis, and before it could be 

 checked swept over the larger portion of the yard 

 and destroyed the new sheds which the company 

 built last year. The loss is estimated at $80,000, 

 largely covered by insurance. 



This is the second time in a little more than 

 a year that this yard has been visited by fire. 

 New sheds of red gum were erected after the 

 first fire, equipped with switchfe and thoroughly 

 up to date. This makes the fire a peculiarly 

 annoying one. as the company had taken great 

 precautions against a recurrence of fire and 

 spent a considerable sum of money in improve- 



ments. The yard at the time of the fire was 

 well stocked with choice white pine, redwood, 

 red gum, figured mahogany, vermilion wood, fine 

 veneers and lumber intended chiefly to fill mixed 

 car orders. The company will take steps to 

 rebuild the sheds and restock the yard imme- 

 diately. 



On August 27 at midnight fire was discovered 

 in the yard of the E. H. Warner Lumber Cttm- 

 pany, whose property adjoins that of the Luehr- 

 mann company, whose yard was visited by five 

 only two weeks previously, as recounted above. 

 About half the yard was damaged, parts slightly 

 and some more seriously, together with the 

 comp.any's stables and wagons, although all the 

 horses were saved. The loss is estimated at 

 $22,000, partially covered by insurance. The 

 fire started in a shed which was filled with a 

 choice stock of poplar, cherry and other hard- 

 woods, which will be a heavy loss, as the 

 salvage on the lumber will amount to little or 

 nothing. Mr. Warner is a specialist in these 

 woods and had accumulated a large and valua- 

 ble stock to take care of his fall trade. He 

 will rebuild his office and the burned sheds as 

 soon as insurance matters are adjusted. 



Authorities in St. Louis are inclined to the 

 belief that there is an incendiary at work in 

 this neighborhood, as there have been several 

 other fires in the locality recently, but they 

 were checked before any damage was done. 



Death of B. B. Tiompson. 



The death of Byron R. Thompson of the B. R. 

 Thompson Lumber Company of Grand Rapids, 

 Mich., occurred at his home in that city on the 

 evening of Sept. 2. He had been ill but one 

 week and his death came as a great surprise to 

 many of his intimate friends. Mr. Thompson 

 leaves a wife and one daughter. Funeral serv- 

 ices were held Sept. 4 from his residence at 230 

 South College avenue ; interment was at Green- 

 wood cemetery. 



B. R. Thompson was well and favorably 

 known to the lumber trade and was an ex- 

 director of the National Hardwood Lumber As- 



THE LATE B. R. THOMPSON OF GRAND 

 RAPIDS, MICH. 



sociation. He was born at Curwensville, Pa., 

 and came to Michigan thirty years ago. He 

 operated at Fife Lake for a while, but in 1892 

 started in business with J. H. Bonnell, under 

 the name of the Thompson & Bonnell Lumber 

 Company, Mr. Thompson being the active man 

 and Mr. Bonnell the financial backer of the en- 

 terprise. Its success was such that in three 

 ui puB Jiasraiq pejsap uosdraoqx '-'It s.njs-f 



1900 sold out his interests to engage in the 

 hardwood business with Charles F. Perkins and 

 T. W. Perkins. The Messrs. Perkins retired 

 from the company about a year ago and since 

 that time Mr. Tliompson has been doing busi- 

 ness on his own account. 



Building Operations for August. 



A great volume of building and construction 

 is still going on throughout the United States. 

 Official reports from some fifty representative 

 l)Uilding centers, to The American Contractor. 

 Chicago, tabulated, show a gain in twenty-two 

 cities, varying from 1 to 463 per cent, and 

 twenty-eight cities show a loss from 1 to 74 per 

 cent as compared with August of the last year. 

 As 1906 was a record breaker in the field of 

 building construction, the statistics of the past 

 month make an excellent showing. Leaving out 

 Greater New York, the average loss would be 

 about 3 per cent. The particulars are as fol- 

 lows : 



August August Per Per 



I'JilT, 190B. cent cent 



City. cost. cost. gain. loss. 



Baltimore .$ fiTll.lKS $712,070 ... 



Birmingham 2oo,2.^»7 205,744 ... 2 



Chicago 4,402.275 5,439.17.5 ... 17 



Cambridge 0li,400 94.G75 1 



Cleveland 1,027.545 1,120.355 ... S 



Chattanooga 70,760 71.800 ... 1 



Cincinnati 800,818 784, .'WO 1 



Davenport 00,000 2S.S20 10.H 



Dallas 271. SJ3 22.".,S4S 20 



Detroit l.ori.-,.i;00 1.042,050 1 



Evansville Sil.."4.S 112. 2S0 ... 27 



Grand Rapids 202.011 140. ."i76 .■;."1 



Harrisburg 10S,225 11S.S50 (17 



Hartford 445,005 232,805 01 



Little Rock 70.502 140.519 ... 45 



Louisville 200.744 424,195 ... 37 



Lns Angeles 1,. 342. 000 1.470.522 ... 



.Milwaukee 932..5.35 854,738 8 



Minneapolis 1.251.835 1,147,005 



Mempliis 228.522 324,205 ... 29 



"Mobile 88.435 207,401 ... 00 



New Haven 232.842 198.822 17 



New Orleans 311,902 334,573 ... 



Manh.Tttan 7.770.195 9,027,046 ... 12 



Brooklyn 5,635,089 7,312.007 ... 22 



Bronx I.SIO.OOO 3,124.405 ... 42 



New York 15,221. .884 19,463,458 ... 21 



Omaha 508,700 472,750 20 



riiiladelphia 3.2.^8,715 3.434,405 ... 5 



Pittsburg 2.070.428 985.813 110 



Pueblo 10.015 14,815 ... 20 



Reading 02.4.50 1.34.450 ... 31 



St. Joseph 401.775 S7,260 403 



,St. Louis 1.515,855 2.233.900 ... 32 



St. Paul 055.670 563..339 69 



Scranton 490,535 1,54,805 210 



Spokane 410,546 396.075 3 



.South Bend 124.085 299.917 ... .58 



Syracuse 172.875 249,272 ... 30 



Salt Lake City 17O,.30O 516,700 ... 07 



Tnpeka 21.-!.321 67,515 ... 07 



Toledo 232,780 899,210 ... 74 



Terre Haute 159.870 62.052 157 



Trenton 2.33.597 119.935 04 



Washington 885,096 1,093,425 ... IS 



Worcester 2.57. S73 253.520 1 



Wilkesbarre 638,132 191,312 233 



Total $41,570,820 $47,213,416 ... 11 



•Mobile issued one permit for $248,000 August. 1000. 



Fine Ne-w Wisconsin 'Veneer Plant. 



The Roddis Lumber & 'Veneer Company of 

 Marshfleld. Wis., has just completed what is 

 probably one of the largest veneer plants in 

 the world. This plant is to replace the one 

 which was totally destroyed by fire several 

 months ago. 



Having built two veneer factories and studied 

 the needs of the Imsiness for the past fifteen 

 years, W. H. Roddis and Hamilton Roddis, wlio 

 are conceded to be among the best veneer men in 

 the country, have been able to erect a model 

 establishment, admirably aiTangcd for conven- 

 ience and equipped with as complete a line 

 of machinery as it is possible to obtain. Labor- 

 saving devices have been installed in all depart- 

 ments, and the buildings have been arranged 

 so as to handle logs as they come ifito the 

 yard, through all stages of manufacture to the 

 finished state, economically and with dispatch. 

 The plant is large enough to permit the com- 

 pany to double its force, which at present num- 

 l>ers over 200 men. The company's plant at 

 Park Falls, Wis., which was also burned a few 

 months ago, has been rebuilt on an improved 

 scale and is now in operation. 



Strenuous efforts have been made to make 

 the plant as nearly fireproof as is possible for 

 a woodworking estatilishment. Automatic sprink- 



