14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



kuowu. The people will again turn to canal eonstruction with the 

 same enthusiasm that they took up railroad extension. Canal build- 

 ing is an expensive undertaking as compared with railroad con- 

 struction; it frequently costs iive or ten limes as miu-li to build 

 a mile of canal as to construct a double track railrnad. but canals 

 will accommodate far more traffic an.l handle it at a miuimum of 

 expense, as compared with the railroads. 



The platform of the National Rivers & Harbors' Congress 

 a membership extending throughout the country is ": 

 river and harbor appropriation of at least $.")0,0nfl,l)Ol) 

 result of this movement Congress at its last session voted $183,- 

 000,000 for waterway improvements— the largest appropriation 

 ever devoted to this object— and the president followed its action 

 by the appointment of an Internal Waterways Commission^ 

 study and make recommendations for the comprehensive utiliza 

 tion of our waterway resources. 



with 



annual 



As a 



to 



Current Issue Hardwood Record. 



The publishers air particularly jmnid of this number of the 

 Hardwood Kecord, as it is believed to be the handsomest number 

 of a lumber tra.le paper that has ever been issued. The special 

 feature is an elaborately illustrated story of the great lumber and 

 allied interests of the city of Cadillac. Mich. The frontispiece 

 is a picture of the typical hard ma],!.- urowth of Michigan, ar- 

 tistically reproduced in four colors. The title page of the story 

 is embellishe.l with types of three great Michigan forest trees- 

 each a monarch specimen— white pine, gray elm and hemlock, 

 and also with a beautiful photograjihic reproduction of one of 

 the leading lumber plants of Cadillac. 



One cannot read this article without fully realizing that the 

 lumbermen of Cadillac are lumbermen in reality. They know how 

 to do things and do things well. The type of the timber which 

 supplies logs to these mills is of its kind unexcelled in the 

 known world. There are no better sawmills built than are used 

 by these people and no one manufactures lumber better than they 

 do. What is true of this lumber product is also true of the allied 

 production of hardwood flooring, veneers and ]ianels, crates, head- 

 ing, last blocks and iron-working tools, woo, I chemicals and pig 

 iron. 



Above all else, the laborer in thc^ woods and mills of this section 

 works under conditions nujre favorable than in almost any other 

 region that can be named. 



Truly Cadillac is entitled to its name of being "the biggest 

 little city in the country," which is the natural sequence of the 

 fact that the people at the helm of business atfairs there are 

 "big men.' ' _ 



National Forestry in Other Countries. 



The forests of .Japan have been managed by tlie imperial gov- 

 ernment for many years. The national forests of that country 

 cover an area of about 30,000,000 acres, or slightly more than half 

 the total forest area. The management of these forests by the 

 Japanese government has proven successful and profitable. 



In France the forest mountain regions were in the way of com- 

 plete denudation before 1860. Their mighty sponges of roots, 

 deciduous deposits and undergrowth which regulated the flow of 

 the streams, were exposed and dried, and on taking fire were de- 

 stroyed. Heavy rainfall washed away the disintegrated mountain 

 soils which filled the river beds and checked navigation. Pro- 

 ductive land became barren. There was a dearth of lumber. Cities 

 with large manufacturing interests were punished with torrential 

 floods, or drouth, and the punishment increased recurrently. The 

 French government at last bestirred itself and appropriated $15,- 

 000,000 to purchase 400,000 acres of the deforested area. For over 

 forty years it has incurred an annual exiienditurc of $600,000 for 

 reforestation and plans are on foot to acquire an additional tract 

 at a cost of $20,000,000. While the state-owned lands of France 

 will remain unjiroductive for many years, the plans jiromulgated 

 are deemed wise and of eventual profit. 



The systems adopted by Japan, France, Germany and many other 

 foreign nations should appeal to the lawmakers of this country 

 and there should be no more babble against forest reservations. 

 While the government has at last secured the protection of a large 

 area of mountainous lands in the western part of the country, its 

 holdings are absolutely nil in the East. The White Mountain 

 reservr as well as the proposed Ajipalachian timber |uirchase should 

 come about very iiromptly. 



Standardizing Wagon Material. 



The National Wagon Manufacturers' Association is an organiza- 

 tion that has been maintained for about twenty-five years, and is 

 made up of wagon manufacturers throughout the United States. 

 For many years manufacturers of wagons have deemed it wise to 

 buy special and specific sizes of dimensions for their vehicle work. 

 Tliis system enabled them to hold the hardwood manufacturers who 

 produce stock for them under close contract. In other words, after 

 a lumber manufacturer had produced a quantity of special sizes for 

 a wagonmaker. he was unable to market the stock to another wagon 

 numufacturer, or to get luit regular stock ahead of his specific orders. 



Of late years it has been the opinion of leaders in the National 

 Wagon Manufacturers' Association that it would be wise to unify not 

 only sizes but grades, and make them satisfactory alike to all manu- 

 facturers of ■ wagons and to all producers of rough wagon dimen- 

 sions. The association has worked on this proposition for a long 

 time, ami at a s])ecial meeting held in Chicago on Thursday, Septem- 

 ber 19, a, set of standardized sizes for rough wagon material and a 

 new set of modified grading rules were agreed upon. Before these 

 rules and sizes become effective they will be passed upon by both the 

 Hardwood Manufacturers' Association and the National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association. A n'(|uest has been made to lioth these organi- 

 zations for the appointment of a special committee on rough wagon 

 dimensions, to confer with a like committee from the National Wagon 

 Manufacturers' Association, and it is deemed probable that within a 

 veiy few weeks a joint agreement will he reached. 



On a. news page of this issue will be found the n'port of tlie i-eet- 

 ing held by the wagonnmkers, in which the new rules and standard- 

 ized dimensions are fully outlined. It is to be hoped that this very 

 desirable nuivement will be crowned with success. 



Annual Car Shortage at Hand. 



The car shortage which the 11.\ruwood Kecord has predicted would 

 menace trade during the fall months, as usual, is already at hand, 

 for from many sections of the country complaints are arriving that 

 there is difficulty in securing sufficient equipment to move lumber. 

 A good many buyers have forestalled this situation by placing their 

 orders early and securing their shipments in advance of actual needs, 

 but still there are others who have postponed purchasing until there 

 is every likelihood that they are going to encounter a lot of troubla 

 in keeping their lumber stocks lined up for fall and winter require- 

 ments. Every nmu who has any expectation of needing stock for 

 the next four months will be wise in making purchases and crowding 

 his shipments along as fast as possible, because the car shortage in 

 view of the great crop movement, is absolutely inevitable. 



Bad Management of Lumber Trust. 



Bulletin No. 77 of tlie lUireau of Census recites that practically 

 all varieties of merchantable timber during the past few years have 

 increased in stumpage value. Prom 1900 to 190.5 the estimated in- 

 crease in yellow pine stumpage value was from $1.12 to $1.68 per 

 thousand»feet ; white pine, from $3.66 to $4.62; Douglas fir. from 

 77 cents to $1.05; hemlock, from $2.56 to $3.51; oak, from $3.18 to 

 .$3.S3; spruce, from .$2.26 to $3.70; cypress, from $1.58 to $3.42; 

 the total average increase being forty-four and one-tenth per cent. 



The same document shows that the average increase in value of all 

 kinds of lumber during the same period was from $11.14 to $12.76, 

 or an increase of fourteen and five-tenths per cent. 



In view of the foregoing figures a contemporary suggests that 

 if a "lumber trust" exists in this country, its manager is a mighty 

 poor specimen of the American business man! If raw material has 

 nearly doubled in value in five years, why has not the aforesaid trust 

 been "able to secure more than fourteen and five-tenths per cent in- 

 crease in lumber values? 



