12 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



years, that from ten to twenty dollars per tliousand feet 

 more advance will not affect its consumption, I think that 

 opinion is a mistake. Every advance has to be handed on 

 to the consumer, and he is carrying about all he can afford 

 to stand at this time, and I venture to suggest that if any 

 sucli increase as you intimate were made on hardwood ma- 

 terials you would find that wagon manufacturers are not 

 so wedded to the wagon of wood construction that they 

 will accept such advances cheerfully and continue its use. 

 Right at this time one of the largest producers of wagons is 

 putting upon the market an improved metal wagon, and 

 others are experimenting with various important parts, so 

 that some very radical changes along these lines seem immi- 

 nent. Even now the legitimate trade is being affected by 

 the manufacture of metal wheels, who have gone farther 

 and constructed gears also of metal, with the exception of 

 one or two parts, that they are substituting for the regular 

 wagon in many uses about the farm, and the inroads these 

 cheap trucks have made have been largely due to the in- 

 creasing cost of the standard wagon. 



So I suggest that while it is the rule of trade to get as 

 large a margin on your product as it will possibly stand, the 

 wiser course, it seems to me, is moderation, so that not only 

 may the materials continue in demand but the volume be 

 maintained over a long term of years ; whereas, extremely 

 high prices, while temporarily giving large profits, would 

 simply, cause the use of a substitute that would certainly 

 affect the demand in this branch of your business. 



It would seem to me a wise course for the mill men get- 

 ting wagon dimension stuff to occasionally consult with a 

 representative committee of their customers, just as we 

 invite suggestions and discuss our mutual interests with the 

 jobbers and dealers selling our line of goods. 



I do not write you this as a criticism of your able article, 

 but being closely in touch with the conditions iu our own 

 line of business, I feared that your article possibly might 

 incline some of your mill men not thoroughly posted on the 

 situation to believe that there was really no limit to the 

 prices that could be obtainlid for his products, and if this 

 idea prevailed it certainly would result in disappointment 

 all around. 



I observe also your suggestion for a list of manufacturers 

 of wagon stock, and I am sure such a list would prove of 

 mutual benefit. 

 While the position taken by the writer of this letter is to a con- 

 siderable extent authoritative, as both by experience in the wagon 

 making industry and in his association work he has the subject well 

 in hand, still it must be considered from the viewpoint of ex parte 

 opinion. 



The statement made by the Hardwood Eecokd that the present 

 prices of hardwood dimension stuff were "satisfactory" to the 

 wagon making trade was based partly on the statement of a number 

 of producers of this material, who advised that they were readily 

 marketing their output to the wagon making trade at the prices 

 established at the dimension meeting at Cincinnati on Feb. 22 and 

 23, and partly from statements made to the writer by jobbers of 

 wagon material, who reported that they were able to market the 

 material at practically the prices agreed upon. The premises taken 

 by the author of the letter are not well grounded when he concedes 

 no more intrinsic value for standing timber today than he did in 

 years past, or that the cost of production by reason of improved 

 facilities is very much lessened at the present time. The cost of 

 making lumber is in very much the same condition as the cost of pro- 

 ducing wagons. The trade is past the period of reducing cost; the 

 maximum of efficiency was reached some years ago, and since that 

 time the cost of lumber, labor and materials entering into lumber 

 production has been largely augmented. The menace to lumber con- 

 sumption by reason of the wagon making trade using iron instead 

 of wood is not serious, as it is yet to be demonstrated that a wagon 

 of equal utility and at a less cost can be produced from this ma- 

 terial. Again the writer of the letter is in error in his assumption 

 that the present prices demanded for wagon stock show an excessive 

 margin of profit to producers. There are scores of lines of lumber 

 production that can be named where the profits are much higher than 

 in making wagon stock, even at the present price standard. Again, 

 it was one of the foremost aims of the gentlemen organizing the 

 dimension branch of the Hardwood Manufacturers' Association to 

 consult with representatives of all the leading industries interested 

 in the use of dimension material before the matter of grades or cf 



values was decided upon. At this meeting there were present repre- 

 sentatives of the chair, furniture, wagon and carriage industries, and 

 everyone had an opportunity to state his position on both subjects. 

 It was not the intention of the dimension manufacturers of the 

 countrj- to advance prices unreasonably or at any time in the future 

 to plan the making of schedules of prices that would in any wise 

 militate against the volume of consumption. They have attained all 

 they asked for, and that is a fair margin of profit on this material. 

 In years past practically every man who had the temerity to engage 

 in the manufacture of dimension material was a loser in the venture. 

 If he was not forced to commercial failure he simply stopped making 

 it before he reached that unhappy state. The present range of values 

 established for this stock is sufiicieut to afEord a moderate profit to 

 all desiring to engage in the business, and is an especially valuable 

 feature of the trade, as it enables both the small mill man to pro- 

 duce and market a green product, and the large operator to utilize 

 his forest and sawmill refuse to a considerable extent. 



New German Lumber Duties. 



There has been considerable fear prevalent on the part of ex- 

 porters of American woods that the new German autonomous tariff 

 rate would be so high as to seriously militate against exports to that 

 country. The new tariff recently promulgated there provides first, 

 for an autonomous rate; second, for a "favored nation" treaty rate. 

 The United States consul-general at Berlin has sujiplied the Hakd- 

 WOOD Eecord with the features of the new tariff that have special 

 application to the lumber trade of this country. The report is 

 specially valuable at this time on account of the recent agreement 

 between the United States and Germany, under which the new treaty 

 schedule promulgated will be protected until June 30, 1907. It is 

 alleged that the introduction into congress of a resolution providing 

 that an extra import duty of twenty-five per cent above the Dingley 

 tariff be placed upon goods reaching this country from any nation 

 discriminating against us in its import duties might have had some 

 effect on the extension of the treaty. 



The following table shows the old schedule and the new treaty 

 rates on American timber and lumber products imported into Ger- 

 many. The autonomous rates are much higher. The rates given 

 are based on the square meter — 10.7629 square feet. It will be 

 seen that the new tariff on hardwood logs is twelve cents lower than 

 the old rate; on hewn hardwood timber it is twelve cents higher; on 

 rough hardwood lumber it is twenty -three cents higher; on hardwood 

 ties it is three cents higher; on oak staves it is five cents lower, it 

 will be noted that the changes instituted are not of serious conse- 

 quence. 



' On steamed, impregnated, or otherwise chemically treated wood there is an 

 additional duty of 2.10 marks (57 cents) per square meter on hardwoods, and 2 60 

 marks (62 cents) on soft woods. 2 Not sawed lengthwise. 3 sawed one long side. 



Lignum°Vitae. 



There seems to be an unusual call for lignum-vitiB at the present 

 time. The United States consul at Port de PaLx, Haiti, says that 

 foreign offers for lignum-vitee are very numerous, and as high as 

 $48 a ton has been offered for wood nine inches and over in diam- 

 eter. Heretofore the making of balls for bowling alleys has. con- 

 sumed a large portion of the lignum-vitse that has been imported into 

 this country. 



