14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



lumber while green interferes somenliat with the aeeuraey of the 

 results, anil that some Iwards, especially yellow poplar saps, present 

 an entirely different appearance when seasoned than when green. 

 The document alleges that drying often sweats out stains which in 

 green boards appear as defects, and sometimes drying exposes hidden 

 knots, or, if improperly done, causes stains. 



Undeniably there is a great deal of work being done by the Forest 

 Service which is of manifest advantage to those interested in for- 

 estry, timber and lumbering, and the deductions given to the ]iublic 

 are valuable. Unfortunately, in the case of the bulletin in question, the 

 information imparted is not particularly new to even a tyro in the 

 lumber business, and it seems to have nothing whatever to do with 

 the subject of .forestry, with which the Forest Service is supi)0se(l 

 to deal. 



Tliere can be no tape rule system devised that will guarantee to a 

 lundjerman whether a certain tree in the forest will prove profitable 

 to cut or not. .Iiidgment, based on experience, will tell a lumberman 

 of even ordinary intelligence that it is economy to leave certain 

 timber in the woods, and to fell other trees. 



The forest assistant suggests some improvements in logging 

 methods, stating that a woods superintendent who can judge accu- 

 rately from the appearance of a log what kind of wood it contains 

 inside, is in a position to save his employer a great deal of money. 

 He can do this largely by a better arrangement of his log lengths: 

 too many fourteen and sixteen foot lengths come to the mill which are 

 clear at the ends but have a bad defect in the middle, and much 

 of the lumber from these logs is reduced in grade because of the 

 single defect. He says a tree may be damaged twenty-five per cent 

 by such methods, and that the defective part should be put into a 

 short log, say eight feet long, and if the defect is bad and extends 

 throughout the log, the piece should be cut out and left in the woods. 

 He argues against the sending of crooked logs to the mill and 

 advises that the crooked j)iece should be either cut out and left or 

 sent as a short log. He insists that hollow butt logs also entail a 

 loss, and that swollen, hollow or wormy butts should either be left 

 in the woods or be brought in as short logs. He alleges that the 

 ]irice of milling depends to a considerable extent u]ion the sawyer, 

 the edgerman and the trimmerman. 



There is more "information" of the same kind contained in this 

 pamphlet, which will l>e rich reading for any lumberman of experi- 

 ence, Avhether or not he agrees with the tenets laid down by the 

 young man who conducted the experiments and made the deductions. 



Perhaps there is one bit of information in the pamphlet that may 

 be of conjectural interest to the lumber trade, and that is that, based 

 on a six months ' study, the young man discovered that the average 

 price received for poplar lumber at the mill where he made his 

 experiments was $24.66 per thousand, which price corresponds within 

 a few cents to the value per thousand feet of the lumber contained 

 in an average thirty-six inch poplar tree. 



One other deduction which the author makes may be interesting to 

 the seller of poplar stumpage, and that is that while a thirteen-inch 

 ]io]ilar tree is worth only .$1.10, a seventy-inch poplar is worth 

 $2.''.7.:21. This information will lead all prospective purchasers of 

 poplar stumpage in the future to seek poplar growth iu which the 

 trees are at least seventy inches in diameter ! 



New Hardwood Lumber Association. 



A few days. ago there was launched at Ottawa Beach the Michigan 

 Hardwood Manufacturers' Association. This project has long been 

 contemplated by many of the leading hardwood producers of that 

 state, as a movement well worth their attention and cooperation. As 

 stated in the new association's constitution its objects are to secure 

 a full understanding of the conditions surrounding the hardwood 

 lumber markets in the territory it covers; the establishment of uni- 

 form gi-ades for the inspection of lumber; the establishment of uni- 

 form customs and usages among manufacturers of hardwoods; the 

 procuring and furnishing to its members of information which may 

 protect them against the unbusinesslike methods of some of those 

 with whom they deal, and the gathering and disseminating of sta- 

 tistics covering stocks of lumber on hand and prospective output. 



The Michigan Hardwood Manufacturers' Association is started 



with the approval and with the a,ssurance of the cooperation of lum- 

 bermen controlling more than seventy-five per cent of the hardwood 

 jiroduction of the state. Holding the position of officers and di- 

 rectors are the leading hardwood producers of Michigan, who are 

 men of character and wealth, and whose reputations for doing 

 business in an honest and straightforward way extends far beyond 

 the boundaries of their commonwealth. The association has its 

 inception under perhaps more favorable auspices than those surround- 

 ing the establishment of any other lumber association hitherto 

 formed, and its success in this much-needed line of endeavor, look- 

 ing primarily to uniform inspection and business methods, is assured. 

 The features that contributed materially to the pleasure of organ- 

 izing this association was the location of the meeting — Hotel Ottawa. 

 Ottawa Beach, Mich., which proved to be an ideal spot for the pur- 

 pose, and the presence of several gentlemen allied with both tlie 

 national hardwood associations, who contributed their advice, based 

 on long experience in association work. A full account of the pro- 

 ceedings will be found in this issue of the H.^rdw'ood Record. 



Rivals in Furniture Manufacturing. 



It is universally conceded that Chicago is one of the greatest liard- 

 \\(iod lonsuming markets in the country. And among the various 

 consuming interests furniture manufacture holds a conspicuous place. 

 Grand Rapids is widely known as the ''Furniture City," but had not 

 the manufacturing interests of the "Windy City" licen so varied 

 and numerous and had there not been so many of perhaps more im- 

 ])ortance than furniture making, Chicago might have won that appel- 

 lation. The following table, giving comparative figures for the fur- 

 niture industry of Chicago and Grand Rapids for 1904, will bear 



out these statements: 



(irand 



Chicago. Itapids. 



1H04. 1904.- 



Kai-tories l.-i.-S 38 



Capitalization .i ., .. ?13,588,1.3.5 $8,004,713 



rierical force 866 397 



Salaries .fl,026,055 .i;.').5S,21!l 



Wase earners. . . 9.612 C.6.54 



Wages $3,328,896 $3,239,748 



Value o( pnifluct .f 17.488.237 $9,409,097 



These figures were taken from an advance bulletin prepared by the 

 Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce and Labor, and are 

 the first of authenticity since the census report of 1900. Elsewhere 

 the bulletin states that the total output of all the factories in the 

 state of Michigan was $18,421,73.5 in 1904; Chicago factories during 

 that year turned out .$17,488,257 worth of furniture — the entire 

 state of Michigan exceeding Chicago by only $933,478. Chicago 

 has perhaps shown a greater advance in furniture manufacture from 

 1900 to 1904, when the number of its factories was increased by 

 39 and the total value of the product increased by $5,143,747, than 

 any other city in the country. During that time Michigan added to 

 its list ten factories and increased its total output by approximately 

 $4,000,000. 



Plans are under way for the erection of another liuildiug at Chi- 

 cago for the exhibition of furniture. It is to be 71x171 feet in 

 tlimensions, eight stories high and to cost about $150,000, Chicago 

 surely stands foremost as a market for the high-class hardwoods used 

 in the manufacture of furniture. 



Railroad Earnings. 



Although official figures showing the earnings of railroads of the 

 United States will not be available for some time to come, the pre- 

 liminary report of the Interstate Commerce Commission would indi- 

 cate that there will be a gain of 10 per cent over the last fiscal year, 

 which ended June 30, 1905, when their gross receipts were $2,073,- 

 000,000. Estimating from monthly increases this prophecy will 

 doubtless be fulfilled and the present season will thus prove a ban- 

 ner one for the railroads of this country, which cover approximately 

 219,000 miles. Every section and comnmnity has profited by the 

 excellent conditions which have prevailed during the past year, and 

 money has l)een liberally spent in improvements of all kinds ; ex- 

 penditures for bettering the roads themselves and the service have 

 been heavy, but their net earnings have been exceedingly large. 



