HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



the Quartered Oak Club Tuesday at 8:00 P. M., and the Gum Club 

 Wednesday at 10:00 A. M. It is to be hoped that veueer men will 

 make a special effort to be present at this meeting. 



An Impending Railroad Tie-Up 



The United States is threatened with the greatest railroad strike 

 in the history of the nation. Practically every railroad in the 

 country is in imminent danger of being completely tied up by a 

 walkout of a large number of their operating employees. Officers 

 of organizations of engineers, firemen, trainmen and switchmen 

 have agreed upon a uniform demand of a ten per cent wage 

 increase without deviation or compromise. The Brotherhood of 

 Kailroad Trainmen announce that they will present their demands 

 December 11, and the wage conference will begin December 15. 



Although the railroads will make every possible effort to avert a 

 general strike, it is impossible at this time to predict what the 

 outcome of the conferences will be. Both the railroads and the 

 leaders of organized labor among railroad employees are preparing 

 for the struggle, which, when begun will probably develop into one 

 of the greatest industrial battles that has over been fought. The 

 situation on both sides menaces the industrial peace of the coun- 

 try. It means that over a million men will engage in the battle 

 with the railroads, unless some important circumstance arises to 

 prevent the struggle. 



Already a good many large shippers have been notified of the 

 impending difficulty and the railroad officials have advised them 

 to prepare for emergency, and to get under cover with shipments 

 of coal and lumber, grain and other food stuffs. 



Among the railroad organizations that will participate in this 

 universal demand for increased wages are the Brotherhood of 

 Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, with a membership of 

 300,000; the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, with a mem- 

 bership of 400,000; the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, with 

 a membership of 210,000; the" Order of Railway Conductors, with 

 a membership of 150,000, and the Switchmen 's Union of North 

 America, with a membership of 7,000. 



Of course, the railroads will resist this horizontal increase in 

 wage scale to the full extent of their ability, just having passed 

 through a serious financial crisis, and feeling that it is absolutely 

 impossible to conduct their transportation lines at a profit at the 

 advance in wages demanded. 



With this situation impending, it will be wise for every lumber 

 shipper to insure his stock of raw material at the earliest moment 

 practicable, and then more than likely a great quantity of lumber 

 will be tied up in transit. 



Accusations Against Chicago Lumbermen 



The Merriam commission, a local institution, is busily engaged 

 in investigating alleged crookedness in the purchase of supplies 

 for the city of Chicago. The Tribune of December 3 reports that 

 this commission finds that rotten lumber has been supplied to the 

 city of Chicago on contracts specifying good, sound oak; that 

 culls in the Chicago market used for crossing planks and having 

 a small market value constitute sixty per cent of the stock of 

 10,000 feet at the Chicago avenue sewer pipe yards, bought and 

 paid for by the city as common sound oak at $30 to $35 per thou- 

 sand feet. 



The report alleges that bids of certain contractors were below 

 the market price for grades of lumber specified, and that it was 

 impossible for the seller to furnish the specified grade without 

 loss to himself. It further alleges that the foreman in charge of 

 one of the city's pipe yards was responsible for seeing that the 

 lumber received was up to specifications, but he knew little about 

 the grading of lumber and never heard of official grades. It states 

 that previous to this year the custom has been to award contracts 

 for all kinds of lumber to the lowest average bidder, but this year 

 the contracts have been split up among the lowest bidders for each 

 kind of lumber used. 



The John E. Burns Lumber Company, which has the contract 



for oak for the sewer department; the Edward Hines Lumber 

 Company, which has the contract for pine, and the Herman H. 

 Hettler Lumber Company, which has the contract for hemlock, are 

 the lumber concerns accused of supplying lumber below grade. 



As a matter of fact, the system under which the purchases of 

 the city of Chicago are handled invites .just the result that has 

 happened. In place of having a lumber purchasing agent who 

 knows his business and is honest, the purchases of the city, in 

 common with most other large municipalities, are placed in the 

 hands of political grafters. It is doubtful if the odium will 

 redound to the houses which are supplying lumber to the city of 

 Chicago, but the onus will fall on the purchasing department of 

 the city, which has attempted to get something for nothing — and 

 then graft. 



Odd Lengths 



There has been a good deal written and s;iid nbout the odd 

 lengths question, both for and against the advisability of depart- 

 ing from the old custom of cutting stock to even lengths only. 

 This is a subject of great importance in the conservation 

 of timber, as it can not be denied that considerable waste attends 

 the present general method of cutting to even lengths onh-. 



On the Pacific Coast lumber manufacturers are making great 

 progress in this important step in the conservation of their timber, 

 and practically all of the large manufacturers in the states of 

 Oregon and Washington have entered into an agreement to cut odd 

 as well as oven lengths in flooring, finish and similar planing mill 

 products. Already this plan has met with success in the East, 

 where oak and maple flooring and pine and poplar siding are now 

 being cut to odd as well as even lengths. 



Considerable opposition to this innovation has arisen among 

 retailers and consumers. The retailer contends that it is impossible 

 for him to dispose of odd length material because of the prevail- 

 ing methods of construction of wooden buildings, claiming that 

 the initial saving of the manufacturer is transferred to the con- 

 sumer. This argument is overcome, however, by the proportionally 

 small amount of odd length material which will occur under the 

 new system and because of the latter day practice of laying sub- 

 floors of rough lumber and sheathing on the sides of houses before 

 putting the finishing material in place. 



The Forest Service has, because of the conservation element 

 which enters this system, been recommending the cutting of odd 

 lengths for some time past. Of late it has made investigations 

 on the Pacific coast as to the amount of timber wasted under the 

 old system of cutting even lengths only, and reports that in the 

 states of Oregon and Washington this waste amounts to about two 

 per cent of the total cut. Further, the Forest Service states that 

 about 15,000,000 board feet of lumber might be saved annually 

 through this system of cutting in these two states alone; extended 

 to the entire country the fiBures would be large enough to make 

 this an important item in timber conservation and one well worth 

 the effort of lumbermen generally. The manufacturer realizes 

 that this waste is unnecessary and can be eliminated without caus- 

 ing anyone any great hardship, and it only remains now to edu- 

 cate the consumer in this particular. 



Exports and Imports for October 



Advance sheets from the Monthly Summary of Commerce and 

 Finance issued by the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of 

 Commerce and Labor, showing details of imports and exports for 

 the month of October, 1909, give the total of wood and manu- 

 factures thereof imported during October, 1909, at $5,301,062, as 

 against $4,651,363 for the same month last year. 



Under exports of domestic merchandise, the report states that 

 wood and manufactures thereof to a total value of $5,716,580, dur- 

 ing October, 1909, as against $5,697,279 for October, 1908. 



The exports and imports of the country are a fairly good index 

 to the general state of trade in most lines of industry, and it is 

 gratifying that commerce in wood goods for the month of October 

 showed an increase over that for the same month of last year. 



