38 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



continue the selling agency of tlie lumber out- 

 put as above noted, in addition to which their 

 charter is broad enough to permit them to ac- 

 quire other properties and to do such general 

 business as they may desire. 



Building in Chicago During 1909 



Permits for Chicago buildings aggregating in 

 value nearly $90,000,000 were issued by the 

 building department during 1909. This is the 

 high water mark in the history of the city and 

 ghows an increase of nearly .$22,000,000 over 

 the building total of 1908, which was a record- 

 breaker itself. 



From January 1 to December 30 permits were 

 taken out for the construction of 11,228 build- 

 ings, with a total frontage of 311.477 feet and 

 Involving a cost of $89,833,480. against 10,771 

 buildings, 291,655 feet of frontage, and $68,204, 

 080 in cost for 1908. 



The 1909 figures in detail follow: 



No. No. ft. 



1909 — bldgs. frontage. Cost. 



January 669 18,873 $ 8,227,700 



February 828 22,873 5,159.000 



March 1,254 32.831 8,145,800 



April 1,082 30,129 8,047,900 



May 1,0.54 31,332 12,609,480 



June 1,182 29.468 7,786,300 



July 954 27,024 6,856,250 



August 894 22,083 4,801,650 



September 957 26,880 7,720,500 



October 986 28,701 7,603,400 



November 891 25,624 6.825,700 



December 477 13,659 6,001,000 



Totals 11,228 311,477 $89,833,480 



The first high water mark in Chicago building 

 was set in 1890, when the boom which preceded 

 the world's fair started. During that year, 

 building to the extent of $47,322,100 was done 

 in the city. The following year the amount was 

 $54,000,000, and in 1892 it was $63,000,000. 

 This mark held the record until 1905, when it 

 was equaled. In 1906 a record of $64,298,335 

 was .set. 



Interests Consolidated 



William D. Mersbon of 907C Metropolitan Lite 

 building. New York City, engaged in wholesale 

 lumber and manufactured wood goods trade, has 

 merged his business with that of his brother, 

 the John D. Mershon Lumber Company of Sagi- 

 naw, Mich. Offices will be maintained at both 

 New York and Saginaw, and the future business 

 of the house will involve the handling of Michi- 

 gan, west coast and southern lumber products of 

 all varieties. 



The Messrs. Mershon have had a wide expe- 

 rience in nearly every detail of lumber purchases 

 and sales, are strictly honorable in all their deal- 

 ings, and the new house should meet with suc- 

 cess. At the present time John D. Mershon is in 

 California concluding arrangements with the Pa- 

 cific Lumber Company for the handling of its red- 

 wood output in the territory east of the Missis- 

 sippi and north of the Ohio rivers. 



Committees of National Veneer & Panel 

 Manufacturers' Association 



The following is a roster of the committees 

 that have been appointed by the National Veneer 

 & Panel Manufacturers' Association for the en- 

 suing year : 



Nominating Committee 



D. W. Williamson, chairman, Baltimore, Md. 

 R. A. Rothermel, Batavia, 111. 

 F. A. Richardson, Alpena, Mich. 



COMIMITTEE ON CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS. 



S. B. Anderson, chairman, Memphis, Tenn. 

 C. T, Crandall, Brockton, N. Y. 

 H. M. McCracken, Louisville, Ky. 

 Auditing Committee 

 L. P. Groffiman, chairman, St. Louis, Mo. 

 R. V. Parsons, Benton Harbor, Mich. 

 C. W. Talge, Bvansvllle, Ind. 



Committee on Resolutions 

 J. N. Penrod, chairman, Kansas City, Mo. 



Haines Ebert, Goshen, Ind. 

 J. C. Hill, High Point, N. C. 

 Arbitration and Grievance Committee 



D. E. Kline, chairman, Louisville, Ky. 

 P. E. Hoffman, Ft. Wayne, Ind. 



E. W. Benjamin, Cadillac, Mich, 

 Entertainment and Program Committee 



E. H. Defebaugh, chairman. Chicago, III. 



H. S. Young, Indianapolis, Ind. 



W. C. Calhoun, Sheboygan, Wis. 

 Membership and Credentials Committee 

 M. C. Dow, Jr., chairman, Goshen, Ind. 

 R. C. Dayton, Rhinelander, Wis. 



W. L. Kile, Akron, Ohio. 



Costs and Valuation Committee 



B. W. Lord, chairman, Burnside, Ky. 



A. E. Gorham, Mt. Pleasant, Mich. 

 W. G. Bass, Indianapolis, Ind. 



Classification and Grading Committee 

 J. D. Maris, chairman, Indianapolis, Ind. 

 J. T. Edwards, Medtord, Wis. 

 W. S. Walker, Portsmouth, Ohio. 

 Railroad Classification and Claims Committee 

 Burdis Anderson, chairman, Munising, Mich. 

 D. EJ. Kline, Louisville, Ky. 



B. W. Lord, Burnside, Ky. 



Holly Lumber Company Succeeds the Crosby 

 & Beckley Company 



The Crosby & Beckley Company, the veteran 

 and well-known hardwood jobbing house of New 

 Haven, Conn., announces that it has been dis- 

 solved by mutual consent and is succeeded by the 



R. L. WALELEY, PRESIDENT HOLLY 

 LUMBER COMPANY 



Holly Lumber Company, which will continue the 

 business of manufacturing and wholesaling, with 

 principal offices at 42 Church street. New Haven, 

 Conn. 



The Holly Lumber Company is the name under 

 which the Crosby & Beckley Company has carried 

 on one of its manufacturing institutions for the 

 past ten years. This plant is located at Pickens. 

 W. Va., and the output has been sold in the past 

 by the parent company. For the purpose of 

 simplifying its business affairs, the Holly Lumber 

 Company will hereafter sell its output direct to 

 the trade, and will also handle the wholesale 

 business heretofore carried on by the Crosby & 

 Eeckley Company. 



Of the Holly Lumber Company, R. L. Walkley 

 is president ; W. E. Douglass, vice-president : 

 B. A. Beckley, treasurer, and T. C. Beckley, sec- 

 retary. The company specializes In poplar, but 

 also handles a good deal of oak and other woods. 



African Timber 



In a report on the timber resources of Ger 

 many. Consul Thomas H. Norton of Chemnitz 

 says that the Empire is making earnest efforts 

 to become independent of other countries by 

 looking to territories in Africa. He says : 



"Germany was one of the first countries to 

 recognize the vital importance of forest conser- 

 \ation and of forestry itself as a branch of ap- 

 plied science, standing on the same level with 

 agriculture and mining. Despite the care that 

 has been taken to protect the forests for over 

 half a century, the supply of native woods is 

 now insufficient to meet the demands for fuel 

 and industrial purposes, so that increasingly 

 large amounts of lumber are imported. Ger- 

 many's foreign supplies of ordinary lumber come 

 chiefly from Russia, Austria-Hungary, Scandi- 

 navia, France and the United States. Choicer 

 and more expensive varieties come from the 

 Fast and West Indies. 



"For some months two experts have been ac- 

 tively engaged in studying the forest conditions 

 in the colonies of western Africa, Togo and 

 Kamerun. Most of the time was spent in the lat- 

 ter territory, which embraces over 200,000 square 

 miles. The examination covered the regions that 

 are easily accessible to the chief streams, the 

 Mungo, Sanaga and Wuri, and to the two rail- 

 road lines now in course of construction. Much 

 of the surface is covered by thick forest, and 

 there is a great variety of different woods. 

 Some 600 varieties are represented in the col- 

 lection of samples brought back to Germany. 

 There seem to be no extensive forests in which 

 any one sort of timber predominates. Lumber- 

 ing aiming at the gathering of any one variety 

 can not be carried out with any degree of 

 economy. 



Hardwoods form the great bulk of the forests, 

 and among these the heavier sorts are most 

 common. About one-half of the available timber 

 is regarded as of distinct industrial value. The 

 exact value of many varieties can not be de- 

 finitely determined until the large collection of 

 samples has been submitted to technical tests, 

 as the woods have not been introduced indus- 

 trially in Europe. In order to make lumbering 

 operations profitable, the timber should be sawed 

 in the colony and shipped in the half-manu- 

 factured form to Germany. Conditions are fa- 

 vorable for such undertakings. Water power is 

 available, an^ the refuse of the mills would 

 supply, likewise, fuel for steam purposes. Trans- 

 port from the interior to the coast by water is 

 easy, and can be supplemented by the use of the 

 railroads in construction. The timber of minor 

 value for export can be utilized largely for 

 iharcoal and pulp, as well as for destructive dis- 

 tillation. 



"As a result the experts regard the Kamerun 

 colony as capable of contributing a valuable 

 quota to Germany's timber supply. They rec- 

 ommend the prompt introduction of scientific 

 forestry, in order to preserve the wooded re- 

 gions as constant sources of timber. 



"In the smaller colony of Togo, which em- 

 braces about 20,000 square miles, the conditions 

 are quite different. It has been ordinarily as- 

 sumed that this territory was well wooded like 

 Kamerun. This may have been the case once, 

 but a careful estimate now fixes the forests at 

 about 200 square miles, lying in the hills and 

 along the water courses. The practice of syste- 

 matically burning off the grass on open tracts 

 seems to have been the chief factor in reducing 

 the former area of forests and in preventing Its 

 extension. The character of the timber is much 

 as in Kamerun. The experts report that In this 

 remote section of Africa, where natural condi- 

 tions should favor luxuriant forest growth, there 

 is now actually more need of the application of 

 scientific measures to protect and extend tree 

 growth than in any of the southern countries of 

 Europe, so sadly denuded of forests." 



