24 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



"Builders of Lumber History 



(Sec rortrait SiipplcmeiH) 



There are men and men. There are lum- 

 bermen and lumbermen. There are men who 

 spend their life in the acquisition of money 

 for themselves. There are other men who 

 early in life realize that they can devote a 

 goodly portion of their time in work for 

 others and still achieve reasonable commercial 

 profits for themselves. 



Of this latter class is Eobert Winfield 

 Higbie of New York. For many years 

 Mr. Higbie has been a close student of lum- 

 ber affairs and has worked in alliance with 

 his fellow lumbermen for the betterment of 

 the totality of the trade. He has particularly 

 interested, himself in the lumber situation as 

 he found it in the East, and among the east- 

 ern contingent has achieved a distinction for 

 forethought, fairness, diplomacy, acumen and 

 knowledge of his calling that culminated, at 

 the recent annual meeting of the National 

 Wholesale Lumber Dealers' Association, in his 

 being elected the president of this organiza- 

 tion. 



Mr. Higbie is of Irish and Dutch ancestry, 

 and was born March 5, 1863, on a farm at 

 Jamaica, L. I. In this town the ancestors of 

 Mr. Higbie settled more than two hundred 

 and fifty years ago. His forebears have lived 

 and died there respected and honored citizens, 

 and he has always lived there, adding luster 

 to the family name. 



Mr. Higbie was graduated from the Uni- 

 versity of New York in 1882 and was the 

 valedictorian of his class. His first employ- 

 ment was as a bank clerk. The lumber busi- 

 ness struck his fancy, and on Dec. 1, 1885, 

 he became a retail lumberman at Jamaica 

 where he continued in business for eight years. 

 In 1893 the firm of Marsh & Higbie was or- 

 ganized, with headquarters at 45 Broadway, 

 New York. Two years later this firm was 

 dissolved and Mr. Higbie continued in the 

 wholesale hardwood lumber business. In 1904 

 the Robert W. Higbie Company, a corporation 

 of which Mr. Higbie is president, purchased 

 thirty-two thousand acres of Adirondack tim- 

 ber lands in St. Lawrence county. New York ; 

 built a raib'oad and a sawmill and broom 

 handle factory at New Bridge and entered ■ 

 into the manufacture of northern woods,' 

 chiefly birch, cherry and hemlock. This is 

 one of the best organized and most wisely 

 handled operations in the north country. The 

 general offices of the corporation are at 45 

 Broadway, New York city, where Mr. Higbie 

 first established his connection with the hard- 

 wood lumber business. 



Mr. Higbie has been long affiliated with 

 the National Wholesale Lumber Dealers' As- 

 sociation and has occupied many positions of 

 trust in connection with that organization. 

 His indefatigable work, integrity, conservat- 

 ism and skill iu handling the various details 



NUMBER LXXXI.X 

 Robert Winfield Higbie 



of its affairs have finally resulted in his elec- 

 tion to the presidency. 



Mr. Higbie with his wife and two sons, re- 

 spectively 21 and 16 years of age, occupy a 

 handsome home at Jamaica, where he has al- 

 ways resided. 



He does not confine his energies entirely to 

 lumber affairs, but interests himself in church, 

 iharitable and commercial enterprises in the 

 locality of his home. He is president of the 

 board of trustees of the First Presbyterian 

 ihurch of Jamaica, the oldest Presbyterian 

 ''hurch of continued existence in America. He 

 's a trustee of the Jamaica Savings bank, a 

 director in the Long Island Bond & Mort- 

 gage Guaranty Company, a trustee of the 

 Lumber Underwriters of New York, and also 

 of the National Lumber Insurance Company 

 of Buffalo. 



The foregoing is a brief and rather inade- 

 quate sketch of the foremost hardwood lum- 



berman of the Empire state. Mr. Higbie is- 

 still a young man and while already he ha& 

 had wide experience and much success iu 

 lumber affairs, more may be promised for him 

 and from him in the making of lumber his- 

 tory. 



His recent election to the presidency of the 

 National Wholesale Lumber Dealers' Associa- 

 tion practically took the form of an ovation, 

 and the reflection of the esteem in whicb 

 his fellow members hold him is voiced by 

 not only every man in the lumber trade who 

 has the honor of his acquaintance, but mor& 

 particularly by his social and business inti- 

 mates in the Long Island town of Jamaica, 

 where he was born, reared and has prospered. 



It is with no Uttle satisfaction that Hard- 

 wood Record publishes in this issue a por- 

 trait of Mr. Higbie as its supplement, illus- 

 trating a foremost type of "Builders of Lum- 

 ber History. ' ' 



Handles for "Bill Posters* Brushes 

 and Lithograph Stici^s 



By H. B. ALEXANDER 



There is one product of the handle fac- 

 tory which, though in daily use in every city 

 and town of any size, is little observed by 

 the ordinary individual, namely, handles for 

 bill posting brushes. Until recent years the 

 bill poster business in this country was in 

 poor shape. There was no organization, and 

 in most instances the work was but half done, 

 and the advertiser who contracted for work 

 of this sort had no means of telling whether 

 the result would be satisfactory or not. For 

 this reason the business was never very exten- 

 sive. 



A few years ago several of the most pro- 

 gressive bill posters of the country banded 

 themselves into an association to further the 

 interests of the trade, and from this nucleus 

 they have built an organization which now 

 practically controls the entire bill posting in- 

 dustry of the country. Originally all bill 

 sticking was done by means of whitewash 

 brushes or any other crude implement which 

 happened to be handy, the handles being 

 made of fishing poles, canes or ordinary 

 squared stock, ripped out for them at local 

 planing miUs. Eventually a few of the most 

 progressive operators began to lay in a gup- 

 ply of the different implements used in the 

 trade, as a rule having brushes and handles 

 built on the same general design, and using 

 a uniform paste. In the end they put upon 

 the market a sort of turned handle which was 

 what suggested the present article. 



About eight years ago the writer owned a 

 half interest in a small handle factory which 

 turned out broom handles and rods of various 

 kinds. One of these progressive operators be- 



fore referred to called at the office of this 

 concern one day and gave a small order for 

 white ash rods, one inch in diameter and eight 

 feet long, offering 8 cents apiece for them in 

 hundred lots. As at that time there was a 

 plentiful supply of ash, the order was ac- 

 cepted and during the first year he was fur- 

 nished with several hundred of these rods. 



The next year ash was much scarcer, so 

 much so that it was practically impossible to 

 get enough to fill the orders that had already 

 been booked, and the proposition was put to 

 him that hickory handles be furnished in place 

 of the ash used the year before. But he would 

 not listen to the proposition, saying that hick- 

 ory was not good enough to suit his purpose. 

 In a subsequent interview it was ascertained 

 that, while he was paying but 8 cents apiece 

 for the rods delivered, he gave each rod a 

 slight bend at the end and sold them for 50 

 cents apiece for bill posting purposes. The 

 price of course was exorbitant, and it was 

 very evident that the reason he did not want 

 to. use hickory rods was that they would last 

 ■piuch too long, consequently his sales would 

 be much less. The hard usage which handles 

 orf this sort receive causes the grain to split 

 in a very short time, especially in the case of 

 ash. The lasting qualities of hickory are 

 well known, and it is admirably adapted to 

 this sort of work, by reason of its springing 

 quality as well as its toughness. 



Shortly after this interview the firm pur- 

 chased some fine second growth hickory, and 

 after duly seasoning it, turned it into a large 

 number of these handles and curved the ends. 

 Samples exhibited at the bill posters' con- 



