HARDWOOD RECORD 



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is worthy the consideration of the trade. Every lumberman should 

 read every line of these addresses; such as are not printed in this 

 issue of the Eecoed will be given space at an early date. 



Ohio Valley Exposition 



Cincinnati, the "ilother of Expositions," is going to have another 

 big industrial show, which will be carried on from August 29 to 

 September 24, 1910, inclusive. It will be known as the Ohio Valley 

 Industrial Exposition, and will be representative of the resources and 

 industries of the Ohio Valley in the Southland. It will pay particu- 

 lar attention to the resources of the territory of the nineteen states 

 nearest Cincinnati, embracing a population of more than forty-one 

 million people. 



Of the association having the matter in charge, Robert J. Reynolds 

 is president, and Si P. Egan of the J. A. Fay & Egan Company, the 

 great woodworking machinery house of Cincinnati, is first vice- 

 president. Among the directors and committeemen are many lumber- 

 men and other leading citizens of the Queen City. 



While the carrying on of a great industrial show of this sort is a 

 monumental piece of work, it can safely be said in advance that in 

 this case everything will be done in a way that will redound to the 

 credit of the general commercial interests of Cincinnati, and will 

 act as a distinct impetus to its vast developing trade, notably in 

 the region h'ing south of it. 



Many new features will be incorporated in this exposition. It 

 will commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of steamboat navi- 

 gation on the Ohio River, and it wUl be the first Industrial show to 

 have a complete graphic description of the Panama Canal where one 

 can see at a glance the stupendous work in miniature. Inland water- 

 ways will form a prominent feature of the show. 



Business Ethics 



That paragon of eommerical sanity and integrity in the line of 

 lumber aflfairs, 'William B. Stillwell of Savannah, Ga., in his address 

 before the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association at New 

 Orleans, last week, voiced his sentiments on business ethics, and it 

 may be said that the truth was never uttered more trenchantly and 

 forcibly than in the following extract from Mr. Stillwell 's speech : 



The matter of ethics is closely connected with and 

 scarcely second to the subject of inspection. I allude to 

 that phase of business ethics which has to do with the 

 wilful substitution of one grade for another by a dealer 

 or manufacturer who takes an order for a high grade 

 and knowingly fills it with a lower grade, or conversely 

 "sweetens" or "juggles" grades so as to make a sale or 

 win a customer from someone else, or "kicks" without 

 just cause to avoid a merited loss or get unearned profit. 



This class of trouble is more deeply seated, more 

 vicious and more difficult to deal with than even inspec- 

 tion irregularities. It partakes of moral depravity and 

 no suggestion will thoroughly reach the trouble except 

 one that will reform the individual. 



Here association work is peculiarly appropriate, as 

 personal work along lines of reformation is nearly always 

 resented. Much can be accomplished, however, by per- 

 sonal work along parallel lines and particularly by 

 convincing delinquents that they can not possibly derive 

 lasting benefit from such practices. 



A Decision of Importance to Shippers 



The Charleston Gazette says that some time ago the legislature of 

 South Carolina passed a law requiring railroads to pay a heavy 

 penalty and fine for failure to adjust, within ninety days, claims 

 for freight lost in transportation. This statute, which the roads 

 fought vigorously through a long maze of legislation, has now been 

 declared constitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States. 



Merchants and sliippers and the business world in general will 

 welcome this decision, for it guarantees reparation in one of the 

 most frequent abuses that has ever marked our shipping industry. 

 Indeed, dela^' in settlement of claims for losses, has been very 

 deeply responsible for whatever feeling of opposition has developed 

 during the past decade, toward railroad companies. Nothing is more 

 exasperating to a shipper or consignee than to have his goods lost 

 in transit, and then to receive no measure of satisfaction or courtesy 

 from the railroad company. In many instances claims have reached 

 the railroad officials only to Ik- pigeon-holed, there to remain for 



months or even years. Under Georgia's new railroad regulations 



this practice has happily been diminishing. 



South Carolina found it necessary to enact a specific law to meet 

 the situation. The power of the state court to impose a fine in 

 cases of delay, extending beyond ninety days, was called into ques- 

 tion by the railroad, and a legal fight ensued. That the law, 

 including fine, is thoroughly constitutional is proved by a decision of 

 the Supreme Court. 



Delays in adjusting claims for loss of freight is, usually, due to 

 indolence and incompetence on the part of the subordinate railroad 

 ofBcials; for certainly it is as much to the railroads' interests as to 

 the shippers, that all such claims be settled as speedily as possible. 

 If a claim is just it ought to be paid. If it is unjust and the 

 claimant is stubbornly persistent, the sooner the courts are called 

 upon the better. 



Legislation at both the National and state capitals nowadays 

 is making history by loading down the business public with laws, 

 retarding commercial progress and costing lumbermen lots of 

 money. 



Equipment of Cars for Lumber Carriage 



The railway publication, Freight, says that those interested — the 

 lumber shippers of all sections of the country — wUl recall the recent 

 strenuous efforts Of the lumber trade through unreckoned expendi- 

 ture of time, money and personal service, and the intermediation of 

 the Interstate Commerce Commission to induce the transportation 

 companies to provide suitably equipped cars for the carriage of 

 forest products; in other words to afford shippers of lumber as fair 

 treatment as is accorded by the carriers to shippers of other com- 

 modities. Tbey will also recall, with irritation well justified, the 

 failure of these efforts. 



With enforced resignation, lumbermen as a whole have accepted 

 that failure as an addition to their list of necessary evils, and 

 under protest, largely have regarded the decision of the Interstate 

 Conmierce Commission as the concluding, determining word in the 

 contest for recognition of their plain rights— rights inadequately 

 presented, in the opinion of many who followed the course of the 

 contest which is now unpalatable history. 



Editorial Notes 



The statement was made at a recent lumber convention that in 

 New York City it costs $5.60 per thousand feet for the retail 

 yard man to handle lumber in and out of yards and through planing 

 mills in the metropolis. If the same cost prevails in Chicago, and 

 there is no reason to believe it is less, certainly the margin of profit 

 for the hardwood men who sell stock by the wagon load is a pretty 

 thin one under present and existing systems of doing business. 



» « « 



The best evidence in the world that there is no lumber trust, and 

 a fact not generally known, is that one J. P. Morgan is practicaUy 

 the owner of the Atlantic Coast Lumber Corporation of Georgetown, 

 S. C, a big loblolly pine enterprise. He has been the principal owner 

 of this institution for nearly ten years, and if by any possible chance 

 there could have been a scheme devised to "trust" the lumber busi- 

 ness, it surely would have been ' ' trusted ' ' long ago. The redoubtable 

 "J. P. " knows that a lumber trust is an impossible proposition. 



« * * 



In the English and German markets fresh arrivals of black walnnt 

 logs have been coming to hand pretty freely of late. It is now 

 thought that the supply is a little in excess of the demand. Buyers 

 contend that prices are high, and the wood is more wasteful in 

 conversion than mahogany. The foreign buyer deprecates the ship- 

 ment of inferior logs, and even small logs of any quality. There is a 

 particular demand at the present time for fourteen inch and up 

 prime walnut boards which are scarce and command high prices. 

 Medium boards are somewhat difficult to sell in consequence of rather 

 heavy imports, and low grades are a drug. It is thought that if 

 mahogany advances a little farther in the scale that there will be a 

 wood thing in sight for walnut producers, as many cabinet maker* 

 will .-igaiii look with favor upon so useful a cabinet wood. 



