HARDWOOD RECORD 



WOLF raVEE AT MEMPHIS, SHOWING LOG HANDLEU 

 ON BARGE. 



PILE OF OAK LOGS AT SAWMILL OF RUSSE 

 BURGESS, MEMPHIS, TENN. 



for hundreds of miles in all directions are 

 strewn thousands of oak, gum, ash, poplar and 

 Cottonwood logs, waiting transportation to the 

 thirty-odd mills in the Memphis country. They 

 are all handsome logs, too, and especially fine 

 are the white and red oak. This oak timber is 

 of such large size and splendid quality that it 

 is perhaps tempting many operators to saw an 

 oversupply of quartered stock. The average 

 sawmill man seems to think it a shame to saw 

 such fine logs into plain-sawed stock, but by 

 quarter-sawing so much of it there is danger 



of overstocking the market to such an extent 

 that quartered oak values will depreciate be- 

 fore very long. 



The Valley Log Loading Company 

 The Valley Log Loading Company is a 

 Memphis corporation with which John T. Dick- 

 son is prominently identified. This company 

 owns seven Decker log loaders and operates 

 exclusively on the main line of the Yazoo & 

 Mississippi Valley division of the Illinois Cen- 

 tral railroad. The company has to get its 

 engines, log loaders, camp cars and log cars 



out of the way of the half dozen or more reg- 

 ular trains on the road, and therefore it is 

 enabled to load logs only about six hours per 

 day. The Valley Log Loading Company gets 

 for this service two dollars per thousand feet, 

 but it then effects a great economy for both 

 the producers of the logs and the Memphis 

 mills, in the saving of hauling logs long dia 

 tances to sidetracks and stations. At the 

 present time the company is loading about 

 thirty cars a day for various Memphis saw- 

 mills. 



Foreign Trade for }/larch 



A review of the March statistical report of 

 the Department of Commerce and Labor, 

 Washington, D. C, gives striMng evidence that 

 the United States is still well in command of 

 the export trade, and that business conditions 

 in general, both import and export, show a 

 decidedly healthy and improvin'g condition. 

 While the total import of general merchandise 

 for the month of March was about $19,300,000 

 less than the total export, the balance of trade 

 for the nine months ending with March was 

 decidedly in the other direction, the exports 

 for this period showing an excess of $168,600,- 

 000 over goods brought in. In all cases, both 

 imports and exports, by the month and by 

 nine-month period show a gratifying advance 

 over the figures recorded for last year. 



Practically every item, both in trade coming 

 in and in trade shipped from this country, are 

 in excess of last year's records, and further 

 the balance of trade in favor of this country 

 is also steadily advancing. A resume of the 

 records of the iron and steel and the lumber 

 industries will give a very fair idea of the 

 general industrial condition. In the former, 

 1910 imports are practically double those of 

 1909, both for the period of nine months and 

 for the monthly shipments of March. The 

 total value of the March imports approximated 

 $4,100,000, and for March with the preceding 

 eight months, it totaled $28,237,000. These 

 figures include a vast number of items, but 



are exclusive of chromate of iron and iron 

 ore. In March 1910 there were brought into 

 this country 163,600 tons of iron ore, and for 

 the nine mouths ending March 1,740,000 tons, 

 all of which was dutiable. Importations of 

 pig iron also showed a decided increase, the 

 21,300 tons being almost double the amount 

 brought in for March 1909. 



The balance of trade in this industry in 

 favor of the United States is clearly evident 

 when it is stated that the total iron and steel 

 export shipments, not including ore, approxi- 

 mated, for the month of March, $17,360,000, 

 which is an increase over the March figui'es of 

 1909 of very nearly $4,000,000. The period of 

 nine months ending March, 1910, also showed a 

 decided increase in exports of this commodity 

 over the same period for the preceding year, 

 the total value being $128,450. The shipment 

 of iron ore to this country is, on the other 

 hand, well in excess of the export of that 

 article, and for March was 13,370 tons. 



The balance of trade in the lumber and al- 

 lied industries was strongly in favor of the 

 United States for March, 1910, and showed a 

 welcome increase over last year's figures for 

 that month, as did the records for the nine 

 months then ending. The monthly import of 

 wood and manufactured articles made from 

 wood, amounted to $3,960,000. There were 

 brought into this country from abroad, about 

 4,300,000 board feet of cedar and mahogany for 



cabinet purposes, the value of which was about 

 $300,000. The value of the imports of these 

 items for the nine months ending March, 1910, 

 was $2,223,000. In this trade the United King- 

 dom was well in advance of all other shippers, 

 and shipped here in the month of March, 

 1,327,000 board feet, all of which, as well as 

 similar wood shipped from other countries, was 

 received duty free. 



The total importation of pulp wood, both 

 in quantity and in value, was well in advance 

 of the preceding year's figures. The amount 

 brought in was well above that exported to 

 foreign manufacturers. In March of this year 

 the paper mills in this country purchased from 

 outside a total of 64,672 cords of rough, peeled 

 and rossed pulp wood, which had a value of 

 $395,300. The value of the purchase for the 

 nine months ending March, 1910, was $4,630,- 

 000. The total imports of wood pulp into 

 this country were valued at $1,186,000, which 

 is a figure about $350,000 above that of March, 

 1909. 



British North America was the largest ship- 

 per of finished lumber, in the form of boards, 

 planks, deals and similar articles, and the 

 total importation of this class of goods into 

 our markets was 57,391,000 feet, valued at 

 $1,077,000, all of which was dutiable. For 

 the nine months ending March, 1910, the value 

 of imports of this nation was approximately 

 $15,000,000. The importation of such manu- 



