HARDWOOD RECORD 



49 



The West Virginia Lumber Company is doing 

 a nice business, according to its office manager, 

 B. \V. Cross. President W. W. Dickey recently 

 returned from a long trip tlirougli the West, 

 where he visited some of the largest lumber 

 plants in the world. 



The Kendall Lumber Company is pushing oper- 

 ations at all its plants with a vengeance. Night 

 and day turn are now the rule at several of its 

 mills. Secretary J. H. Henderson says that the 

 prospect for summer trade is excellent and noth- 

 ing but serious labor disturbances can prevent 

 good business. 



The Newell Brothers Lumber Company is get- 

 ting all the orders that it can take care of at its 

 West Virginia plant. Both members of the firm 

 were down there recently taking careful consid- 

 eration of operations. They are shipping most 

 of their lumber east, as prices are more than 

 enough better to offset the increase in freight 

 rate. 



L F. Balsley, sales manager of the Palmer & 

 Semans Lumber Company, is getting his force of 

 officers and sales people well organized and has 

 some very fine stocks of hardwood on his list at 

 the different plants of the company. His long 

 experience in hardwood matters is going to make 

 him a hard competitor, and he is already show- 

 ing his hand well in the eastern market. 



The steamer Sagamore of the Warren Line 

 arrived at tills port from Liverpool recently. As 

 part of her cargo she had four large mahogany 

 logs consigned to a Boston lumber dealer. 



BALTIMORE 



BOSTON 



The first large cargo of mahogany logs to 

 reach this port in about a year came in late 

 last week. Since the George D. Emery Company 

 removed the bulk of its business from Chelsea, 

 Ma.ss.. to New York arrivals of mahogany at 

 this port have been small. The steamer Chel- 

 ston arrived here from British Honduras with a 

 cargo of 3. .^,12 mahogany and 14" cedar logs. 

 The steamer docked aJL ^^^ George D. Emery 

 Company's whnrf in Chelsea. 



The Jordan Lumber Company of Old Town, 

 Me., is to have a largo new brick mill. The 

 plant will be erected at once. 



The Salem ^Manufacturing Company, which 

 was recently organized at Salem. N. H., to do a 

 general woodworking business, has already 

 started its plant at that place. The company 

 will manufacture doors, sash and blinds in 

 addition to other lines of house iinish. The 

 company plans to iiave one of the best equipped 

 factories in this section of the country. 



Building operations in Chelsea, Mass., have 

 been more active during the past two years than 

 In any other town or city in this vicinity. Since 

 the great fire of April 12, 1908, over 735 per- 

 mits for buildings have been issued there. In 

 mo.st cases the city has been rebuilt with a 

 better class of buildings than were there pre- 

 vious to the fire. Lumber dealers there have 

 had a fine business. 



The Hartford Builders' Finish Company. 

 Hartford. Conn., will build a brick storehouse 

 and moulding room in the rear of its present 

 plant. It will be two stories high, 22x80 feet. 



In the last issue of the II.tRDwnoD Recoup 

 attention was called to a bill that had been read 

 in committee in the Massachusetts legislature 

 providing for additional surveyors of lumber. 

 Several lumber dealers entered protests with 

 the result that the .Toint Committee of Mercan- 

 tile Affairs held a public hearing at the State 

 Hous'* on .\pril 14. This was attended b.v 

 twoni.v-six lumber dealers and all but one gave 

 good reasons why they were opposed to the bill. 

 The passing of the bill moans an extra expense 

 which is wholly unnecessary as the present bill 

 covers the ground to the satisfaction of all but 

 one lumber dealer who it is said could not suc- 

 cessfully compete with other dealers and so tried 

 to force this liill through to make it harder and 

 more expensive for the others. The members 

 of the trade who attended the hearing believe 

 that the proposed bill will get no farther than 

 the committee. 



The Board of Managers of the National 

 Lumber Exporters' Association will meet April 

 21 in this city to take up the question of elect- 

 ing a successor to E. M. Terry, who resigned as 

 secretary last month to take charge of the 

 foreign business of the Manufacturers' Lumber 

 Company, with headquarters in New York. 

 There are said to be two applications before the 

 board. Some other matters concerning the 

 organization will also come up for consideration. 



The complaint of the stave manufacturers 

 shipping stocks over the Kansas City Southern 

 and Iron Mountain railroads to New Orleans, 

 ^\ho assert that the freight rates charged by the 

 railroads are not only excessive but discrimi- 

 natory, was to have come up for a hearing 

 before Examiner Lyon of the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission here on April 15, but will be 

 transferred to New Orleans, for the convenience 

 of those concerned. To have held the hearing 

 liere would have necessitated a long Journey on 

 the part of the stave men, and much loss of 

 time. By transferring the matter to New Or- 

 leans, a larger attendance can be secured and 

 the hearing will be facilitated. 



All of April 15 was taken up before the 

 examiner in hearing the complaint of shippers 

 of freight in this city about switching charges 

 made by the railroads. Shippers of all kinds of 

 commodities contend that these charges are out 

 of all proportion to the value of the service ren- 

 dered and, in addition, constitute a grievous 

 burden upon the business interests of Baltimore. 

 Among the bodies represented at the hearing was 

 the Baltimore Lumber Exchange, some of the 

 members of which testified that the charges 

 amounted in many cases to half the freight rate 

 for a haul of 350 miles. The various business 

 organizations here had asked the railroads to 

 establish a uniform rate of say ,?5 a car, though 

 in some cities the entire charge is absorbed by 

 the railroads, whereas in Baltimore charges of 

 more than $14 a car have been frequent. 

 Officials of the railroads sought to make the 

 defense that, having acquired terminals at great 

 expense and with much foresight, which could 

 not be duplicated, it would be unjust to require 

 them to place these terminals at the service of 

 shippers by other lines that had come into the 

 field later and were dividing the traffic of the 

 city. Exiiminer Lyon pointed out that in 

 western cities the railroads made a uniform 

 charge, which was merely nominal or absorbed 

 it altogether, and the railroad men replied that 

 in the West the conditions differed from those 

 in the East. In the West the railroads had 

 come in about the same time and were on the 

 same footing, while in the East those in the 

 field first held important advantages and it 

 would not be fair to ask them to forego these 

 advantages. The examiner intimated strongly 

 that he would report in favor of a reduction 

 of the charges. The railroads made the state- 

 ment that they had been at work for some time 

 on a tariff, which would cut the switching charge 

 about fifty per cent and would go into effect in 

 six months, affecting all shipments that originate 

 east of the Ohio river. The shippers on the 

 other hand, are not disposed to rely upon prom- 

 ises, and will endeavor to have the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission make a ruling on the 

 subject. Furthermore, they point out that the 

 arrangement proposed by the railroads would 

 shut out a large portion of the traffic that comes 

 here and originates in the South. 



Baltimore Is likely to be elected as the meet- 

 ing place for the lumber commissary managers, 

 which plan to hold a convention from .Tuly H to 

 IS and effect a national organization designed 



to promote their interests. A letter was received 

 about ten days ago by Secretary Thomas S. 

 Boggs of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' 

 Association from B. M. Lobby of Otter Creek, 

 Fla., in which the writer stated that the com- 

 missary managers expressed a preference for 

 Baltimore as a meeting place, and asking what 

 arrangements could be made. Mr. Boggs 

 promptly replied that the rooms of the M. and 

 M. Association would be placed at the disposal 

 of the visitors and that every facility possible 

 would be provided for their convenience if they 

 decided to come here. The proposed convention 

 would attract some 300 delegates from the 

 South. 



M. S. Baer of the hardwood firm of Richard 

 P. Baer & Co., Keyser building, returned on 

 April 11 from an extended tour in Europe. Mr. 

 Baer sailed from New Y'ork in February for 

 Gibraltar, Algiers and Naples, landing at the 

 latter port and going thence to Rome and other 

 Italian cities, after he had seen the beauties of 

 the Bay of Naples, Mount Vesuvius and Hercu- 

 laneum. He passed through Switzerland, took 

 in a considerable part of France, including Paris, 

 touched at Antwerp, invaded Holland, and went 

 thence to London. There he began to take 

 notice of business, calling on a number of 

 brokers and securing various orders. He also 

 went to the north of England, keeping his finger 

 on the pulse of the lumber business there. He 

 found a decided improvement, more interest in 

 stocks being shown, and the buyers manifesting 

 a disposition to pay higher prices. Altogether, 

 the trip was delightful, pleasant weather pre- 

 vailing nearly the whole time. In London Mr. 

 Baer met Gustavo A. Farber. a former Baltl- 

 morcan, who now represents Busse & Burgess, 

 Inc., of Memphis, Tenn.. at the English metrop- 

 olis. Mr. Farber was at one time a member of 

 Price & Heald of this city and afterward 

 engaged in business on his own account at 

 Memphis. He has been successful in advancing 

 the business of Russe & Burgess and stated that 

 he felt highly gratified over the results achieved. 



The Cook Brothers Lumber Company of Penn- 

 sylvania has purchased the sawmill, railroad, 

 timber and other property of Dubois & Bond 

 Brothers at Bond, near Bloomington, Garrett 

 county. Maryland, and will continue operations 

 there. The Cook company, which owned several 

 tracts of timber land along the Savaco river, 

 near the mill at Bond, is thus placed in a posi- 

 tion to work the plant advantageously. 



Charles O. Hughes of Alfred Dobell & Co., 

 who has been in the United States for several 

 weeks visiting some of the lumber sections and 

 noting trade conditions, stopped in Baltimore 

 again on his way back to New Y'ork to take 

 the steamer for Liverpool. Mr. Hughes said he 

 found conditions improved, with prices better 

 and a more active demand, and he expressed a 

 decidedly hopeful view of the outlook. 



Forest fires are reported from many places, 

 and have been especially destructive in south- 

 western Virginia and Tennessee. In the Ap- 

 palachian region a vast tract embracing .Tohnson 

 county, Tennessee ; Ash county. North Carolina, 

 and Grayson county, Virginia, has been burned 

 over. Large quantities of lumber and logs and 

 a number of lumber camps and commissaries 

 have been destroyed. The Faulkner Lumber 

 Company, operating in Grayson county. Vir- 

 ginia, lost a commissary, eight houses and a 

 quantity of lumber, much standing timber being 

 damaged. The barns and houses of the Tennessee 

 Lumber Manufacturing Company at Sutherland. 

 Tenn.. were damaged. Fire broke out also In 

 the timber tract of the Pigeon River Lumber 

 Company at Mount Stirling, N. C. which cor- 

 poration is largely owned by Baltimore interests, 

 and the mill was shut down to permit the men 

 to fight the flames. These efforts were success- 

 ful, but several days later another fire broke out 

 and the mill was somewhat damaged. .\ rain 

 checked the blaze. The loss of the Pigeon River 

 Lumber Company in timber is considerable. 



