HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



eafh state; In- the mayors of cities; by the boards of county com- 

 missioners; by national organizations; by chambers of commerce; 

 commercial clubs; agricultural colleges; experimental stations, etc. 



Honorary members of the organization are the President of the 

 United States, the Vice-President, members of the cabinet, mem- 

 bers of Congress, governors of states, mayors of cities, etc. 



It is to be hoped that strong delegates will be appointed to 

 attend this congress as the importance of the meeting is self- 

 evident. The meeting should be of such paramount interest to 

 public spirited citizens as to call out a very large attendance. 



Appalachian Forest Reserve Bill 



Tlie Weeks' forestry bill, providing for an Appalachian forest 

 reserve, passed the house with a majority of twenty shortly before 

 aa.iournment. it was not passed by the senate, but was made a 

 special order of unfinished business. The bill appropriates .$11,- 

 nOO,OUO to be expended in five j-ears for the purcliase and refor- 

 estation of lands along the watersheds of navigable streams in 

 the southern Appalachian mountains. The enactment of this bill 

 is of such ])aramount importance that it doubtless will become a 

 law early in the next session of congress. 



The Furniture Sales Period 



As is generally known, a large hulk dt' furniturf is contracted for 

 by dealers at the regular exposition sales in January and July of 

 each year. The sales for last January were fairly satisfactory, but 

 unfortunately quite a proportion of the business booked at that time 

 was afterward cancelled or shipments suspended, with a net result 

 that the furniture manufacturing business has been in a rather 

 uncertain shape for the past two months. 



The Grand Kapids Furniture Exposition opened .June 24, and the 

 trade among the exhibitors has not only been satisfactory but sur- 

 prisingly large thus far. The exposition in Chicago, while supposed 

 to open on July 1, did not get into real action until July 5. The 

 trade thus far has duplicated the Grand Eapids sales, and there is 

 every prospect of a volume of business that will be far in excess of 

 that of a year ago, and probably will outstrip the January sales. 



As it is a well known fact that stocks of hardwood lumber at the 

 furniture factories at this time are at a low ebb, it looks as though 

 there would be a renaissance in the buying of hardwoods from this 

 source very soon. 



Odd Lengths in Lumber Manufacture 



For some tiuie close students of lumber affairs have held the 

 opinion that there is a manifest saving possible in the utilization of 

 odd lengths in lumber production. Some few manufacturers have 

 practiced the saving of the odd foot in the trimming of lumber, and 

 there seems to be no particular objection on the part of buyers in 

 accepting a maximum of fifteen per cent of the total shipment in the 

 form of lumber nine, eleven, thirteen and fifteen feet long. This 

 method of trimming lumber not only nets a handsome addition to 

 profits for the manufacturer, but also makes for forest conservation. 



Many manufacturers have contended that when logs are cut care- 

 fully for lengths there is little ecenomy effected in making odd 

 lengths, and the majority of them have scoifed at the idea that even 

 if care were exercised in trimming that the total odd lengths would 

 not aggregate more than five per cent of the total cut. 



It ha-s remained for one leading poplar manufacturing concern, 

 whose logs are largely produced from long lengths at the sawmill 

 slide, and therefore cut with extreme care, to demonstrate what the 

 actual volume of odd length lumber amounts to in a cut running over 

 a series of three months. This house employs a modern odd length 

 trimmer, and notwithstanding the care with which its logs were cut 

 to even lengths, finds that its daily average output of odd length 

 stock is amounting to more than seventeen per cent of the total lumber 

 cut. The saving in odd lengths represents an increased value on 

 its 130,000 feet daily product of $6.5 a day. Sixty-five dollars 

 daily accretion in the value of daily cut is certainly no mean 

 item to be considered in lumber manufacture, and of itself would 



constitute a very fair profit at the end of a year on the average 

 sawmill enterpri.se. 



It is probably worthy the attention of hardwood manufacturers 

 to give the matter of odd length production very close study, and in 

 the light of present evidence it would not be surprising if they did not 

 find that the saving will pay for an odd length trimmer in a month "s 

 lime. 



Record of Sixty-First Congress 



With tlie adjournment of the sixty-first Congress the question is 

 naturally very much before the public as to whether or not the 

 session under the present administration accomplished sufficient for the 

 public good to justify its being termed successful. A review of the 

 measures enacted, the most of them with President Taft 's will as a 

 direct spur, indicates that more legislation for the puVjlic good has 

 been entered upon the records than during any Congress of recent 

 years. 



This result is even more worthy of mention considering the adverse 

 circumstances and the general lack of harmony which prevailed. The 

 republicans have not only been forced to contend with a strong 

 democratic opposition but have had an insurgent body of almost equal 

 strength to combat. 



Most notable among the so-called reform movements which I'rcsi- 

 ilent Taft has successfully fought for are : 



Revision of railroad laws and establishment of a so-called Coninierce 

 Court. 



Passing of statehood bill for Arizona and Xew Mexico. 



Postal savings bank legislation. 



Granting of authority to the President to withdraw public lands 

 for purposes of conservation. 



Granting of $20,000,000 issue of certificates of indebtedness for 

 reclamation purposes. 



The establishment of a bureau of mines. 



Appropriation of $250,000 to facilitate the duties of the tariff 

 board along definite lines. 



Creating an economy commission to lessen the expense of the federal 

 government. 



Providing a new tariff system for the Philippines. 



It y.as hardly reasonable to expect the fulfillment of every measure 

 included in the President's recommendations, and opposed to the above 

 list are the ^-Uowing. which failed to meet the approval of both 

 houses : 



Ship subsidy legislation. 



Anti-injunction laws. 



Creations of new forms of government for Alaska and the Panama 

 Canal zone. 



Creation of a bureau of health. 



Increase in the rates of postage for second class mail matter. 



Considering also that material improvements were made in the rules 

 and methods of procedure in the house, the record of the administra- 

 tion as it stands today is anything but sufficient cause for the apparent 

 feeling of discontent with what has been done. 



Editorial Notes 



Even the result of the Reno encounter in no wise simplifies the 



smoke nuisance. 



fr * * 



Cheer uji! Tlicre are better times coming! Furniture mercliants 

 generally are figuring that there Ls going to be a good fall trade and 

 are buving freely. This surely means a lot of business this fall in 

 mahogany, oak. gum. biicli, maple and a good many other woods. 



In these times of close figuring for lumber manufacturers tlie odd- 

 length proposition is one well north careful consideration. 

 * ^ -» 



Manufacturers of furniture are not the only buyers of hardwoods 

 that are interested in getting what they buy. 



If you are interested in the best tally book and tally tickets on 

 the market, ask the Record to send yon its specimen forms. 



