HARDWOOD RECORD 



37 



Co., three up to date double band mills having 

 a capacity of 200 M feet daily. It gave us an 

 excellent opportunity to study the various parts 

 of a big river mill. We next visited the model 

 veneer plant of Malcy, Thompson & Moffet Com- 

 pany, where we saw the manufacture of sawn 

 :ind sliced veneer. In the afternoon we went 

 out to Hamilton, Ohio, to see the works of the 

 champion Coated Paper Company. These works 

 form the continuance of the paper industry, the 

 beginning of which we saw in North Carolina in 

 the factory of our kind hosts, the Champion 

 Fiber Company, controlled by the Champion 

 Coated Paper Company. 



In North Carolina we witnessed the process 

 from tree to chemical floer. In Hamilton, from 

 chemical fiber to paper. The afteraoon proved 

 Ml interesting that we nearly mis>cd our car, 

 scheduled to leave at 7 p. m. In order to get 

 1o the station on time we were compelled to 

 make a run for it, creating quite a sensation 

 among the onlookers ; the whole class, thi.'ty 

 strong, sprinting down the middle of the street, 

 four blocks to the station. 



We arrived in Grand Rapids, Mien., S.itiiiday 

 morning, August 13, and began a day ion.;;- to 

 be remembered by the Biltmore Foresters. The 

 courtesies extended to us by the lumbermen 

 of Grand Rapids were of the highest order. We 

 were met at the Union station by a reception 

 committee of the Board of Trade. With Charles 

 A. Garfield (who might well be termed the 

 father of forestry in Michigan) as a .guide, we 

 visited the plant of the Widdecomb Furniture 

 Company, the works of the Grand Rapids Veneer 

 Company and the salesroom of the B'-rkey & 

 Gay Furniture Company. It was an exce 'dinsly 

 interesting forenoon. Hitherto we had dealt 

 with the raw materials only ; and it was instruc- 

 tive to see the rough stock worked up 'nto tlie 

 linest finished product imaginable. 



The afternoon was filled with many pleasant 

 events. We dined at the Kent County Country 

 Club as guests of Mr. T. Stewart White, famous 

 a.s the pioneer lumberman of the Grand river. 

 After dinner we were takeu for an automobile 

 trip around the city and through the John Ball 

 Park. A drive through the estate of Chas. A. 

 Garfield exhibiting a number of planted forests 

 was very much appreciated by the foresters. 

 An informal, •'talkfest" in the Board of Trade 

 rooms, where we met a number of prominent 

 Grand Rapids lumbermen, concluded a day par- 

 ticularly well .spent. We cannot speak too highly 

 of the hospitality of the business men of Grand 

 Kapids. 



Arriving at Cadillac Sunday morning, August 

 14, we were Joined by twenty new students who 

 have been with us for two weeks now and have 

 "come up to the mark" in every respect. They 

 are pronounced "a mighty good bunch of fresh- 

 men" by the older men. 



W. M. Saunders, the business genius directing 

 the affairs of the Cummer-Diggins Company, 

 treated us to an automobile trip, taking us 

 out to view our new quarters in the forest. A 

 location for a school of forestry more ideal than 

 our present quarters can hardly be imagined. 

 We are right iu the heart of the best hardwood 

 timber growing in the northern I'nited States. 

 Logging operations are .going on all about us : 

 and we enjoy an unparalleled chance to gain 

 practical knowledge at first hand. 



To Mrs. Delos F. Diggins and Mr. F. A. Dig- 

 gins, the generous owners of the Cummer- Dig- 

 gins Company, the Biltmore Forest School owes 

 a debt of gratitude never to be forgotten. 



On Monday. August l.j, 5Ir. Saunders placed 

 a special train at our disposal ; by ten o'clock 

 we were on our way to camps : on August 16. 

 the affairs of the school were running as smoothly 

 as if it had been established in Cadillac for 

 many years. Breakfast is at 6 :50 o'clock, lec- 

 tures from 7 :30 to 11 :30 : field work from 1 

 p. m. to 5 p. m. ; supper at 7 :20 p. m. : lights 

 out at 9 :30 p. m. 



Since our arrival in Michigan. Prof. H. O. 



Allison of the Missouri Agricultural College, 

 has been with us lecturing and demonstrating 

 interestingly on Animal Husbandry. 



On August 25 occurred an event unique in 

 the history of Michigan forests. The wind, 

 strong from sunrise on, gradually rose to the 

 velocity of a cyclone, littering the ground near 

 our camp with the prostrate bodies of primeval 

 trees. The biowdown occurred very fortunately, 

 whilst the class was attending lectures in the 

 school bouse. In ten minutes all was over ; 

 and most fortunately no one was hurt in the 

 camps. Three and a half million feet of trees 

 were prostrated; luckily, the sections afflicted 

 were to be logged in the course of the fail and 

 winter anyhow. 



The school will stay in Cadillac till October 1 ; 

 it will sail for its usual winter quarters iu 

 Darmstadt, Germany, on October 4 in the good 

 ship "New Amsterdam" of the Holland-American 

 line. 



International Harvester Company Declared a 

 Trust 



Special Commissioner Theodore Brace in a 

 report to the Supreme Court, filed Septeml>er li 

 at Jefferson City, Mo., declared the Interuaiional 

 Harvester Company of New Jersey, and inci- 

 dentally of Chicago, a trust and combine formed 

 for the purpose of and with the elfect of de- 

 stroying competition in the mauufacture and sale 

 of harvesting machinery. 



The International Harvester Company of 

 -Vmerica is declared to be used merely as a sell- 

 ing ageut by the New Jersey company in evasion 

 of the Missouri laws, which prohibit the licensing 

 of the New Jersey concern because of its 

 enormous capital of $120,000,000. 



The subsidiary corporation, according \o Com- 

 missioner Brace, once had capital and now it 

 has none. Its existence as a separate cor- 

 porate entity is declared to be a mere fiction to 

 evade the laws of states whose policy is not to 

 encourage such vast accumulation of wealth and 

 power in the hands of a few as may injure the 

 welfare and prosperity of the many. 



ine commissioner found the McCormick Har- 

 vester Company, Deering Harvesting Machine 

 Company, Wardner, Bushnell, Glessner & Co., 

 Piano Manufacturing Company, D. M. Osborne & 

 Co. and the Milwaukee Harvesting Machine Com- 

 pany, the latter being a respondent, were in 

 active competition prior to 1902. 



In June, 1902, Cyrus H. McCormick went to 

 George W. Perkins of J. P. Morgan & Co. of 

 New York and sought his aid in relieving com- 

 petitive conditions from the manufacturer's 

 viewpoint. According to the findings, Mr. Perkins 

 soon was in communication with other harvest- 

 ing machine manufacturers, and perfected a plan 

 whereby the McCormick company and the other 

 named companies, excepting the Milwaukee com- 

 pany, ostensibly sold their properties to William 

 C. Laoe. Lane, the commissioner found, pre- 

 tended to sell them to the International Har- 

 vester Company. 



The original companies received stock in the 

 new company apportioned to the appraised value 

 of their properties, and for their bills receivable 

 stock iu the same company equal to the same 

 amount. The officers of the original companies, 

 except the Milwaukee, signed practically identical 

 contracts at the same time in the office of the 

 attorney of J. P. Morgan & Co. 



Morgan & Co. had previously purchased the 

 Milwaukee company. Lane, the ostensible pur- 

 chaser of the original companies, the commis- 

 sioner found, was a figurehead. 



The whole stock of the New Jersey corpora- 

 tion was transferred to a voting trust composed 

 of George W. Perkins, Cyrus H. McCormick and 

 Charles Deering, who now have control until 

 1912. The commissioner found these men prac- 

 tically control the mower and binder business, 

 and have potential control of other lines of har- 

 vesting machinery in the United States. 



Soon after the organization of the so-called 



harvester combine, the report says, it acquired 

 the D. M. Osborne company and operated it 

 ostensibly as an independent concern for two 

 years. Other companies acquired in 1903 were 

 the Columbia Cordage Company, Mexican Sisal 

 Company, Illinois Northern Railroad Company. 

 Aultman-Miller Company, Minnie Company and 

 the Keystone Company, the last three being 

 manufacturers of harvesting machinery. 



In 1904 it acquired the Weber Wagon Com- 

 pany and patents of the Bettendorff Axle Com- 

 pany, and in 1906 the Kemp company. In the 

 first five years the sales of the company in the 

 United States amounted to nearly $200,000,000. 



.\ltorneys for the company contended that 

 tlie organization was a legitimate transaction in 

 the cinlinary course of trade. The commissioner 

 found this theory could not stand in the face 

 of the fact that the old companies turned over 

 their properties to a company not yet organized, 

 for the purpose, as they declared, of putting an 

 end to what they called "ruinous competition.' 



The suit was filed by Gov. H. S. Hadley, No- 

 vember 12, 1907. when he was attorney general. 

 The action was an information in quo warranto 

 which asked that all franchises and privileges 

 of the company in Missouri be revoked and 

 that its property be confiscated or a fine im- 

 posed. 



The harvester company will file exceptions to 

 Ihe report, and the case will be argued and sub- 

 mitted i'n the Supreme Court at the October 

 term for a final decision. 



A General Bailroad Report 



.\ccording to Poor's Manual of Railroads for 

 1910. the capital stock of all the railroads in 

 the United States at the end of 1909 was 

 .S8.030,6S0,963. compared with $7,641,913,086, an 

 increase of $388,767,877, or 5.09 per cent. The 

 tionded debt at the end of 1909 was $9,118,103.- 

 813. The increase in this item was $329,583,768, 

 or 3.75 per cent. In the twelve months. The 

 profit and loss surplus of all the roads is $919,- 

 823,188. 



The number of passengers carried in 1900 was 

 924,423,075, an increase of 33,188,072. 



The gross earnings for 1909 were $2,513,212,- 

 763, as against $2,407,019,810 in 1908. The in- 

 crease was $106,192,953, or 4.41 per cent. The 

 net earnings for 1909 were $852,153,280, against 

 $717,802,167 for the preceding year. The in- 

 crease was $134,351,113, or 18.73 per cent. 



The total mileage of steam railroads on De- 

 cember 31, 1909, was 238,356 miles, as against 

 232.046 miles on December 31, 1908, showing 

 an increase of 6,310 miles. 



The revenue a ton mile was 0.757 cent, as 

 against 0.767 cent in 1908. 



The revenue a passenger mile was 1.934 cents, 

 as against 1.964 cents in 1008. 



In the Local Trade 



J. C. Bennett has entered the general northern 

 and southern hardwood lumber trade, with of- 

 fices at 1610 N. Alma avenue, Austin, on his 

 own account. Mr. Bennett has long been identi- 

 fied with the Chicago trade. He came from a 

 family of Bennnetts who located in Indiana in 

 the early '50s in the sawmill and lumber busi- 

 ness. His grandfather, father and seven uncles 

 were sawyers and millwrights. His first work 

 as a boy was wheeling sawdust from his grand- 

 father's mill, where his father was head sawyer. 

 FA-er since that time he has been engaged in 

 sawmilling or in the inspecting, buying and sale 

 of hardwood lumber. At one time he was in- 

 terested in the firm of R. B. Appleby of Chi- 

 cago, where he was associated for nearly ten 

 jears. Later he became associated with the 

 Keystone Lumber Company and for a time was 

 salesman for the E. Sondheimer Company, when 

 this house was located in Chicago. Later he 

 was associated with the R. Connor Company of 

 Marsbfield, Wis., and still later became purchas- 

 ing agent for the F. W. Upham Lumber Com- 

 pany, Chicago, which afterwards became the 



