58 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



that Nashville industries consume more than 

 100,000,000 feet of hardwoods annually, and an 

 equal amount of soft woods, making this city 

 also the largest hardwood consuming point 

 south of the Ohio. 



At a recent meeting of the Executive Com- 

 mittee of the Nashville Lumbermen's Club 

 A. B. Ransom was elected president to suc- 

 ceed John W. Love, resigned; Charles M. Mor- 

 ford succeeded A. H. Card as vice-president, 

 and Cecil Ewing was made secretary in place 

 of Frank G. Fetzer. Charles E. Hunt was 

 elected a member of the Board of Directors 

 and F. M. Hamilton made chairman of the 

 Transportation Committee. 



Lewis Doster of the Hardwood Manufac- 

 turers' Association, of Cincinnati, was a re- 

 cent visitor to Nashville. 



BRISTOL 



J. A. Wilkinson, the Bristol hardwood manu- 

 facturer and exporter, left last week with Mrs. 

 Wilkinson for New York, from which point they 

 sailed on Oct. 8 for London. Mr. Wilkinson 

 goes as a representative of the American Wagon 

 Oak Plank Association to meet and confer with 

 committees of the Timber Trade Association of 

 Europe, with reference to the matter of uniform 

 inspection rules for wagon oak plank. Mr. 

 and Mrs. Wilkinson will remain abroad until 

 about December 1. Ellis H. Wilkinson, son 

 of J. A. Wilkinson, will be in charge of his 

 father's business during his absence. 



The White Lumber Company, which is putting 

 up a new band mill at ElU Park, N. C, where it 

 has a large tract of timber, will probably not 

 get it into operation before next spring. W. L. 

 Hampton of the company was here this week 

 and reports that the mill at Butler. Johnson 

 county, Tenn., is running lull time. 



Benjamin H. Cox, Jr. of the J. A. Fay & Egan 

 Company, well-known machinery manufacturer 

 of Cincinnati, was in Bristol last week. Mr. 

 Cox, who is a well-known southern representa- 

 tive of the big Cincinnati concern, has moved his 

 headquarters from Atlanta to Chattanooga. 



LOUISVILLE 



The litigation of Louisville hardwood com- 

 panies, which was instituted several months ago 

 before the Interstate Commerce Commission, will 

 have important developments Oct. 25. that date 

 h.iving been announced by the commission as 

 the time for hearing evidence. Special Examiner 

 Kayntr has been named for the purpose of hear- 

 ing the testimony, and he will sit at the custom 

 house and listen to both sides of the argument. 

 The local men believe that they will be able to 

 make out a strong case. They are asking for 

 lower rates from this territory to many points in 

 the North and East, and they also ask that the 

 rcconslgnment privilege, which is in effect in a 

 good many places, be instituted here. In case 

 the commission finds for the hardwood men in 

 regard to lower rates, the petition asks that the 

 railroads concerned, of whom there are about 20, 

 be made to refund the overcharges which they 

 have been collecting. 



In connection with the reconsignment proposi- 

 tion, the lumbermen are interested in the work of 

 the railroads on the i-eshipping rules for grain 

 products at Ohio river crossings, the regulations 

 having been gotten in shape for promulgation 

 next month. Since then the traffic men have 

 been going over the situation with respect to 

 other commodities, such as lumber, cotton oil, 

 etc. As reported some time ago, the railroads 

 will probably offer to put reconsignment 

 privileges into effect here, provided the rules 

 which they submit are found to be agreeable 

 to the lumbermen. 



The logging situation has been occupying a 

 good deal of prominence of late for various rea- 

 sons. For one thing, there is a shortage of logs 



at a good many sawmills located on the rivers, 

 and unless a rise comes shortly, enabling logs to 

 be floated down to the mills, a great many of 

 theni will have to close. The October rains have 

 begun, however, and so a logging tide should 

 develop shortly. Another point has come up In 

 connection with the handling of logs at rail 

 points. Some of the lumbermen are objecting to 

 paying 50 per cent of the cost price of logs as 

 soon as they are branded, holding that the pay- 

 ment should be held back until they are loaded 

 on the cars. It seems, however, that custom 

 has approved the former method, and therefore 

 it will be hard to effect a change. Red oak logs, 

 it is reported, are commanding higher prices than 

 they should, comparing prices of red oak lumber 

 with white oak. However, nobody has any sug- 

 gestions for remedying this, as the logger is in 

 a position to dictate terms to the buyer. 



The Hardwood Club had the pleasure of enter- 

 taining a distinguished visitor recently in the 

 person of M. M. Wall of the Buffalo Hardwood 

 Lumber Company, who was in the city as one of 

 the delegates to the International Prison Con- 

 gress, which visited Louisville among other points 

 of interest. Mr. Wall is connected with the 

 state board which has charge of the reforma- 

 tories in New York and came in that capacity. 

 The prison experts were here on the night of 

 the Hardwood Club's meeting, and Mr. Wall re- 

 ceived an urgent invitation to attend. He did 

 so, and added to the interest of the meeting by 

 describing the work of the Buffalo club, and 

 gave several suggestions which the hardwood 

 men here may carry into effect. His early de- 

 parture, which was made necessary on account 

 of the special train of the delegates leaving the 

 same evening, was regretted. 



A feature of the business situation which is 

 receiving a good deal of comment is the fact that 

 poplar is not moving in as large volume as 

 formerly, especially the grades which are in de- 

 mand on the part of the automobile factories. 

 This seems to indicate that reports which have 

 been current of shut-dow'ns of motor car factories 

 and a generally difBcult financial situation among 

 them may be true. Lumbermen who have sold 

 to the Buick Motor Company, which is reported 

 to be hard pressed financially, were encouraged 

 by the announcenieqt that the General Motors 

 Company, of which the Buick concern is a part, 

 intends to float a loan of fifteen millions for 

 the purpose of clearing away its own and the 

 indebtedness of its subsidiaries. 



A good many tobacco sticks have been sold 

 l>y the hardwood firms here. These are in de- 

 mand just now, as the tobacco crop is about 

 ready to be cut. The business offers a chance 

 to clean up a lot of low-grade stuff, and Is 

 generally welcomed. 



The Norm.an Lumber Company is now located 

 at its new quarters at Ninth and Magnolia 

 streets. A. E. Norman, head of the company, is 

 much pleased with the change, as he has more 

 room and better railroad facilities. He has 

 sent ont handsomely engraved cards to the trade 

 announcing the move. 



T. M. Brown of the W. P. Brown & Sons 

 Lumber Company, is making a trip through the 

 East, including New Y'ork and Boston. He ex- 

 ]iects to reach Philadelphia in time to witness 

 the opening of the world's series between the 

 Cubs and the Tigers. In company with his 

 brother, Graham, he will see some of the games 

 in Chicago. 



Mahogany imports into the United States are 

 keeping up well, according to figures given out 

 by C. C. Mengel & Bro. Company, showing that 

 for the first seven months of this year 28,665,000 

 feet of mahogany logs were brought into the 

 States. This is a better record than since 1907. 

 The company will shortly receive big cargoes of 

 African mahogany being brought over by the 

 Elgin and the Totenham, and one from British 

 Honduras on the Kyleakin. 



D. E. Kline of the Louisville Veneer Mills, re- 

 ported the demand for stock picking up, but 



prices unsati^actory. He said that the piano 

 trade is much improved. 



Ed Shippen of the Louisville Point Lumber 

 Company has been in southern Indiana and up 

 the Kentucky river buying logs, which he finds 

 are as hard to get and prices as high as ever. 



Barry Norman of E. B. Norman & Co. has 

 returned from a trip to Nashville, where he met 

 some of the southern representatives of the 

 company. Samuel Burkholder of the S. Burk- 

 holder Lumber Company of Crawfordsville, Ind., 

 recently called on the Norman company. 



Charles E. Davis, manager of the lumber de- 

 partment of the Mengel Box Company, has re- 

 turned from a trip to the company's mill at 

 Mengelwood, Tenn. He is now in the consuming 

 markets. The Richland Parish mill at Rayville, 

 La., which is a Mengel institution, is now operat- 

 ing, with W. L. Norwell in charge of that part 

 of the business. 



F. M. Platter of the North Vernon Lumber 

 Company was in the city last week. He is 

 getting things in shape at Dyersburg, Tenn., to 

 begin operations at the mill which was recently 

 set up there. 



H. A. McCowen of the Ohio River Saw Mill 

 Company dropped in on the Hardwood Club a few 

 weeks ago. Mr. McCowen. whose headquarters 

 are iu Salem, Ind., is much interested in the work 

 of the club and attends at every opportunity. 

 R. F. Smith, local manager, usually represents 

 the company. 



The Swift Coal & Timber Company, which was 

 recently incorporated, has purchased a consider- 

 able amount of timber in eastern Kentucky and 

 will probably dispose of it on a stumpage basis. 



Louisville handle companies are finding a good 

 demand for their products in Australia and South 

 Africa, seeming to indicate that the timber re- 

 sources of those countries are being developed. 



W. A. McLean of the Wood-Mosaic Company 

 is finding business good. He is getting a lot 

 of logs in at both his Louisville and New Albany 

 mills. 



The Ohio Valley Tie Company, with head- 

 quarters in Breckenridge county, has filed 

 amended articles of incorporation increasing its 

 capital stock from $30,000 to $200,000. It has 

 offices here. 



The Tennesse River Lumber Company, re- 

 cently organized in Louisville, will operate a mill 

 at Rockport, 111. Oflncers of the company are J. 

 T. Morgan of Louisville, president; O. H. Mar- 

 grave of Rockport, vice-president, and J. A. Mor- 

 gan of Louisville, secretary. 



The Mengel Box Company has subscribed 

 $6,000 for the construction of a levee at Hick- 

 man. Ky., which is subject to the overflow of the 

 Mississippi river. The company has several big 

 mills there. 



Gamble Brothers, dimension stock manufac- 

 turers of this city, are preparing to install an 

 automatic sprinkler system in their Highland 

 •fiark plant. It will reduce the insurance rate 

 from $3.50 to $1. 



ASHLAND 



Tho feeling now prevailing in business circles 

 is more optimistic than it has been for several 

 months past. The political situation is still 

 causing a harmful influence in the market, ac- 

 cording to the views expressed by a majority of 

 the wholesalers and manufacturers. However, 

 there is quite an improvement shown, September 

 having been an exceptionally good month. 



Vansant, Kitchen & Co. report bu.siness im- 

 proving. They are encouraged over the outlook 

 and predict a good business in the late fall and 

 winter months. Low-grades are moving out well 

 and collections are showing an improvement. 



J. A. Holmes of the Chicago Lumber & Coal 

 Company, Chicago, and S. M. Bradley of the S. 

 M. Bradley Lumber Company, Morehead, Ky., 

 were visitors here last week. Mr. Bradley re- 

 ports a decided increase in business. 



