high class furniture of this country, who stated that he has purchased a few American desks, set up and ready for sale, through a Paris agency, but that the price asked was so high and his profits so small that there was no object in pushing their sale. It was admitted that it would be profitable to keep a stock in supply and to push the sale of American desks if they could be secured under favorable conditions in the United States.

"The demand for filing cabinets is of comparatively recent growth. A few important firms are using filing cabinets at present and it is likely that their use will become more general in the near future.

"The type of cabinet which has sold most readily is 55 inches high, 15 inches wide and 25 inches deep, and is made of wood and iron. The price paid for such a cabinet is $23.10."-Consul Dean B. Mason, Algiers, Algeria.

"First class metal office furniture is not manufactured at present in Germany to any extent and such devices as are on the market are crude and expensive compared with similar lines of American origin. An active importer of office supplies is of the opinion that a promising future awaits American exporters of these devices who take the pains to introduce their goods properly. By this he means that intending exporters must establish a first-class agency in Hamburg and through this agency provide local dealers with sufficiently large stocks to make prompt deliveries possible."-Consul General Robert O. Skinner, Hamburg, Germany.

"It is only comparatively recently that steel furniture has been sold at all in this consular district (Port Elizabeth, South Africa). Steel filing cabinets were the first articles to find a market here and probably the first in this line was introduced at this consulate. This cabinet was of American manufacture, was procured through an agency in Cape Town and upon being shown to office visitors occasional sales resulted.

"At present there are agencies for these products in Port Elizabeth. At least one of these carries a small line of small to medium-sized cabinets, which are selling in a fairly satisfactory manner.

"The demand for such furniture and fittings should steadily increase, but it must also be born in mind that the white population, which composes the business element, is small and a large volume of business cannot be reasonably expected.

"The only satisfactory methods which appear likely to succeed at present are the establishment of local agencies with office specialty and typewriter agents or the arrangement with reliable furniture dealers to have exclusive selling rights for sections reached by their ordinary trade. In either case it will be useless at this time to expect agents or dealers to carry stocks to any extent.

"One of the elements tending to retard the demand for steel furniture is the comparative infrequency of fires. On the other hand, with a warm climate and humid atmosphere, wooden furniture unless made of most thoroughly seasoned wood is almost sure to warp badly. This is particularly apt to prove annoying with desks and cabinet drawers and is a factor which will appeal to most local business men if properly presented. Because of its compactness, durability and resistance to fire and moist atmosphere, it would appear a practical certainty that steel office furniture will ultimately be considered superior to similar wooden products in this district."-Consul E. A. Wakefield, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

"The prospects for the development of trade in steel office furniture are fairly good (Singapore, Straits Settle

ments.) This furniture is not unknown in Malaya, but its advantages over wood are not universally recognized. Three firms have installed small lines, but the field is capable of greater expansion than it seems likely to receive from these firms. Except in Singapore, steel furniture is not generally known on the Peninsula.

"Steel furniture is much superior to other kinds of furniture in this hot climate. Office furniture should be brought to the notice of the government officials, general offices in the Straits Settlement and those in the Federated Malay States, and I believe it would soon bring satisfactory results so far as it applies to the European offices.

"Freight is an important item in the case of bulky goods like steel furniture and an inquiry was received recently at this office as to whether this furniture could not be shipped in a knock-down state as is the wooden office furniture.

"If steel furniture can be shipped in a knock-down state a very great saving will be found and this will assist representatives to overcome the question of cost."-Consul General Edwin S. Cunningham, Singapore, Straits Settlements.

"There is prospect of considerable trade for many lines of steel safety goods, such as steel filing cabinets, cabinet safes, steel coffers for papers and similar goods (Hongkong, China.) Some of the larger business establishments in Hongkong have found that some means of preserving papers from the destructive effects of climate and tropical insect pests must be had, and they have found that these steel filing conveniences offer the best means at least

expense.

"The demand for such goods so far has not gone beyond the experimental stage, but the interest in them is widespread and there ought to be a good field for their sale here. Interest in steel desks and chairs, office files, bookcases and the like is great and there is undoubtedly a good opportunity for the sale of such goods in this part of the world, though a campaign of education would be necessary to introduce them. Stocks of such goods should be kept on hand in all the larger centers of trade.-Consul General George E. Anderson, Hongkong, China.

Not to take short cuts by the path of danger.
To think before I act.

To be watchful of the safety of myself and of my fellow-employes.

To be neat, cleanly and efficient, not only in my personal habits, but in my work and in the care of tools, apparatus or buildings entrusted to my charge.

To report dangerous conditions or dangerous practices to my foreman, superintendent or Works Safety Committee.

To keep my temper when handling tools or men.

To extend a helping hand and a few words of advice to the newcomer, to the foreigner, or to the man who does not understand.

To be a SAFETY MAN.-E. I. Du Pont de Nemours Powder Co.

THE percentage of power consumed in driving the blower fan of a woodworking plant as compared to the power requirements for machines themselves is strikingly large sometimes, and it is large enough in any case to make the selection of fan and the installing of a blower system a matter requiring careful, skilled attention.

Subscription price $1 per year in the United States, Mexico, Cuba and the American colonies; $1.50 per year in Canada, postage paid, and $2 per year in all foreign countries, postage paid.

Subscriptions are payable strictly in advance. THE FURNITURE MANUFACTURER AND ARTISAN is never mailed regularly to anyone without a signed order for the same.

Advertising rates and proof of circulation upon application. The rate in the classified advertising page is 3 cents per word for the first insertion; 2 cents per word for each additional insertion. Minimum charge, $1. Cash should accompany order.

Entered at the post-office in Grand Rapids, Mich., as mail matter of the second class under the act of Congress of March 3, 1879.

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The Manufacturers to Meet

HAT promises to be the most important, and presumably the largest meeting of the furniture manufacturers of the country, will be held in Chicago, on Thursday, May 14-before another issue of THE FURNITURE MANUFACTURER AND ARTISAN is printed. The call for this meeting, signed by the representatives of the several associations among the manufacturers, was published in these pages last month. Eight associations joined in that call. A federation of the associations is planned, and joint action on subjects of common interest it is expected will be the outcome. Several of the associations which have been active in recent years have called meetings during the same week, and there should be abundant reason for every manufacturer who is alive to the importance of coöperative action for the common good to attend.

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Trust Legislation

HERE are indications that the President and Congress are beginning to take heed to the protests of the commercial world against further disturbing and restrictive anti-trust legislation. In response to the President's trust message of January 20, only one bill, that relating to the Interstate Trade Commission, has actually been introduced in Congress. Three tentative committee drafts, relative to additions to the Sherman law, definitions under the Sherman law, and interlocking directorates, have been put forth as bases of discussion only. On March 18, a fourth tentative draft, dealing with holding companies, was made public. No draft or bill has yet appeared relative to the control of railroad securities.

The bill creating an Interstate Trade Commission was the subject of hearings before the interstate trade committee of the House from January 30 to February 16. It was then placed in the hands of a sub-committee for redrafting and was reintroduced on March 14, and ordered reported out of the committee on March 16; but the report is yet delayed in order that it may be accompanied

by printed explanatory matter. Consideration of the Interstate Trade Commission bill has been given in the Senate by the committee on interstate commerce. It is now in the hands of a sub-committee. The indications are that the Senate will insist upon broader powers for the Commission than those now provided by the bill introduced in the House.

On the three tentative drafts referred to above, there have been hearings before the House committee on the judiciary during February and March, and these still continue. It is understood that all three drafts are being redrawn, after conferences with the President. The committee has indicated no date when revision will be made public. It is possible that all three drafts may be brought into one bill. The Senate committee on interstate commerce has also had these drafts before it, and has requested by mail criticisms and suggestions. The committee has made public no conclusions of its own.

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"Association Snags"

NDER the above title the Saturday Evening Post, in the issue of March 26, prints the last of a series of four articles by Forrest Crissey on organized effort among men in a common trade. A perusal of this article should be an admirable preparation for the manufacturers of furniture who are to gather in convention at Chicago on May 14. Mr. Crissey recognizes that many men hesitate to ally themselves with trade organizations because of the bogy of anti-trust legislation and the insane and absurd activity upon the part of government officials in opposition to anything like coöperation among business men, but he recognizes that only through association contact can any wholesome results be secured. "No manufacturer," he says, "can operate his business along the lines of highest intelligence and efficiency without teamwork with his competitors, without that coöperative study of trade tendencies and trade problems that is only possible in a well-organized association of the main body of the members of his industry. He must command a bird's-eye view of the vital statistics of his industry, and must be in touch with the best minds and the best methods in that industry, before he can work to the best advantage." But he adds, "how the handicap of the Sherman Law fear is going to be removed from the pathway of legitimate association development is a riddle in the minds of most leaders of industry; but all believe it will have to be solved, because the association is a vital economic necessity and the way for it will have to be made straight somehow. This is the essence of the opinions expressed in confidential conversation by almost a score of solid business men in as many different lines of manufacture and trade."

Some of these men Mr. Crissey quotes, demonstrating conclusively, among other things, that the small manufacturers are the ones who profit most by their contact with others of their craft through organization and gives some sage advice how the small manufacturer should be treated.

Mr. Crissey points out how better ethical standards have been established because of organization among manufacturers, urges that cost determination lies at the basis of the best results and then outlines the policy which is in force in Germany, which in so many particulars differs from that which maintains in this country, where the governing powers are arrayed against anything which in any way may even suggest "restraint of trade." In this connection, Arthur C. Hastings, president of the American Paper and Pulp Manufacturers' Association, is quoted as follows:

"The attitude of the German government is briefly this: 'You must not make an excessive profit, but you must

make a reasonable profit and enjoy the maximum volume of trade obtainable; and we will help you to secure this.' At every meeting of any body of manufacturers in that country a representative of the government is present. If the profits have been excessive, manufacturers are advised to reduce their prices; if the profits are not satisfactory, after due allowances for depreciation for taxes and reserves, they are advised to raise their prices.

“If a body of men makes application for a charter to form a paper company, for example, the government first investigates the condition of the trade, and if it is apparent that anything approaching a condition of over-production exists, the charter is denied. Over-competition is as jealously guarded against by the German Empire as combination is guarded against in this country. The result is that Germany, in almost every line of manufacture, is enabled to compete successfully with any and all countries of the world.

"In other words, the German government believes that intelligent cooperation is better for the public, the manufacturer and the investor than is the ruthless competition apparently being demanded by our own government. This German system has produced a uniform efficiency in all lines of manufacture that is the wonder of the manufacturing world."

We are sorry we cannot quote more extendedly from this admirable article. Get it and read it entire.

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Ruinous Price Cutting

HE more complete the exposure of the methods employed by the Siegel interest operating department stores in New York and Boston, the more apparent it becomes that reckless price cutting was at the bottom of the failure. There was undoubtedly personal extravagance on the part of the men interested, and reckless financiering, but back of it all was the policy of "get the money" at any cost. All three of the concerns- -the Simpson-Crawford store, the Fourteenth Street store and the Boston store-lost money hand over fist. Volume does not make profit. So far as the furniture departments of these three stores were concerned, there was a mad chase for "job lots" and all too many of the manufacturers of furniture were parties to the sales which resulted. Goods bought cheap were sold even cheaper-sold without adequate profit for anybody. The retail furniture trade of at least two cities was demoralized in consequence. It will be some time before trade will get back to the normal in so important a city as New York. The manufacturers will be compelled to stand some of this grief.

There ought to be in this outcome a lesson for the manufacturers as well as the retailers of furniture. So-called "sales" should be discouraged by both branches of the trade. Possibly this can be brought about when the manufacturers so reform their system of doing business that they will have no close-outs to offer. When that time comes the retailer may base his spring and fall sales only on the few stickers which will accumulate in every stock. There is a lesson, too, in these failures for our legislators and our judges. Is it any wonder that resentment is felt against proposed legislation to compel free and unrestricted competition, and because the courts are upholding laws which give to merchants the right to advertise and sell goods that they have at any price they please, virtually depriving the manufacturer, even of a patented article, of the right of determining the price at which such article shall be sold.

We have this situation: that it is possible for a concern today to secure a large amount of capital, start large department stores, cut prices recklessly, drive a number of small dealers out of business, injure valuable indus

tries, deprive manufacturers of their just profits, and make it almost impossible for an inventor to secure any return for the time and work he has spent upon something which is useful to the community. It is about time for us as a people to recognize that all prosperity does not follow in the wake of unrestricted competition. The protection of profits becomes imperative. The dissipation of profits spells disaster to not only the merchant who flirts with fate by selling cheaply-bought goods even more cheaply than they should be sold, but it spells disaster to less reckless competitors. Perhaps the Siegel interest was not wholly responsible for what has happened in New York during the past year, but there have been more big failures or retirements from the retail furniture trade in that city during the past year than during many preceding years.

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The Analysis of Business Practices HERE have progressed in the grain belt section of the Northwest experiments in soil analysis and fertilization under the direction of Prof. F. R. Crane, agricultural expert of the Great Northern railway, that it is declared will standardize the wheat production of the country. Standardization in this instance means more than maximum yield per acre; it means the application of soil conditions and chemical fertility to agricultural production in a way that will result not only in quality and quantity of yield, but in greatest conservation of the producing element.

The experiments of Prof. Crane have not been in conflict with those of the national Department of Agriculture. They have been supplementary-an adaptation of general principles to actual conditions. They are an attempt to apply theory to practice that will be within reach of the individual; a method that because it is scientifically standardized will be practical in the operation of the individual wheat grower. It has already been proposed that the work of Prof. Crane be incorporated with that of the national government. The motive is in sympathy with a general industrial growth toward specialization in general practice.

What has been suggested in connection with the work of Prof. Crane, apparently has its corollary in the proposal for a government Bureau of Business Practice contained in an editorial by A. W. Shaw and published in the current number of System. Mr. Shaw's conception, however, would be realized in a field in which the need is more urgent than that of agriculture. This simply is because the experiments into the analysis of commercial practice, either directed by the government or by individuals, have not reached that stage of specialization that will admit a standard application. What has been and what is being accomplished in this direction by Secretary Redfield and the Department of Commerce is not without its significance. But it cannot, under present methods and restrictions, reach the stage of efficiency in practice that is approached by the Department of Agriculture. In view of these conditions, writes Mr. Shaw:

"These investigations fall short of their proper usefulness because they do not look at each problem and process with the practical eyes and practical aim of the merchant or manufacturer. What the Department of Commerce needs and what System now proposes should be established, is a Bureau of Business Practice with a purpose both critical and constructive critical as regards its analysis of existing methods, constructive in its endeavor to evolve better ones. With the conditions and processes of distribution as its first important study, it should in time take up the common problems of buying, selling, making, packing, financing, advertising and the delicate human relations involved in these functions and processes. It should collect and analyze all the facts about

each, test them, and pass them along to our factories and stores."

What is proposed in System is the inevitable outgrowth of commercial conditions with which that publication and every other catering to a trade field long have been identified. To bring the problem home, the need of similar research is nowhere more urgent than in woodworking activity. Individual efforts toward this end are obvious in the comparatively recent appearance of the efficiency expert. The barriers in the path of common progress under individual direction will be recognized. It remains to evolve a system through which these efforts may be standardized; a procedure of analyzation that will offer practical solution in the business of this manufacturer and of that dealer. It would seem that the proposal of Mr. Shaw has been made at the psychological moment. If the Bureau of Business Practice can be established-and there seems small obstacle-the road is clear toward greater and more efficient commercial accomplishment.

Editorial Notes THE manufacturer who has sold as much furniture as he had sold at the corresponding date last year may count himself fortunate.

THE late spring may seem to be a deterrent on trade, but when the hot weather comes, as come it will, there will be a scramble for summer goods.

PUT it down in your memorandum book or mark it up where you can see it and prepare to attend the meeting of the manufacturers of furniture, to be held in Chicago, on May 14th.

PUBLIC sentiment is apparently rising in opposition to the bating of big business, and against putting on the statute books additional checks on the railways and big enterprises. Prosperity is not likely to come to us until the railways are permitted to prosper again.

"THE public got the advantage of it," say the advocates of unrestricted competition and more laws to enforce this condition. But does not the public suffer because of just such outcomes as are disclosed in the Siegel case-1 -the direct result of unrestrained competition?

A MANUFACTURER advertises in his trade journal because he wants results, and the trade journal that gives him results is always the independent journal that publishes the news of the trade without bias or prejudice and that carries practical articles germane to the trade.

ROCHESTER, N. Y., is the city most recently chosen by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners in which to attempt an organization among the furniture workers. Eighty of the employes of Hubbard, Eldredge & Miller, the Miller Cabinet Company, the Vetter Desk Works, and Barnard & Simonds are said to have joined the movement. George Wright is the organizer, and he makes the statement that no strike is contemplated.

THERE is said to be an unlimited supply of hardwood timber on the Solomon islands, which lie north and east of Australia, and not far south of the equator. Some attempt has been made to introduce the timber in the Sydney market, but without success. But little or nothing has been done to develop the industry. We are discovering from time to time that the islands of the Pacific

ocean are likely to supply us with cabinet woods for some time to come.

STATISTICS published in the New York Sun show that out of a total population accredited to New York of 4,699,162, the English and Celtic groups (English, Irish, Scotch and Welsh) make up 21 per cent. of the whole, the Yiddish and Hebrews 19 per cent. and the German 18 per cent. In Manhattan alone, eliminating Brooklyn, the Yiddish and Hebrew people exceed the English and Celtic. There are 533,444 people in the first mentioned group and 469,626 who are of English and Celtic origin.

WE PRESUME that if the manufacturers of furniture should band together and refuse to furnish the "job lot" searchers goods for their February and August sales, that some representative of the Department of Justice, with a presidential policy or promise back of it, would swoop down on the manufacturers and involve them in expensive defense and in an effort to escape fine and imprisonment. But wouldn't the general interests be best served by the manufacturers doing just the thing here suggested?

THE vigilance committee of the Associated Advertising clubs is prosecuting offenders against the laws prohibiting false and fraudulent advertising statements. There is still opportunity for good work to be done. Some of the absurd furniture "sale" statements which are constantly being made, offer a fine field for activity. If Mr. Siegel and his associates had been checked up on some of the things they exploited, it is even possible that prison doors would not now be swung wide for the entrance of Siegel and Vogel.

OUR Consul at Rio de Janiero says that the metal bed industry in Brazil is rapidly increasing in importance. This in spite of the fact that hardwood suitable for furniture making is abundant and cheap in Brazil. All the material for the building of metal beds is imported and comes chiefly from England. This includes tubing, casters, wire springs, brass knobs, etc. The cutting, bending, welding and finishing only is done in Brazil. Does this not suggest, as has been many times urged in these pages, that the metal bed manufacturers in the United States get out after some of that business?

CHINA is becoming thoroughly Americanized, according to a Shanghai correspondent of the London Daily Chronicle. "To stand in the main street in all Chinese cities and to see all that you look at will most probably impress you that the Americanization of China is at hand. At the coast ports, in the capital and in the Yangtze Valley for several hundred miles from the sea one finds characteristics that are unmistakably American. I believe we shall see America making great headway in China, and, sociologically considered, America's attitude toward China is of the highest importance to the world, and she can claim that her foreign policy is the only one which consistently entitles it to support the doctrine of the integrity of China without the suspicion of territorial ambition."

John L. GrifFITH, who is our consul general at London, writes that pantries and cupboards in England are so almost invariably built into the buildings, and are therefore permanent fittings, that he believes there is little market for kitchen cabinets such as sell freely in the United States. The built-in room for a pantry is not more common in England than in the United States,

and yet the kitchen cabinet sells in this country, thanks to its skilful exploitation. The English chamber suite still includes the wardrobe, for built-in closets are far less common in England than in America. The comparatively few kitchen cabinets which have been shipped to England have met with favor. Mr. Griffith is quite right when he suggests that the American manufacturer who contemplates breaking into the market which awaits in London, should arrange to make an exhibition at the Ideal Home Exhibition, at Olympia, London, next fall.

MANY leading economists and publicists lately have declared that within the next decade one of the most striking developments in commercial affairs will be the establishing of moderate sized factories in the smaller towns of the country. In fact, this has been a very prominent feature during the last ten years. There are doubtless throughout the United States hundreds, perhaps thousands, of small communities that have the resources, the markets and other facilities for supporting small factories. It should be one of the aims of the local development clubs to investigate and survey local resources with a view of establishing factories or other industries that in their opinion could be profitably operated in the communities. But this should not be construed to mean that every little community should go out after a furniture factory. It is important that the factory established should be the factory suited to the locality-founded on a very careful study of resources possible in the field of distribution and kind of labor available, or which may be made available.

Gov. GEN. HARRISON has signed the first license granted by him to a company backed by foreign capital to cut timber from government lands in the Philippine Islands. The concession allows the Kolambugan Lumber Co. to cut 2,000,000 feet of lumber in the tract of land situated between Camp Overton and the border of Misamis Province, in the department of Jolo and Mindanao. The company is backed by British capital and the concession is for twenty years. Several similar concessions were granted by his predecessor in office, Gov. Gen. Forbes, to American companies, but this is the first case where an English corporation has recognized the value of the timber resources in the Philippine Islands. In signing the concession the governor-general intimated that foreign capital which entered the Islands for business and did not concern itself with politics would always be welcome. He gave the assurance that the government would do everything it legitimately could do to protect and further the development of foreign enterprises.

SOME of the American designers who are looking for new inspiration for the work they have to do should hie themselves to Cologne, where from May to October there will be held by Germany, Austria and the other Germanspeaking countries, an exhibition to be known as the Deutsche Werkbund Ausstelling. The exhibits, which will be limited to Germany, Austria and Switzerland, will endeavor to give as complete a representation as possible of the present position of modern German workmanship. It will not be an exhibit of arts and crafts in the generally accepted use of this expression, but one to particularly show the application of art to all kinds of handicraft, trade and industry, and technical perfection and honest workmanship. The scope, therefore, will be very wide, and the number of groups exhibited will be very large, comprising everything where workmanship is a factor, from automobiles and machinery to household

articles. The spread of the idea in Austria will be shown by the "Austrian House;" the share that women have taken in ennobling manufacturing and artistic workmanship in the "House of the Woman;" artistic possibilities in the retail trades will be shown by the "Street of Shops," in factories by the "Model Factory," etc. Other exhibits will show artistic and yet useful Colonial houses, ideal villages, the harmony of good colors, city planning, etc.

Chips and Shavings

BETTER have a poor plant under a good foreman than a good plant under a poor foreman.

AN IDEA is not patentable, but only the particular mechanical device or combination for carrying it into effect.

A MAN who has tried many methods of fastening leather covers on pulleys says the only sure way is to rivet them on, heads of rivets out.

No MILL foreman, superintendent or owner can afford to be so busy as not to be able to see the dangers to employes that may cause expensive damage suits.

WITH varnish sprayers, mechanical rubbers and scientific kiln drying the finishing room of today can look up with confidence and ask for a good seat in the progress band-wagon.

MOST of the trouble we have with woodwork shrinking after it is put up is not a matter of materials and methods so much as it is a lack of time, patience and pains to get it really dry before using.

BUY it cheaper if you can, but to be on the safe side you had better figure that your lumber is going to cost more before the year is out, for both lumberman and the railroads are saying they need more.

PIECEWORK gives a man a chance to show what he can do, and probably the weakest point about it is that it also extends an invitation to everybody to slight the work for the sake of turning out quantity.

AFTER all is said and done on the subject of the best methods of shop lighting, the fact remains that the best light of all is daylight and plenty of it. If you can so design your shop or factory to secure this, you are all right, and the lighting for the dark part of the short days is only a minor matter.

IT IS interesting to know that cottonwood may sometimes be substituted for white holly. Another interesting fact in this connection is that in the lower Mississippi Valley country there is some native holly grown which may serve practically all the purposes of the imported article. Also tupelo gum offers some service in this connection.

OUR French cousins persist in bringing to the attention of the consular service an artificial wood, which is produced in France from straw by reducing it to a pulp and then molding it into boards and dimension stock. It is claimed this artificial wood can be worked like natural wood. The name of the inventor is filed in the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce at Washington.