The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-26
GETTING OUT MAHOGANY.
Money in the Business. With Hare
and Dangerous Work.
From the New Orleans Picayune.

From the New Orleans Picayuue.
H. Schneider, of Nicaragua. is an ex-
tensive exporter of mahogany from that
country where he has been residing for
the past few years, and where he has
amassed a competence in shipping that
particular and valuable wood.
Mahogany Is very valuable wood
but is hard to get out of the forests where
it grows, - he said TO a reporter last night
However, it pays if one goes at it right,
and knows how to manage the business.
The way TO go about the work of getting
out mahogany logs is first, to get a con-
| cession from the Nicaraguan government.
You must stand in as they say in the
United States. if YOU get q concession,
but an enterprising citizen from any
country can go there and establish him
self in the favor of the officials and il he
has good record at home as a man able
| TO attend to business, they grant him a
privilege, But that is only the beginning
of the trouble one has in cutting and eX-
porting the wood You then proceed to
make bargains with the natives to cut
and haul logs out Of the forests. If you
treat them kindly they will work for
YOU for time at the least. The
best Indian labor cost about 30
cents per day. 1t is often hard.
however, to get them to work, as
they live on fruits and can sustain them
SClNtS NlbIOub ldUJl VI 1uN liN luE hAlO.
Half OF the year is called the rainy sea
sou, and it runs from May TO October. 1t
is then so wet that one finds 1t impossible
to get any timber, and no one will work
for you during the wet season. When the
dry season opens we commence operations
and if we can get enough labor we sue
coed, but we have to be careful with
them as they become easily misled and
often think we are taking some advantage
pf them Whom they hapOn1a rlnpnr
that something is wrong. whether they
have cause to believe that such is the case
or not, they get angry aud the feeling
spreads among all the tribes. The woods
are so dense and the work SO trying on
men brought there from other countries
that they cannot stand it. and there is no
profit in paying them what they require
10 risk their lives among the snakes and
in the swamps where mahogany grows.
When the timber is cut VIC haul it, one
log at a time. on a two-wheeled OK cart
especially made for the purpose. II is a
very slow process, but it is the only prac-
ticable way to get the timber out. There
are 400 and 800 logs to the acre, and the
price of the wood is so high partly be-
cause the timber is so hard to obtain"
What is the price of mahogany"
"The average price of a good mahogany
log is SIS. l sell very few logs in the United
States. ana my principal market is in
France. There ship practically all my
timber The price is better in France,
and the money is paid as soon as the logs
arrive in port. There are not as many
fortunes in mahogany as some people i'm
agine, rs the wood is too difficult to draw
from the tangled forests of Nicaragua.
When man from the north goes to Mic
aragua he stands the climate very well
for a year. and is very energetic, and won
dcrs at the spirit Of laZiness that prevails
among all the people. But after awhile
he is overcome BY the climatic conditions,
and gets lazy, and Is unable to work three
good hours a day-if he don t die in the
meantime The mahogany business IS very
pretty to talk about, and very nice in
theory and even i'm price, but a great deal
Of the fancy profit that apparently az
cures on logs is lost in the time and eX
pense one required to undergo to get the
logs out and carry them to the ships"