Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1893-12-22
GETTING OUT MAHOGANY.
Money In the Business, But 1t Is Hard and
Dangerous Work.

dangerous
An extensive exporter of mahogany
from Nicaragua recently said concern
Ing that particular and valuable wood.
Mahogany Is very valuable wood,
but is hard to get out of the forests
where it grows. However, it pays if
one goes at it right and knows how to
manage the business The way we go
about the work of getting out mahog-
any logs is, first, to get a concession
from the Nicaraguan government You
must stand in, as they say in the
United States, if you get concession,
but an enterprising citizen from any
country can go there and estab lish him
self in the favor of the officials and if
he has good record at home as man
able to attend to business they grant
him privilege. But that is only the
beginning Of the trouble one has in
cutting and exporting 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 costs about 80
cents per day. 1t is often hard, how
ever, to get them to work, as they live
on fruits and can sustain themselves
without labor of any trying kind. Half
of the year is called the rainy season,
and it runs from May to October. 1t is
then so wet that on0 finds it impossible
to get out any timber, and no one will
work for you during the wet season.
When the dry season opens we COM
mence operations, and if we can get
enough labor we succeed, but we have
to be careful with them as they be-
come easily misled and often think we
ere taking some advantage of them.
When they become convinced that
something is wrong, whether they have
cause to believe that such is the case or
not they get angry, and 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 can not stand
it, and there is no profit in paying
them what they require to risk theiy
lives among the snakes and in this
swamps where the mahogany grows.
When the timber is cut we haul it, one
log at a time, on a two wheeled OK
cart especially made for the purpose.
1t is very slow process, but it Is the
only practicable way to get the timber
out, There are four hundred or five
hundreds logs to the acre, and the price
of the wood is so high partly because
the timber is SO hard to obtain"
THE average price of good mahog.
! any log is seventy five dollars, sell
very few logs in the United States, and
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 arrivs
in port There are not as many for.
tunes in mahogany as some people
| imagine, as the wood is too difficult tc
draw from the tangled forests of Mica
ragua. When a man from the north
goes to Nicaragua he stands the climate
very well for year and is very ener'
getic, and wonders at the spirit OF lazt
ness 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 q day
ii he don't die in the meantime. The
mahogany business is very pretty to
talk aboat and very nice in theory, and
even in price, but great deal of the
fancy profit that apparently accrues on
logs is lost in the time and expense one
is required to undergo to get the logs
out and carry them to the ship. New
Orleans Picayune.