The record-union., 1894-01-12

Getting Mahogany to Market from
Nicaragua Is Difficult Task.
H. Schneider of Nicaragua is an extern
sive exporter of mahogany from that
country, where be has been residing for
the past few years and where he has
amassed 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 New Orleans
Ptcdyitlle reporter. However, it pays if
one goes at it right and knows how to
manage the business. The way we go
about the work or getting mahogany logs
is, first, to get q concession from the Mic
araguan Government. You must stand
ln,' as they say in the United States, ii
you get concession. but an enterprising
cltlZen from any country can go there
and establish himself in the favor of the
officials, and if he has good record at
home as man able to tend 10 business
they grant him privilege. But that is
only the beginning of the trouble one has
IN cutting and exporting 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 a time at the least. The
best Indian labor costs about fifty cents a
DAY. 1t is often hard, however, to get
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
one tlnds it impossible to get out 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
ceed, but we have to be careful with
2 Vhn31 81
often think we are taking 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 tribe. 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
prot1t IN paying them what they require
to risk their lives among the snakes and
in the swamps where the mahogany
grows. When the timber is cut we haul
1t, one log at time, on q 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 400 and 500 logs to the acre.
and the price of the wood is so high
partly because the timber is so hard to
obtain"
''W hat is the price Of mahogany"
The average price of good mahogany
log is SO. L sell very few logs in the
Y nlted States, and my principal market
is in France. There l ship practically all
my timber. The price is better in France
and the money is paid as soon as the logs
arrive i'll port. There are not as many
fortunes in mahogany as some people
imagine, as the wood is too difficult
to draw from the tangled forests
of Nicaragua. When a man from 5he
north goes TO Nicaragua he stanus the
climate very we'll Tor year and is very
energetic, and wonders at the spirit of
laziness that prevails among all tue peo-
pie. But after a while he is overcome by
the climatic conditions and gets lazy. and
is unable TO work three good hours day
If he doesn't die in the meantime. The
mahogany business is very pretty to talk
about, 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 re-
quired to undergo to get the logs OUT and
carry them to the ships.''