Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1894-01-05
GETTING OUT MAHOGANY.
A PROFITABLE, BUT HARD AND
DANGEROUS BUSINESS.
The Valuable Logs Are Obtained
From the Tropical Forests OF
Nicaragua.

T SCHNEIDER, of Mica
NJ ragua, is stopping at the
Hotel Royal, says the New
Orleans Picayune. The
gentleman is an extensive expor-
ter of mahogany from the country
where he has resided for the past few
wears. and where he has amassed
competence in shipping that particu-
lar and valuable wood.
Mahogany is very valuable wood,
but is hard to get out of the forests
where it grows" he said to reporter
last night ''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 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 our
country can go there and establish
himself in the favor of the officials,
and if he has good record at home
as a man able to tend 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 q
time at the least The best Indian
labor costs about fifty cents per day.
1t is often hard, however, 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 1t rams
from May to October. 1t is then so
wet that one finds it impossible to
get out any timber, and no one will
work for you during the wet sea-
son. When the dry season opens we
commence operations, and if we can
get enough labor we succeed, but we
have to be careful with them, as they
become easily misled and often think
we are taking some advantage of them.
When they become convinced that
something is wrong, whether they have
cause to believe that such isthe 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 cannot stand
it, and there is no profit in paying
them what they require to FISK their
lives among The snakes and IN the
swamps where the mahogany grows.
When the timber is cut We haul 1t, one
log at a time, on two-wheeled oXcart
especially made for the purpose. 1t If
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.
"What is the price of mahogany
''The average price of a good ma
hogsny log is S75 1 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 ls
paid as soon as the logs arrive In port.
There are not as many fortunes IN ma
hogany as some people imagine, as the
wood is too difficult to draw from the
tangled forests of Nicaragua. When
man from the North goes to Nieara-
qua he stands the climate very well foi
year, and is very energetic, and won
ders at the spirit of laziness that pre-
walls 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 day--lf he
doesn't die in the meantime. The ma
hogany business is very pretty to talk
about and very nice in theory, and
even in price, but a great deal OF the
fancy profit that apparently acerues
on logs is lost in the time and expense
one is required to undergo to get the
logs out and carry them to the ships.