The age-herald., 1898-03-06
FACTORIES
 ~h@AND FURNACES
BY N. P. T. FINCH


it down to and including "culls" This is a feature of furniture factories. They afford an, outlet for the lower grades, be- cause board or plank is cut into small pieces for furniture factoriess and this ables a furniture factory to take the good in poor plank and reject the bad. It. will be seen at once what advantages fur nfture factories in this section would have in the purchase of lumber. They would buy at almost their own prices the other wise unmarketable lumber of the saw miils.
 Another feature of furniture factories -.slsp;'fu not be lost sight of. No modern factory attempts to manufacture all kinds Of furniture One factory In town makes desks, another tables, another wood man. ties, another lounges, another chairs, an- other safes, kitchen tables and other kitch- en furniture, another bedroom sets, and so through the list When a commercial traveier goes out from a furniture manu- 1acturing town he represents in the section he visits all the factories of that town for none of them have conflicting interests All, In fact, pull together, the trade of the one helping the trade of the others. This plan reduces the cost of the placing of the goods, and increases the economy and ef- hciency of manufacture.
 AS l have intimated, a million dollars would esratIsh a great many furniture factories. Ten thousand dollars will eouip with the very best machinery one factory. and as much more will do at the outset as working capital. Nothing more is need ed except reasonably good management for all the advantages of raw material and Of transportation and rude labor are at command in Birmingham Low rates or freight to Mexico, Central and South America can be readily secured. so that any surplus that the home market would not take could be exported at profit.
 
 The ideal plant would consist of a saw mill, a furniture factory and a tann,ary but in these days of wary capitalists it is 2 not always feasible to do so much in one place and under one control. It would be an attempt to gather in all the profits letting none escape. Tanneries as a rule caH for considerable capital-that is, ex- tersive tannerdes, like the one in Chatta- nooga, which is said to be the largest oak leather tannery in the world and 1t has perhaps earned for its owners Messrs. Fayerweather and Ladew, larger profits first and last than any tannery in the country has ever earned MT. Fayer- weather left many millions to northern colleges when he died in New York city. and no small part of his great fortune was accumulated in the over-odorous factory in Chattanooga Other well known exam ples of the values and profits locked up in southern banks are the tanneries at Bristol Tenn, controlled by Ex-Mayor Schieren, of Brooklyn, and the oak-extract works at Decatur in this state. The latter supplies northern tanneries with the needful tan- ming material, besides turning out large quantities of wood alcohol and other bi- products. The establishment at Decatur is the largest of its kind in the world-so large thai it owns steamboats which ply between the works and the large markets in the Mississippi valley.
 Tarnariac located in Rirrn;o uha TT, xyo,,Jd possess important advantages over those in Louisville. Cincinnati, Chicago and other northern cities. Labor is cheaper to begin with, and much unskilled labor is needed in tanneries. The bark is near at hand at the lowest possible prices. Not long ago one hundred and fifty cars of oak bark were shipped from station on the Bir- mingham Mineral railroad, in Blount coun- ty, to Louisville tanneries. Then. too, hides could be obtained at bottom prices in all the Gulf states, because none of them have tanneries worthy of mention. What lh, " have are small affairs doing a local business only. If more hides should be needed than the Gulf states could supply lumber vessels returning from Argentina or other South Americanlpo would bring them in at low rates of freight.
 I have wandered from the subject had in mind at the outset, namely, the full utilization of chestnut. oak tree. still stand, by the original proposition. When Birmingham is prepared to make the most of that tree then, indeed, 1t will be time to say "Woodman. spare that tree from fire destruction. Send it to this town. even its larger branches, and we will turn 1t into articles of value, and 1t shall put money in your purse, as well as our own" Can the people of Alabama afford to let their wooded wealth. the growth of many years, be disipated, yielding no man one bit of good?