The evening times., 1899-01-18
BIG LUMBER COMBINE.
Syndicate Seeking to Control the
North Carolina Pine Industry.

Baltimore, Jan. 1S.-A strong Boston
syndicate is negotiating for the consolda
ton of various concerns engaged in the
North Carolina pine lumber industry
The aim is to place this important busi-
ness under one control, and TO carry out
such plan about twenty five leading con-
Germs would have to be included in the
combination. These concerns turn out
about 500 600, 900 feet of lumber a year,
and If consolidated would dominate the
North Carolina pine market. Such COM
bination would take about 100000, 900 to fl
nance.
There are a number of Baltimore COM
panies engaged in this industry on large
scale and capitalists of this city and of
Maryland have been among the chief pro-
moters in the development of the industry.
The largest of these concerns is the Surry
Lumber Company, of which Mr.. X. I.
Waters. Is president; Col. John Walter.
vice president and Mr.. Francis z. Waters,
secretary and treasurer. On being asked
about the negotiations, Mr.. Francis E.
Waters did not deny that they were in
progress, but said that he had nothing to
say on the matter Other persons inter
ested were reticent in regard to the nego-
tiations.
The other Baltimore companies ygaged
in the industry are: Tunis Lumber Com
pany of which Mr.. Samuel C. Rowland is
president; Greenleaf Johnson Lumber
Company; Suffolk Lumber Company, in
which Mr. Samuel p, Roland, of the Ry
land Brooks Lumber Compay, is a
leading spirit, and the Baltimore and
North Carolina Lumber Company, which
is controlled by George F. Sloan & Bro.
The Jackson Brothers Company, of Sails
bury. of which Mr.. William II. Jackson is
president is also large producer of this
class of lumber
II is said that the Boston syndicate
which is negotiating for the consolidation
of the various companies is interested in
Canadian timber lands. The accessibility
of the North Carolina timber territory TO
market is one of the advantages of this
territory. Competition between the vaIi-
Gus producers has kept down prices and
at times sent them below profitable fig
ure Efforts have been made in the past
to secure uniformity Of prices by agree
ments but the results were not lasting.
With prices maintained, which would be
possible if the industry was under the
control of one management. it is figured
| that the combination would be very
profitable one.
North Carolina pine is in active demand
all along the coast from Washington to
| Portland. Me- 1t has been sold in Michi-
| gan and the interior markets of the
Middle and New England States are large
| consumers of this product In the last
| few years there has sprung up an export
demand which has developed some prom
| ising markets.
| The territory in which the short -leafed
| pine commonly designated in the mar
| kets as North Carolina pine predominates
| begins north of the Cape Fear River in
| North Carolina and takes in a strip of
| land along the coast running through Fir-
| gina and appearing i'll the lower counties
| of Maryland ON both the Eastern and
| Western Shore. Over sixty years ago the
| chief activities in this industry were in
Maryland and much of the development
! in Virginia and North Carolina was in
: augurated by Maryland lumbermen. The
| various lumber companies not only control
| the mills but also own large tracts of tim
| Der land, and in many instances have built
| railroads into these tracts TO develop
| them Some of these railroads have con-
| siderable mileage and have a large amount
| of money invested in rolling stock. The
| timber in sight controlled by these COM
| panies is calculated as sufficient to sup
| ply their mills for periods of from fifteen
| TO twenty-five years.