The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-09-04
HIS CLAIM TO FAME.

~
eminent Iumberman and businessman,
Mr.. B. F. Mcmillan, of Mcmillan, Wis,
is an able and estimable gentleman, as
we'll as a business man Of rare sagacity
and foresight. There is no question
that his hustling qualities and eye for
business will make him, as indeed they
already may have done, commercial
power in the Northwest. Certainly the
Valley Lumberman, and the facts
which 1t reveals in demonstration of
his business prowess point in the d.
rection of business success.
The headline which challenged our
attention in a recent page of this or
gan Of the lumber trade was this:
''He Changed Culls to Common!"
So graphic and at the same time
provocative of curiosity was this ed
itorial caption, that we could not re-
frain from reading the entire article.
HE changed culls to common" Who
was this hero7 What is his claim to
fame? What are "culls" and what Is
common" and how and why did he
change "culls" to common" anyway?
We soon discovered.
There was a meeting of the hemlock
lumbermen OF the Wisconsin valley
for the purpose-under the protective
wing of the Dingley tariff-of changing
the grades and raising the prices of
hemlock lumber in the Northwest. The
hemlock lumbermen met about the
same time that the white pine mag
mates met at the West hotel in Min
neapolis, and the grades and the prices
Of lumbermen were newly adjusted, for
the tenth time since the passage of the
Dingley bill, in the interests of the
'fnfantile Industry which produces
lumber.
1t was the privilege of Mr.. Mcmillan
to break the gratifying results of the
hemlock lumber meet to the trade or
gan, the Lumberman. TT took only
five minutes for them to make up
their minds to advance No. hemlock,
IS feet and over, 81; also, 80 cents on
No hemlock, IL, IA and~16 feet" But
it remained for Mr.. Mcmillan himself
to achieve the glory of changing "culls
to common" In other words, hemlock
lumber hitherto graded as culls and
quoted as such in the price list, was by
the wonderful virtue of this invention
raised to the grade Of common" and
builders henceforth will pay for it as
such In the market.
This victory in the interest of q
great industry, which means thousands
of dollars In the pockets of the hem
lock lumbermen, was not only applaud
ed the moment of it's suggestion at the
meeting, but has passed into fame
through the headlines of the lumber
organ and will stand forever more as
an epitaph of business achievement,
like unto that of Grant at Vicksburg or
Of Napoleon at Austerlitz.
In harmony with this achievement of
the hemlock lumbermen, we read in
other pages of the Mississippi Valley
Lumberman the following interesting
| 1tSlA 1tOIl IllC l(uiutn correspondent
Duluth, Aug. 20.-Pretty nearly all
| Of the No. boards at this point have
been picked up, and buyers are taking
the lower grades in large quantities. A
class of lumber is now being sold that
not long ago was looked upon as value
| less"
Why not, when the price of decent
| grades, since the adoption Of the prac-
tically prohibitive duties of the Ding
ley bill, has been raised something
like Sc per thousand?
The Winona correspondent of the
same organ likewise says:
"Winona, Aug. 2o.-One noticeable
| feature Of the lumber trade this year
| is that poorer grades are being sold
more readily. Lumber Is now being
put to use that formerly could hardly
be sold.'
This reminds US that when Chair
man Buck, of the Democratic state
central committee, who, besides being
an urban legal light in the city Of WI
| mona, is also something of an agricul-
turist at the country homestead. went
down town the other day to duplicate