HARDWOOD RECORD 



tors. The old ones, among whom there 

 are a numher of conservati%-e persons who hold 

 on to old methods, prefer the so-called loose 

 reeding. No practical preference can be given to 

 either of the methods, except that when mats 

 are used the reeding can be made more quickly 

 and specially experienced workmen are not 

 needed. The use of reed mats is also increasing, 

 as compared with the use of loose reeds." 



The consul in concluding his description of 

 the mats and their value says that the matter 

 seems well worth careful investigation, and that 

 he stands ready at any time to give any further 

 specific information that may be desired and 

 that is procurable. The question is one that 



mu;t be looked at both from the agricultural or 

 producing standpoint and the commercial stand- 

 point. Parties in the United States interested 

 in the general subject or any of its specific 

 features, or in the importation of the loose 

 reeds, the reed matting or the machines for 

 making the latter, could not do better than enter 

 into correspondence with the concerns whose 

 names, together with illustrations of revetted 

 i-eed and wood lath mats, prices of machinery, 

 etc., are on file in the Bureau of Manufactures. 



Hard Luck. 



W. E. McMillan, president Of the McMillan 

 Lumber Company of Pittsburg, which has re- 



cently gone into the hands of a receiver, still 

 has the Nemesis of hard luck following him. 

 On last Wednesday morning he reached Pitts- 

 burg en route from Baltimore on a Baltimore 

 & Ohio sleeping car, and discovered that dur- 

 ing the night a sneak thief had appropriated 

 every stitch of his clothing and personal be- 

 longings, save a dinky nightshirt which he wore, 

 and a speckled vest ! His loss included $200 in 

 money and S250 in jewelry. 



Mr. McMillan succeeded in borrowing a 

 blanket, and made good his escape from the 

 Pullman to his home in a cab. He is receiving 

 the sincere condolences — not to say chafing — of 

 his friends at Pittsburg. 



Annual Michigan HardWood Manufacturers' Assn. 



'J'he third annual meeting of the ilichigati 

 Hardwood Manufacturers' Association was 

 held in one of the elubrooms of the Hotel 

 Pontchartrain at Detroit on Friday, August 7. 

 There was an unusually large attendance, 

 nearly fifty members being present. 

 President's Address. 



President F. A. Diggins of Cadillac oc- 

 cupied the chair, with Secretary J. C. Knox 

 recording. At the roll call the minutes of 

 the special meeting held at Petoskey May S 

 and the special meeting held at Milwaukee 

 June 12 were read and approved. The presi- 

 dent made a brief address, in which he re- 

 cited that the association has shown a gain 

 of seven members since the last meeting and 

 that it is in good financial condition, having 

 more than $1,100 cash balance on hand. He 

 said it would probably not be necessary to 

 levy any further assessments to carry on the 

 work for the remainder of the year. He 

 congratulated the members and the secretary 

 on the very complete report of stocks on hand 

 and sold by the various members; also called 

 attention to the danger of an advance in 

 freight rates and thought the matter worth 

 the attention of the organization. He thanked 

 the members for their cordial support of him 

 as president and for their cooperation in the 

 work carried on by the secretary. 

 Secretary's Eeport. 



At the beginning of my report I want to 

 thank the members for their cooperation in 

 sending prompt reports to the secretary. You 

 will notice from the present stock report that 

 we have more members reporting than ever be- 

 fore ; in fact, we have a report from every sin- 

 gle member, three of the sixty-seven actual mem- 

 bers reporting no stock. 



I will make no comment on the stock report 

 which is presented to you today, as this will 

 be dissected and given to you fully by the 

 Market Conditions Committee. 



The following list of names in our member- 

 ship have been leiaoved, either from noncooper- 

 ation or being practically out of the business : 



Engadine Lumber Company, Engadine, Mich. 



.Tohnson & Crowl, now Crowl Lumber Com- 

 pany, Harbor Springs, Mich. 



Northern Lumber Company, Birch. 



O. C. Lumber Company, Vulcan, out of hard- 



The three latter have never paid the original 

 membership fee of 510. 



We have added the Stephens Lumber Com- 

 pany, of Detroit. Mich., to our list. 



One of our present members, J. S. Weidman, 

 advises they have cut their last hardwood and 

 are simply cleaning up. 



The secretary asks for your hearty cooperation 

 in adding new members to our list. The pres- 

 ent depressed condition of the lumber market, 

 which, I am happy to say, is much improved of 

 late, has seemed favorable to taking out mem- 

 bership with us. 



If any of the members can aid us by giving 

 information of any of the firms named above, 

 or of any new firms, it will be heartily and 

 thankfully received. I realize that some of the 

 firms in the extreme western end of the upper 

 peninsula may have more of an interest in the 

 Wisconsin association than our own, and that 

 may be their reason for not coming in with 

 us. But there are firms on the Detroit & 

 Michigan. Michigan Central Railroad and other 

 roads and on the lake shore of Huron and 

 perhaps Michigan, that should be in with us. 



At the special meeting ueld at Petoskey, 

 Mich., May 5. a motion was passed that in the 



ii-. A. DIGGINS, CADILLAC. PP.ESIDENT. 



future the secretary only collect and send out 

 reports of stocks to members of this association. 

 In a way this narrows the scope of our asso- 

 ciation reports and of our work. As per result 

 of motion passed at the Saginaw meeting. Feb- 

 ruary 5. the secretary obtained valuable infor- 

 mation as to the amount of stocks of hemlock 

 lumber on hand In Michigan, both among mem- 

 bers and non-members, the result of which was 

 given yon by special report, and on invitation of 

 the Michig.in Hemlock Company, in company 

 with Mr. Odell of Cummer-Diggins Company, 

 met with them at Detroit. March IS. 



Most of you were at the meeting at Milwau- 

 kee, June 11 and 12, of the National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association and took part in the dis- 

 cussion as to grading and inspection rules of 

 hardwood lumber. 



The minutes of the special meeting held in 

 Milwaukee prior to the final important session, 

 where the rules were fixed for the next year, 

 showed that we agreed to stand by the report of 

 the committee as a unit, this being the stand 

 taken by the WLsconsin association. 



We wish to call your attention to the resolu- 

 tion passed at the last annual meeting in regard 

 to employing a secretary with knowledge of 

 traffic matters, and capable of giving informa- 

 tion as to freight rates, claims, etc. 



We have endeavored to get as many of our 

 members to correspond with us as much as pos- 

 sible in this line, and stand ready and anxious 

 to aid them in this line. 



The secretary, on invitation from the Illinois 

 Manufacturers' Association, met with them at 

 Chicago, May 15, where resolutions were passed 

 asking the carriers to submit such advances to 

 the Interstate Commerce Commission before mak- 

 ing rates effective, thus giving the shippers and 

 manufacturers an opportunity to protest if de- 

 sired before the rates become effective. 



The hardwood lumber and flooring manufac- 

 turers of Michigan have a complaint to make to 

 the Interstate Commerce Commission in regard 

 to rate on hardwood lumber and flooring, car- 

 loads, to Pacific coast terminals. 



The rates from Missouri river, Mississippi 

 river, Chicago and common points, Cincinnati, 

 Detroit and common points, Pittsburg and com- 

 mon points and New York and common points 

 were formerly 75 cents per 100 pounds. This 

 rate was advanced from all the groups named 

 above, January 18. 1904, to 85 cents per 100 

 pounds. Some time ago complaint was made by 

 George D. Burgess and other hardwood manufac- 

 turers and shippers that this rate was excessive 

 from Chicago and common points, and the Inter- 

 state Commerce Commission ruled that the rate 

 should be reduced to the former basis. But when 

 the railroad tariffs were received it was discov- 

 ered that the rate had not been reduced from 

 any point east of Chicago, thus giving the Chi- 

 cago. Mississippi river and Missouri river points 

 an advantage of 10 cents per 100 pounds under 

 rate from Michigan points. 



Gentlemen, we as individual members of this 

 association are interested in such irregularities in 

 freight rates as the one referred to. What is 

 your pleasure in regard to it, and do you wish to 

 take action in any way? I can appreciate from 

 a railroad standpoint some of the difficulties the 

 railroads are having, yet such irregularities as 

 the one referred to should not be overlooked by 

 us. It seems to me if a lot of shippers, indi- 

 vidually or collectively, asked the railroads in 

 Michigan to aid them in having the injustice, 

 as in the case referred to, brou.ght to light, 

 that they would take up the subject with the 

 transcontinental roads without our having to 

 make regular complaint to the commission, and 

 we would be gaining time by taking such pro- 

 cedure. 



From our treasurer's report, judging by the 

 ba-Iancc reported on hand August 4, you will 

 see that we can probably go through the year 



