HARDWOOD RECORD 



QUin' and found the facts of the case to he 

 slightly different than had been represented 

 to me I found who was selling them then 

 low grade stock and also that they were pay- 

 ng $5 per M. for it, f. o. b. shipping pomt but 

 thi facts of the case were they had bought a 

 job lot of low grade stock that was imperfect 

 n manufacture, as well as small flsured being 

 the first that was manufactured by this com- 

 pany while they were experimentmg.and get- 

 ting acquainted with their new machine. 



Now the two cases mentioned should in- 

 dicate ' to us that It is always better to in- 

 vestigate these rumors than 'o^'^ke it for 

 granted that they are true when we hear 

 them, and our being banded together in this 

 club should make us feel free at all times to 

 ask questions from the afHliated members 



I do not think that any manufacturer ot 

 veneer wishes to sell his product at cost or 

 less but the manufacturer who is not affiliated 

 with some club is at the mercy of the buyer, 

 and when he hears these rumors he has no 

 way of verifying them, consequently when 

 Jones hears that Brown is s?ll;??nfi°i? rents 

 is actually worth 2 cents per foot tor 1% cents 

 per foot, the first thought that enters his mmd 

 iV that Brown is a fool, and the second 

 ihought that strikes him is that he has to 

 meet the price that Brown has made on his 

 goods, while if he was a member ot the club 

 LVo^r^'t^rffruTS^no^'^HXyw'efe'^r'-ue'lil 



re°e"'^r^r'af.d"fiTI'ou^t'=Xrh"wa1;s^flin*l 

 2-cent veneer for IVz cents; but not being a 

 member of a club, he has no such facilities tor 

 getting the information the club has, conse- 

 nuentlv he is at a disadvantage. 

 ^ I wish also to call your attention to the 

 value of the statistical reports. Some of the 

 members furnish these with great regularity 

 and nromptness to the secretary; others fur- 

 nish them spasmodically, while some pay no 

 attention at all to his requests. By keeping 

 UP this statistical reporting system we are 

 kept informed at all times as to the amount 

 of veneer on hand, the amount produced each 

 month, the amount shipped each month and 

 orders booked each month. I would go a httle 

 further than the present system in the way 

 of reporting the stocks on hands I would 

 have each member report the nuniber of feet 

 of veneer of each width and of the different 

 thicknesses he has so that the secretary could 

 in sending his reports to members send the 

 exact number of feet of each width of veneer 

 that is in stock. For instance, our company 

 would have an inquiry for 15-inch veneer. The 

 parties making the inquiry we know to have 

 a good rating, being good pay, and buying 

 from first one and then another. I would turn 

 to the stock list and might find that our com- 

 pany had probably all ot this width that was 

 inquired for. I would not be afraid of com- 

 petition in this case, and could stand pat when 

 1 made the quotation. 



We have recently inaugurated 

 Bureau, conducted through the ! 

 office This I deem of the gi-eatest importance 

 and one of the best features of our club, and 

 if the members will fill out promptly and re- 

 turn to the secretary tlie names of their cus- 

 tomers with their rating according to the key 

 furnished by the secretary and then will reply 

 promptly to his requests for rating, we will 

 have the best reporting credit system in exist- 

 ence, and one that is always up-to-date. I 

 have talked to several members in regard to 

 this Credit Information Bureau, and some of 

 them do not seem to take it seriously and pay 

 but very little attention to the requests of 

 the secretary, but we will keep hammering 

 away at them until they finally all fall in line. 

 When we compare the actions of the rail- 

 road companies of this country with the 

 actions of the manufacturers of veneer, the 

 contrast is certainly great. While I will admit 

 that neither the railroad nor ourselves have as 

 yet been able to adapt themselves to the new 

 conditions, the veneer manufacturers have 

 been trving to push their stuff, and if they 

 could not get the price they would in a great 

 many instances accept the price of the buyer. 

 The railroad companies have not only stood 

 pat, but are trying by every means in their 

 power to increase not only their tonnage but 

 the rate of freight— trying to increase the 

 rate of freight to offset the loss of tonnage 

 caused by the present financial depression. 



The Lake Shore railroad has even gone so 

 far as to couple on 125 locomotives in one 

 continuous string and have the same photo- 

 graphed. This photograph they will use as an 

 argument as to why they should increase their 

 freight rate, saying that the total value ot 

 locomotives shown in this photograph standing 

 idle represent $1,000,000 of their capital stock, 

 and citing the fact that before the present 

 financial depression they were in use. 



I have yet to hear of a veneer manufacturer 

 having a photograph made ot his i.il- 

 mills, while if thev had all the idle machinery 

 in a row and photographed they would proba- 

 bly not make a mile and a quarter in length 

 nor represent a capital of a million dollars, 

 but in proportion to the amount ot money in- 



Credit 



vested in the two respective industries we 

 could show a greater proportion of "ile ma- 

 rhinerv and men whom we have been com- 

 peired to throw out of employment than the 



''"whtlt I deplore the facts, yet it is, neverthe- 

 less, the case that veneers are being sold for 

 aS-eat deal less than their real value No one 

 could ever make me believe that cutting 

 prices would create a demand for a com- 

 modity, and my experience is that, while we 

 have not sold 40 per cent of the amount of 

 veneer that we should have sold within the 

 nast few months, at the same time we have 

 iotten the recommended prices or more for all 

 ?he quartered-oak veneer that we have sold 

 Another thing that is to be deplored is the 

 fact that the periodicals that are supposed to 

 be run in the interest of our business are 

 each month telling us about the improvement 

 in business, while as a matter ot fact it is our 

 experience that business is not as good at this 

 time as it was sLxty or ninety, days ago. and 

 our only hope for the maintaining of even the 

 low prices that veneers are selling for is to 

 curtail the production. The veneer manufac- 

 turer who each month reads in his trade pe- 

 riodicals that business is improving figures it 

 is much better for him to continue the opera- 

 tion of his plant and keep his men together 

 than to shut down entirely. . This is resulting 

 in the present overproduction that our 



show. and. as fur 

 pense, ' " ' ^"^ 



""oiir country is rich and is certainly in a 

 prosperous condition, yet business from our 

 standpoint is practically paralyzed and it is 

 going to take time to recover confidence, and 

 until confidence has been restored our veneers 

 will sell at about cost of production, and after 

 we have sold our present supplies and we go 

 to the log jobber for logs we will find we have 

 not received enough money for the veneer we 

 have sold to replace the logs out of which the 

 same was manufactured. 



Now, gentlemen, if there are any present 

 who are not members of some one of the asso- 

 ciated clubs you had better join. We are al- 

 readv too strong to be whipped, and you had 

 betteV follow the old maxim. "If you can't 

 whip 'em, join 'em." 



President Anderson deprecated the fact that 

 his address had been ordered printed in separate 

 form and a number of copies distributed to mem- 

 beis. He paid a flattering tribute to the in- 

 terest which the Hardwood Record has always 

 taken in veneer matters, and suggested that the 

 secretary be instructed to secure copies of the 

 next issue of that paper and send to every mem- 

 ber, as giving the official proceedings of the 

 convention. 



A motion to that effect wns made and carried 



and it was also ordered that members be sup- 

 plied with several other papers which would 

 publish the report of the proceedings. 

 Next Meeting. 



It was decided that the selection of a meeting 

 place for the regular meeting in December should 

 be left in the hands of the Executive Committee. 



Adjournment was then taken. 



Attendance. 



The following were in attendance at the ses- 



Burdis Anderson, Great Lakes Veneer Com- 

 pany, Munising. Mich. . 



S! G. BoTd, C. C. Boyd & Co.. Cincinnati. 



E W. Benjamin, Cadillac Veneer Company. 

 Cadillac, Mich. 



E. H. Defebaugh, Barrel and Box. Chicago. 



M. D. Elledge. Talge Mahogany Company, 

 Indianapolis, Ind. 



Mr. 



gbek, Sanders & Egbert Company, Go- 



George R.°Ford, Packages, Milwaukee. Wis. 

 Charles E. Gorham, Goshen Ve 

 Goshen, Ind. 



Company, 



ports show. and. as further curtailing the ex- 

 pense, I would advise calling in all traveling 



A. E. Gordon. Hardwood Record, Chicago. 



A. E. Gorham, Gorham Bros. Co., Mt Pleasant. 



L. P. Groffman. St. Louis Basket & Box Com- 

 J." C. Hill, Hill Veneer Company, High Point, 

 F.E. Hoffman, Hoffman Brothers' Company. 

 Fort Wa.voe. Ind. 



H. C. Hossafous. Dayton, Ohio. 



D. E. Kline, Louisville Veneer Mills, Louis- 



^ ' B.' W. ' Lord, Chicago Veneer Company, Burn- 

 li'. M. McCracken, Kentucky Veneer Works, 

 Louisville, Ky. 



J. D. Maris. Indianapolis Sawed Veneer Com- 

 pany, Indianapolis, Ind. , , j- 

 P. B. Raymond, Adams & Raymond. Indian- 



B. F. Swain. National Veneer & Lumber Com- 

 panv. Indianapolis. Ind. „ , ,. 



I' s stockwell. ,Tr.. Hanson-Ward Veneer 



(■,„,',i,,n\ \:.,s . itv, Mich. 



\t ^,11 . .litrai City Veneer Company. 



1 > Cadillac Veneer Company, Cad- 

 Mr Thompson. Cadillac Veneer Company, Cad- 



m' M. Wall. Empire Panel & Veneer Com- 

 pany. BnfTalo. N. Y. , ^ 

 r \v i:,,ii.h. National A'eneer & Panel Co.. 



1 ling. Assistant Secretary Asso- 

 ..lis, Ind. 

 t. Philadelphia Textile Machin- 



, : ., , ::iiladelphla. 



News Miscellany. 



Annual of National Lumber Manufactur- 

 ers' Association. 



The annual meeting of the most important 

 aq^ 'S3}B}S P8JIU.1 3^4 JO ooijbioossb .loqmni 

 National Lumber Manufacturers' Association, 

 will be held at Minneapolis on June 16, 17 

 and 18. 



The Hardwood Manufacturers' Association 

 of the United States will be -represented at this 

 meeting as follows ; 



By R. H. Vansant of Ashland, Ky., formerly 

 president of the Hardwood Manufacturers' Asso- 

 ciation for two years. He will represent the 

 poplar industry and other woods growing In the 

 region of which Ashland is the center. 



By W. A. Gilchrist of Memphis of the Three 

 States Lumber Company, who will represent 

 the Arkansas and Tennessee territory, covering 

 Cottonwood and gum. 



By R. M. Carrier of Sardis, Miss., president 

 ot the Carrier Lumber & Manufacturing Com- 

 pany, representing the Mississippi district, and 

 especially white oak, gum and hickory. 



By Wm. Wilms of Chicago, vice-president of 

 the Paepcke-Leicht Lumber Company and allied 

 w'th the Chicago Mill & Lumber Company and 

 tba Marked Tree Lumber Company, whose com- 

 biaed Interests cover territory extending from 

 southeast Missouri to the Texas border and 

 cover all kinds of hardwoods growing In that 

 section. Mr. Wilms Is an ex-president ot the 

 Hardwood Manufacturers' Association. 



By Lewis Dostcr of Nashville, secretary ot the 



Hardwood Manufacturers' Association, who will 

 attend the convention as an alternate In charge 

 of the details of the various subjects that will 

 be brought up before the convention. 



It is fortunate that the important legisla- 

 tion likely to be enacted by the National Lum- 

 ber Manufacturers' Association will have the 

 co-operation and advice of such an eminent dele- 

 gation of hardwood lumbermen. It Is especially 

 to be noted that the southern hardwood section 

 of the country will be properly taken care of. ' 



Incidentally R. H. Vansant is being popu- 

 larly endorsed not only by the trade with which 

 he Is allied, but also strongly among the yellow 

 pine Interests as president ot the National Lum- 

 ber Manufacturers' Association. The organiza- 

 tion could not make a choice ot a better and 

 more able man for the place. 



The hardwood delegation will leave Chicago 

 for Minneapolis on the 6 ;30 p. m. train, June 

 15, by the Chicago and North-Wcstern, and Its 

 hcndiiuarters will be at the Hotel Plaza. 



Permanent Secretary for Hickory Asso- 

 ciation. 



The affairs of the National Hickory Associa- 

 tion have increased in importance and lati- 

 tude to a considerable extent, and the necessity 

 for the furtherance ot this organization in con- 

 nection with the supply and demand ot hickory 

 has become evident to all who have given the 

 question any study ot late, and it has now be- 



