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THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



\\;is any t-cnitivsl lictwccii llu- iimmifiic- 

 1iin>r» Hiul iIciiUts ovor tho olivtloii. Tin- 

 n-siilt. lis NtiitiMl nlxivo, was purely nocl- 

 il.iitiil 1111(1 liuUlontiil. In the sclpctlon of 

 <illli-frs no oni' piiUl any atli-ntion to 

 «hi>tlior n cnniiUlittc was a nianiifarliiror 

 or a clcaliT. It liapponc*!, Iiowcvit, tliat 

 four out of tlio t\vo oH\ivrs cliM-lcd arc 

 iiianiifactur<>rs ami will ci-rtalnly roinovi' 

 fi'oni tli(> niiiul of tlio most narrow and 

 most pr<>jmllc«^l opponent of the nssoclu- 

 tion tho last vestlK"' of a fouiiilaflon upon 

 which to base a I'laiui that the Naliimal 

 llanlwiMxl l,uiiil>er Association is a dealers' 

 assoi'lation. 



We consider the action taken reeardliiK 

 the appointment of an executive comiiiille<> 

 of five to have charge of affairs of the 

 association as a very Important move and 

 in the rlpht direction. 



The raising of the dues to ?2o a year 

 was also, in our opinion, a good move. No 

 association has ever done so much for the 

 lumlier trade for so triliiniLr a cost. Tlie 

 association has always been cramped for 

 funds and has only succeeded as it has 

 through the personal sacrifice of its leading 

 members. 



Taken all in all. we consider that the 

 Indianapolis meeting. l)y the wisdom and 

 jiioderation of its procee<lings, put the cap 

 sheaf uiion the success of the National 

 Il:irdwno<l Lumber Association. By its 

 broad, liberal policy it has remove*! the 

 last vestige of ground upon which any rea- 

 sonable man can base opposition; and those 

 who persist in their opposition in an unrea- 

 sonable manner will meet with no sym- 

 pathy and have little following. 



WHO IS A MIDBLEMAN P 



-V petition is being i)resented to Attorney- 

 General Kno.v by a certain class of middle- 

 men setting forth that the petitioners are 

 being crushed by the trusts and asking 

 that tho legality of the trusts and their 

 right to so control the raw material of the 

 country as to crush the "middleman" at 

 will be Investigated. 



.\nd the petitioners are of a class which 

 the country does not usually have in mind 

 when •■middlemen" are mentioned, they be- 

 jii^r manufacturers of various things, chiefly 

 agricultural implements. That naturally 

 le::ds one to ask "what is a middleman?" 

 and the natural reply seems to be: "Any- 

 one who docs business between the owner 

 of the raw material and the ultimate con- 

 sumers of the finished product." 



When "middleman" is spoken of one is 

 apt to think of the commission man. tlie 

 retailer or the wholesaler, but the name 

 lias also come to mean the manufacturer. 



The trusts, of which the petitioners com- 

 plain, are the Sandard Oil Company, the 

 steel trust, the coal trust and others who 

 absolutely own and control the raw ma- 

 terials. These trusts have advanced the 

 price of raw material to a point which, 

 taken in connection with the unusual de- 

 mands of the labor union, spells ruin for 



the iiiannliiclurerN. At least wi llie iiiatiil- 

 facluiiTS stale. 



We have no particular iiilcrest in the 

 matter, Iiowever, only as It lllustrati'w the 

 growing Mieanlug of the woni "nilddle- 

 iiian." 



.M llrst the middleman only meant the 

 retailer. The wholesaler ciilliil the re- 

 taller a middleman ami bcuiiii reaching 

 past him to the consumer. Then the 

 manufacturer began reaching past both the 

 wholi'saler and retailer, calling them both 

 iiiiddlemeii. .\iid now the owner of llic 

 raw material calls all these middlciiicn and 

 is establishing factories and foundries to 

 go past all of them. 



Su<'h is the organi/.alioii of llic sled 

 trust. It owns the ore fields, the ore carry- 

 ing vessels, the converting plants, and con- 

 trols the railroads and ocean wceamship 

 trust. And of the threo classes of middle- 

 men, it has least use for the manufacturer. 



In fact, he who owns the raw material 

 commands the situation and anyone be- 

 tween, be he manufacturer, wholesaler or 

 retailer, exists largely on sufferance, pro- 

 vided the owner of the raw material has 

 the capital and ability to liaiidic the entire 

 line. 



The wholesaler may do without the re- 

 ti'iler and the manufacturer may do with- 

 out the wholesaler, but all three are 

 eijually dependent on the owner of the raw 

 material, and that owner, if represented 

 by a large and wealthy trust, is dependent 

 on none of them. Such an owner may find 

 it prolitable to use either the manufacturer, 

 wholesaler or retailer or all three of them, 

 and in their relative value the retailer will 

 in-obably come first, the wholesaler second 

 and the manufacturer last and least. 



STRIKE IN CHICAGO YARDS. 

 The strike epidemic has entered the 

 lumber ranks. Two weeks ago the tally- 

 men took 1 rench leave of their jobs and 

 left the yards in bad shape lor the time 

 being. Two or three of tlie hardwood 

 yards, it is said, have signed the advanced 

 wage schedule, rather, we think, under a 

 misapprehension as to the character of the 

 situation. From other sources it is 

 learned that these employes are returning 

 to work on the old schedule, but tho matter 

 is by no means settled. The tallymen's 

 union was formed some time last year, 

 and, according to our information, a year 

 contract was made in .Tanuary on a basis 

 of 22 cents an hour for ten hours a day. 

 The demands are now 30 cents an hour, 

 ■which, considering all the circumstances, 

 is hardly fair on the part of the union. 



We are in receipt of advice from the of- 

 fice of Churchill & Sim, lumber merchants, 

 London, that Mr. R. J. Kidman, connected 

 with their American department, will have 

 arrived in New York on the 10th inst. and 

 will during the time at his disposal visit 

 the principal American markets. 



THE LABOR TROUBLES. 



We have never known ho many illfferent 

 slrikes going forwanl at the Hanie time. 



A lumbernnin who does buslnesH In n 

 Kiiiall way In Chicago, going out Into the 

 country, buying a few cars ami bringing 

 tliem III and selling Ibeiii. and then going 

 buck for more, had llic following experi- 

 ence: 



He came Into Chicago from the South, 

 after an absence of several weeks, and 

 found a car of his lumber on the sidetrack. 

 The lumber was already sold, ho he got 

 some tennis and loiidi-d it. When the 

 teamsters attempt<><l to deliver It the cus- 

 tomer refusal to take it in. ;ill his tally men 

 iM'ing on a strike. 



The lumberman hadn't known about the 

 strike situation, but be made arrangements 

 over the telephone for storing the lumber. 

 Then he concluded, as he couldn't deliver 

 any lumber, to go back to the country to 

 finish some work he h;nl there. 



He accordingly unpackini his valise of Its 

 soiled shirts and collars and took them to 

 a laundry to have them laundered, so he 

 might have some clean linen for the trip. 



He found all the laundries dosed on ac- 

 count of the strike among the laundry em- 

 Iiloyes. and was obliged to take bis un- 

 washed linen back to his boarding house. 



Somewhat bewildered he boanle<l a car 

 and rode downtown. He jumped off at 

 one of Kohlsaat's restaurants, where he 

 u.sually lunched, and found it closed be- 

 cause of the waiters' strike. Then he went 

 into tlie Lumber E.xchange to learn what 

 the situation really was. 



That isn't at all a fancy sketch. There 

 are at present twenty-five or thirty strikes 

 going on in Chicago all at one and the 

 same time, and there seems a perfect epi- 

 demic of strikes extending throughout the 

 entire country. 



It is difflcult to determine what the cause 

 of this condition is. Speaker Reed said 

 once tliat the craze for free silver was a 

 diseasf^ — a fever in the people's blood 

 which would need to run its course. There 

 are those who believe the present epidemic 

 of strikes is something of a disease. There 

 is certainly much contagion in successful 

 example; and when the emplo.ves in one 

 line see the employes in another line, not 

 only going on strike but getting concessions 

 which add to their wages or shorten their 

 hours, another strike is apt to follow. 



There is, however, in our opinion. l»ut 

 one cause for the present labor situation, 

 and it is a very simple one — the unusual 

 demand for labor caused by our abnormal 

 prosperity. 



With almost every line of business in 

 the cities short-handed, and with the farm- 

 ers actually begging for help, almost with 

 tears, it is small wonder that the working 

 people are exacting and capricious. 



Let a little spell of business depression 

 come, as it probably will come in presi- 

 dential year, and the labor situation will 

 come back to normal again. 



