THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



II 



SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING 



NATIONAL HARDWOOD LUMBER ASSOCIATION 



PRESIDENT'S AND SECRETARY'S REPORT— ACTION OF STANDING COM- 

 MITTEES — LEGISLATIVE WORK — ELECTION OF OFFICERS 

 AND DIRECTORS— THE BANQUET— ATTENDANCE 



MORXIXG SESSION, MAY 21. 



The sixth annual meeting of the National 

 Hardwood Lumber Association convened in 

 the auditorium of the Chiypool Hotel, In- 

 dianapolis, on Thursday, May 21, 1903. 



Mayor Bookwalter was introduced and 

 delivered an address of welcome. 



The roll was called, and the president, 

 F. H. Smith, presented his report, as fol- 

 lows : 



PRESIDENT'S REPORT. 



St. Louis, Mo., May 21, 1903. 

 To the Members of tlie National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association in Convention 

 Assembled. 



Gentlemen:— In presenting this, my last 

 annual message as your presiding officer, 

 I wish to briefly mention some of the 

 things that have been accomplished by 

 the association during the past year and 

 to proffer a few suggestions as to matters 

 that should have your attention at this 

 convention. These suggestions or recom- 

 mendations are offered only as such, my 

 term of office expiring before they can 

 be taken up and acted upon, and are made 

 with the sole object of facilitating the 

 work of the next administration. 



In the inspection department a great 

 deal of good has been accomplished; 

 among other thmgs, a national hardwood 

 lumber inspector has been appointed for 

 the city of New York, a market that was 

 antagonistic to us from the start. A 

 change has now taken place and more or 

 less interest in our rules is being mani- 

 fested in that city. We consider this alone 

 an advancement of great value to the trade 

 at hirge. The amount of lumber inspected 

 by the l)ureau of inspection shows a large 

 increase during the past year. There has 

 been an increased demand for certificates 

 of ins|)ecti()n abroad, and the use of our 

 rules by the United States government and 

 by the largest corporations in every sec- 

 tion of the United States and Canada goes 

 to prove the success of this department. 

 The facts and figures will l)e presented to 

 you in form by the chairman of the in- 

 spection bureau committee. Mr. Wall, our 

 first surveyor-general, upon whom the 

 work of systematizing the details of this 

 department devolved, and whose duty it 

 was to inaugurate the work of national 

 inspection in the various trade centers, is 

 deserving of tlie greatest appreciation from 

 this association for the comprelicnsivoness 

 ■with which his work has lieen done. Hav- 

 ing brouglit the department to a high de- 

 gree of efficiency and feeling that he could 

 no longer devote the necessary time to tins 

 work, Mr. Wall asked for relief, and Mr. 

 Stanton of Buffalo was appointed to fill 

 the vacancy. Mr. Stanton has entered 

 actively into the worli and the affairs of 

 the inspection department arc being ably 



administered by him. Mr. Stanton is de- 

 voting his whole time and attention to the 

 work and we may confidently look for a 

 constant development and extension of the 

 business of this department. 



In this connection it occurs to me that 

 the work of this department would be 

 greatly facilitated if the office of surveyor- 

 general were more centrally located, and 

 I would respectfully recommend that the 

 headquarters of tliis department be estab- 

 lished in some central district of the 

 United States. 



Tlie fact that a new set of rules has 

 been promulgated by the Manufacturers" 

 Association deserves the serious considera- 

 tion of our association at this session. 

 Our own set of rules was the outgrowth 

 of a long-felt necessity for a definite sys- 

 tem of inspection and measurement to ap- 

 ply alike to all branches of the trade in 

 every section of the country and to relieve 

 the hardwood dealers of the necessity of 

 buying lumber under various systems of 

 inspection and selling under various oth- 

 ers. To this end it has been our purpose 

 throughout to establish a set of rules that 

 would be fair and equitable to every in- 

 terest, and whenever any considerable in- 

 terest evinced dissatisfaction it has been 

 our desire to give careful consideration 'to 

 their claims and to adjust the differences 

 whenever possible in justice to all the in- 

 terests involved. The fact that many of 

 our members are also members of the 

 Manufacturers' association should make it 

 possible, not to unite the two associations, 

 but to at least agree upon a set of rules 

 that will be acceptable alike to the dealers 

 and the manufacturers, so that for all 

 time disputes can be settled without argu- 

 ing the question as to which would be 

 the most advantageous to the manufac 

 turers or which most advantageous to the 

 dealers. I think it will be aecejited by 

 everyone that the two sets of rules should 

 l)e alike in every respect. The dealer is 

 entitled to a set of rules under which he 

 call assort and pile his lumber In his 

 warehouse with a feeling of security, and 

 at the same time the manufacturer is en- 

 titled to rules that will insure economy 

 and profit in the manufacture of his lum- 

 ber. 



At our last annual meeting a new de- 

 jiartment was brought into existence, the 

 freight traffic department. Great injus- 

 tice was being done the hardwood trade 

 liy the railroads in the matter of traffics 

 and classification. Tariffs and classifica- 

 tions were too high, as compared with 

 other commodities. It has been the object 

 of this department to rectify these matters 

 and during the past year a great work 

 has been done along this line. Revisions 

 of rates have been secured and the adjust- 

 ment of claims has been greatly facilitated 

 and our members have been enabled to get 

 back money paid the railroads on wrong 



rates of freight, etc. The chairman of 

 this committee will give you a detailed 

 report of the work accomplished during the 

 past year, and you will also be addressed 

 by the traffic manager, Mr. Hurlbut, upon 

 matters pertaining to his office. From 

 these reports you will be enabled to form 

 an idea of the importance of this depart- 

 ment and to act intelligently on matters 

 that will come before the convention. 



Personally I am very much in favor of 

 this department, knowing by actual ex- 

 perience that it will save a great deal of 

 money and time, and place all railroad 

 questions on a better and safer basis for 

 the members, not only of the traJBc bu- 

 reau, but of the association at large, I 

 think it is not fair that a few members 

 should bear an the expense of this work. 

 As I pointed out in my semi-annual re- 

 port, the work of this department is gen- 

 eral in its character and must of neces- 

 sity reflect its benefits upon all alike, and 

 it is only fair and just that each and 

 every one should contribute to its support 

 in some measure proportionate to the bene- 

 fits derived. 



The plan of the traffic bureati, of course, 

 is based upon membership to that bureau 

 per se, and I think that the bureau having 

 become so important to the members at 

 large, the chairman of that committee 

 should have no difficulty in securing sig- 

 natures of members who will join this bu- 

 reau as a separate body from the main 

 organization. I would suggest that the 

 chairman call on all members present to- 

 day with a subscription list and see how 

 many he can get together so as to insure 

 the success of this bureau for the next 

 year. 



In passing from this subject I wish to 

 say that much of the credit for the suc- 

 cess thus far attained by the traffic bu- 

 reau must be given to Mr. Bennett of Cin- 

 cinnati, who kindly volunteered to take 

 Mr. Russe's place when the latter went 

 abroad. 



One of the chief difficulties in the way 

 of the successful prosecution of the work 

 of this association has been that of finance. 

 Nearl.v every other association of this char- 

 acter has had ample funds with which to 

 develop itself and us plans, but this one 

 has not. The dues of •>iO per year do 

 not yield a sufficiently large income, and 

 I would recommend that they be increased 

 to .$2.'3 a year. This, 1 think, will give us 

 money enough to have the plans of the 

 association properly taken care of outside 

 of the assessment on the members of the 

 traffic bureau. 



The matter of the association making a. 

 display or exhibit at the World's Fair to 

 be held in St. Louis In 1904 is also a very 

 important item for discussion and action 

 at this meeting. We have with us a rep- 

 resentative from the Forestry Department, 

 who will address us on this subject. 1 



