44 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



June 23. 1919 



II. lilSSK, Mi:.\irlIlS, TIONX 

 DIKHLTOK 



KDWAltl) lUCKLEY, MANISTEE, MICH. 

 DIKECTOIt 



A. E. CLARK. TORONTO, ONT., DIRECTOR 



iConlhtttt'il fiain innir 30) 



Ex-Prcsid'.'iit Taft wus on the program for an address at the 

 morning session, but liis train was late in arriving in Chicago, 

 and the hour for liis address was changed to 2 o'clock. 



John W. McClure called the attention of the association to the 

 grading rules and the manner in which they might be applied, 

 as follows: 



In lluf with the work of the inspection department I wbuld lilie to say 

 a few words that will be lielpful at this time. It is alwa.vs a good thing 

 to renicniliiT tliat when prices are going up there is a tendcnc.v to get 

 careless In the making of grades. For the good of the association I 

 think that now is the time to call the attention of the members to the 

 necessity of trying In every possible way to avoid that. If there ever 

 was a time in the Idstory of the lumber industry when we should give 

 fair and square grades according to the rules now is the time we can 

 afford to do so, I do not mi'an to say any member of this association 

 Is or has been guilty of any such thing as that, but it is a natural 

 tendency, when liunber Is scarce, to let the grades drop. It would be a 

 gooil thing for this association as a whole for every memlier of this 

 organization to use all piL^siblc cari' in trying to licep thi' inspectors up 

 to the line. We should remember that when conditions in the trade 

 change, these rules are not ciianged, and when you have a complaint 

 that your customer thinks these rules are not properly applied, remember 

 that they are applied offldally Just exactly as they are written. If they 

 do not bear out your own inspector's report, then you may feel aggrieved 

 against thi' association when the association is not at fault and the rules 

 are not at fault. One thing I would like to suggest to you in connection 

 with the reiKjrt I imide. is that no action was taken as to when those 

 proposed changes sliiudd take effect. If it meets with the approval of 

 this body I would like to move that the proposed changes be made 

 effective inimiiliati'ly. or as soon as the new books can be printed. 



The decision was reached that the changes would go into effect 

 July 1, and that the now edition of the book of rules would b? 

 ready for distribution at that time. 



F. E. Stonebreaker offered a suggestion to tlie association 

 regarding transportation matters, as follows: 



The rccommeniiatlons in reference to the transportation department 

 bring to my mind a matter that probably many of our members are very 

 much lntercste<l In. I ilo not know that the matter that I have in minil 

 will be handled by the Transportation Department, but in putting in 

 side tracks for the various uses iii connection with sawmill operations, 

 the regulations that nuist be signed for the railroad companies are the 

 worst I have ever known. I think many of you have run up against that 

 proposition. If a transportation di'partment is created in this as.so- 

 clatlon I shall hope that they will endeavor to get a modllication of the 

 most severe terms that are embodied in the contract with the railroads 

 »t present f»)r putting in side tracks. Liability of evcrv kind is thrown 

 upon those who want side tracks put in, and it does not seem to me to 

 lie a fair proposition. I hope, if a transportation department is created, 

 that it will take up this matter and assist in trying to m.idifv the present 

 regulations. 



AFTERNOON SESSION 



The meeting convened at two o'clock and every chair was filled 

 by those anxious to hear the scheduled address on labor and 

 capital by ex-President Taft, who was introduced by Chairman 

 Goodman. Mr. Taft began with the statement that he was once 

 in the hardwood business himself in the Philippines, where the 

 white ants are so numerous and hungry that they devour all wood 

 that is not hard. Some of the Philippine woods, he said, were 

 so hard that even an insect that could gnaw a file could make no 

 impression on them. 



However, the speaker's theme was not wood but labor, and 

 after a few ijreliminary remarks he took up the subject by 

 describing somewhat in detail his connection with the labor com- 

 mission, appointed early in the war, to see whether there could 

 not be found some common basis upon which labor disputes could 

 be settled during the war. The meetings and workings of that 

 commission were described, and the weeks and months of work 

 put in by representatives of employes and of employers in thrash- 

 ing out their differences and formulating rules, principles and 

 methods of procedure that should be resorted to in settling diffi- 

 culties. 



After thus reciting his experience on the commission, Mr. Taft 

 proceeded to speak on labor unions and the labor question gener- 

 ally. What he said was evidently a summary of his own conclu- 

 sions, and follows in somewhat abridged form: 



Now, I don't ofTor what I am going to talk to you about as a panacea. 

 I don't think there is any panacea for ttie controversy between labor and 

 capital. I think, in the nature of things, it has always got to be. The 

 question i.s. how we shall minimize its dangerous and obstructive and 

 wasteful results. You can't have the Joint product of a business to be 

 divided between two people or two classes of people and have them agree 

 as to what that ilivision ought to be. It is not in human nature. The 

 interest of one will be to have his opportunity greater than the other. 

 You can't help that, but you can minimize the extremes to which men 

 will go in claiming what is due tu tlu-m and in fighting for what is due to 

 them by a full and complete understanding between the two parties. If 

 they stand away from each other, then there will certainly be misunder- 

 standings and the principle of collective bargaining is one of the things, 

 and perhaps the chief thing, that will reduce to a minimum the extreme 

 trouble in the settlement of the issue as to how that Joint product Is 

 to be divided between labor and capital. 



In the first place we have got to recognize today that laboring men 

 must orgauizi' in trades unions. 'We must recognize that the world has 

 g<ine on to the group system in social nmtters, in economic matters. 

 Von can argue against it, but it is here and you can't abolish it by wish- 

 ing it to be abolished. You certainly can't abolish it by law, and you 

 must recognize that labor unions are the only means by which men can 

 deal on an equality and on a level with employers. A single laboring 

 man would have no chance at all, because he is dependent on his dally 



