HARDWOOD RECORD 



25 



as our eyes were opened to the increased value 

 and growmg scarcity of timber, by the gang 

 and modern cut band mil! witli steam feed, steam 

 niL'srcr. etc.. so that in many nf tniv larger plants 

 a quarler of a million feet is the daily outpnt. 



From small beginning we are now going by 

 leaps and bounds. Like a mighty army, the 

 woodman's axe in our forests is as the sound 

 of musketry and the falling of the giant uak 

 as the roar of cannon, and at the present pace, 

 like Alexander the Great, we will soon be look- 

 ing for more worlds to comiuer, or be uut of a 

 job. 



l*'rom a onee infant industry so great has been 

 our progress that by the census of 1900 we 

 are now' third in point of invested capital, the 

 figures being .<94G.OUO.00U ; iron and steel are 

 first and textiles second. Who doubts that in 

 the six years since, this has increased to one and 

 a quarter billion, for the assumption is justi- 

 lu'd by the commercial reports, ivom which I 

 notice' that building operations reached the one 

 billion mark during 1905 and that a like sum 

 was expended for railroad equipment and im- 

 pnivement. If 1 am safe in assuming that one- 

 half in Loth of these lines was expended for 

 Uiniber. to which add that which was consumed 

 in manufactured products, we have figures be- 

 yond our ken in mensuration. So. then, if cot- 

 ton or iron be king, lumber is surely a prince 

 in the royal family. 



This brings me. gentlemen, to what I know 

 you are most interested in^ — to my subject 

 proper, the progress of our association work. 

 As I am a new member and have no data of past 

 history at hand I must confine mj^elf to our 

 current doings and my own experience, except 

 a few points given me by our friend Mr. Lieber- 

 nian — a patriarch in the business (not. how- 

 ever, in years) —to whom this subject might bet- 

 ter havebeen assigned than to myself. Looking 

 back upon the past — and but a few years back — 

 what we have accomplished is simply amazing. 

 It is astonishing that a business of such magni- 

 tude grew and prospered under such chaos and 

 irregularity as prevailed in the lumber business. 

 particularly amongst the sawmills, until recent- 

 Iv changed by effective organization work. No 

 two sections of the country had the same rules 

 of inspection. Chicago had its rules and if yon 

 sold there you must sell by them. The north 

 middle market likewise had its rules, so had 

 Xew York. Boston. Philadelphia, Paltimore, and 

 so on. and in each market you had to abide 

 by them. You were made to do so. The different 

 markets had formed clubs and associations long 

 before ourselves and dictated to us not only the 

 rules but prices. Indeed to have mastered the^e 

 varied and multiplied rules would have required 

 the study of a good primary education by even 

 the- briglitest school boy. 



Then there was neither unanimity of purpose 

 nor concert of action among the mills. A 

 selfish feeling seemed to pervade and when a 

 man obtained good prices and a big order it was 

 breathed only behind closed doors for fear his 

 neighl)or competitors might hear of it and under- 

 mine him. I In this I speak from experience, for 

 no one ever tried harder than I in the vain at- 

 tempt to find out the prices obtained by others.) 

 -Vud so unstable were prices that it" kept the 

 luiyer busy half his time looking for bargains, 

 and fair prices were obtained only at the end 

 of a long and arduous search. In fact, this 



and only association of manufacturers of hard- 

 wood lumber that I have any knowledge of until 

 (uu- present organization was established. I refer 

 to the I'oplar Manufacturers' Association of 

 about the year lS9li. This, however, was short- 

 lived, owing to the inability of the larger mills 

 to interest the then numerous country mills, 

 and so the associaIi<ui soon disbanded. Finally, 

 four years ago. the manufacturers seeing the 

 rapid disap])earance of hardwood timber and 

 fully realizing that the ruling prices then were 

 not commensurate with the growing scarcity 

 and increasing cost of timber, met together to 

 see what could be done to take advantage of 

 the situation, resulting in the formation of the 

 present Hardwood .Alanufacturers' Association, 

 the purposes of which in addition thereto being 

 to bring about closer cooperation and inter- 

 change of views, to regulate and unify the rule^ 

 of insiiection and generally to promote, the mu- 

 tual interest of all. 



1 have spoken. Mr. President, of the astound- 

 ing growth and immensity of the lumber busi- 

 ness in general, but if this has been great, 

 greater still has been our progress in association 

 work and resultant benefits. Most important of 

 these perhaps is the establishment, after much 

 persistence and insistence, of a system of uniform 

 rules of inspection throughout the entire hard 

 wood trade. From my own experience I knew that 

 in 1900 if I but mentioned Manufacturers" rules 

 to the buyer I would be given a frozen look in 

 refusal. But at the inception of my present firm, 

 the Williams-Haas Lumber Company, in May. 

 1904. we planted our feet squarely upon these 

 rules and never in a single instance have we 

 deviated from them in quotations or sales. It 

 is true we wer*' ;ii (ir^r •^nuiih.Mi. in some in- 



we adhere to them and practice and insist on 

 reiuspection the sooner they will become familiar 

 to all and the occasions for reinspection gradu- 

 ally diminish. 



And further, as a result of our organization 



HEXUY 



1 •! MirUCIl. INI). 



was his only object in visiting the mills then, 

 i. e., to bunt bargains. 



The wiser ones seeing this helter-skelter condi- 

 tion of the business projected.' after consid- 

 erable eft'ort succeeded in organizing the first 



GEO. F. UIKL. MKMFHIS. TFNX 



stances pompously, but our best trade now is 

 largely with those same boastful fellows. When 

 inquiries came boldly rubber stamped on the 

 face — "'we buy only according to National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association rules of iusi)ection" — 

 they were in many cases returned with a like 

 rubber stamp impression just below "We sell 

 only by Hardwood Manufacturers" Association 

 rules of inspection," and likewise those same 

 fellows are now omitting the said rubber stamp 

 and becoming customers. Not only have we uni- 

 formity of inspection rules, but instead of the 

 former usual grades of firsts and seconds, com- 

 mon and culls, our association has been instru- 

 mental in establishing other grades for which 

 there is a specific trade, we having now under 

 poplar some twelve dift'erent grades, and .under 

 oak and other hardwoods seven, thus giving to 

 The manufacturer the full benefit of the product 

 of the log and the consumer that which is best 

 suited to his specific requirements. 



Likewise our bureau of inspection is proving 

 very valuable, especially in its system of re- 

 inspection, preventing disputes in many cases. 

 But when palpable differences actually occur the 

 breach is promptly closed by an official rein- 

 spection of the shipment, generally with good 

 feeling and satisfaction to both sides, the event 

 soon forgotten and dealings continuing unin- 

 terruptedly. It settles things. It is a real 

 remedy for a once serious impediment to the 

 smooth progress of our business, a real court of 

 arbitration to enable us to dismiss from our 

 minds the "kicks" once so annoying by simply 

 sending notice to our customers of a call for 

 an official reinspection and then pigeonholing the 

 matter as but a trifiing interruption on a busy 

 day. Not the least of the benefits from tliis re- 

 inspection is that of the gradual education of 

 the consuming, trade in our rules and the firmer 



!•;. A. LA\<;. MKMrillS, TENX. 



work, the general good feeling among mills, the 

 interchange of views and harmony of action 

 are constantly growing, effecting as a result, a 

 more profitable working basis and also promul- 

 gating more harmonious and profitable rela- 

 tions between buyer and seller. 



Another most advantageous department of our 

 association work is our statistics of stocks on 

 hand and market reports, from which the manu- 

 facturer is enabled to see at a glance what 

 stocks are scarce and in active demand and 

 what are plentiful and need curtailing. _ This is 

 also a valuable advertising medium, causing 

 many sales between member and member and 

 enabling the buying member to readily supply 

 his customer"s wants. 



I might also mention the credit information 

 and various other valuable information to 

 be had from our worthy secretary"s office for 

 the asking, but nothing more seems needed to 

 give us blithe hearts and blooming visages at 

 what we have accomplished and the progress we 

 are making. Indeed we have cause to be proud 

 of our achievements, for considering the con- 

 dition of our industry but a little more than a 

 decade ago, the advancement in our association 

 work is no less marvelous than the stupendous 

 progress in the lumber business itself. Fight- 

 ing otir battles once single-handed, each for him- 

 self, without a general or a leader, we are now. 

 like our government. "'E Pluribus Unum," truly 

 one composed of many, like the states, each 

 having his individuality to act independently 

 as his particular interests dictate: and like our 

 federal government, having in our organization 

 ;i watchful oversight over all and one common 

 purpose for the good of all. 



Indeed, Mr. President, organization is the 

 order of the day, the spirit of our times, the 

 keynote of our civilization : and it would be 

 as" impossible in these prosperous and conse- 

 quentiv perilous times for us to hold our busi- 

 ness in line and reap the full benefit therefrom 

 without organization as it would be to move 

 the earth with a crowbar. The very air we 

 breathe seems impregnated with it. 



Nations are coming closer and closer together 

 by peace conferences and The Hague Tribunal, 

 under one common purpose — the peace of the 

 world. Among churches and religious bodies 

 unity is the topic of the day and we have but 

 recently witnessed the union of two of the 

 largest of these bodies. All commerce and trade 

 are imbued with it. And necessarily so, for 

 the mighty achievements which almost daily 

 thrill us with astonishment could not be ac- 

 complished without organization. First the rail- 

 roads, under shrewd and wise leadership, see- 

 ing their imminent peril of being dashed to 

 pieces against each other by competition, in the 

 voracious rush of prosperity, pooled, combined 

 pnd "scooped" each other until now they are 

 almost one national company. The nest in im- 

 I'ortance are the billion-dollar steel trust, the 

 Standard Oil Company, the nail, wire and pipe 

 trusts and greater arid minor corporations and 

 combines, until the treasury of the state of New 

 .Jersey is almost overflowing from the issue of 

 charters at one dollar per head.. Likewise there 

 are labor unions for, every trade and profes- 

 s'-on, associations among farmers, bankers, law- 



