25 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



yers. in fact among all professional men. Even 

 the sovereign voters, irrespective of party affliia- 

 tions, are combining and defeating at the polls 

 tliose once impregnable political organizations 

 whicli subsist and grow fat througti 'graft" and 



\V. M. McCOHMICK. I'lIII.ADELPHIA, I'A 



corruption in office. And almost last, though by 

 no means least, nay. best of all. there are the 

 manufacturers of lumber, and the best of these 

 — the Hardwood Manufacturers' Association of 

 the United States. 



As "necessity is tlie mother of invention." 

 these things are a natural result, and rightly 

 so. Great combination of capital, biain and 

 muscle are essential to the accomplishment of 

 the stupendous demands upon trade and com- 

 merce to satisfy the insatiate appetites of our 

 now prosperous people and to meet the increas- 

 ing calls upon us by all foreign nations. And 

 if I may digre.ss a little. I would not abolish 

 those great combinations of capital now known 

 under the pernicious name of "trusts." They 

 have their proper place and function if honestly 

 conducted, and it is only the selfishness of human 

 nature In the individuals composing them that 

 needs curbing by prudent, conservative action 

 on the part of our national government. 



While hilarious over the success that has a( 

 tended us as an organization and individually, 

 it seems appropriate to olfer a word of caution 

 against becoming overexcited in our now almost 

 booming tide of prosperity. Such times always 

 carry with them un.seen dangers, maliing it 

 needful that all our actions, official and indi- 

 vidual, be along prudent and conservative lines. 

 King Solomon says in the Good Book. "Behold 

 how great a lire a little matter iiindleth." and 

 we Itnow not when some seeming trifle may flash 

 up to clog the wheels of Industry and catch us 

 unawares. We are told In the commercial re- 

 ports of the first of the year that a panic in 

 flnanclal circles was narrowly averted by the 

 great prosperity of the whole country during the 

 summer. In consequence of distrust In our pub- 

 lic men owing to revelations from the insurance 

 investigation. Let us heed the light houses 

 and signal stations of past history -even in our 

 own oi'ganizallon. and with due <'aution so con- 

 duct ourselves that we may be prepared in any 

 emergency to maintain control of the situation 

 and prevent any detrimental results to our busi- 

 ness. 



1 would ne>t once presume upon the integrity 

 of any meml)er of this association, but the ten- 

 dency" and aggrandizement from unusual success 

 often tempts one to malie use of a little ad- 

 vantage when in his favor tjy "stuffing grades" 

 la practice that I do not at all approve of) 

 or otherwise misuse his customer. Extreme 

 liberality leads him to expect too much, and 

 niggardliness mal<es him hate you, but fairness 

 Is Justice and he Is satisfied with it. I am a 

 firm believer in that Immutable moral law that 

 ultimate success always crowns the efforts of 

 the government, corporation or individual who 

 practices the golden rule and has "Do Right" 

 for his motto ; and the converse is true, for his- 

 tory abounds In Instances of nations, organiza- 

 tions and men brought to ruin by avarice. 



And now to conclude my somewhat rambling 

 remnrlis 1 would be derelict In duty If I failed 

 to give due credit to our trade Journals, which 

 have so faithfully espoused our cause and bat- 

 tled for us In the establishment of our associa- 

 tion and furthering Its progress. Their repre- 

 sentatives are with us at every meeting, the 

 most courteous of all. with genial smiles and 

 hearty handshakes infusing sunshine and good 



feeling throughout its sessions ; and when they 

 return to their homes they boost us to the skies 

 for I he lofty and mighty things which were 

 said and done with a trumpet sound of warn- 

 ing to any who would dare impose on us. They 

 have boldly sought for and chased the foxy, un- 

 scrui)Ulous operator at last to ills hole in the 

 ground by publishing him to the world when- 

 ever he showed his head above it, and their col- 

 umns are always open to every Interest of the 

 manufacturer and to his every wish lor infor- 

 mation and assistance. 



It is to be hoped that ail of them, without 

 one exception, have reaped their full share of 

 success along with their patrons, aiul in the 

 language of Hip Van Winkle, "Here's to their 

 iiealth and to their families' good health and 

 hoping they may live long and prosper." 



Outlook for 1906. 



Otto Laehniund, sales liiauager of the 

 Bacon-Nolan Hardwood Company, whose 

 headquarters are at Chicago, read an interest- 

 ing and optimistic paper covering the "Gen- 

 eral Outlook for the Lumber Business in 

 1906." 



Statistics, covering every quarter of our fair 

 land, tell of a year ot marvelous prosperity in 

 all lines of industrial activity. Never has the 

 farm wealth of the country eiiualed that (tf 

 1905, the total value of crops, according to 

 Secretary Wilson, being $(),41.">,iMi(i,iion. Inulni; 



.1. W. IvITClIEN, ASIII.ANU, IvV. 



I he past year, he says, farm products employed 

 in manufactures were valued at ,$2.G7'J.UUO.O0O. 

 These industries employed ;;, 154.000 persons 

 and have a capital of $4.3a2,0OU.Ol)(). Time was 

 when such a yield by Mother Earth would have 

 resulted in demoralization of prices. Not many 

 years ago farmers In the West used their corn 

 for fuel, so cheap Imd become the price of 11 : 

 but 80 prosperous is our country now, so great 

 the absorbing and buying power of our people, 

 that It Is safe to say I he tiller ot the soil today gels 

 the best average prices for tlte products of his 

 land and labor ever obtained. 



In the production of iron, the past year e.t- 

 ceeds that of the best jtrevious record by over 

 five million tons, and the Increase, It Is stated, 

 exceeds the total output of the country twenty 

 years ago. 



The railways have bi^eti taxed tn tht'li" utmost 

 to move the products of Ihc soil, foi-csis and 

 mines, and as they have found tlicir i-quiimicnt 

 entirely Inadequate have placed orders lor thou- 

 sands of cars, which in itself will glvi' an enor- 

 mous Impetus to the business of saw and Iron 

 mills. 



From all the larger centers of the country, 

 as well as from hundreds of. smaller nmnufnc- 

 turlng and dlslrilaitlng points, come assurances 

 of the most poHllive kind as to the wonderful 

 prosperlt.v of the past .year and the ^iptimlsflc 

 outltKjk for ilic one Just entcfi-d upon. .Man.\' 

 of tliesc iiolnts rcpoi't that the demand for lum- 

 ber of all kinds has been for sftnie lime much 

 greater than tlte supply. Mills of the coast and 

 those of the North and South have been nnd 

 are even now, at this season, when in ordinary 

 times rhlpmenls have been pri-liy itciir at a 

 standstill, fioorled with orders and Inijultles, while 



many of them are still hundreds of cars behind in 

 their deliveries. A sign of the times is the many 

 offers by large buyers for large quantities of oak 

 and other hardwoods to be cut for future de- 

 livery, an evidence that they are believers In the 

 stability of present prices, to say the least. In 

 tile South many mills have been hampered by 

 excessive rains, causing a considerable reduction 

 in the expected cut and consequent shortage ot 

 stock. 



The question in 190G will not be how to pro- 

 cure business, but rather bow to properly take 

 care of what is offered. Why. under these condi- 

 tions, there are still some manufacturers of oak 

 who have rot entirely gottei) over lite habit of 

 giving away their commodity. It is hard to tell. 

 Some of us may occasionally have a little more 

 of this or that Item than we think we should 

 carry, wiiicii we call "surplus stock." and im- 

 mediately we make an effort to rid ourselves of 

 it regardless of cost. t'ommon itak has been 

 sold in Chicago as late as within the last ninety 

 days at $27 or less. Today tliere is no trouble 

 in getting .fiiO.oO to $30 for it, while some manu- 

 facturers are holding theirs at $:!1.50. little car- 

 ing whether tiiey sell even at that figure. So, 

 brethren, if any of us are weak-kneed, let's 

 brace up '. The man wiio does not "make hay 

 while the sun shines" has no one to blame but 

 iiimself. in times of depression we are some- 

 times forced to let the other feilow set the 

 price for us ; but he who does not get what's 

 coming to liim when everybody is able and. per- 

 force, willing to pay is not deserving ot sym- 

 pathy. With present conditions of trade and 

 the roseate promise for the future, there is no 

 such thing as "surpltts stock." The man who 

 thinks he has it should regard hitnself in luck — 

 it will be worth more money, rcrmil me here 

 to make reference to a practice thai. I think, 

 has had much to do with the instaliiiity of hard- 

 wood prices. 1 mean salting of Krades. It Is an 

 indefensible practice which ought to be frowned 

 down by every reputable manufacfui-ei-. 



Chicago, one of if not the largest consumer of 

 lumber in the country, has handled a larger 

 quantity of all kinds of woods than in former 

 .years and at a very material increase iu prices. 

 It Is claimed that the equivalent of more than 

 forty-seven miles of buildings, at a cost of about 

 $62.000.0110, was erected during l'.io.->. a record 

 equaled only once and that during file boom of 

 1802. One of our most reliable and conserva- 

 tive dailies puts it aptl.v and tersely : "The phe- 

 nomenal increase in the volume of business Id 

 I:i05 pushes Chicago Into the new year like a 

 runner at high speed. The unspent momentum 

 of one great business year sets the pace for an- 

 tither.'' \\'liile tills is made apiillcable to (.Chi- 

 cago, a glance at our great Itimber journals, 

 which have with persistent zeal secured for the 

 benefit of their readers accurate reports from 

 every state of our Union as to lumber conditions 

 especially, would lead us to say that 1005 pushes 

 our whole glorious country into the new year 

 like a runner at record speed. 



No one product stands out more prominently 

 11 beneficiary of these conditions than does 

 lumber for 'iDOC. How can anyone doulil that 

 I'.HIO will e(|ual. yes surpass, its great prede- 

 cessor. If there is a cloud anywhere to darken 

 its pfosjiects. tile naked eye fails to see it, and 



HUGH McT.EAN, HUUPAl.O, N. Y. 



wi' shall all be too busy, too prosperous, to hunt 

 for it through a spy glass. 



After the reading of the papers came a 



