November 25, 1916 



CLAUDE MALEY, EYAXSVILLE, IND.. 

 DIRECTOR 



E. V. BABCOCK, PITTSBUllGH, PA., 

 DIRECTOR 



R. GADD. CHICAGO, ILL.. 

 DIRECTOR 



Resolutio.ns — W. E. De Lancy, chairman ; W. H. Russe anil Earl 

 Palmer. 



Tkch.nical RESE.iRCH — W.'B. Buike, chairman; R. M. Carrier, W. A. 

 Gilchrist, E. O. Robinson and George E. Breece. 



Advektisixg — F. R. Gadd, chairman ; James E. Starli and Xelson H. 

 Walcott. 



The members of the executive committee consider themselves very 

 fortunate in securing the services of Mr. Aiken because of his wide 

 knowledge of the lumber business, acquired tlirough long service with 

 the old K. & P. Lumber Company, Cincinnati, and because of his work 

 during the past four years as advertising manager of the Huyler 

 Candy Company of New York. They believe that his qualifications 

 for the active management of the affairs of the association are ideal 

 and that he will prove exceedingly valuable in building up the asso- 

 ciation and in achieving the purposes for which it has been created. 

 Mr. Aiken has returned to New York but he will take up his resi- 

 dence, as well as his permanent duties, in Memphis about the middle 

 of. December. 



Temporary offices have been opened in the Bank of Commerce & 

 Trust Company building and much preliminary work is being done. 

 The membership committee has already entered upon its duties and 

 the others will meet in the near future and plan their work. The 

 membership committee is regarded as the most important at the 

 moment because of the desire to bring in all the new firms possible. 

 It has a very large field to cover but it has the co-operation of all 

 the members and it is expected that it will accomplish much before 

 the first annual meeting is held. 



W. H. Russe acted as temporary chairman of the meeting, which 

 was called to order at 10 a. ni. R. L. Jurden served as temporary 

 secretary. 



James E. Stark gave a brief statement in which he outlined what 

 had been done in the way of securing a charter and in which he also 

 told of the need for such an organization as proposed. He said that 

 there had been no association to exploit oak and to look after the 

 various problems connected with its manufacture and distribution 

 and he thought the time had come when this deficiency ought to be 

 made good. He pointed out, however, that the association was not 

 bound in any way by the preliminary action already taken and that 

 he did not want those present to go any further than they desired 

 to go. 



The charter, however, was readily accepted and the name of the 

 organization, ' ' American Oak Manufacturers ' Association, ' ' was 

 adopted with little discussion. 



Committees on constitution and by-laws and on the nomination of 

 officers were then appointed and it was suggested that these commit- 

 tees keep in close touch with each other so that there would be no 

 conflict in their reports. 



While these committees were engaged in their deliberations there 

 was a general discussion in regard to various phases of the work of 

 the new organization, following which adjournment was taken for 

 luncheon. 



The constitution and by-laws were adopted as read and the officers 

 and directors nominated by the committee were elected by unanimous 

 vote. Then followed the enrollment of members, when there was a 

 rush on the part of all present to sign for their firms as if each 

 wished to get ahead of the other. The enthusiasm displayed by all 

 was the subject of most favorable comment and was accepted as a 

 good auguiy for the future because it is recognized that ' ' enthusiasm 

 is contagious. ' ' 



The newly elected officers were escorted to the rostrum and, follow- 

 ing the adoption of resolutions regarding Gulfport harbor, the meet- 

 ing adjourned, subject to the call of the president. 



Flooring Foibles 



A hardwood flooring man who caters to architectural ideas in 

 fancy hardwood floors had a blue print floor plan tacked to the 

 drawing board in front of him when a Record man called recently. 

 After the formal greetings were over he said: 



"What do you think of that for a floor?" 



A glance at the plan showed it to be one free from borders or 

 iaucy curlycues, but apparently there were varying widths of 

 boards. 



' ' Yes, that 's it, ' ' the flooring man said when his attention was 

 called to it, "that is the very feature of this floor. It is a fancy 

 architectural job where the builder wants a reproduction of an old- 

 fashioned floor from the days when lumber was used in whatever 

 widths it happened to come. He has widths running all the w-ay 

 from three inches to ten inches just to get that old-time appear- 

 ance. It is to be made of thick boards put down upon the joists, 

 consequently each piece of flooring cut must be cut to a specified 

 length so that it will joint over a given joist. The floor will prove 

 very expensive in the end, and the main expense is made because 

 of a desire to imitate an old-fashioned floor that was made of 

 random widths to save expense and work. ' ' 



This is but illustrative of many instances that come up from 

 time to time showing the fancies of architects and builders' tastes 

 in connection with floors. There has never been a time when more 

 elaborate or expensive flooring was done than is being done today. 

 Even the less pretentious homes have hardwood floors now, and in 

 the more pretentious ones there are introduced many freakish ideas 

 for the sake of diversity or for the sake of reproducing some spe- 

 cial type that has struck the fancy of the builder. 



—23— 



