December 25, 1916 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



25 



Annual Meeting of Veneer Men 



Important Steps Toward Reorganization. Committees and Officers 

 Make Reports. Important Papers Are Read 



HE ANNUAL MEETING of the National Veneer 

 and Panel Manufacturers' Association was held 

 December 1 2 and I 3 in the Auditorium Hotel, 

 Chicago. The attendance was above the aver- 

 age of former meetings. 



The program covered a tw^o-days' meeting and supplied 

 topics sufficient to occupy the members during the whole 

 session. There were formal papers and addresses on 

 topics of special and general interest, and committee re- 

 ports dealing with matters of current and particular in- 

 terest. President J. T. Edwards was in the chair and 

 Howard S. Young performed the duties of secretary. 



The president's address was a resume of the past 

 work and an outline of work to be done in the future. 

 He noted the great change in the organization during 

 its eleven years of existence. During the early years the 

 meetings were small, but growth has been constant. 

 When the association came into existence, the veneer 

 operations were as secret as they could make them; they 

 feared that competitors would find out something; but 

 this has changed now, and today the operators exchange 

 ideas, in order that the. mistakes of one may be avoided 

 by others, and the success of one may be turned to the 

 advantage of all. Matters have moved along until the 

 association has reached the parting of the ways, and 

 must follow the old way or choose a new. 



Treasurer E. H. Defebaugh read his report, showing 

 receipts and expenditures. The balance in the treasury 

 was $311.08. 



PLAN OF REORGANIZATION 



The one important matter before the association w^as 

 the plan for reorganization and much of the work was 

 directed to that purpose. President Edwards, in his 

 opening address, discussed the necessity for it. The days 

 of the volunteer worker in associations are about at an 

 end. The time has come to place the work in the hands 

 of paid men who are able to do it. No other plan seems 

 to be able to meet modern conditions. The work which 

 the association cannot do as a body it must hire some- 

 body to do. The plan, as it had been conceived in 

 advance, placed the direction of this work in the hands 

 of a paid secretary. 



It was stated that veneer operators were just beginning 

 to feel the effect of European competition when the war 

 began. Russian veneer was beginning to find its way to 

 this country. The opening of hostilities stopped the 

 coming of overseas veneers, but they will come again 

 after the close of the war, and the association should be 

 reorganized to meet that competition. 



It should organize, likewise, to meet competition with 

 substitutes nearer home, for in that direction lies the 

 principal battle that must be fought to win and hold 

 business. 



THE COMMITTEE'S REPORT 



The committee previously appointed to study a plan 

 for reorganization v^ras called upon for its report, and 

 C. B. Allen, of the Anderson-Tully Company, Memphis, 

 Tenn., made the report, in which he described how the 



F. 



A. MARSHALL, RHINELANDER. WIS., 

 NEWLY-ELECTED PRESIDENT. 



E. V. KNIGHT, NEW ALBANY. IND., MEM- 

 BER REORGANIZATION COMMITTEE. 



B. W. LORD, DANVILLE. KY., MEMBER RE- 

 ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE. 



