January 25, 1917 



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Indianans in Eighteenth Annual 



If anything can be judged by the actual attendance at the gather- 

 ings of the Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen 's Association, Indiana 

 is coming up as a lumber producing state rather than losing strength, 

 and as a matter of fact if one got right down to close figuring, it 

 would be found that the Hoosier state is still to be reckoned with 

 as one of the leading hardwood producers in the country. But even 

 though it may have been losing in quantity of production, it has 

 maintained quality with unvarying consistency, and it is still in 

 the front ranks in the measure of its loyalty. 



But the eighteenth annual of the association held at the Clay- 

 pcol hotel, Indianapolis, on "Wednesday, January 17, certainly was 

 calculated to make one stop and wonder at the number of manufac- 

 turers in the Hoosier state and at the very evident increase in 

 the membership list. 



President Daniel Wertz of Evansville opened the session with a 

 very interesting talk, in which he emphasized the need for getting 

 prices for lumber more commensurate with the figures paid for other 

 commodities. Mr. Wertz 's paper follows: 



Not only the farmers are getting a large advance in their product but 

 most other commodities as well. True, there have been advances in some 

 kinds of hardwoods, while in others there have not. I refer to oak, both 

 plain and quartered, in FAS and No. 1 common, which have not advanced 

 any in price from a year ago. Take this into consideration and the ad- 

 vanced prices which oak logs are costing, not so much as to price per thou- 

 sand feet but as to size and quality, compared with 1915, also the in- 

 creased cost of labor of 10 per cent, I think you will find the increased 

 cost of your product to be 15 to 20 per cent. • * • 



As I have already stated, other hardwoods are selling at advanced prices, 

 with good prospects for further advances, and with the present conditions 

 and outlook I think it will only be a short time until oak will be in a much 

 better demand and selling at profitable prices, as the country never was 

 more prosperous than at the present time. 



On conservative estimate it was recently stated that of the 60,000 suc- 

 cessful corporations doing a business of $100,000,000 a year more than 

 50 per cent make no attempt to charge off for depreciation ; that about 10 

 per cent of merchants and manufacturers are aware of the actual cost of 

 their products, 40 per cent attempt to estimate this cost and the remaining 

 50 per cent have no method of determining the cost of their products and 

 put prices on their goods arbitrarily. I would recommend to the members 

 of this association that accurate knowledge of the cost price is essential to 

 the well being of every industry, • • • that ruinous price cutting has 

 in a large measure been the result of ignorance of the actual cost of the 

 articles on sale. • • * 



The furniture factories have had an abnormal business the last year 

 with an increase of at least 35 per cent over normal production, and as 

 they use a large percent of lumber all we need to do is to step into a 

 furniture store and see the styles of furniture that they are putting on 

 the market and you will readily see that there is a much smaller percent 

 of oak furniture being made than ever before, thereby reducing the demand 

 for oak lumber and increasing the demand for cheaper woods, such as 

 gum, elm and maple, or woods of that class, which are today selling at an 

 increased price of 20 to 25 per cent with prices advancing almost dall.v, 



and if these woods continue to advance, which they are almost certain to 

 do, it will only be a short time until oak will be in a much better demand 

 and selling at advanced prices. 



J. C. Nellis, who is in the United States Forest Service work at Wash- 

 ington, D. C, stated at a recent meeting of the Evansville Lumbermen's 

 Club that the annual production of all kinds of lumber for last year was 

 40 billion feet, and at this rate of cutting there would be enough stumpage 

 to last sixty-nine years, not including anything for the growth during that 

 time ; that there were 50,000 sawmills, large and small, and of this amount 

 10,000 produced 70 per cent of the lumber, showing that the larger per cent 

 of these mills do not run regularly, and that in most instances mills are 

 idle. A large number of these mills are controlled by farmers and planta- 

 tion owners, who operate them only when the lumber market is good or the 

 crops are poor, and in the course of only a short time there is an over- 

 production of lumber on the market. 



He stated that the pine manufacturers are trying to arrange their pro- 

 duction to suit the requirements and demand, in order to avoid an over- 

 production and decline in the market, which results in a loss and paralyzes 

 the market conditions. He also stated that oak was third in production 

 with 3 billion feet annually, Indiana ranking ninth ; and you will no doubt 

 be pleased to note that Indiana still has ninth place in this production, as 

 the general impression is that Indiana has no timber and has not had for 

 several years. 



There followed the report of Secretary Richardson, in which he 

 offered the applications for membership of seventeen firms and the 

 report of Treasurer Buckley of Brookville, showing a satisfactory 

 balance. 



The president appointed committees on officers' reports and nomi- 

 nations. 



W. A. Guthrie of Indianapolis, chairman of the forestry commis- 

 sion gave an informal talk on the possibilities of profitable forestry 

 in the state of Indiana. He described in detail the forestry nursery 

 and reserves in the Nsouthern part of the state, and emphasized the 

 need for more co-operation in this work on the part of the lumber- 

 men. He cited cases which prove that trees can be grown profitably 

 in Indiana and said that the greatest success has come from trans- 

 planted seedlings as compared to the natural growth in cut-over 

 forests. These seedlings are always available to anybody desirous 

 of securing them and willing to pay the cost of shipment. Mr. 

 Guthrie stated that ash grows more rapidly than any of the other 

 woods, although poplar, oak, walnut and similar varieties have been 

 planted successfully. 



Charles H. Barnaby of Greeneastle, as chairman of the inspection 

 committee, confined his talk to reference to the coming meeting of 

 the National Hardwood Lumber Association and referred especially 

 to inspection and possible changes in rules maintained by that body. 

 Mr. Barnaby said there has been practically no change now for four 

 years. He stated that it is quite likely that the grade of selects will 

 be offered and adopted at the coming meeting in June. 



The report of Walter Crim, chairman of the membership commit- 



INDIANA H.4RDWOOD LUMBERMEN AT .\NNUAL BANQUET, INDIANAPOLIS, JANUARY 17 



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