February 10, 1917 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



43 



Cedar Shingle Men Hold Meeting 



The Northern Wbite Cedar Shingle Jlauufacturers' Association, which 

 lias its headquarters in Oshkosh, Wis., held its annual meeting at the Hotel 

 rfister, Milwaukee, Saturday, January 27. Though a full discussion was 

 held on the association's aCEairs no special action was taken besides the 

 election ot officers. The changes in grades adopted March 10. 1916, were 

 retained. The officers elected were .Ts follows : President. E. A. Hamar, 

 Chassell. Mich.; first vice-president, W. A. Holt, Oconto, Wis.; .second vice- 

 president, .Tohn E. Kelley, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. ; secretary, O. T. Swan, 

 Oshkosh, Wis. ; treasurer, A. C. Wells, Menominee, Mich. ; directors, W. 

 B. Thomas. M. J. Quinlan, Soperton, Wis. ; W. B. Earle, Hermansville, 

 Mich. ; M. J. Bell. Minneapolis, Minn. ; C. A. Goodman, Marinette, Wis. ; 

 Benjamin Finch, Duluth. Minn. ; F. M. Clark, Ashland, Wis. 



The report of Secretary Swan showed that the plan of handliug the 

 shingle association affairs in the office of the Northern Hemlock and Hard- 

 wood Manufacturers' Association was economical and highly successful. 

 The financial condition was shown to be so roseate that no assessment tor 

 1917 need be placed at present and that the remaining assessments for 

 1916 need not be called for until the need tor further funds actually 

 arises. 



The association decided to employ an inspector to visit the mills of the 

 manufacturers on and after April 1. A limited amount of money is au- 

 thorized to be spent in the preparation of literature to be distributed among 

 retailers in the advertising of the white cedar shingle. 



Officers of the shingle association have made a comparative analysis of 

 one hundred samples of composition roofing and presented for consideration 

 together with facts on wooden shingles to municipal authorities contem- 

 plating ordinances covering roof construction. No effort is being made, said 

 Jlr. Swan, to arouse the interest of retailers in the white cedar shingle situ- 

 ation, especially pertaining to the merchandising field. 



President Hamar plans to create a membership campaign to include 

 every manufacturer ot white cedar shingles and to increase the sales of 

 shingles by means of exhibits, advertising and inspection. 



New Rule Would Hurt Southern Loggers 



At a meeting of the Southern Log A^sociation. held in the rooms of the 

 Lumbermen's Club, at Memphis, on February G, there was considerable dis- 

 cussion of the proposed new ruling nf officials of the Yazoo & Mississippi 

 Valley line which will prevent the loading of logs on the main line of this 

 road between Memphis and Cleveland, Miss., at points which are not regular 

 stations. No definite action was taken by the association in regard to this 

 subject but it was announced after adjournment that it will be considered 

 further at a meeting called for February 20. It is the belief of members of 

 the association that an arrangement can be perfected with the Yazoo & 

 Mississippi Valley line by which sawmill men will be given an opportunity 

 to remove the timber from the points in question before the new ruling goes 

 into effect. 



The election of officers resulted in the choice of W. A. Ransom, of the 

 Gayoso Lumber Company, as president to succeed his brother, C. R. Ransom. 

 Other officers chosen were : J. F. McSweyn, vice-president, Robert Stlm- 

 son, secretary and ,T. R. Rush, treasurer. 



Oak Association Goes into New Quarters 



The American Oak Manufacturers .Association moved into new quarters 

 on the fourteenth floor of the .Hank of Commerce and Trust building, 

 Memphis, about the first of the ujonth. Those in charge of th-^ organiza- 

 tion had been working very hard to get things in shape to get in in time, 

 and while everything was not completed, the rooms were so far along 

 toward the completed state as to make possible their occupanc.v. 



The main reception room contains a very handsome floor of quarter- 

 sawed white oak laid in herring bone pattern, while the smaller rooms are 

 floored with plain led oak. Oak panels will be installed later. The whole 

 idea is to make possible an accurate presentation of the very pleasing pos- 

 sibilities in the handling of oak for interior ^Vcu-k. 



Exporters in Productive Session 



The National Lumber Exporters' Association met for its seventeenth 

 annual convention at the William Penn hotel, Pittsburgh, January 24-25. 

 President George D. Burgess of Memphis gave a splendid report embodying 

 recommendations which the convention later adopted. These recommenda- 

 tions favored the Webb bill as originally Introduced, the Pomerene bill, 

 the National Marine League in its work and any other efforts that will 

 help it build up the merchant marine. 



The convention gave former Secretary James McD. Price a rising vote 

 of thanks for his very able services. There was a free discussion on 

 various points, including the merchant marine question and also on Dr. 

 Pratt's proposition from the government that exporters help pay for the 

 export investigations of the lumber markets. 



J. N. Woollett. president of the Aberdeen Lumber Company. Pittsburgh, 

 was the only Pittsburgh member of the association, and was host to the 

 visitors at the Davis Theater on Wednesday night, Januai-y 24. The Pitts- 

 burgh Wholesale Lumber Dealers' Association tendered a luncheon on 

 Thursday. 



Chester F. Korn. Cincinnati, well known in exporting circles, gave an 

 able talk on impressions g,nined during a six months' trip through England. 

 Holland and Germany last year. Mr. Korn's connection on the other side 

 enabled him to get very closely in touch with actual condition.s. He said 

 he found the authenticity of the foreign press reports about the same as 

 political news in our own press during national campaigns. He said : 



'"W^■lte^3 abroad are engaged to seek news suited to the policies of their 

 purpose and the chief censor does the rest. In this respect all nations are 

 alike, as this medium is resorted to everywhere to mold public opinion and 

 through it keep up the courage and the hope of the people who are called 

 upon to make tremendous sacrifices in ignorance of the real conditions 

 that exist." 



Mr. Korn said that from his own personal knowledge of the situation 

 throughout the second year of the war, it would be impossible to convince 

 him that either side had yet exhausted its resources. He said that food 

 and munition problems are both in efficient hands and will not be re- 

 sponsible for the early conclusion of hostilities. He said that the money 

 resources on both sides can be made to last many years. He made the very 

 significant statement that food supplies, munitions and money will survive 

 the living resources, whose impairment cannot be restored as rapidly as 

 consumed. "But," he stated, "the supply of men will not end the conflict 

 this year, the next, or the one after." 



He spoke of one force which alcne should make for peace in the absence 

 of any dominating advantage on one side or the other. He said that so 

 long as the people want war no influence can stop it ; that public opinion 

 cannot be expressed openly in any of the warring countries as it would be 

 regarded as disloyal, unpatriotic and disgraceful. He said that when once 

 the public has the courage to express the opinions which undoubtedly exist 

 in the hearts of all of the peoples engaged in the war, and when this 

 sentiment is expressed openly, then the spirit of the war will be broken. 

 He said : 



"It is my belief that the administrative heads are already conscious of 

 this psychological condition, which is fast developing. The war could last 

 for several years, but it won't. The ice is already broken and an armistice 

 will be declared before another winter sets in. After that not another 

 shell will be fired." 



Referring to conditions here after the war is over, Mr. Korn said that 

 there will certainly be a readjustment in certain directions just as at the 

 time the war started. Some business will suffer until the whole structure 

 gets its bearings. Capital will be timid and with labor it will be a case of 

 "fire and hire" to meet changing co: ditions. He said, however, that 

 restricted immigration has created a dearth of unskilled labor, which will 

 insure some kind of a job for everybody. The crux of the situation will 

 be the avoidance of overproduction and intelligent expansion of markets 

 along lines which this country has not attempted before. This expansion 

 must be backed by wise legislation. He said, iu speaking of hardwood 

 exports, that he would not look for immediate heavy movement ; that the 

 ocean freight rates will remain high for a long period, and that there will 

 be little placing of contracts with the prospect of declining freight rates. 

 He stated that while importers on the other side were forced and eager to 

 take in almost any commodity regardless of quality, price or freight 

 charges, the condition when the war is over with freight charges going in 

 the other direction, will be just the reverse. Inspection will be rigid and 

 exporters must watch quality and quantity very closely. 



\ms:i>iwmitiiii:iMitiiiiiimiis)sxxmti!^^ 



With the Trade 



Will Rebuild Green River Mill 

 The Green River Lumber Company has already begun preliminaries to 

 the reconstruction of its hardwood mill in North Memphis which was de- 

 stroyed by fire February .% with an estimated loss of $75,000, fully covered 

 by insurance. The debris is already being cleai-ed from the site and it is 

 announced that no time will be lost in getting a new mill in operation. 

 Officials of the company have made no announcement of the exact size or 

 character of the ntnv plant but it is unilf-rstood that it will be quite as 

 large as, if not larger than, the one destroyed. The fire occurred outside 

 the city limits and the long run the fire department had to make, as well 

 as a scarcity of water, rendered its work quite difficult. However, while 

 it was unable to save the mill and much lumber, it did succeed in saving 

 the offices and records of the company as well as some lumber and a num- 

 ber of outhouses. S. M. Xiokey is president of the Green River Lumber 

 Company and. as he is interested in the other Nickey mills at this point, 

 it is probable that contracts of the Green River Lumber Company will be 

 filled as far as possible by the allied companies. 



J. D. Allen Joins George C. Ehemann 



J. D. Allon, Jr.. has formed a partnership with George C. Ehemann. at 

 Memphis, Tenn., and they will conduct a wholesale business in southern 

 hardwoods under the firm name of Geo. C. Ehemann & Co.. which has been 

 used for some years by Mr. Ehemann. The entrance of Mr. Allen into this 

 firm means a substantial increase in the capital stock thereof and also a 

 decided expansion in the scope of its operations. It will not manufacture 

 any lumber hut it will take the output of a number of mills which it will 

 finance. Mr. Allen brings a wide experience to his new connection. For 

 the past six years he has been vice-president and secretary, as well as sales 

 manager, of the I. M. Darnell & Son Company, Memphis, in which capacity 

 he sold lumber in both domestic and foreign markets. For the fifteen years 

 preceding he was identified with the .7. W. Thompson Lumber Company in 

 both the manufacture and sale of lumber, with the result that he is famil- 

 iar with all operations from the stump to the consumer. He is a former 

 president of the Lumbermen's Club of Memphis and is vicegerent snark 

 for the western district of Tennessee. 



