March 25, 1917 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



erty or any part thereof, shall be brought within two years from the ti ine 

 the cause of the action accrues and not after. ^ 



This bill was not passed at the last session of Congress, and it is the 

 purpose to introduce a similar bill at the next session. 



On February 23, 1917, I appeared before the Interstate Commerce Com- 

 mission's suspension board in Washington In opposition to the proposed 

 increased rates on lumber and forest products from Mississippi valley 

 and southeastern territories to Eastern Trunk Line territory. Those 

 tariffs were filed to become effective March 1, 1917. The proposed in- 

 creases from the southeastern states amount to about five per cent of the 

 proposition applying north of the Virginia gateways, while from Mississippi 

 valley territory the proposed increases are 1 cent per hundred pounds. 



On February 2-1 the commission suspended the proposed schedule until 

 June 29, pending the result of a full hearing and decision. 



During the past year we have handled 620 freight claims, aggregating 

 $16,800 ; have brought a number of actions before the Interstate Commerce 

 Commission involving reparation ; have furnished about l,oOO rate quota- 

 tions ; have traced and effected delivery of a number of cars ; and have 

 answered hundreds of inquiries and requests for information on various 

 transportation subjects, such as bill of lading provisions, carriers' liability, 

 delays in transit, .deliveries, demurrage, disclosing information on freight 

 bills, demands for undercharges, damages, embargoes, routing and mis- 

 routing, transit arrangements, weights, etc. 



Hugh McLean, chairman of the hardwood inspection committee, 

 reported as follo'ws: 



Report of Hardwood Inspection Committee 



There were two conferences during 191G between committees from the 

 Hardwood Manufacturers' Association of the United States and the Na- 

 tional Hardwood Lumber Association with a view to agreeing on one set 

 of rules for the inspection of hardwood lumber. These proposed changes 

 were agreed to by the manufactui-ers' association at the annual meeting 

 in Cincinnati. They were then referred to the National Hardwooil Lum- 

 ber Association at its meeting in Chicago in June and were not adopted, 

 so matters now stand as they have been for some years. While there 

 ar& two associations in the field in hardwoods, there seems to be very little 

 friction in regard to the inspection of hardwood hnuber throughout the 

 country, and any dealer or consumer can buy on the rules of the manu- 

 facturers' association or on the National hardwood rules without any 

 trouble and he can tell exactly what he is going to receive when he buys 

 under these rules. As your committee has tried for years to get one set 

 of rules and has failed in doing so, we would respectfully aslc you to dis- 

 charge us. 



William E. Litchfield, chairman, reported for the committee on 

 trade relations. A summar}- of this report follows: 



Report of Trades Relation Committee 



Like many other industries of the country we have become spread ouf. 

 We went tlirough a season when the prospects were bright and many em- 

 barked in the business which resulted in a greater production and duplica- 

 tion of effort than the demand justified, and the lumber business must pull 

 itself together again and every branch of the trade should use its best 

 endeavors to co-operate and bring about a better situation. It is possible 

 to bring it out of its chaotic condition tlirough a better understanding 

 among the different divisions of the industry. 



The years from 1S9S to 190S saw great prosperity and lumbermen were 

 looked upon as favored individuals and many fortunes w'ere made. The 

 numerous small mills that once covered the producing sections of our 

 country were replaced with larger units some of which at that time were 

 financed and the outputs disposed of by firms designated as "wholesalers" 

 and the mills accepted the selling prices as made by the wholesalers. 

 These large mills backed themselves with timber limits and planned for 

 great outputs creating enormous interest and other overhead burdens. 

 The small capital needed for a certain class of wiuilesale business encour- 

 aged many to go into this part of the industry and the mills have gradually 

 found that they were competing with themselves In the same district by 

 several wholesalers offering the same stock. The result of this was to 

 diminish their ability to meet their enlarged obligations and of course 

 suggested the application of some remedy. One attempt in this direction 

 has been the establishment of central selling agencies representing several 

 plants in the same line of production. This would naturally eliminate 

 more or less competition and have a tendency to equalize and regulate pro- 

 duction and provide a more adequate means of keeping in touch with 

 credits. In the past manufacturing plants have been able to get credit 

 and support in large amounts that they will not be able to do under the 

 new system. 



Anyone who has studied the business methods in European States will 

 find that co-operation and not competition has built up their great com- 

 mercial life. If one should go ipto the great electrical plants in Berlin to 

 study their requirements in American woods and undertake to sell them, 

 he would find every readiness to show what they used and the minutest 

 detail of what they needed and then would refer you to their broker in 

 Hamburg who kept in touch with the values of huuber and the best meth- 

 ods of obtaining what they required at all times. Any who have had ex- 

 perience in selling in Liverpool, Loudon or Glasgow will find the manu- 

 facturer diflicult to approach ; their system of buying is to trade with the 

 broker or wholesaler. 



OjU large southern producers feel that they should sell direct to the 

 consumers in the great eastern and northern cities, but it will be found 

 that their lack of knowledge on many points such as commercial standing, 

 customs, local changes, local needs of the consumer, etc., will bring them 

 great losses financiall.v. I believe it is easier to obtain credit in the lumber 

 line than in any other industry. 



Terms of Sale Reaffirmed 

 The report of P. S. Underhill, chairman of the committee on 

 terms of sale, which recommended slight extensions in the present 

 terms of sale used by the association members, brought forth a storm 

 of protest and a lot of live argument from wholesalers all over the 

 country and also from retailers from Columbus, O., and Philadel- 

 phia, Pa. In general, wholesalers objected strongly to making any 

 better terms of sale to retailers because their own terms from 

 the manufacturers were not so liberal. 



The Election of Officers 



The election of officers resulted as follows: 



President, M. E. Preisch, North Tonawanda, N. Y. 



First Vice-President, Horace Taylor, Buffalo, N. T. 



Second Vice-President, John W. McClure, Memphis, Tenn. 



Trustees for three years, W. W. Knight, Indianapolis, lud. ; M. E. 

 Preisch, North Tonawanda, N. Y. ; George M. Stevens, New York, N. Y. ; 

 William H. Schuette, Pittsburgh, Pa.; A. L. Stone, Cleveland, Ohio; Guy 

 Buell, Spring Hope, N. C. ; W. G. Powers, Quebec Lane, Quebec. 



ENTERTAINMENT 



The entertainment program was one of the most ambitious ever 

 prepared for a lumber convention, but the executive ability of the 

 men in charge insured its being smoothly carried out in every detail. 



To begin with, the Pittsburgh wholesalers had bought up practi- 

 cally the entire house at the Nixon theatre where the performance 

 of "^The Cheat" proved highly satisfying entertainment. Follow- 

 ing the show there was a supper and dance in the ball room of the 

 hotel, which was a huge success. 



' ' Heinz 57 ' ' were the hosts at an elaborate luncheon and tour 

 of inspection Thursday noon, the visitors going out in special 

 trolleys, the ladies returning in autos via the city's boulevard sys- 

 tem, while tlie men came back in the more plebeian street cars. 



The formal banquet held on Thursday night was, in every point, 

 up to the ambitious standard set by the wholesalers' association. 



Maurice E. Preisch 



M. E. Preisch was born near Lockport, but his parents removed 

 to Buffalo when he was seven years old and that city has since been 

 his home. In 1879 he entered the office of the old and well-estab- 

 lished firm of Haines & Company, wholesale lumber dealers of 

 Buffalo, then composed of Emmor, George E. and Alfred Haines. 

 He kept their books for a year and a half and then went on the road 

 as a salesman. After being with the firm for six and a half years, 

 he was admitted as a partner and continued as such until the death, 

 in December, 1903, of Alfred Haines, who had survived his father 

 and uncle, when the business was incorporated under the name of 

 the Haines Lumber Company, at which time the Haines interests 

 were bought out and Hugh McLean, Angus McLean and Burton F. 

 Jackson became interested in the company. 



The business outgrew the facilities of the yard in Buffalo in 1909, 

 and was removed to its present yard on Tonawanda Island, North 

 Tonawanda, N. Y., in the heart of the white pine distributing 

 district. 



Mr. Preisch is president of the Haines Lumber Company. He is 

 also a director and secretary of the Bathurst Lumber Company, Ltd., 

 Bathurst, New Brunswick; secretary and treasurer of the Carrier, 

 Babcock, McLean Company, of Punta Gorda, Fla.; secretary and 

 treasurer of the Mabay Kanch, Inc., a New York corporation 

 operating a large cattle ranch near Bayamo, Cuba; and president 

 of the Lumber Mutual Casualty Insurance Company, of New York, 

 a very successful company organized by the lumber dealers of the ~ 

 state to insure their risks under the workmen's compensation law. 



Mr. Preisch has been connected with the National Wholesale 

 Lumber Dealers' Association from almost its beginning, Haines & 

 Company having been one of the first of the wholesalers of Buffalo 

 to join the association, Mr. Preisch being present and representing 



his firm at the conference meeting on organization held in Buffalo. 



