HARDWOOD RECORD 



19 



National Wholesale Lumber Dealers jinnual 



At Philadelphia on the moruiug of Wedues- 

 day, March 1, there eonvened at the palatial 

 Bellevue-Stratford hotel the thirteenth an- 

 nual meeting of the National "Wholesale Lum- 

 ber Dealers' Association. 



In point of numbers, in commercial stand- 

 ing, in devotion to lumber association work of 

 importance and in the development of allied 

 Tvork of value to the lumber manufacturing 

 and jobbing trade, there is no lumber asso- 

 ciation in the United States that stands so 

 high as this one. It is an association that 

 has been the pioneer in the problem of a 

 just solving of trade relations between manu- 

 facturer, wholesaler and consumer. With 

 much diligence and great expense it has orga- 

 nized and maintained a system of mutual 

 information which constitutes a commercial 

 report system that is far in advance of any 

 work of this character that had ever been 

 done in the past. The association, through 

 allied interests, has carefully analyzed the 

 lumber fire insurance problem and has put 

 into being several fire and marine insurance 

 companies, by means of which much premium 

 money is saved not only to its members, but 

 to the lumber trade at large, with the as- 

 surance that all losses met under its policies 

 shall be promptly adjusted and paid. Be- 

 yond this it has carefully taken up trans- 

 portation problems in all their ramifications 

 and is serving its members, to their manifest 

 advantage, in many ways along these lines. 



The history of the National Wholesale 

 Lumber Dealers ' Association runs in parallel 

 lines with the great progress that has been 

 made by the lumber industry during the 

 period of its existence, and to it much credit 

 for this well being can be attributed. The 

 association is made up of individuals, firms 

 ajid corporations, both manufacturers and 

 jobbers, and jobbers alone, in all varieties 

 of American woods. The only thing open to 

 adverse comment concerning this association 

 is the fact that, perhaps through no fault of 

 its own, it has confined its labors and mem- 

 bership in the past almost exclusively to the 

 contingent in eastern Michigan, eastern Ohio 

 and to the east thereof. While known as a 

 national organization, it really is a sectional 

 one, in respect to its membership at least. 



This Philadelphia meeting which continued 

 through Wednesday and Thursday, March 1 

 and 2, was one of the most largely attended 

 that it has ever had, and the character and 

 standing of both members and visitors at th's 

 affair, involving as it did the very best ele- 

 ment of the eastern lumber trade, was a guar- 

 antee that the legislation of the meeting 

 would be wise and just. 



The third annual meeting of the association 

 was also held in Philadelphia in 1895, when 

 it was in its infancy. At this recent meeting 

 there gathered approximately 400 lumbermen 

 who had become imbued with a thorough 

 knowledge of the value possessed by the work 



of this association, and who went there to 

 lend their counsel and aid to the best interests 

 of the lumber trade at large. So much in- 

 terest was manifest in the meetings them- 

 selves that unfortunately very little time was 

 possible in which delegates might devote 

 themselves to sight-seeing about historic and 

 commercial Philadelphia. It seems remark- 

 ably unfortunate that even busy lumbermen 

 could not have had more time to acquaint 

 themselves with the greatness of commercial 

 Philadelphia, to say nothing of the ethical 

 interest of a visit to many historic spots 

 about the quaint old Quaker city. The time 

 was so thoroughly taken up that it is doubt- 

 ful if a half score of delegates even had 

 the time to visit Independence Hall. 



There was a large number of members pres- 

 ent at the opening session, scheduled for 10 

 'clock Wednesday morning. After the roll 

 call of members President Slade delivered his 

 address. 



President's Address. 



Mr. Slade stated that the year's association 

 work had been a busy one and in many wa.vs 

 had tended to strengthen the association. He 

 spolie of the creation of two new bureaus — the 

 legal department and the railroad and trans- 

 portation department. He said that though 

 Ihese new departments had been working but n 

 short time, they had proven themselves to be of 

 value to all members. He prophesied that the 

 legal department would be at least self-support- 

 ing, and in time promised a source of revenue, 

 lie urged action indorsing the recommendation 

 of President Roosevelt that additional powers be 

 given to the Inter-State Commerce Commission 

 in relation to adjustment of rates. He also 

 recommended co-operation on the subject of for- 

 estry and retorestration and stated that "the 

 subject calls for action, and no longer should be 

 left for college professors to deliver orations on. 

 but every business man and all members of our 

 association should lend their assistance." In 

 ]\Ir. Slade's opinion the keystone of the National 

 Wholesale Lumber Dealers' Association is the 

 Bureau of Information. He commented on the 

 progress of the work and recommended it to all 

 members as being worth annually many times 

 its cost. He referred to the fact that the asso- 

 ciation's relations with the retail trade had been 

 entirely in harmony during the year, and recom- 

 mended a continuance on the principle nf treat- 

 ing all interests with equal and exact justice. 

 He commented favorably on the organization of 

 the allied lumber fire insurance companies, and 

 said that his personal experience with them had 

 been entirely satisfactory, and had resulted in a 

 considerable saving to his Insurance account. 



On the subject of membei*ship he said that 

 the association had shown an increase m mem- 

 bership and also in the membership of the Bu- 

 i-ean of Information, and at tliis time he re- 

 pined the total membership as the largest in 

 Ihe history of the association. He urged an in- 

 crease of membership and said it should reach 

 at least 500. 



Mr. Slade complimented the trustees, executive 

 committee and officers of the association for 

 their active and painstaking manner of conduct- 

 ing the affairs of the association, and thanked 

 them heartil.v for the willingness and fidelity 

 with which they had aided him in his work. 



The secretary's report, which constitutes a 

 resume of the work of the association for the 

 past year, is herewith given in full : 



Secretary's Report. 



This, the thirteenth annual secretary's report, 

 is the eighth compiled by your present secre- 

 tary, consequently carries with it the usual 

 amount of dryness. 



Each succeeding year seems to bring to the 

 association increased activities and successes, 

 and it is pleasing to report that your officers 

 and members are well able to keep pace with 

 the ever changing conditions of trade. The 

 association is unique in its position, in that it 

 has been able to consider all the conditions and 

 vexatious questions that confront it constantly, 

 at the same time has kept entirely free from 

 those entangling alliances which so often in- 

 volve organizations of this character. 



I presume many of our members have never 

 given serious thought to the position we oc- 

 cupy, and the principles we stand for — that of 

 fostering trade and commerce, and of endeavor- 

 ing to produce uniformity and certainty, its 

 customs and usages, all for the good of the coun- 

 try and barren of selfish motives. Therefore, 

 when we note that while our membership has 

 increased, and the membership of nearly every 

 retail association has also increased, and the 

 complaints against our members for alleged vio- 

 lations nf trade ethics have been fewer and 

 milder than ever before, you can readily ap- 

 preciate the good work done by individual mem- 

 bers, and the association, in striving to keep 

 our ideals high and the membership at)ove re- 

 proach. 



Anyone who will look over the work done by 

 this association during its existence, especially 

 during the past five or six years, will note that 

 it has worked faithfully to benefit general 

 trade conditions, in which not only our own 

 members participate, but which has l)een of 

 equal worth to those wholesalers who are not 

 among our membership and contribute nothing 

 towards its support, but receive as much benefit 

 as those of you who contribute valuable time 

 and money. The work is also of equal benefit 

 to the retail and consvuning trade. ' 



It is difficult and almost impracticable for 

 the secretar.v to give a complete resume of the 

 .year's work in a report of this character, inas- 

 much as a large part of his time during the 

 year is given to detailed work in the office and 

 to committee work, which must necessarily be 

 included in the work reported b.v various com- 

 mittees. During the .year I have traveled sev- 

 eral thousand miles attending to association 

 work, including visits to St. Louis. Memphis. 

 Chicago. Cincinnati. Washington. Baltimore. 

 Boston and other cities. I have represented the 

 as-sociation at the meetinss nf the several re- 

 tail associations, all of which have undoubtedly 

 been beneficial to our work and resulted in in- 

 teresting and adding new members and increas- 

 ing the prestige of the association in the trade. 



The organizing and perfecting of the Railroad 

 and Transportation Bureau duriii!' the year has 

 taken an unu.sual amount of our time, especially 

 as it has carried with it the necessit.v of 

 numerous conferences with the committee, its 

 chairman, and traffic manager, the executive 

 committee, and many others. The details of 

 the work will be fully covered by the report of 

 the committee to which I refer you. and for 

 whom I bespeak your interests and co-operation. 

 Its untiring work and zeal during the past year 

 merits your commendation, and no phase of our 

 work opens up larger opportunities for accom- 

 plishing practical results than does the Trans- 

 portation Bureau. 



The growth of the spirit of co-operation be- 

 tween members of the different departments has 

 been reflected by the increa.sed interest in the 

 various matters placed before them through cor 

 respondence and committees. I refer especially 

 to the Bureau of Information and its legal de 

 partment. Railroad and Transportation Bureau, 

 the matters of national legislation, arbitration, 

 forestry, fire insurance, etc. 



You have given these matters your attention 

 in the past, and I urge .vou not to fail to do 

 the same in the future, as there will be man,\- 

 important questions presented to the individual 

 members for an interchange of ideas. 



\ few years ago we adopted the plan of the 

 executive committee as an auxiliar.v to the 

 board of trustees, and whose acts are amenable 

 to that board. This committee has become, 

 and is growing, more important with the in- 

 rreasing amount of association business. I re- 

 fer to this because in the future we will find 

 necessity for an increased ntimber of meetings 

 bv this" committee : also a very large number 

 nf calls for special committee work on the part 

 of the different individuals. This increased 

 number of meetings is. I think, a desirable re- 

 sult. It is at any rate imperative. During 

 the .year there was the usual semi-annual meet- 

 ing of the board of trustees, at which seven- 

 teen trustees were present (best attended meet- 

 ing ever held). There have been three meet- 

 ings of the executive committee, one meeting of 



