40 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



indeed, seems farther away in tlie face of the inhibiting physical facts 

 that there are 48,000 sawmills in the United States, widely scattered 

 over the country and ciUtins many different kinds of woods; some 23.000 

 wood-worliing establishments ; S.OOd wliolesalo lumber dealers ; approx- 

 imately 40.000 retail lumber uii^rchauts. and timber not held by lumber- 

 men, and beyond the reach of consolidation by private enterprise, as 

 follows : 190,000,000 acres in the national forests, or an area very con- 

 siderably larger than that of the German empire or that of our own great 

 state of Texas, and containing one-sixth of the country's entire stand as 

 estimated in board feet, to say nothing of the vast Alaskan forests, to- 

 gether with the public timber lands of Porto Kico, Ilawali and the Phil- 

 ippine islands : railroad timber possessions of great area in the aggre- 

 gate ; state holdings and farmers* woodlots. 



3. Furthermore, after an exhaustive investigation of tile lumber indus- 

 try l>y the Bureau of Commerce and Labor, acting under the Kiltredge 

 resolution and covering a period of some two years, no lumber trust nor 

 *ven the small remnant of one was discovered ; therefore, be it 



Resolveu. By the Lumbermen's Club of St. Louis that, while we em- 

 phatically favor the full enforcement of the anti-trust statutes, without 

 fear or favor upon the ]iart of prosecuting officers, we as positively dis- 

 approve and condemn pi rsistence in unwarranted and hopeless prosecu- 

 tions, or the institution of new so-called anti-trust proceedings, merely 

 because they may be helpful to office-seeking or to party ; for the reason 

 that such a course is unjust to the defendants, involving them in heavy 

 expense and holding them up to their fellow citizens as outlaws ; it also 

 tends to disturb and alarm business enterprise, and, in addition, wastes 

 public revenue and contributes to the burdens of taxation. 



The government's investigations of the lumber trade and the suits 

 which it has instituted in quest of a mythical trust have already cost 

 the taxpayers of the United States, it is estimated, the sum of .|2,000,000, 

 and the outlay for like suits directed by state authorities against the lum- 

 ber interests has by this time probabl.v equaled the sum of half a million 

 dollars. 



Wherefore, We more particularly desire to express our displeasure in 

 this connection that the ouster proceedings instituted more than three 

 years ago by a former attorney-general of this state against a large num- 

 ber of llissotiri lumber corporations have been revived within the past 

 summer; for the reason that said proceedings bear ni> relation in their 



purpose to any actual condition of the lumber trade in Missouri, now or 

 heretofore ; and, besides, they liave had the eSfect of causing the removal 

 of a number of large companies to other commonwealths, to avoid unneces- 

 sary, irritating harrying — at a loss of many millions of dollars auiuuiUy 

 to the business of St. Louis and of the state at large. 



We also strongly disapprove of the varioas suits filed in circuit courts 

 of the United States against the organized retail lumber interests of the 

 West, North and East, on the presumption and under the general charge 

 that they constitute a "trust of power." Said organized interests, 

 including the full memberships of all the associations everywhere in the 

 country in which they are represented, have hardly more than one-fourth 

 of all the retail lumber merchants in the United States, notwithstanding 

 the smallness of the annual dues — which range from about .fS to $7. 



The proceedings against these associations, moreover, strike directly at 

 practices and rules of ethical conduct sanctioned by immemorial usage in 

 every civilized country in the world, and observed by the retail trade and 

 heartily approved by the overwhelming majority of wholesalers, in the 

 distribution of the prcxlucts of every industry of which wo have knowl- 

 edge. The principle upon which these alleged offending rules, or "codes 

 of ethics." rest is that the wholesaler lias no moral right to sell a re- 

 tailer a stock of goods, and then sell the retailer's customers direct ; and 

 that it is not an infraction of any law to decently acquire and dissem- 

 inate information touching those who try to .sell, at one and the same 

 time, to the retailer and his customers — for any sensible administration 

 of the law applying to mercantile pursuits must have regard to lons- 

 I'stablished trade customs and usages. 



To overturn the present organized system of distribution at the retail 

 end, as apparently contemplated by these suits against retail lumber- 

 men's associations, would be to play directly into the hands of the big 

 mail order houses at Chicago and elsewhere and bring about, unavoid- 

 ably, business chaos. 



In view of the facts and conditions as above set forth, he it 

 Re.solvicli. By the Lumbermen's Club of St. Louis, that wc earnestly 

 urge upon all business men's associations throughout the United States 

 the importance, not to say necessity, of taking up for immediate consid- 

 eration and action the question of how to rescue trade and industry from 

 ruinous persecution by prosecutors, politicians and agitators generally. 



' TOoioiB^a<vlli;N;>tTOMJiti)iliWM!<t^^ 



B 101 — Seeks Saddle Seats 

 Xi'W York. (Jctober 14. — Kditor U.viniwooD Rec- 

 ord: We would be pleased to have you supply 

 us the names of manufacturers making oak and 

 birch saddle seats. 



We have supplied this inquirer with the 

 names of a few manufacturers of saddle 

 seats, and others interested in the inquiry, 

 which is from a large foreign chair manu- 

 facturer, can have the address on applica- 

 tion to B 101. — Editor. 



B-102 — Appreciates Hardwood Record's 

 ■Work 



St. Louis. Mo., October 11. — ICditor Hakuwood 

 KECord) : The' writer, wlio lias b<'en away, has 

 just noted with great pleasure the work you have 

 been doing In regard to the crusade against steel 

 in railway coaches and automobiles as against 

 poplar and b:trdwoods. 



We think this is a correct and logi<'al argu- 

 ment, and we wish to express our sincere appre- 

 ciation of your foresight in commencing the 

 work, which we hope will ultimately he success- 

 ful. We would like to have about rme hundred 

 copies of your articles, both In regard to the 

 Pennsylvania wreck and also with reference to 

 the automobile work. Kindly put In this order 

 for us and send us the bill, and we will be glad 

 to pay the same. 



TIIOM.VS 10. I'OWK Li;.MIIER COMP.iNV. 



B 103 — Inspection Work of National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association 

 President l)i(igiiis aiirl .Scirot.iry l''iHh of 

 the National Ilardwoofl I..unil)cr .\ssociatioa 

 have issued the following letter to mem- 

 bers on the sub.ject of the inspection work 

 of the association for September: 



Chicago, 111., October 17. I'.ill. 

 To the Membership : 



The month of September, 1911, shows the 

 largest official inspection of any month in the 

 history of this association, and this letter ought 

 to be printed in red. The enclosed statement 

 shows the amount inspected to have been 12.- 

 980.730 feet, which is greater hy 1,800,000 feet 

 than that for the same month in 1910, and 

 1,000,000 feet more than for last month. It 

 also exceeds that for April, 1910, our previous 

 red letter month, by 037,128 feet. 



Our Inspection Bureau is not only doing an In- 

 creased amount of work, but it appears to be in- 

 creasing in efficiency and ability to serve the 

 trade in a satisfactory manner as well. As 

 proof (if the tirst part of this statement, we wish 

 to remind you that this large Inspect inn was 

 secured during a period of dull trade, which In- 

 dicates that a larger percentage of the trade is 

 depending upon onr bureau than ever before, 

 and as about one-half of the work was done at 

 the mill end and one-half at the market end, the 

 spread of the Increased demand Is uniform. 



Anyone at all familiar with trade conditions 

 knows that there are more kicks on inspection 

 registered during a period of depressed trade 

 than when the demand Is brisk, yet the records 

 of our office show a decri'aslng number of com- 

 lilalnls month by month. Our chief Inspector Is 

 constantly I'xamlnlng applicants for positions, 

 and we are engaging additional luspectors as 

 rapidly as possible. Wc have stationed the fol- 

 lowing Inspectors since our last report : 



.1. Lit Rrannan, 4000 Seventh Jivenue, West 

 Xashvllle. reiiii.. In charge of Nashville, Tenn., 

 district . 



W. 11. Iteckner, GcnernI Delivery, Bristol, Vn- 

 Tenn.. In charge of the Bristol, Vn.-Tenn., dis- 

 trict. 



The attention nf ini'inliers Is also enllcd in the 



recent appointment of W. H. Long, at Norfolk, 

 Va.. whose address is 417 Kreeniason street. 



The Inspection Bureau shows a net protit to 

 the association tor the month of September. 1911. 

 iif .$304. 4.^, and since our September letter was 

 issued we have received nine applications for 

 nirnibcrshlp. making a total of lifty-two new 

 members since imr Mempliis convention. 



Supplementing this letter is a list of the 

 salaried inspectors, numbering twenty-three, 

 exclusive of the two new appointees, mak 

 ing twenty-five in all; and of the fee in- 

 spectors numbering fourteen. The salaried 

 inspectors lianilled :i little less than one- 

 half of the nearly thirteen million feet iu- 

 sjiected l)v the association iluring the montli 

 of Scpti'inlier. — KniToi!. 



B 104 — Wants Beech Squares 



Chicago. October 12.- iMlilor llAiuiwnuii Ri:(- 

 oun : Can you give me the niiines of a few mills 

 who are in position to get out 2x2-20 and 31- 

 incli clear bei'cb squares'^ 



'I'liis letter is from a well-known Chicago 

 .iobber, and he has been supplied with the 

 names and addresses of several beech dimen- 

 sion producers. Any others who would like 

 to figure on the iiu|uiry can have the a<ldress 

 by writing and referring to li 104. — Kditor. 



B 105 — Has Record's Approval 



Tacoma, Wash., October (1. Kditor I1aki>wiiiid 

 Record : The West Coast Lumberman will sug- 

 gest In Its Issue of Oct. 1,5 that exactly niiiety- 

 nnie days, nine hours and nine minutes after tin' 

 nineteenth anniversary of the order IIoo Iloo. 

 that we Iloo-lloo Individually, declare lloolloo 

 <lead : and will suggest also that whatever funds 

 are left In the treasury bo used for furnishing 

 each member with a badge or token of some Utnd 

 to hang In his office. I hojie you will agn-i' 

 that this Is Ibr proprr thing to do. 



West Coast Lti,MhEiiMAN. 

 Frank B. Cole. Editor. 



