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Veneer Men in Conference 



The annual meeting of the National Veneer & Panel Manufac- 

 turers' Association was held at the Aui-litorium hotel on Tuesday and 

 Wednesday, December 12 and 13. Incident to the meeting were sev- 

 eral conferences of rotary cutting and jianel clubs, that are allied 

 with the organization. The meeting was well attended, and great 

 interest was manifested in the various papers read, and the discus- 

 sions concerning them that ensued. The principal subject under 

 analysis at this meeting, agreeable to previous arrangement, was the 

 matter of cost accounting in veneer and panel production, and it was 

 thoroughly thrashed out. The various papers read at the meeting 

 find a separate place under distinct headings in this issue of Habd- 

 wooD Record. 



Owing to the unavoidable absence of President P. B. Raymond of 

 Knoxville, the various meetings were presided over by First Vice- 

 President C. T. Jarrell of Humboldt, Tenn. 



President Raymond submitted the following address: 

 The President's Address 



One of the pleasures that a man has in his lifetime is to address bis 

 fellowmen in the same line of business. This occurrence does not 

 always come to all of us, but among the veneer men, it comes to the 

 most of us, because there are sp few of us. 



I am still of Ihe opinion that the association should take some interest 

 in the cou.servatiou of the fiircsts. which are fast going to waste and in a 

 few years our supply will be exhausted. Laws should be passed protect- 

 ing our timber. Especially, the small trees of today should be left to 

 grow for future use. and for everj' tree that is cut down, another should 

 be planted in its place. In this manner, our timber supply will last 

 many years longer. 



Why should our average price be lower than it was fifteen years ago? 

 But such Is the fact. Timber is scarcer, timber is higher and timber is 

 poorer. Labor is higher, machinery is higher and everything that we 

 have to do with, but our selling price liecps on going down. Where 

 in the veneer business is a Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Gould, Pullman, or 

 even a man of medium millions? 



Last year I called your attention to our code of ethics. It was made 

 for the timber business and not for the veneer business. I would 

 recommend that it be corrected to apply to our business and that our 

 terms should be two per cent oSE for cash in ten days, thirty days net 

 from date on invoice. Xot sixty, ninety or one hundred and twenty days 

 as is now being allowed and in some instances that I know of, two per 

 cent off in one hundred and twenty days. We have to pay cash for our 

 labor and everything that we buy, and in some instances pay for our 

 logs six months before we get them cut up. Then why should we be com- 

 pelled to wait an unreasonable length of time for our remittance? 



The association has certainly done a great deal of good for the business 

 and there is more that it can do. and I feel it the duty of every member 



\ '^^^^^ ^^^^^fUKKm 



f. T. J.\RRELL, HUMBOLDT, TEXN., 

 I'RESIDENT. 



A. E. GORHAM, MT, PLEASANT. .MICU., 

 VICE-PRESIDENT. 



C. IT. BARXABY. GREEXCASTLE IXD., 

 VICE-PRESIDENT 



I lirst want to call your attention to the general need of co-operation 

 in this business. It is strange to me that men in this business will 

 not follow general business rules as are followed in other lines. For 

 instance, in the steel and iron industries, in cereals, in tobacco, in oils, 

 in banks and in railroads, and in fact, almost any other line but the 

 veneer business. Other lines try to see how large a dividend they can 

 pay, while in the veneer business, it seems to be just the opposite — how 

 small a dividend they can pay. This is caused by several things. 



First — In the lack of interest in a cost system. 



Second — In trying to see how much cheaper we can sell than our 

 competitors. 



Third — In trying to make the stock better than the grade sold calls for. 



I<"ourth — In trying to see how much more we can pay for our logs than 

 our competiiors, and several other things too numerous to mention. 

 All this could be done away with through co-operation and these things 

 should all be taken up by the difCerent clubs and straightened out and a 

 one-price system inauguratstd for stock of the same kind and grade, 

 no difference where it is made. 



A little over a year ago we published an inspection and credit book. 

 This was done by co-operation and co-operation should have issued addi- 

 tions to this book, but interest seemed to lag and nothing more was 

 done. Why can't we have this valuable book kept up, with monthly 

 additions to it? We pay from .$50 to $73 a year to publishers for others 

 books for this very information and then we do not get information that 

 our credit and inspection experience book gave us. 



of the association to take interest and sec that our association is 

 srengthened. 



Secretary-Treasurer Defebaugh made a spirited address urging a 

 general overhauling of methods of doing business in the veneer and 

 panel industry, with a view to putting the business on a better pay- 

 ing basis. He argued that the only reason for the unsatisfactory 

 status of the industry at the present time was owing to the lack of 

 information, co-operation, mutual contidence and nerve on the part 

 of those engaged in it. 



As treasurer Mr. Defebaugh made a report showing the association 

 to be in a good financial condition. 



The result of the discussion on a cost system was the appointment 

 of a committee to carefully analyze the suggestions submitted in the 

 several papers that were presented, and to report at the next semi- 

 annual meeting a basis for a uniform cost system for the use of all 

 manufacturers. This committee consisted of A. E. Gorham, chair- 

 man; E. W. Benjamin, H. E. Kline, R. C. Dayton and H. S. Willson. 



In conformity with the suggestions made by President Raymond, 

 on motion, section 6 of the Code of Ethics, referring to Terms of 

 Sale, was changed to read: "two per cent discount in ten days, 

 thirty days net. ' ' 



