24 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



in orders now booked; and that an estimate be obtaineil as to tin- 

 quantity of the 1912 output. It was further suggested that the 

 prices being obtained by various participants in this movement 

 be secured and incorporated with this information. 



On motion, the National Wholesale Lumber Dealers ' Associa- 

 tion, an independent organization not affiliated with either of the 

 national hardwood organizations, through its secretary, was asked 

 to secure, collate and distribute this information to the various 

 oak and chestnut dealers participating in supplying it. It was 

 urged that every oak and chestnut manufacturer in the country 

 be asked to give this data. 



E. F. Ferry, secretary of the National Wholesale Lumber Deal- 

 ers' Association, accepted the task assigned him, and therefore 

 will make the attempt to secure, compile and distribute the in 

 formation. Those familiar with the task of gathering statistics of 

 this sort must at once recognize that Mr. Perry has a very arduous 

 task ahead of him, but with his thorough going methods he will 

 very likely secure a mass of information that will be of no in- 

 considerable value to the producers of these two woods. 



Beyond question the net result will be very incomplete, but the 

 information will make a base for an estimate that should prove 

 of much value. 



Universal Hardwood In- 

 spection 



Away back yonder in the old 

 days of controversy between 

 the hard money and greenback 

 elements, there was a current 

 anecdote about an old darkey 

 in the South-country being 

 questioned as to his opinion of 

 the money question, and es- 

 pecially his preference as to 

 hard, money or green backs. 



The old fellow scratched his 

 woolly head a moment, and re 

 plied: "No sah, boss, T doan 

 know much about this heah 

 money question, and 1 doan 

 cyar whether we has soft money 

 or ha 'd money, but there am 

 one thing right sho' with this 

 heah nigger, that he does want 

 the question settled, coz he am 

 plumb tired of bein ' broke. ' ' 



A,t the meeting last week ot the Hardwood Manufacturers' 

 .\ssociation at Cincinnati, at which were present prominent speak- 

 ers not only representing the association itself, but from prac- 

 tically every other association and unassociated interest in the 

 hardwood industry, there was a remarkable unanimity of opinion, 

 that the one essential thing for the betterment of hardwood con- 

 ditions was the establishment of a single basic standard of hard- 

 wood inspection. 



Every man seemed to be of the opinion of the old darkey, that 

 he did not give a rai> what kind of an inspection it was, but he 

 wanted the question settled, because he was tired of being broke. 



Lumber Trade Conditions Abroad 



HabDWOOI) KK'dicii IS \n rcrcipt ni :i lir.nhii tri>iii llii' Depart- 

 ment of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of .Manufactures, Wash- 

 ington, D. C, announcing that one Emil I'. Meeker has been ap 

 pointed commercial agent of the Department of Commerce and 

 Labor, to make investigations with respect to trade conditions in 

 the lumber industry in foreign countries. It says that Mr. Seeker 

 will make certain prcdiminary investigations in the TTnited States 

 covering a period of about six weeks, with a view to securing in 

 formation which will aid in his investigations abroad; that he has 

 been authorized to visit Haltimore, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, 

 Wausau, Wis., St. Louis. Memphis Jind .Vcw (Irlrans. tn coiirrr 



K\)t HouisibiUe Harbtpoob Club 



tmiitrs i|mi tu attntb tlir 

 amutal rnnuntlinu nf ll]r 



National liliialpHalr ICumbrr Sralrrs* 

 AsHoriattott 



ml}xt\) ttrtll be l]rlb at tljr 



^rflbarl) ^attl, ICouiBittUr. IKpttturkg 



(On Brlinrsiiay anii (TbitrabaH. 

 Harrb fi anb 7. 1312 



with trade organizations and others interested in the trade in 

 (juestion; and that after these preliminary investigations are com 

 pleted, Mr. Seeker will go abroad, and his report will be published 

 by the Bureau of Manufactures. 



Without any disrespect to the good intentions of the Department 

 of Commerce and Labor, or without impugning the ability of Mr. 

 Seeker to investigate and report upon the lumber conditions that he 

 finds abroad, it is certain in the mind of practically every man in- 

 terested in the exportation of American lumber that the one thing 

 that he does not want done is this proposed pilgrinuige of the em- 

 issary to foreign lands, and the miscellaneous luildication of the in- 

 formation he acquires to the trade at large. 



The legitimate lumber exporters of the United States have spent 

 hundreds of thousands of dollars in acquiring the information that 

 Mr. Seeker is being sent forth to gather, and as a result of this ex- 

 penditure, they have established close commercial relations with the 

 majority of legitimate handlers of American lumber abroad. Very 

 few exporters have ever grown rich in this trade, but it is a calling 

 that requires long experience, close study, diplomacy, and an ac- 

 curate knowledge of a more diversified character than has ever 

 been realized in the handling of lumber at home. If, by any pos- 

 sible chance, there were an op- 

 portunity to broaden this field 

 of distribution, the present 

 loterie of American hard and 

 soft wood exporters would know 

 how to accomplish it. They do 

 not. 



The foreign lumber trade is 

 a comparativelj' limited one, 

 and unless the government of 

 the United States, through its 

 Department of Commerce and 

 Labor, wants to absolutely de- 

 moralize the present fairly sa- 

 tisfactory export himber trade 

 of the country, it had better 

 employ Mr. Seeker on some 

 other job. 



The bane of the foreign lum- 

 liiT liusiness is the consignment 

 evil, and just so sure as the De- 

 partment of Commerce and La- 

 bor, through its Bureau of 

 Manufactures, turns loose a 

 specific report of names, address- 

 es, uses and general conditions of lumber abroad, that may be dis- 

 covered by an investigator, so sure will the consignment evil be 

 multiplied, and the export lumber business of this country be ab 

 solutely put to ruin. If there is any influence that can be brought 

 to bear on the Department of Commerce and Labor, let it be 

 urged not only by every exporter, but by other lumber uianufac- 

 turers, to keeii Mr. Seeker on this side of the .\flanfic. 



New President Hardwood Manufacturers' 

 Association 



In the selection of \V. K. IJeljaney of the Kentucky Lumber 

 Company, Cincinnati, as president of the Hardwood Manufac- 

 turers' .-Vssociatiou of the United States, at its meeting last week, 

 the organization exhiliited the best possible judgment. 



Trimarily, Mr. Delyaney is a lnud)erman — not an academic lum- 

 lierman — but a real, geniiiiics Simon jiure lumberman, who com- 

 menced work at the bottom of the ladder and has gained the prac- 

 tical experience of every phase of the hardwood game from the 

 stump to the consumer, by dint of lianl work and hard knocks. 

 He is thoroughly democnitic, and is as a))))roachablc as a corner 

 policeman, .\fter five minutes' acijuaintance the man who doesn't 

 (■•■ill W. K. DeLaney "Bill" is not doing the right thing. 



Mr. Del,anev is not gi\'(»n tct snphistry or evasion, but is a 

 straiL'li'. mil and nul ni;ni, l(i\:il nut onlv to his friends but to the 



