34 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



reference to a firm that you all know, namely. Sears. Roebuck & Co. I 

 know that they arc pretty generally dislikert. but they are a very promis- 

 ing concern. They do not have any .'Jalcsmen. gentlemen, they advertise 

 here. They educate the people by going to them through printed matter. 



Xow the use of cement possibly does not interest you gentlemen quite 

 as largely as it docs the structural men. but I want to give you just a 

 few figures just to show you the gradual but effective work of the 

 cement people. The I.ong-Bell Lumber Comiiany has about one bun ire.l 

 and fifty retail yards. It is a very large manufacturer of lumber. It 

 does not manufacture cement. I want you to think of that while I read 

 you these figures of its business covering one hundred and fifty yards. 

 In 190.") it sold 1 carload of cement to 10 carloads of lumber; in inor, 

 it sold 1 carload of cement to !1 carloads of lumber : in 1908 it sold 1 

 carload of cement to G carloads of lumber : in 1909 it sold 1 carload of 

 cement to .'J carloads of lumber; in 1910 it sold a carload of cement to 

 every 4% carloads of lumber; in i:iU it sold 1 carload of cement to 

 3 110 carloads of lumber. 



There will be a cement exhibition held in Madison Square, New York, 

 at a cost of over SIOO.OOO. That is what they will spend on one exhi- 

 bition. In Chicago, from February 21-28 they have another; in Kansas 

 City on March 14-21 another; in Sioux City, lowu, .Inne 10-12 an 

 other: and in Omaha. Nebraska. February G-9. another. Do not forget, 

 gentlemen, that that cement exhibition of .$100,000 in New York costs 

 S25.000 more than we arc spending in a year now ; and the cement pro- 

 duction of the United States last year was 80,000.000 barrels. Eighty 

 million barrels at Sl.oO per barrel, is S120,000.000. isn't it? They are 

 spending three or four hundred thousand dollars a year on a $120,000,000 

 product. Our product amounts, according to the government statistics, 

 to about .?700.000,000 annually, and we arc spending $75,000 to exploit 

 our whole business. "The Lord helps those that help themselves." 



Xow after we have secured from the various associations of the 

 .National aid necessary, we expect to go to every lumberman and timber 

 owner in the United States. We h,ive approached quite a number of 

 them, and they have expressed their willingness to help us In our adver- 

 tising campaign both with their influence and with their money. 



You gentlemen have .seen investigated only recently the American To- 

 bacco Company, of which it was proved that it absolutely controlled 

 eighty or ninety per cent of the entire tobacco products of the United 

 States. If that company sees now the necessity of a campaign of adver- 

 tising, it is logical that an industry that docs not control anything — does 

 not control itself very well in the matter of prices — ought lo do some 

 thing to .get the public to use its material. 



We have never taken the public into our confidence. When we read 

 an article in a paper saying that we are "timber thieves." what do we 

 do? Why. a great many of us read that paper in our private offices 



and sav. "that isn't so, it is a d d lie", and that is all we ever do 



about it. We have never told anybody else but ourselves that it Is not 

 so. and w= just take it for granted that the public at large are Christian 

 Scientists or h.vpnotists. or Mental Theosophists. or whatever you call 

 them and that they can read what is going on in our minds. Now that 

 is not the case, gentlemen. We must follow the same line that is laid 

 ilown for us b.v successful men. 



There Is one point that I would like to talk to you aljoul In con- 

 clusion, and that is this: This campaign of advertising is going to 

 bring up innumerable subjects that .vou people are not familiar with. 

 Wc found that out in the cypress campaign. We have liad to learn a 

 lot of things about our own wood In order to answer the questions that 

 the public have asked of us. I will give you an instance. We received a 

 letter from a man here three or four months ago. who said "I have tried 

 "very kind of wood, I have tried every kind of commercial metal that 

 f.uld be gotten at a reasonable price to make a l)acking for my photo 

 . ngraved plates, and I cannot find anything that nitric acid does not eat 

 out In two or three weeks. Now I have been reading .vour advertisement 

 and it has struck mc that possibly cypress might be of some value." 



Wc sent him some cypress and told him to put it in his tank, that that 

 would be the best way to try it, and see what the nitric acid would do 

 to it. We got a letter back from him in a month sending some of the 

 cypress back, and telling us that it was the only thing (hat would stand 

 nitric acid. That was .something that we had not known before. We 

 are selling it today to the muriatic acid people. We are Introducing it 

 also among the people who use sulphuric acid. In other words, there 

 are thousands of dltferent uses for lumlier which the lumberman doesn't 

 know anything about, and which, once a campaign of advertising is 

 started, will be brought to light. It will bring with It logically a scien- 

 tific attachment to our bureau. The first thing that we will try to do 

 In that department Is to help a class of lumbermen that you people are 

 not in any way interested in. namel.v, the shingle people. 



The shingle people are particularly subject to attack. Nobody can 

 deny the argument that the shingle roof does present an opportunity for 

 fire. I took the matter up with Dr. Herman von Schrenk recently, and 

 1 got this letter from him: 



Ifefirrlng lo vours of .fnnuary 2nd concerning the fire-proofing of 

 shlngb'S. and referring to our discussion of this question, as I Indicated to 

 you nt that time. I helii've Ihat Ihe criticism of wooden shingles, because 

 'of their non-rislstlnp qualllleH. Is apt to increase rather Iban decrease. 

 Som" InvesllL-atlon shriuld be made, conducted towards perfccllng some 

 I»roi"^s which could be economically apidled. preferably at Ihi' mills. 

 whiTiiiy wooden shingles would be rendered more or less fire proof. Fire 

 proofing of fabrics has been carried on for a long time, and I see iibso- 

 lutcly no reason why some cheap process could not be devised applicable lo 



shingles. It seems to me Ihat a line of research of this character is one 

 which should be undertaken by the lumber trade as a whole. It would be 

 one method for meeting a class of public opinion which will have to be 

 met. and will have lo be met in the very near future. 



You can see by Ibis report, gentlemen, that this is an opening to be 

 filled : but nothing can be done without the use of dollars and cents. 



I don't know, but I think that the committee has found out that they 

 have undertaken quite a Job. We went into it with the best intention, 

 .ind 1 can speak candidly for m.\ self, and I know I can for Mr. Luehr 

 mann and Mr. Rhodes — the other two gentlemen have been added lately- - 

 I can tell you and tell you truthfully, that this campaign for the educa- 

 tion of the consuming public is a vital necessity to the lumber people. II 

 is an absolute necessity. If any one of you gentlemen were to take it 

 upon yourself to carry on an investigation upon your own hook, it would 

 not be one mouth before you would be just as much stirred up and just 

 as enthusiastic upon the necessity for this campaign as any lumberman 

 on the committee. 



President Townsend suggeste<l that if there were any lumber 

 producer present who ^as not in accord with the proposed move- 

 ment, who had anything to say on the negative side of the ques- 

 tion, he would be given five minutes' time to be heard. 



W. A. Gilchrist of Memphis, suggested that the matter of draft- 

 ing resolutions on the sub.jcet be referred to the secretary endors- 

 ing this proposition, and authorizing the officers of the associa- 

 tion to support the National association in the campaign, and 

 that an assessment of one cent per thousand feet be levied upon 

 the lumber production of members of the Manufacturers' asso- 

 ciation to supply a fund. 



S. A, Williams of the Williams Lumber t'ompau.y, Fayette- 

 ville, Tenn., suggested that the secretary, in making out bills for 

 dues, make them at six cents per thousand feet in place of five cents 

 as bad been done in the past. A motion to that end was carried. 



After an announcement of the various standing committees of 

 the association was made, the meeting adjourned. 

 WEDNESDAY'S SESSION 



Owing to the fact, that the committees were not ready to re 

 port, no Wednesday morning session was held. 



The third session was therefore held beginning at 2:30 Wednes- 

 day afternoon. 



On behalf of the grading committee. Chairman E, H, Vansant 

 made a brief xerbal report in which a few minor changes in grad- 

 ing rules were suggested. There were no changes suggested ex- 

 cept of the most conservative character. 



It was announced that tlie text of the proposed changes if 

 endorsed, would be mailed to all members before being printed as 

 part of the rules. 



Following came various routine committee reports, and the 

 secretary read sundry communications involving invitations to 

 the association for its next annual convention, etc. 



Manager Bronson delivered an invitation to members to at- 

 tend the next annual meeting of the National Lumber Manu- 

 facturers' Association to be held at the Hotel Sinton, Cincinnati, 

 on May 7-9, 1912. 



Address of Assistant Chief Forester 



W. B. Greele.y, as.sistant chief forester of the TTnited States, was 

 then introduced and made an admirable address, of wliicli the 

 following is the text: 



It was wilh a great deal of regrel that Ihe chief of the Forest Servlc. 

 Mr. ITcnry .S. Graves, found at the last minute that he would be tmable 

 lo attend your convention as he had been planning lo do for several 

 weeks. It was only the pressure of business of a very urgent character 

 on the raclllc coast Ihat prevented Mr. Graves from being here today. 



In Ills absence I will present In behalf of the Forest Service a few 

 things which we believe may be of interest to this assoelaUon, So much 

 Is being said these days on forestry as a general proposition that I have 

 felt It would be worth while to confine my remarks lo specific points which 

 may be of special interest to hardwood manufacturers. 



Out In California a few weeks ago a sale of timber was niadr from a 

 iract of railroad land which had previously been twice cut over since 

 Ihe luniberlng business In Ibnt portion of the state began. Threi* dlstlnel 

 sales of stumiiage have br'cn made from this properly, at Intervals of 

 a number of years, each Including all the timber which Ihe purchaser 

 al Ihat time was willing to cut. ,\nd the significant fact Is that the 

 proceeds from Ihe third sale were greater than those from the first. 



Similar Instances arc dotfijtiess fandllar to every hardwood lumberman. 

 They suggest Ihe possibility of shaping Ihe business so as to make lln- 

 most out of Ihe ojieration of certain natural laws which stand ready lo 

 our hands, lo be useil. The first aiul greatest of these Is Ihe productive 



