THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



13 



National Hardwood Lumber Association. 



Fifth annual meeting held in St. Louis — Revision and modification of Inspection Rules 

 agreed upon — luspectfon Bureau progress— Election of officers. 



THURSDAY MORNING SESSION. 



The fifth anuual meeting of the National 

 Hardwood Lumber Association couvenud 

 at the Southern Hotel in St. Louis on May 

 15 and was called to order at 10 a. m. 

 b.v President F. H. Smith. 



A brief but cordial address of welcome 

 was extended by President Smith in be- 

 half of the St. Louis lumbermen, after 

 which the convention proceeded to busi- 

 ness. 



The roll call .showed that every section. 

 of the country was represented, as well as 

 all Interests in the hardwood lumber indus- 

 try. 



After roll call President F. H. Smith 

 read the following address: 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



St. Louis, Mo., May 15, 1902. 

 To the Members of the National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association, in convention as- 

 sembled. 



Gentlemen: — The past year has been one 

 of vital interest to our association. Since 

 our last convention a widespread interest 

 has been manifested in our work, and our 

 membership has been largely increased. We 

 now have nearly si.x hundred members en- 

 rolled and daily applications are rapidly 

 augmenting our ranks. It is a matter of 

 great pleasure to announce, at this, our 

 fifth annual convention, that we have 

 passed the experimental stage and have 

 reached the point where it can be asserted 

 that success may no longer be doubted. 

 Through trial and vicissitude, against ob- 

 .iection and adverse criticism, our organi- 

 zation ha's gone steadfastly forward, and 

 tlie unswerving, faithful members are now 

 permitted to realize the fruition of tlieir 

 labors. To us who have fostered this as- 

 sociation from its inception. It is a proud 

 moment when we can look back and ti'ace 

 its growth from an organization of doubted 

 utility and questioned merit to one of posi- 

 tive power and unquestioned influence in 

 the business world. 



Shortly after the last convention an un- 

 dercurrent of sectional pre.iudice was de- 

 veloped. Meetings were held in different 

 parts of the eountiT find rules were for- 

 mulated to subserve the Interest of these 

 particular sections, which, in their general 

 trend, were antagonistic to those of the 

 Xational association. Your presiding offi- 

 cer was invited to attend these meetings 

 and to hear these rules read and discussed. 

 Through the efforts of your executive com- 

 mittee precipitate action on these rules was 

 stayed, and they were much encouraged to 

 obtain a postponement until the proposed 

 rules and changes should be submitted to 

 this convention. These meetings are not 

 to be considered as discouraging, but rather 

 as an evidence of the fact that a united 

 attempt is being made to establish uni- 

 versal inspection on a sound and enduring 

 basis. 



When this association was started, com- 

 paratively few of the larger dealers and 

 manufacturers were present, and in the 

 minds of many of these universal inspec- 

 tion was thought to be an impossible prop- 



osition. The general discussion of the past 

 year goes to show that it is nut only possi- 

 ble, but entirely practicable and desirable, 

 and through the work of our national bu- 

 reau of inspection it has been practically 

 consummated. This bureau is now in a 

 flourishing condition and is measuring large 

 quantities of lumber in all parts of the 

 country and is giving satisfaction. In fact, 

 it has "rendered it easy and safe to do busi- 

 ness in widely separated sections— a condi- 

 tion that has not heretofore existed. The 

 bureau was established the latter part of 

 1900 with ten inspectors. It now has 31 

 regularly bonded and licensed men,. who 

 are doing their utmost to demonstrate the 

 feasibility of the bureau; and the result 

 of their efforts thus far nas shown that 

 it is feasible and that it is working a great 

 benefit to the association. I cannot say 



rules, how were we going to apply them? 

 The answer to this, gentlemen, is through 

 this bureau. 



Now, as to changes in the rules that may 

 be ijroposed to-day, or during this conven- 

 tion. It seems to me there would be a 

 lack of propriety for a local association, 

 say in Louisiana, to endeavor to establish 

 rules for the inspection of maple produced 

 in tlie North; and it would likewise be in- 

 consistent for any other section to make 

 rules for the inspection of lumber that it 

 does not manufacture. One serious ques- 

 tion that presented itself to your commit- 

 tee three years ago was that of the Inspec- 

 tion of yellow pine and cypress, and they 

 disposed of that question by adopting the 

 rules of the YeUow Pine Association and 

 the Cypress Association. I think It would 

 be wise for this association to give serious 



FKANKLI.X H. SMITH, Eii-KLECTED PRESIDENT. 



too much to urge the members of this as- 

 sociation to use this bureau as often as 

 they possibly can. It needs your support 

 and deserves it. The surveyor-general and 

 his corps of able assistants are giving a 

 great deal of their time to its furtherance, 

 and they are entitled to a gi-eat amount of 

 commendation for the work they have 

 done. Men who were skeptical as to the 

 workings of this bureau now confess to 

 me that we are on the right track, and 

 assure me that they wdl support it in fu- 

 ture. Universal inspection has only made 

 the progress it has through the application 

 of the rules by this bureau. The question 

 was raised at Cincinnati, at the time of 

 our second convention, that now we had 



consideration to any set of rules that may 

 be brought forward by any association or 

 section producing the greatest amount of 

 the lumber in question. There is only one 

 kind of wcod that is likely to cause trou- 

 ble in the formulation of rules, and that is 

 oak. The ideas of the southern manufac- 

 turer as to the proper provisions of these 

 rules are apt to clash with those of the 

 northern producers. But these incongrui- 

 ties have hitherto been overcome by the 

 revision committee, and I have no doubt 

 that this matter will be disposed of by that 

 committee in the same just and equitable 

 manner that has heretofore characterized 

 their work. 



I take is for gi-anted that men who rep- 



