12 



THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



prices of hardwood hnnber must be up- 

 ward ruther tlinii downward. 



Aiiolhcr stroiij; fcaturo in tlio hardwo id 

 .situation is that tlu- stuiupaKt' of the coun- 

 try is iri'tting into tlio hands of capitalists, 

 wlio. it tlipy cannot set the prices they con- 

 sider ailecinate. will simply hold until they 

 can. 



On tlie wliole, tlie hardwood situation is 

 verj- strolls and we see no reason why it 

 sli; Tild not continue so. 



A FUSING OF THE ELEMENTS. 



The micliii:; uf tlic .Xalioiial Hardwood 

 Lunilicr .\ssociatinii. lield at St. Louis on 

 .May 1.') and ](".. was the most satisfac- 

 tory nieetins of the hardwood trade ever 

 held. The attendance was no larger than 

 at some ntlier conventions, the interest 

 manifested no greater, but the results were 

 what ndfiht be called the ripened fruit of 

 the tree of organization. 



As for attendance, it seems tliat the limit 

 has probably lioen reached. It seems that 

 with the utmost effort somewhere between 

 :',ii(l :ind Inn members of tlie hardwood 

 trade are aliout as many as can be gotten 

 together. It is probable that the attend- 

 ance at the Chicago meeting a year ago was 

 sliglitly larger than tlie attenibmce at St. 

 Louis, this probably being due to the fact 

 that Clncago is more centrally lo- 

 cateil in tlie hardwood district and is 

 more I'.isily .-iccessible. Anyhow, it seems 

 that from varimis causes not many more 

 than .'iOll liardwood biiiibermen can be got- 

 ten togetlier at niic time. 



.\s for tile interest taken, eacli niei'ting 

 of tlie association lias shown an ammiiit 

 of alertness and entlinsiasm on tlie part 

 of the i)arti<'ipaiits which could not lie 

 much improved upon, and that is one fea- 

 ture which distinguishes the National 

 Hardwood Lumlier Association from any 

 other lumber <irganizatioii of wliich we 

 li:i\-e any knowledge. 



The ditTerenco between tlie interest man- 

 ifested in the meeting of the National 

 ft'holesale Dealers' Association held in 

 Chicago in March, and that manifested at 

 the St. Louis meeting of the hardwood 

 Iraile was very slrikhig. In tlie meeting 

 of llie Whidesale Dealers' .\ssociation, 

 everytliing seemed more or less cut an,l 

 dried, its jiolicies seemed settled and its 

 aflairs managed by a few men. Well 

 managed it is true and everything harmon- 

 ious, but there was a lack of tliat frei'dom 

 of assertion ;inil spirit of individuality 

 which ]irevailed at the St. Louis meeting. 



.\t SI. Louis every man had his own 

 ideas and didn't hesitate to e.\press them, 

 but witlial a spirit of fairness and willing- 

 ness to submit to the decision of the ma- 

 .iority w;is verj- pronounced. 



This spirit was esjiecially inarkofl among 

 those who had attended former conven- 

 tions. There were a few whose faces wer(> 

 new in the association, who seemed highly 

 offended that all they asked was not 

 granted them at once and that their will 

 was not allowed to dominate the proceed- 



ing«. Those who had been in regidar at- 

 tentlance at the meetings and who had 

 worked hard to bring harmony out of many 

 coiitlicting views and order out of chaos, 

 Mho had .sacrificed most and made the 

 greatest efforts were the fairest men there. 

 It would seem that sensible men wmdd ap- 

 preciate the difficulties under whicli the 

 Xatioiml association has labored and 

 would not e-xpect to come in to the first 

 convention they had attended and have the 

 ;issociation set aside the work which it 

 bad taken years to build up and sulistitute 

 tliat which had scarcely been considered. 

 Tliat these people went away dissatisfied 

 is not surprising, and that they will thiiUc 

 better of it later we are sure. 



The work of the revision committee at 

 the St. Louis meeting was of such a char- 

 acter and conducted in such a spirit that 

 the National association has cause to lie 

 liroud of the committee; and that that 

 work was accepted by the association al- 

 most without change brings the association 

 up to tlie level of the committee and gives 

 if cause to lie proud of itself. 



At the St. I.,ouis meeting of the revision 

 committee all pre.pidices and narrowness 

 was laid aside, and a set of rules, designed 

 to be ••ibsolufely fair to all sections of the 

 trade, was rejiorted to the convention. The 

 lines of demarkation between dealers and 

 11111 nufacturers were entirely wiped out 

 and the committee, casting all restraint 

 aside, worked with but one end in view — to 

 liroduce a fair, reasonable and ijractical set 

 of rules. In this work they were sustained 

 liy I he convention and tlie result, when the 

 wiirk is completed in the secretary's office, 

 will be a set of inspection rules with which 

 none but the most unreasonable critic can 

 nnd fault. 



We believe that the iireseiit set of in- 

 spectiuii rules, whicli tlie secretary in- 

 forms us «i!l be ready for distribution 

 about file middle of June, will be as near 

 to perfection as it is possible to attain. 



They will be the best set of inspection 

 rules the hardwood lumlier trade has ever 

 known. The National association has 

 been growing up to those rules ever since 

 it was organized. Such a set of nilep 

 would have been alisolutely impossible a 

 year ago even. Little by little the preju- 

 dice and class feeling have melted away 

 and at last we believe the hardwood trade 

 will be satisfied with the rules of the Na- 

 tiiimil association and will nut ask for fur- 

 tlicr change. 



In the light of tlie present rules it is 

 curious to remember that it was only a 

 yc.-ir .ago that the Indiana delegation came 

 to Chicago, asking for some modifications 

 in lli<> insiiection rules and what a storm 

 it catised. The hardwood trade should 

 now forget about the in.spection rules. 



It should close the rule question for good 

 of all. It may be that in the course of 

 years some modifications will be neces- 

 sary, but we predict that this will be the 

 last general revision of the inspection rides 

 in many years. 



With tlie question of rules out of the 

 way, the work of the inspection bm-eau 

 really begins. So long as the trade was 

 not generally satisfied with the inspection 

 rules the inspection bureau labored under 

 a heavy handicap. The buyer might be 

 satisfied with the rules, but if the seller 

 was not. the inspection bureau could not 

 gi't tlu^ work, and vice versa. With a set 

 of rules with wliicli the trade is satisfied 

 there is no reason wliy the bulk of hard- 

 wood lumber should not be inspected by 

 national inspection. In fact, there is 

 every rea.son why it should be. and already 

 since the St. Louis meeting, Surveyor- 

 (ieueral Wall informs us that his depart- 

 ment is nearly overwhelmed by requests 

 fur inspectors and to have worlv done under 

 the supervision of the inspection bureau. 

 It is now only a question of expanding his 

 capacit.v for handling the work to keep 

 pace with the demand. With a set of in- 

 spection rules upon which the trade is will- 

 ing to do business, the tremendous advan- 

 tage of having those rules applied by a 

 bonded inspector, doing away with all con- 

 troversy between buyer and seller becomes 

 so ap]>arent that the tremendous success 

 of the inspection bureati is already as- 

 sured. 



The inspection bureau and those who are 

 inumoting it have had a pretty hard tiiue, 

 for a work of tliat kind, meaning practi- 

 cally a revolution in old methods of doing 

 busiuei-s, is not easy to accomplish: and we 

 trust the trade will not forget the unselfish 

 efforts that such men as Messrs. Wall, 

 Smith. Thompson and others have put 

 forth to bring this matter to a success. 

 We can remember when abotit the l>est 

 thing the trade said of tliem was that they 

 were CTazy. 



With the inspection matter practically 

 out of the mail, the association had room 

 for other work and they wisely took up 

 tlie matter which next to inspection lies 

 closest to the interests of the hard- 

 wood trade, the matter of freights. If the 

 National association was able to solve the 

 inspection problem, vJhy may it not solve 

 the freight problem'/ It is well known to 

 the trade and has been well known for 

 years that lumber pays more than its 

 share of freight. The new committee is 

 comi)osed of some of the best men in the 

 association, Init men who have not been 

 largely identified in the solution of the in- 

 siiection question. It is well that it is so, 

 for tliose who have solved the inspection 

 problem have done their share. Tliey have 

 set the railroad committee a good example 

 and have established a high standard. Let 

 the railroad committee do its work as well. 

 It is a work well worthy of the able and 

 energetic Mr. Russe and his able and ener- 

 igetic associates. Let them bear in mind 

 that the inspection bureau was established 

 without any financial assistance from the 

 association, the first inspection bureau 

 committee which was apjiointed accepting 

 the undertaking and agreeing to entail "no 

 financial obligation upon the association." 



