14 



THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



The Hardwood Manufacturers of the United States. 



A NEW ORGANIZATION. 



.V iii-fliiuiiuiry UKH'tuij; for tlio purpose 

 ol' (ir^Mui/.iiig au association to inelude all 

 tin- inainifai'turery of lianhvootl lumber in 

 tlie I'nitcd States was lieUl iu St. I,ouis 

 in eounection with the meeting of tlie 

 .V.itional Hardft-ocil Lumber Association 

 anil was largely attended'. The meeting 

 was only preliminary, however, and as the 

 constitution and by-laws adopted are sub- 

 ject to revision by the lirst regular meet- 

 ing, to be held at Louisville, Ky., on June 

 3, we do not publish them. 



Following is the call for the Louisville 

 meeting: 



CALL FOR THE MEETING. 



Kcing a manufacturer of hardwood luni- 

 lier. you are interested in any movement 

 lo()l<ing to the betterment of conditions now 

 lacing tin' manulacturer. 



For twehe years the manufacturers of 

 yellow pine have had a compact organiza- 

 tion, witii a ceU'tral ottice in St. LiiUis for 

 the di.ssemiiuition of statistics and valuable 

 infornmtiim. It has been worth during 

 this time huudnnls of thousands ot dollars 

 to tlie iieople who manufacture this wood. 



On .\pi-il IS, 1W^, at Le.\ington. Ky., 

 tlie nianufacturcrs of yell.jw poplar or- 

 ganized a similar association, and are imw 

 getting it down to a worlviug bai:'is. It 

 lias already lieen of vast benefit to the 

 poplar manufacturers. The greater num- 

 ber of people who make poplar also make 

 (.«k, a.s'h, cliestnut and other hardwoods, 

 and it is deemiHl expedient to unite in one 

 association all manufacturers of hardwood 

 lumber. 



An informal meeting of tliirty-five or 

 forty manufacturers of hard\\()ods was 

 lield" May 1."). 11MI2. at the Soutliern Hotel, 

 in St. Louis, and a pro temp re organiza- 

 tion was made. 



All manufacturers of lianlwdod luiiilier 

 are earnestly reiinested to co-operate on 

 lines tliat will lie of \:\yt benefit to them 

 as manufacturers. 



A general call is now made for a meet- 

 ing t(i be held at Louisville, Ky., at tlie 

 tJalt House, on .luno ."i, cf strictly manu- 

 facturers of liardwood lumber. 



Louisville has been selected on accotint 

 of its convenient location to the hardwoixl 

 prodiK'iug section. 



Vou are earnestly reiineslcil ti attend 

 this meeting, at wliicli otticers will b<' 

 plecte<l and I lie work of the associatimi will 

 be put under way. 



The secretary of tlie Southern Lumber 

 Manufacturer?'" Association lias lieen re- 

 quested to lie present at this meeting, and 

 will go into details as to the working of 

 that assochilion, which has been si suc- 

 cessful for twelve years or more. 



F. .M. HA.MILTON'. Chairman pro tem. 



LEWIS DOS'nCJl, Secretary pro tem. 



Later the following letter was issued 

 from the secretary's office to a few of the 

 leading manufacturers in eacli state, iind 

 we i>nbli?'h it as showing the scope and 

 intent of the wia'k. There is much good 

 which such an organization may do its 

 members, and a portion of that good is out- 

 lined in the following letter: 



Columlnis, ()., May 10. 10n-J. 



Dear Sir:— Notice has been given of a 

 nieeliiig of the maiinfaclurers of liard- 



wo;id lumber to be held at the Gait House, 

 Louisville, Ky., June 3, 1W2, for the pur- 

 pose of organizing a strictly manufactur- 

 ers' association. 



Numerous inefl'ectnal attempts have 

 heretofore been made to do this, and in 

 making a fe'uccessful effort now, it is rea- 

 lized tliat much quick, effectual work will 

 need to be done. 



It has been decided to ask the leading 

 and intlnential manufacturers throughout 

 the territory of Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, 

 Indiana, Mi.s80uri, Arkansas, Tennessee, 

 Alabama, Missi.ssippi, Kentucky, Virginia, 

 West Virginia, North and South Carolina 

 and other states, to personally see and in- 

 tluence the attendance of manufacturers 

 in their immediate neighborhood. 



You have been selected as one of these 

 co-workers. May we rely "PO" .vou doing 

 what you can and giving sti-ength to the 

 effort by being personally present at the 

 meeting''? 



Let us "get our eoats off," and by doing 

 a few days' effectual work get a set of 

 grading rules that will be what we ought 

 to have, and au association that will con- 

 trol any changes desired to be made here- 

 after. Yours truly, 



LEWIS DOSTER, Secretary. 



Later, however, the following letter, set- 

 ting foi'th in detail and in a clear and able 

 manner the full intent and scope of the 

 work contemplated, was issued by 

 Secretary Doster, and he informs ns that 

 o^ver GOO copies of it were sent to leading 

 manufacturers iu si.\teeu states, and that 

 replies are rolling in giving evidence that 

 the attendance will be large. 



Folhiwing is the letter: 



IMPORTANT. 



Jl'ay 20, 1902. 

 To the JIanufacturers of IIard\\ood Lvim- 



lier: 



Attention is directed to the grading rules 

 tvf the National Hardwood Association 

 adopted: at their meeting in St. I.<ouis, Mo., 

 tlie Kithinst., that are published in the 

 Jlay 17. 1002, is&iie of the Chicago Hard- 

 wood Record, on pages IT, IS and IS a 

 and b. : and to rules for the grading of 

 hardwood lumber submitted liy the com- 

 mittee appointed at the recent informal 

 meeting of the hardwoo<l manufacturers, 

 in St. I^ouis, as published on pages 01 and 

 02 of the May issue of the St. I>ouis 

 Lumberman, and pages 22 and 2.'5 of the 

 May 24 is^iue of the American Lumberman, 

 and to be taken up for further considera- 

 tion and adoption at tlie adjourned meet- 

 ing to the Gait House, Louisville. Ky.. 

 June ."i, 1902. (Copy of proposed rules in 

 p.-imphlet form •will be mailed to you in 

 a few days.) 



K.y a comparison of these rules it will 

 be seen that the former are such liy which 

 no manufacturer who knows his Imsiness 

 will ship, while the latter are very com- 

 plete and about as hardwood lumber is:' 

 now being graded by the manufacturers 

 who do know their Imsiness and are en- 

 tirely eqttitaible as between the producer 

 and consumer. 



AVIiile business conditions I'einain as 

 tliey now are and we have a sellers' mar- 

 ket, each manufacturer is largely a law 

 unto himself in reypect to grading his 

 product. 



When, however, conditions change to a 

 dull trade or a Iniyers' market, the present 



advantage will be lo«t, and the producer 

 will not only be compelled to stand a 

 shrinkage in price, but will also have to 

 meet the competition of grades whicli are 

 not uniform and are unfair, 



At the Louisville meeting June 3 it is 

 intended to permanently organize an asso^ 

 elation of manufacturers of hardwood lum- 

 ber of the United States, and as stated 

 in a former circular, we feel that the 

 poplar manufacturers should be included, 

 to make its own grading rules; to main- 

 tain a corps' of inspectors at the expense 

 of the association for the purpose of regu- 

 larly visiting each mill, to regulate grades 

 and also to make au otHcial inspection and 

 report of any shipment of lumber by a 

 member upon which a claim has been 

 made, and where the shipper is wrong the 

 expense of such investigation to be borne 

 equally by the association and shipper, and ' 

 if the shipper is found right the associa- 

 tion to bear the entire expense, and in the 

 latter event to report such ca.se to all the 

 members of the association: and to de~ 

 velop such statistics of the hardwood prod- 

 uct as are needed for the intelligent man- 

 agement cf the business and the distribu- 

 tion thereof among its members. 



It is also the intention to develop a 

 freight rate book showing the freight rates 

 to every town east of Colorado from cer- 

 tain gateways.' of the v;irious producing 

 sections, and to do such other work as may 

 be deenu'd desirable. The value of this 

 as a time and money saver will be ap- 

 parent to all. 



It would seem that a membership reiire- 

 senting a billion feet of lumber per annum 

 could be gotten together, and if so this 

 work could be ace niplished at the very 

 low cost to each member of three cents 

 per thousand feet on his production, or 

 ninet.v dollar.^' per aiiiium gross expense_iin 

 a production of three million feet and 

 other quantities in proportion. 



The Southern I'ellow Pine Association 

 has now been in successful existence for 

 twelve years, and is doing the above work 

 for its members at less than two cents i>er 

 thousand feet produced. It has reduced 

 the niauufactured thicknesses and widths 

 of their lumber enough to s'ave on freight 

 alone many times tlie cost of maintaining 

 their assoeiatiim. besides developing numer- 

 ous other ine.stima'ble beuetits. 



In order to accomplish tJiis and 

 strengthen ourselves for changing condi- 

 tions we need the ci-operation of every- 

 body in the manufacture of hardwood. 

 Tliere are certain abuses which evei'y 

 manufacturer of lumber has s'truggled to 

 overcome in his individual business with 

 varying and but partial success at best, 

 depending largely on the condition of the 

 times. These are things which cannot be 

 wholly overcome b.v anyone alone, but col- 

 lectively it becomes comparatively easy, 

 where all act together with the single pur- 

 pose in view at all times of developing 

 the maximum results obtainable. 



In doing tliis we must not be uuimindful of 

 the great power that comes' from success- 

 ful organization by the producer, because 

 he can alisolutely control grades, teims of 

 sale, manner of marketing and change 

 pi-ices from time to time as it may be 

 deemed necessary. Experience has de- 

 veloped that it is not practicalile to main- 

 tain an ironclad price list, but that with 

 the opinions of all the manufacturers 

 basi'd on the condition of their stock, pro- 

 duction and demand before them, a price 

 list committee can determine from time 



