THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



17 



The Ma^n About Towrv. 



HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL HARD- 

 WOOD LUMBER ASSOCIATION. 

 (CONTINUED.) 



OAviug to a iiressiire of other matters 

 uioon my mind last week I switched from 

 tlie history of the National Hardwood Lum- 

 ber Association to matters of less impor- 

 tance. It seemed to me that so serious 

 a sul>ject required a calm and colleete<l 

 frame of mind. 



The writing of liistoiy requires that the 

 mind of tlie historian be serene and un- 

 vexed, so tliat he may consider matters 

 in an impartial and judicial fashion, and 

 as the care of the St. Louis meeting is 

 now off my mind and I have this morn- 

 ing nothing whatever to vex me or dis- 

 tract my attention, I have concluded to 

 talie up the history of the National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association where I left off 

 in the last issue and go steadily forward 

 with it until it is completed. 

 * * * 

 AA'hen we left the history of the National 

 association in our last issue and switched 

 to a consideration of the origin of inspec- 

 tion rules, we had just moved Adam from 

 his cave into a house of some kind. 



Great oaks from little acorns grow! 

 When an avalanche starts on its career of 

 might and power, it is merely a little snow- 

 ball! So, when the mighty National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association had its begin- 

 ning, that beginning was apparently small 

 and insignificant. 



Cast your mind back across the ages, if 

 you can, and imagine Adam and Eve mov- 

 ing from the cave to their new dwelling 

 house. Adam, with a couple or maybe 

 three or four war clubs of various sizes 

 under his arm, and Eve following with a 

 stone hammer for pounding beefsteaii and 

 a few other rude utensils, moving into 

 their new dwelling. It was probably the 

 first of May and that first moving day of 

 the human race has fixed the first of May 

 as the grand moving day for all time. 



There, in that great, silent forest, the 

 foundations of the National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association were laid. 



We can, of course, only trace the early 

 stages of the development of the human 

 race, which leil it up to the National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association, in a sketchy 

 manner. To give the events which led up 

 to the grand climax of the St. Louis meet- 

 ing in detail would be to Avrite a history 

 of the world, filling a number of large vol- 

 umes, for there is scarcely a happening 

 since the history of the world begau th.-it 

 has not in some remote way afl:ected every 

 other happening, and all of the events cf 

 the world are sti-ung together like a string 

 of Wienerwursts. 



We will not enter into the rise and fall 

 of the Egyptian civilization, the first of 

 which we have an authentic record; nor 

 of that of the Greek and Roman ciyiliza- 



tiun; nor tell how tl>e (ii^rman barbarians 

 swept down from the north and all but 

 obliterated the progress that had been 

 mjide; nor how the power of Moham- 

 med arose in Africa and swept everything 

 before it until it ran against the power of 

 the Germans of the north. 



No, we will not enter into that. 



Kut it was all relative to the organiza- 

 tion of the National Hardwood Lumber As- 

 sociation. When the Moors overran .Spain, 

 the people of Spain had sunk into a condi- 

 tion of slothful prosperity, and but for the 

 hard time they had in driving the Moors 

 out of Spain, they would never have had 

 courage and enterprise enough to have 

 started Columbus on his voyage of discov- 

 ery, which resulted in liis finding this great 

 and rich country, so pecviliarly adapted to 

 the organization of such free, independent 

 and progi'essive a body as the National 

 Hardwood Lumber Association. 



Kut, in fighting the Moors, the Spaniards 



developed a strong, courageous, determined 



character which stopped at no difticulty, 



no matter how great. 



* * * 



So all the history of tlie world down to 

 tliat time, all of the surging backward and 

 forward of the various elements in the 

 human race, had led up to the development 

 of the adventurous character of the Span- 

 ish people, which in its turn led to the dis- 

 covery of America, which in its turn led 

 to the formation of the National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association. 



We can here again see the fateful influ- 

 ence of a woman upon the lumber trade. 

 Had it not been for Queen Isabella, Amer- 

 ica might never have been discovered and 

 we would either not have been here at all, 

 or, if we were here, would be but a lot 

 of howling Indians, chasing one another 

 through the primeval forest with clubs. 



But Queen Isabella came to the front 

 and pawned her jewels that Columbus 

 might have the wherewithal to discover 

 America. 



Let us not forget this act on the part 

 of Queen Lsabella. Cast your mind back 

 again if you can to along about 1400 and 

 imagine this fair dame going along that 

 street in the capital of Spain which corre- 

 sponded with South Clark street in Chi- 

 cago, peering in at the windows of the 

 shops tliat had three gilded balls hanging 

 before them, striving to find among the 

 dark .Tewish faces some man who looked 

 as if he would be responsible and would 

 not charge more than 2 per cent a month. 

 Imagine her entering a shop with her jewel 

 case under her arm and tning to bargain 

 with the human shark behind the counter, 

 all to get money enough to enable Colum- 

 bus to discover America. 

 * » * 



Anyhow, she succeeded and Columbus 

 started upon his voyage. 



And in tliat voyage we see again how 

 great events oflen hang upon apparently 

 trivial circumstances. 



You have all read in liistoi->' of how the 

 sailors with Columbus liecame discouraged 

 and fearful and considered whether or not 

 tlie.v should not nintin.v and cast Columbus 

 overboard and return to Spain. You have 

 read how Columbus, in order to distract 

 their attention and make them believe and 

 have renewed confidence in him, took an 

 egg and stood it on end. 



First he asked if there was a man among 

 them who cindd make an egg stand on its 

 end. Tliey all tried and ti-ied in vain. 

 Then Columbus stepped fonvard, seized 

 the egg firmly and stood it on end, and it 

 stood there, and the sailors were so im- 

 pressed that they went back to their work 

 determined to follow Columbus to the bit- 

 ter end. Columbus afterward told how he 

 lu.ide the egg stand on end. Like most 

 sleight-of-hand tricks, it is vei-y simple 

 when you know how. When he stood the 

 egg on end, he stnick it lightly on the ta- 

 ble, sufficient to crush the end of the shell, 

 making a flat surface for the egg to stand 

 upon. Now, had he struck the egg with 

 even a vei-y little too great force, the egg 

 would have broken, probably, and he 

 would have been lost; or, had the egg been 

 stale it would have popped like a pistol 

 and the enraged sailors would have init an 

 end to him at once. Eveiything worked 

 well, however, and America was discov- 

 ered. 



* * * 



There is one thing about this egg stoiT 

 which I have never been able to under- 

 stand. How could Cidumlnis, after being 

 on the ocean for several months, have had 

 an egg in his possession fresh enough to 

 make the success of his experiment possi- 

 ble? 



There is but one answer to that ques- 

 tion. He must have had a hen on board. 

 If this is so, then a hen was also one of 

 the founders of the National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association, and when a seal is 

 devised for the association, and it ought 

 to be done pretty soon, we would suggest 

 that a hen be given a prominent place 



tliereon. 



• * * 



After the discoverr of America the Na- 

 tional Hardwood Lumber Association be- 

 came inevitable. Nothing could then stop 

 it, although circumstances might have 

 arisen which would have checked it oi* 

 have changed its character from what it 



is now. 



Had the War of the Revolution had a 

 different ending who can tell what course 

 events might have taken? If Washing- 

 ton, when he was surveying in the wilder- 

 ness, had got lost or been slain by the 

 Indians, or died of pneumonia, the whole 

 face of American history might have been 



