i6 



THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



could be done toward securing the adop- 

 tion of tliose rules. It didn't take me very 

 long to ascertain that the New Yorlc lum- 

 bermen were very indifferent regarding the 

 matter and that they rather resented any 

 such suggestion. Moreover, after giving 

 the matter consideration and looking over 

 the conditions of New York City I couldn't 

 see that the adoption of the inspection 

 rules of the National Hardwood Lumber 

 Association would accomplish any good 

 purpose, so long as the interpretation and 

 application of those rules was left in the 

 hands of New York inspectors. 



In speaking of inspection rules a notori- 

 ous hardwood lumberman of Chicago once 

 made the remark that "he didn't care who 

 made the inspection rules so as they left 

 him to apply them." I realized that the 

 mere adoption of the inspection rules of 

 the National Hardwood Association would 

 be of no effect in New York City, or, in 

 fact, anywhere else, if the application of 

 those rules was left in the hands of one 

 of the interested parties. What was 

 needed, it seemed to me, was some organi- 

 zation whereb.v a disinterested application 

 of the rules of inspection might be had. 

 Furthermore it seemed that such inspec- 

 tion should be given at the shipping point, 

 so that the undesirable lumber might be 

 left at the shipping point instead of being 

 thrown upon the hands of the shipper 

 some hundreds of miles beyond his reach. 



Thinking these matters over I arrived at 

 Buffalo and had a conference with Mr. 

 Wall. I stated the situation as it seemed 

 to me, but lacking practical knowledge of 

 the lumber business, did not know whether 

 anything could be done or not. Mr. Wall 

 and I spent half a day together and at the 

 end of that time we had practically out- 

 lined the present plan under which the 

 inspection bureau is working. 



"Y'ou talk this up in the West," said 

 Mr. Wall, "and I will talk it up in the 

 East, and by the time the next National as- 

 sociation meeting is held we will see what 

 can be done." 



I returned to Chicago and made my re- 

 port as a member of the committee to at- 

 tend the Boston meeting to the board of 

 managers of the National association, at 

 a call meeting held in Chicago on May 4, 

 1899. In this report I mentioned the mat- 

 ter of the inspection bureau and the plan 

 as outlined by Mr. Wall and myself and 

 suggested that a committee be appointed to 

 look into the matter. 



This suggestion was heartily seconded 

 by Mr. F. H. Smith of St. Louis, who 

 stated that he had had such an organiza- 

 tion in his mind for some time and that 

 the system at that time in use in St. Louis 

 was practically the same as the one sug- 

 gested. R. T. Witbeek of Chicago also 

 heartily approved giving the plan a trial, 

 stating that such a system had been in 

 ■ force in Michigan for a number of years 

 and was working very successfully. So a 

 committee of nine was appointed to investi- 



gate the matter and report at the next 

 meeting of the National association. 



At that meeting held in Milwaukee on 

 July 10 and 11, 1899, the preliminary com- 

 mittee reijorted as follows. 



To the National Hardwood Lumber As- 

 sociation: — We, your committee, appointed 

 to evolve some system for securing a uni- 

 form application of our rules of inspection, 

 beg leave to report that we have studied 

 the matter thoroughly and believe that it 

 is possible and practical to establish au in- 

 spection bureau, to have charge of the in- 

 spection of the National Hardwood Lum- 

 ber Association, and we recommend that a 

 committee of nine be appointed by the 

 chair, with full power to act as seems best 

 to them in evolving and establishing such 

 a system, and we recommend that said 

 committee be given the full power of the 

 association in this matter. 



M. M. WALL, Chairman. 



The debate on this report was the most 

 interesting event of the meeting. The re- 

 port was finally adopted as read. Presi- 

 dent Smith appointed the following com- 

 mittee: 



M. M. Wall, Buffalo, N. Y. 



R. T. Witbeek, Chicago. 111. 



W. E. Ho.shall, Jlemphis, Tenn. 



T. B. Stone, Cincinnati. O. 



P. W. Lawrence, Boston, Mass. 



E. A. Swain, Rushville, Ind. 



T. H. Mohler, Lock Seven, W. Va. 



F. H. Smith, St. Louis, Mo. 

 William Connor, Marshfleld, Wis. 



Such was the origin of the inspection 

 bureau and I do not wish to claim undue 

 credit for Mr. Wall and myself in the mat- 

 ter. As Mr. Smith stated practically the 

 same system was in force in St. Louis for 

 a number of years and Mr. Smith had 

 spoken to me about the desirability of hav- 

 ing that system extended to embrace the 

 entire trade. A similar system had also 

 been in force in Michigan, originated, I 

 believe, by Mr. Chas. Christianson, and 

 had been in successful operation for a 

 long time. These were merely local mat- 

 ters, however, and the fact remains that 

 the work done as above was the first effort 

 toward establishing a national himber 

 inspection bureau. 



It was curious to note that nine out of 

 ten of the members ef the hardwood trade 

 had no confidence in the movement. The 

 first place in which I tried to make any 

 converts was at Cincinnati on my way 

 home from Buffalo. I outlined the matter 

 to Tom Stone, and Tom said he thought 

 I was crazy. Billy Bennett lauglied at it 

 in his good-natured wa.v. and told me to 

 take a fresh stog.v and forget it. Mr. T. J. 

 Moffett was the first to say that he be- 

 lieved there was something in it. 



It might not be amiss at this point to 

 call the attention of the reader to the let- 

 ter of our Buffalo correspondent in this 

 issue, which states that the Michigan 

 Maple Compan.v, controlling and putting 

 on the market from 80,000,000 to 100,000,000 

 feet of stock a year, lias instructed its 

 .salesmen to take orders only on condition 

 that all shipments be accompanied by a 

 certificate of the inspection bureau of the 



National Hardwood Lumber Association 

 and to refuse orders on any other basis. 

 With the rules of the National association 

 brought down to the custom of the trade 

 as they were at the St. Louis meeting, 

 there is no reason why a large majority 

 of the sales of hardwood lumber should 

 not be made on national inspection and 

 we believe they will be. 



iluch of the credit for the success of the 

 inspection bureau is due to our present 

 worthy president, Mr. F. II. Smith of St. 

 Louis. He was elected chairman of the 

 drst inspection bureau committee and 

 held that position until he was elected 

 president of the National association, and 

 the trade owes much to him for his disin- 

 terested efforts to make the inspection bu- 

 reau a success. His serene confidence in 

 the ultimate success of the inspection bu- 

 reau has been a tower of strengtli to all 

 who are interested in its success. I re- 

 member I wrote him at one time, after we 

 had met with many disappointments and 

 discouragements, but finally received some 

 favorable tidings, that I believed "the old 

 thing was going to work after all." He 

 replied that he had never had the slightest 

 doubt about it. He has attended all tte 

 meetings, even going to Baltimore, where 

 he had called a meeting of the committee, 

 in connection with the annual meeting of 

 the National W'holesale Lumber Dealers' 

 Association, and being the only man of 

 the committee present. 



The meeting of the inspection bureau 

 committee at which a plan of procedure 

 was finally outlined and adopted, was held 

 in Cincinnati, on January 10, 1900. 



Taking the St. Louis system for a basis, 

 the committee labored for two days, and 

 finally reached an agreement. 



The trouble which worried the commit- 

 tee more than anything else was as to 

 what they were to do for a surveyor gen- 

 eral. "We are going ahead here," said 

 Chairman Smith," creating an office that 

 it will take a mighty good man to fill, with 

 no idea as to where the man is to come 

 from, but I guess we won't cross that 

 bridge till we come to it." So we worked 

 along until everything else was out of the 

 way, and then Mr, Smith rapped on the 

 table and said: "Now gentlemen, what 

 will we do for a surveyor general?" 



Various gentlemen were suggested, but 

 they all lacked some of the essential qual- 

 ifications. It was necessary to have a 

 man wlio would command the confidence 

 and respect of the lumber trade, who was 

 not only a thorough lumberman, well 

 posted in all kinds of hardwoods, but who 

 was also a business man with capacity 

 sufficient to organize the bureau without 

 any money or salary, for the committee 

 had pledged itself to "entail no financial 

 obligations on the association." 



Of the gentlemen suggested for the po- 

 sition, some had the practical knowledge 

 of lumber, but lacked the necessary busi- 

 ness qualifications; others had the business 



