THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



15 



Michigan connects with tlic National as- 

 sociation. 



This meeting, as we all know, was not 

 held at Charlevoix. It probably never 

 should have been called for that iilace, on 

 account of its inaccessibilit.v and the great 

 cost for transijortation. At the time the 

 meeting was called, however, it was be- 

 lieved that the railroads would give fav- 

 orable rates. As the time for the meeting 

 approached, it was found, however, that 

 the concessions the railroads would make 

 were ver.v slight. 



The board of managers lield a meeting, 

 which was attended by representatives of 

 the railroads, and it was decided to with- 

 draw the meeting from Charlevoi.x. and it 

 was left to the railroad committee, com- 

 posed of W. H. Russe, F. H. 8mitli and 

 K. T. 'Witbeck. to locate the meeting. It 

 was believed that this action would in- 

 duce tlie railroads running to Charlevoix 

 to offer better inducements, and the com- 

 mittee concluded to wait a week or two 

 and give them a chance. 



The railroads apparently forgot all about 

 the matter, however, and it was up to 

 the committee to make the bluff good and 

 locate the meeting somewhere else. 



Considerable correspondence was ex- 

 changed, but iJb two of the committee 

 could agree on a location, and time was 

 slipping along in a ^^-ay that time has. 



Finally, when it was a little more than 

 two weeks until the date of the conven- 

 tion, and nothing done. I wrote President 

 Bennett and told liim that something had 

 to lie done and dune quickly, there being 

 barely time to advertise the location of the 

 meeting. By return mail I received a let- 

 ter telling me to go to Jlilwaukee and lo- 

 cate the meeting there, using his letter as 

 authority. That was one thing I always 

 lilced about Bennett, he was not afraid to 

 take responsibility when it was necessary. 



On the same day I received the letter I 

 went to Milwaukee, called on the mayor 

 and Business Men's League, was cordially 

 received and heartil.v invited to locate the 

 meeting there. Then I got hotel rates, etc., 

 and returned to Chicago. Next day Secre- 

 tary Vinnedge. Director I>utton and I re- 

 turned to Milwaukee to complete the ar- 

 rangements. 



And now I want to give a little of the 

 inside history of the trouble about the 

 meeting. There has been a good deal said, 

 and much un,iust criticism of Mr. E. L. 

 Philipp. of the Delta Cooperage Company, 

 has been indulged in. The facts are tliese: 



When we arrived in ^lilwaukee about 

 11 a. m., to arrange for the meeting, we 

 called up a number of Milwaukee hard- 

 wood lumbermen, explained our mission 

 and asked them to meet us at the Plank- 

 ington Hotel. The only ones to respond 

 were W. S. Johnson and K. L. Philipp, 

 neither of whom were, strictly speaking, 

 Milwaukee lumbermen. Iiut lumbermen re- 

 siding at Milwaukee, with their interests 

 outside, those of Mr. .Johnson beiug in 

 Mii-lii'j:an. and those of Mr. Philipp in Mis- 



sissippi. We remained in Milwaukee until 

 4 o'clock and those were the only ones in • 

 any way connected with the Milwaukee 

 lumbermen whom we saw. 



-Mr. Philipp's connection with the lum- 

 ber trade was as manager of the plant of 

 the Delta Cooperage Company at Philipp. 

 Miss., which was owned by the Schlitz 

 Brewing Company. He was unacquainted 

 with the Milwaukee lumbermen, but he- 

 lieved he could raise sufficient funds from 

 the brewers and others to pay the ex- 

 pense of the meeting. So that the making 

 of arrangements was very gladly left to 

 him. 



We returned to Chicago and Mr. Vin- 

 nedge began advertising the meeting with 

 unusual vigor, to make amends for the loss 

 of time. 



Two days before the meeting Jlr. Phil- 

 ipp called Mr. Vinnedge up on the tele- 

 phone from Milwaukee and stated that he 

 had made arrangements for assembly 

 rooms, committee rooms, etc., free of cost, 

 but was unable to raise money for a ban- 

 quet, or any further entertainment. Of 

 course, Mr. Vinnedge told him that that 

 was all right, and we would do without 

 the banquet. 



There seemed some ijerverse spirit in 

 charge of that Milwaukee meeting. 

 Everybodj- ^\as mad at everybody else 

 before the meeting had been in session 

 half a day, even my old friend. Colonel 

 Button, jumping on me and giving me 3ts 

 for something or other. 



President W. A. Bennett was too ill to 

 attend, which added to the confusion, as 

 Vice-President F. H. Smith had not been 

 kept in close touch with the work to come 

 before the meeting. 



Mr. Pliilipp arose in the morning ses- 

 sion and stated that he had been unable 

 to raise sulflcient funds for a banquet, but 

 that the Pfister Hotel, in which the meet- 

 ing was held, was prepared to furnish a 

 banquet at $4 per plate. The association 

 did not grow enthusiastic over that propo- 

 sition, and Mr. Philipp then stated tJiat 

 some theater or other would admit all in 

 attendance at the meeting at 2.5 cents a 

 head. This proposition was also received 

 in silence, and then, being out of ammuni- 

 tion, Mr. Philipp ceased firing, and the 

 convention continued to grind. 



With the thermometer at 90, some ten 

 or fifteen unfortunate men sweltered in a 

 close room working at inspection rules. 

 They would escape occasionally, and. of 

 course, were mad at everybody. 



The climax came, however, wlien the 

 delegates paid their l)ills before starting 

 home. The Pfister had advertised a 

 special rate of $l.~^i) a day European, or 

 $.3 a day American plan. The convention 

 filled the hotel to overflowing and every- 

 body got the hot end from the hotel. I 

 asked for accommodations on the Euro- 

 pean plan at the .$1.50 rate and was told 

 that the $1.50 rooms were all gone and 

 that the hotel was so full the.v could onl.v 

 liromise to do the best they could. That 



consisted in placing me in a room with 

 three other men, two in a bed. When 

 we settled they charged us at the rate of 

 |2 each per day, or $8 a day for the room. 

 And we didn't spend much time in the 

 room either. 



Everybody else got the same kind of 



treatment, and everybody went home mad. 



Of course, there had to be a scapegoat, 



and everybo<ly l)lametl everything to Mr. 



Philipp, in my opinion very unjustly. 



Of course, the Milwaulcee lumbermen re- 

 gretted that things happened as they did 

 and said that if they had been called on 

 to contribute, would gladly have done so. 

 some stating that they would have contrib- 

 uted very large sums; a few even going 

 to the length of naming the sums, which 

 were indeed large and liberal. 



Mr. Philipp, as liefore stated, was not 

 acquainted ^litii the Milwaukee lumbermen, 

 didn't even know who they were, and he 

 judged, from the fact that none came to 

 the first meeting when called up over the 

 telej)hone. that they took little interest in 

 the matter. He had no way of knowing 

 how liberal the.y were prepared to be until 

 after the meeting was over, at whieli time 

 it was. of course, too late to do anytliing. 

 -Vnother thing was that Mr. Philipp had 

 never attended one of the National meet- 

 ings before and did not know what was 

 custcmjiry: and when he found. that his 

 propositions regarding the banquet and 

 theater were not what the delegates were 

 accustomed to, he felt very badly about it 

 and did all he could to square himself. 

 ■\A'hen the delegates attended the theater 

 those wearing l>adges were, so far as I 

 know, passed in free. I attended with a 

 party of ten or fifteen and we were all 

 admitted free of charge. It was the same 

 with all others whom I heard si>eak of the 

 matter, and all the admissions were paid 

 by Jlr. Philipp. He organizetl an excu7-- 

 siou to the breweries, where the visitoi's 

 were royally entertained, and in addition 

 spent a large amount of money entertain- 

 ing privately. 



Mr. Philipp may not be a success as an 

 organizer of preparations for such a meet- 

 ing. l)ut he is as big-hearted, generous and 

 liberal a man as any in tlie lumber ti'ade; 

 and that is equivalent to saying as any in 

 the world. He did his Itest in the limited 

 time given him and unquestionably spent 

 two or three hundred dollars of his own or 

 his firm's mone^-. 



We do not ..say that the lumbermen of 

 Milwaukee are different from those of any 

 other city. They are liberal and broad- 

 gauged, as everybody knows who knows 

 them, and would undoubtedly have exerted 

 themselves in every way if they had had 

 time to make an organized effort. Thty 

 didn't invite the association there in the 

 first place, and they had no local organiza- 

 tion of any kind to take charge of the 

 matter. There was only two weeks' time 

 and everybody who has assisted in worlc 

 of this kind knows that is not time enough, 

 even with perfect organization to start 



