i6 



THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



with. In the case of Milwaukee, every- 

 body supposed that somebody else Ijuew 

 more about it than they did and would 

 take charge of it, with the result that 

 nobody but Philipp did, or attempted to 

 do, anything, and he, being the only man 

 entitled to any credit, got all the blame. 

 There is even some justification for the 

 action of the Pfister Hotel. The manage- 

 ment had been led to believe there would 

 be a banquet given at their hotel and had 

 made arrangements to feed at least two 

 hundred people on blue points. Philadel- 

 phia squab, etc., and had ordered the sup- 

 plies. The weather being excessively hot, 

 they stood to lose heavily. 



In fact, in the matter of this mueli- 

 talked-of Milwaukee meeting, there is no 

 one to blame except possibly the board of 

 managers for their somewhat vacillating 

 policy, and there is much excuse for that. 

 WHERE MICHIGAN CAME IN. 

 The hardwood lumbermen of the state 

 of Michigan are now the sti'ongest sup- 

 porters of the National association, furnish- 

 ing nearly one-fourth the membership and 

 three-fourths the support to the inspection 

 bureau. There are other states whose dele- 

 gates make more noise in convention, but 

 a glance at the membei-ship roll of the 

 association and at Mr. Wall's published 

 statement of the work of his department, 

 will show where the support wliich keep.-^ 

 the association on its feet comes from. The 

 Michigan lumbermen are a tine lot of busi- 

 ness men. used to doing a big volume of 

 business in a big way. counting their lum- 

 ber by millions of feet instead of by thou- 

 sands; and there is no doubt in the world 

 but that men's environments affect their 

 character. 



They were slow in coming into the Na- 

 tional association, but they knew about it 

 and were studying its possibilities. They 

 had invited the association to come to 

 Charlevoix as a preliminary, evidently, to 

 investigating it and seeing what was in 

 it. H«d the meeting been taken there H 

 would have been well eared for beyond a 

 doubt, and the Michigan people wanted it. 

 When it was taken from them at the last 

 moment they resented the action and there 

 were only one or two of them took the 

 trouble to cross the lake to Milwaukee. And 

 shortly after that meeting I made my first 

 trip into Micliigan. 



• • • 

 A Michigan hardwood association had 

 been organized and M-as to hold its second 

 meeting in Traverse City, and I made up 

 my mind to attend and get acquainted 

 with the Michigan lurabei'men, in the in- 

 terest of the Hardwood Record, and also 

 to learn if I could do anything to push 

 along the National association. So I ar- 

 rived in Traverse City about noon of the 

 day of the meeting, and at the Park Place 

 Hotel found al>out fifteen representative 

 hardwood lumbermen congregated, all 

 strangei-s to me except Wm. H. White. 

 Mr. White introduced me to several, but 

 I n(]ticed that there was no enthusiasm in 



their reception, and I remembered with re- 

 gret that several years before, when the 

 Michigan people had organized an associa- 

 tion to advance the price of their product, 

 the Hardwood Record had not lent the 

 oi'ganization the support it might have 

 done. The Record had predicted that, as 

 the association was not, in its opinion, 

 on the right track, it would not succeed, 

 and it turned out the way the Record said. 

 I have since learned that it seldom in- 

 creases peoiple's regard for you that you 

 predict disaster for them; and the fact 

 that y ur prediction comes true only makes 

 matters worse. 



Also, I was recognized as a representa- 

 tive of the National association, which had 

 slighted the Michigan lumbermen in the 

 matter of the meeting, and many of the 

 lumbermen, being total strangers to me, 

 still believed in that amiable fiction, so 

 earnestly circulated by my esteemed con- 

 temporaries at the beginning of my use- 

 ful and beautiful career, in lumber jour- 

 nalism, that I was the hireling of the "Chi- 

 cago thieves." 



My reception was not cordial, but I did 

 not let on. W. O. King of Chicago was in 

 Traverse City at the time on business, and 

 I sort of hung onto King to keep from 

 being left out entirely. I had counted on 

 W. S. Johnson to give me a boost, but he 

 sent a telegram saying he couldn't get 

 there until 4 p. m. 



About 2 p. m. King and I were sitting 

 on the veranda in front of the bote', 

 when I observed that all the Michigan peo- 

 ple had disain>enred. King said he sup- 

 ix)sed they were holding their meeting. I 

 excused myself to King, saying I was go- 

 ing to the meeting. 



"You'd better wait until you're asked," 

 said King. "I haven't heard of you re- 

 ceiving an invitation." 



I told him that I had come from Chicago 

 to report the meeting ami could not con- 

 scientiously allow a little oversight on the'r 

 part to cause me to neglect my duty. So 

 I went up stairs and knocked at the door. 

 The door was opened by Jlr. Von Platen 

 and I stepped inside. 



"Gentlemen," I said in my most civil 

 nianntr. "I came from Chicago to report 

 this meeting for the Hardwood Record, 

 and I can't do much good at it sitting out- 

 side on the veranda. You may not deem 

 it wise to have newspaper men present at 

 your meeting, but our paper goes to press 

 to-morrow and any report I send must go 

 in the mail here by o'clock. Now, if yon 

 will give me a few points as to what the 

 scoi)e of your organization is to be, such 

 information as you wish to give out in re- 

 gard to supply, etc,, I will go out and write 

 my report and submit it to you for ap- 

 proval. I do not wish to be forward in 

 the matter, but I would like to have the 

 repgrt and believe I can help you." 



Tliere was silence for a while and th^n 

 President D. H. Day said he saw no ob- 

 jection to my request. I got such informa- 

 tion as I wished and withdrew. Befo-e 



adjournment I was back with my report, 

 which was heartily approved. 



I really didn't learn much I didn't al- 

 ready know, but I got a good report of 

 the meeting, one calculated to do the asso- 

 ciation gOL-d, and I broke the ice between 

 myself and the Michigan people. We have 

 been good friends ever since, tu our mutual 

 benefit. 



Not only did we break the ice, but the 

 proprietor of the hotel took most of us 

 into a— well, a quiet little place— and wo 

 not only broke the ice but melted the 

 pieces. 



After supper President Day took mo 

 over on the main sti-ect and introduced me 

 to a number of his friends. Then we re- 

 turned to the hotel. 



And that night for the only time in my 

 life I held four aces. 



I had not said anything about the Na- 

 tional association on that trip because it 

 was all I could do to get my feet fixed 

 on something solid on my own account. 

 The interest in the National association 

 was growing in Jlichigan, however, and at 

 the semi-annual meeting, held at Memphis 

 some time later, there was quite an at- 

 tendance of Michigan people. 



One thing which attracted the attention 

 of the Michigan people was the inspection 

 bureau. They were never very hard to 

 please in the matter of inspection rules. 

 Before the advent of the National associa- 

 tion they sold their product, usually, on the 

 Chicago rules. Those rules made a prett/ 

 good grade, but they charged accordingly. 

 At the time of which I write they were 

 generally using the National rules, those 

 rules having been adopted by most of their 

 customers. Those rules were not entirely 

 satisfactoi-y to the Michigan people, but 

 they were making them answer. 



As the time for the next annual meeting 

 to be held at Cincinnati approached, the 

 Michigan people held another meeting, 

 which I attended. .\t this meeting the 

 committee which had attended the Mem- 

 pliis meeting of the National association 

 Vmong other matters th^ 

 subject of the proposed inspection bureau 

 came up. 



Some of the prominent members de- 

 nounced this move as an attempt to get 

 the control of the inspection back upon the 

 other side of the lake. 



You see, there was a time, in the early 

 days of the hardwood trade in~, Michigan, 

 when the lumber was loaded on barges 

 and sent to Chicago to be inspected; and 

 what the Michigan lumbermen had done 

 to them was good and plenty. Then they 

 got the control of the inspection to their 

 own side of the lake and tliere was fear 

 that this inspection bureau was a scheme 

 to get the inspection back to tlie old style, 

 and I was called on to exijlain the plan 

 of the inspection bureau, which I did to 

 the best of my ability. 



Instead of being a scheme to get the 

 inspection out of the hands of the shippers. 



