THE HARDWOOD RECOE.D. 



17 



namely, tliat the motives and intentions' of 

 those who were pushing the National as- 

 sociation were of the best, and that what 

 the.v desii-ed above all tilings was to have 

 the Indiana iieople come to the meetings 

 -and make a light for what they wanted. 

 I knew they would get lots of help where 

 they prti'ljably least expected it, but I felt 

 that until they had made n reasonable ef- 

 fort to secure such legislation as' they con- 

 sidered necessary they had no right to 

 ■criticise the work of the National associa- 

 tion; and I told them so. 



I told them of what the Jlichigau people 

 had accomplished merely by making an ef- 

 fort, and gave it as my belief that if they 

 ■would formulate their ideas on inspection 

 into a set of inspection rulesi and send a 

 strong delegation to Chicago to make the 

 tight for them, that they would receive fair 

 and courteous consideration, with the 

 chances good that their rules would be 

 adopted. If they made the attemxjt and 

 failed to receive fair treatment then the 

 matter of organizing another association 

 became pertinent and we could give it 

 attention. 



After some further spirited discussion it 

 was decided to appoint a committee to 

 draw up a set of rules', send a strong del- 

 egation to Chicago to present them and if 

 no disposition was shown to bring the Na- 

 tional rules into closer conformity with 

 the custom, the matter of doing something 

 else would come up for consideration. 



The committee was appointed, a set of 



rules on oak was drafted and tlie meeting 



adjourned. 



* * * 



The Indiana people oame to Chicago 

 s'trong in numbers and determination. 

 The fight they made over the Inspection 

 of oak was the most memorable in the 

 iistoiT of the association, and when at the 

 •close of the first day's session, J. W. 

 Thompson secured an adjournment to pre- 

 vent the meeting breaking up in a row, 

 the National association was at the crisis 

 •of its existence. 



It was a contest between the old idea of 

 having a set of inspection rules so rigid 

 that no one woidd sell on them unless he 

 was forced, thereby leaving everyone free 

 to do business' any way he could, against 

 the new idea of having a set of iides ap- 

 proaching as nearly as possible the cus- 

 tom of the country, upon which it was de- 

 signed that everyone should do business; 

 the old idea of making the profits out of 

 gi'ade manipulation against the new idea 

 of buying and selling sti-aight grades. 

 There was never any doubt in my mind as 

 to which idea would ultimately prevail in 

 the trade; the only question was as to what 

 Tvould become of the National arS'soeiation. 



That night an earnest but quiet cam- 

 paign looking to a compromise was car- 

 ried forward, with the result that an 

 Agreement was reached, and when the 

 question of the oak rule came up the 

 next day it was disposed of in about fif- 

 teen minutes. 

 ■ The Indiana people got what they 



wanted in the common grade and gave up 

 what they asked in firsts and seconds — 

 for the time being. 



The percentage of cutting in common 

 oak was reduced from 75 to t>(j% per cent. 

 While things were being handed around A. 

 J. Lang of St. Louis thought he would take 

 a slice, so he moved that sap to one-half 

 the width, in plain oak, be considered no 

 defect. Tins was not down on the card, 

 but it went through. 



* * * 



The Indiana people had expressed them- 

 selves as satisfied with the result of the 

 Chicago meeting, In regard to rules, and as 

 the Inspection Bureau committee had, at 

 that meeting, passed a rule to 

 enable manufacturers and shipper.s' to pro- 

 vide themselves with National inspectors 

 at their mills and yards, it seemed to me 

 up to the Indiana people to apiJoint a lot 

 of inspectors and go to doing business on 

 National rules. 



That is one feature of my view of the 

 work of the National association — I have 

 been in earnest all the time; didn't have 

 any more sense. I know now that in a 

 good many instances a good many lumber- 

 men were talking and working "through 

 their hat," so to speak — but I didn't know 

 it at the time. I went tramping around in 

 the most deadly earnest all the time, and 

 I expect a good many lumbermen in- 

 dulged in a quiet grin at my expense. 



Anyhow, it occuiTed to me to take a trip 

 tlirough Indiana, shortly after the Chicago 

 meeting and enjoy myself by watching 

 the Indiana lumbermen shipping out lum- 

 ber on the National rules; or if they were 

 not using the National rules I would learn 

 the reas'on why. 



So I took a trip tlu-ough southern Indi- 

 ana and found everything running just as 

 usual. Nobody had applied to have a Na- 

 tional inspector appointetl and nuljody was 

 selling oak on National rules. 



"Yes, we've got the common oak nile 

 all right, but firsts and seconds ai-e the 

 main thing," said one. "Tbey have made 

 some concessions' on common, which we 

 are glad to get, but we are having more 

 trouble with our inspection than ever be- 

 foi-e and that rule on firsts and seconds 

 is too hard and is making trouble. I grade 

 my lumber from the saw and pile the 

 grades separate. Wlien it is" di'y enough, 

 I take it down and ship it When I take 

 down a pile of first and seconds graded 

 from the saw I expect to lay out five or 

 six per cent for deterioration in di-ying; 

 but if I graded it sti-ictly on National 

 rules, I'd bo forced to lay out 20 per cent, 

 and in quartered oak that means a loss of 

 all the profits. Am I selling on National 

 rules? Not a bit of it, except as" I am 

 forced to. I wouldn't pay any attention 

 to those rules only that when I ship a car 

 of lumber to Boston, or New York, or 

 Grand Rapids, or Chicago, to a customer 

 graded as I have been accustomed to grade 

 it. he will inspect it according to the Na- 

 tional rules and knock a thousand or two 



feet into the common. The National rules 

 are hurting my business evei-j- day." 



I heard a great deal of siich talk which 

 I reported to President Burkholder when 

 I arrived at Crawfordsville, and to Secre- 

 tary Vinnedge of the National associa-- 

 tiou when I returned to Chicago. 

 * * * 



That such a condition existed and that 

 so large a body of lumbermen (not by any 

 means confined to Indiana) believed the 

 National rules were doing more haiin tlian 

 good A\'as a source of genuine disappoint- 

 ment to the officers of the National associ- 

 ation. They had worked hard and faith- 

 fully to make the association a benefit to 

 the ti'ade, and to have this sort of a feel- 

 ing against their work was a source of 

 regret. 



Every day it was becoming more evident 

 that unless the National association rales 

 were made to confoi-m more nearly to the 

 custom of the ti-ade they had better never 

 have been published. 



The upshot of the whole matter was that 

 rresident Burkholder called a meeting of 

 the Indiana association for October 10, 

 1901, to which all the oflicers and direct- 

 ors of the National association were in- 

 vited; there being a sort of an understand- 

 ing, although nothing definite had been 

 agi-eed, that if the Indiana people would 

 let It be known what they wanted in the 

 way of inspection on oak, and their wants 

 were anywhere In the bounds of reason, 

 an endeavor would be made to have the 

 Board of Managers of the National asso- 

 ciation make the changes at once. 



That meeting of the Indiana association 

 was the most largely attended of any in 

 the history of the organization, not only 

 by Indiana lumbermen but by lumbermen 

 from outside the state, and Messrs. F. H. 

 Smith, J. W. Tbompson, M. M. AVall, A. 

 R. Vinnedge, W. A. Benett and others of 

 the Board of Managers of the National as- 

 sociation. 



Mr. Ji'eConnell of Nashville was pres- 

 ent with a set of rules on ppplar, which 

 had been endorsed by the Nas'hville lum- 

 bermen, and Wm. Threlkeld of Evansville 

 was present with an entirely new set of 

 rules, covering not only oak, but all hard- 

 woods. 



At a preliminary caucus, held the even- 

 ing before the meeting, the officers of the 

 National association urged that the' Indi- 

 ana people confine themselves to the niles 

 on oak, stating clearly and briefly the 

 changes they wished made, and leave 

 maple, beech, cottonwood, poplar, etc., 

 alone. 



At the meeting the next day, however, 

 the rules- of Wm. Tbrelkeld on all hard- 

 T\ oods, except poplar, and air. MoConnell's 

 rules on poplar, were adopted. The mem- 

 bers of the Board of JIanagers of the Na- 

 tional association were much disappointed 

 at this action, but Iseing present merely as 

 invited guests they could take no part in 

 the discussion. They were disappointed 

 beeausv they had made considerable sac- 



