i6 



THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



return to it. Under their system tlie dep- 

 uty inspectors did some exchange work, 

 but it brought no revenue to the Exclinnge. 

 The chief inspector got an occasional car 

 of inspection, but not enough to amount 

 to anything, and the salary was practically 

 a dead weight upon the Exchange. It 

 was anticipated that this would be so at 

 first, but it was expected when the ar- 

 rangement was tirst made that in a short 

 time the office of chief inspector would 

 become self-sustaining. 



They also employed a clerk of the Ex- 

 change, which, as it turned out, they had 

 no use for at all. I think they all. as I 

 did, tinderosti mated the seriousness and 

 magnitude of tlieir undertaking. They 

 realized the necessity of establishing bet- 

 ter methods, they were thoroughly honest 

 and sincere in their intent to establish 

 such conditions, and believed the trade 

 would come to their support. But the 

 trade, and almost entirely because of the 

 Influence of the Chicago lumber papers, 

 held off for over two years, and all that 

 time the burden of maintaining the ex- 

 change was borne by a very few. The 

 membership fee was $60 a year, and oxit- 

 side of fotir or five members that was all 

 that was asked. AVhenever the deficit 

 grew so large as to lie unwieldy those four 

 or five met and made it up out of their 

 own pockets. Tt is not necessary to name 

 them now. 



The first ^luarters of the Exchange were 

 at the corner of La Salle and Randolph 

 streets. This was a very bad choice of 

 a location, the quarters selected being 

 too large and expensive, and too far from 

 the business center. Then, to clinch th*^ 

 matter, the committee signed a two years' 

 lease. So the Exchange started .ioyfully 

 on its way with a fixed expen.se of slightly 

 over $.3,000 and a revenue as.sured of about 

 half that amount. 



Criticism of anything that comes out all 

 right doesn't usually carry much weiglit. 

 And the Chicago TTnrdwood Lumber Ex- 

 change has most emphatically come out 

 all right. It Is recognized now as one of 

 the best lumber organizations in the 

 TTnited States, one of the best conducted, 

 most liberal and most progressive; it is 

 well housed in one of the best office build- 

 ings in the city: its membership has in- 

 creased until its dues have been I'edtaced 

 to ^?,0 a year, with a prospect of a fur- 

 ther reduction because of a large and in- 

 creasing sm-plus; but It is my belief that 

 nothing was gained by, the bluff of the 

 first two years. For it was nothing but 

 a bluff. 



But the hardwood contingent had with 

 drawn from the old association in so pub- 

 lie and impressive a manner as to attract 

 particular attention to themselves and 

 then- organization, and they did not want 

 to m.ake a showing that their enemies 

 could poke fun' at. T believe, though, that 

 1 If they had started more modestly they 

 would have accomplished Just as much 



and with less effort and expense. I be- 

 lieve it is better to play right down to 

 your hand in such matters. It mu.st be 

 remembered, also, that those two years 

 were two of the leanest of the lean years 

 which followed the panic of 1893, and 

 the burden bore pretty heavily upon the 

 boys; but they never flinched. 



It was during the first of this period, 

 or early in 1.S9G. that the meeting with 

 the Wisconsin association and the Min- 

 neapolis association for the purpose of 

 conferring on inspection rules was held, 

 and that the Exchange presented its first 

 revision of the old association rules. The 

 Marshfield meeting was, as we know, a 

 failure so far as immediate results went, 

 and while an immense amount of work 

 was put upon the revision of the Chicago 

 rules, most of it was directed to an effort 

 to secure a better definition of the grades, 

 rather than toward modifying the grades. 

 Still, they constituted a great improve- 

 ment, and furnished the model in form 

 and construction upon which the National 

 rules are based. 



* * * 

 The old Chicago rules had been vague 

 and capable of almost any kind of an in- 

 terpretation. 



Take, for instance, the old rule on oak: 

 "Firsts and seconds must be six inches 

 and over wide. At eight inches one and 

 at ten inches two standaiTl knots mijy be 

 allowed. An allowance for more defects 

 of this character may be allowed in pro 

 portion to increased width." 



Such a rule left evei-ything in the hands 

 of the inspector. On a technical applica- 

 tion of the rules, no defects of any kind 

 would be admitted to the gi'ade of firsts 

 and seconds except soimd knots I14 inches 

 in diameter. For splits, wane, sap or 

 any other defects, the board could be put 

 into the common. Everyone knows how 

 scarce absolutely sound knots are. so th.it. 

 under a technical application of the rules, 

 the grade of firsts and seconds was prac- 

 tically a grade of clear lumber, six inches 

 and over wide. 



The new rule on the same grade of oak 

 read: 



"Standard defects in oak are as follows: 

 "One sound knot 1% inches in diam- 

 eter. 



"Two small sound knots, equal in ex- 

 tent and damage to one 114-ineh knot. 

 "Two inches of bright sap. 

 "One straight split not exceeding in 

 length the width of the piece. 



"One inch of wane not exceeding three 



feet in length on one edge of the board. 



"One worm or grub hole. 



"Firsts shall be 8 inches or over wide. 



12, 14 and IR feet long, and free from all 



defects. 



"Seconds shall be six inches and (p-\'ei- 

 wide, 10, 12, 14 and 16 feet long: 7 and 8 

 inch pieces mu.st be clear; 8 and 9 incli 

 pieces may have one standard defect: 10. 

 11 and 12 inch pieces may have two stand- 



ard defects; pieces over 12 inches wide 

 may have three standard defects." 



That was certainly a gi'eat advance. 

 The new rules recognized sap, wane and 

 worm holes as standard defects, admiss- 

 ible into the grade of firsts and seconds. 



A little later another change was made 

 providing that the standard knot might be 

 either sound or unsound and admitting a * 

 standard defect in firsts, 10 inches and 

 over wide. With those changes' made the 

 Chicago rules of inspection were the best 

 and most liberal lot of inspection rules in 

 force on any market. Those niles were 

 adopted, practically without change, by 

 the National association on its organiza- " 

 tion. and continued in force until the In- 

 diana people got after them a year ago 



last May. 



* * • 



On March 2. 1897. the Exchange held 

 its first annual meeting. Mr. H. S. Hay- 

 den was re-elected president, with all the 

 old officers except Mr. Witkowski, who 

 declined. 



By that time things had begmi to loosen 

 up a trifle and the current seemed to be 

 coming toward the Exchange, to some ex- 

 tent. Quite a number of strong outside 

 firms had taken out "non-resident" mem- 

 bership, and while the revenue derived 

 from them at .$10 a year amounted to but 

 little, their moi'al support was very valu- 

 able. Among these concerns were the 

 Delta Coperage Comiiany. Philipp, Miss.; 

 Cottonwood Lumber Company. New 

 JIadrid. M'o.; Davis & Starr Lumber Com- 

 pany. Eau Claire. Wis.; Barnaby Bros.. 

 Greencastle, Ind.; E. M. Hackett, Liver- 

 more. Ky.. and others. Lutcher & Moore 

 of laitcher. la., and A. B. Nickey & Sons 

 of Princeton. Ind.. having representatives 

 in Chicago, took resident membership and 

 each was given representation upon the 

 board of managers; Lutcher & Moore by 

 H. A. Gerhardt and A. B. Nickey & Sons 

 by E. S. Pierce. 



After a careful review of the situation 

 at this meeting the members felt en- 

 couraged and strengthened. The work of 

 the inspection department was increasing, 

 the clerk had been replaced by a tele- 

 phone boy. and expenses were more nearly 

 in line with receipts. They had another 

 year's lease on their big. unhandy and ex- 

 pensive quarters, however, and knew that 

 the coming year would be a burden. 



During thaT year nof much happened. 

 It was a year of silent growth for the 

 Exchange. The Hardwood Record was 

 hammering away, gaining in strength and 

 influence in the hardwood ti-ade. and as it 

 gained the Timberman lost. It was evi- 

 dent at the start that nothing could be 

 done toward organizing the liardwood 

 trade until the influence of Defebaugh was 

 liroken: until those who feared him were 

 reassured and those who respected and 

 believed In him were shown the man In 

 his true colors. And while I did most of 

 the work myself I cannot look back upon 



