THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



13 



AVhite. who, beins ai-compniiU'd liy liis 

 wife, liad made other nrnuigemeiits. Thei'o 

 were present, in addition Jlessrs. H. M. 

 Nixon, secretary of the ("liicajjo Hardwood 

 Exchange; W. I>. Ilurlbnt. of the Traffic 

 Department; H. I', .laclison. of tlie Michi- 

 gan Maple Compan.v; Fred A^'. t'pham, of 

 Fred. W. Upham I.nmber Company; JI. A. 

 Vinnedge, of Vinneilge Kros.; M. M. Wall. 

 surveyor-general, and ('. 1>. Strode, 



The table was laid in a private diuiug- 

 room, the table decorations were taste- 

 ful and the menu of the best which the 

 commissary of the Atldetic Club affords, 

 and a more congenial party was probabl.v 

 never together. 



From first to last the meeting was a suc- 

 cess, and all of those in attendance were 

 well pleased. 



THE TWO ASSOCIATIONS. 



As all our readers know, there has been, 

 and is being, a detei mined effort made to 

 orgjinize the Hardwood Manufacturers' As- 

 sociation of the United States. With such 

 an effort, honestly and fairly conducted, 

 the Hardwood Record can, of course, have 

 no fault to find. We scarcely believe that 

 such a general association could accom- 

 plish much of general value. The manu- 

 facturers of Michigan and Wisconsin hard- 

 woods have but little more in common with 

 the producers of quartered oak and po])- 

 lar than they have with the producers of 

 yellow pine and cypress. Still, anyone 

 who believes such an association is needed 

 and ran be established has a right to at- 

 tempt to establish ;t. Kut he should not, 

 in attempting to do so. resort to suc'.i 

 methods as are being resorted to by those 

 respimsible for the work of promotion in 

 the present attempt. They may have a 

 right to do so. but they are certainly mak- 

 ing a mistake. 



Their entire effort so far has been de- 

 voted to an attempt to in.)ure the National 

 Hardwood Lumber Association, and they 

 have resorted to methods which the Rec- 

 ord cannot indorse, and which, so long as 

 they are persisted in, will prevent the 

 Hardwood Jlanufacturers' Association 

 from making any headway. In this con- 

 nection we call attention to the following 

 letter which is being sent out from the 

 office of the promoters at Columbus, O.: 



Office of Hardwood Mfgrs. Asso. of I'. S., 

 Bureau of Grades, 



Columbus, O.. Sept. lo, 1902. 

 To All Members. 



We completed the inspection of a car of 

 2-inch No. 1 common poplar shipped into 

 New York state recently by one of our 

 members. 



"Upon its arrival it was inspected by Na- 

 tional Hardwood Association inspection, 

 which was as follows: 



5,912 ft. 2-inch common. 

 0.224 ft. 2-inch cull. 

 92-1 ft. 2-inch mill cull. 

 31 ft. 1%-inch common. 

 Upon notice of consignor, who objected 

 to this inspection, we immediately sent an 



inspector of our bureau of grades to re- 

 inspect the .same, with the following result: 



Hardwood Manufacturers' Association 

 insi)eetion: 



12.224 ft. 2-inch No. 1 common. 



].:'>!m; ft. 2-inch No. 2 common. 



88 ft. Ists and 2ds. 2-inch. 



Car was settled for according to the lat- 

 ter inspection. This is for your informa- 

 tion. Trul.v yours, 



(Copy.l LOUIS DUSTER, Secy. 



As to whence the letter came to this 

 ofHce, that is our business. We all have 

 our friends, and we have received several 

 copies. 



It is scarcely necessary to discuss the 

 letter, and we would not publish it, only 

 to shoA\- the tactics of the promoters of 

 this movement. It bears on its face evi- 

 dence A^'hieh convicts the author of it of 

 narrowness, pre.1udice and ignorance, or 

 of a deliberate attempt to mislead. It 

 might have had some effect 20 years ago, 

 but the hardwood business of to-day is con- 

 ducted and controlled by big and able men, 

 whose only sentiment on receiving the let- 

 ter will be one of disgust for the motives 

 which prompted the sending of it, and 

 surprise at the lack of wit which would 

 lead anyone to suppose that the hardwood 

 trade of to-day could be seriously moved 

 by such twaddle. 



It is a direct insult to the National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association and especially 

 to the inspection bureau committee, be- 

 <ause it plainly intimates that the Inspec- 

 tion of the inspection bureau is grossly 

 incompetent or crooked. It may not be 

 amiss here to state that the gentlemen 

 composing that committee are: J. W. 

 Thompson. Memphis, Teun,; E. C. Col- 

 cord. St. Albans. W. Va.; W. E. Smith, 

 Cairo. 111.; W. J. Wagstaff, Oshkosh, Wis.; 

 A. .T. Lang, St. I^uis, Mo.; H. B. Lewis, 

 Elk Rapids. Jlich.; W. AY. Knight, Indian- 

 apolis. Ind.; E. A. Swain. Cincinnati, O., 

 and W. M. Weston. Boston. Mass. It isn't 

 necessary to say anything further on that 

 iwint. 



The difference in the rules of the two 

 associations might make some difference in 

 the result, but not such a ditt'erence as the 

 letter indicates. Such a difference shows 

 that one inspector or the other is grossly 

 in error or that the inspector of the 

 Hardwood Manufacturers' Association was 

 sent with instructions to make all the 

 difference he could, and we are forced to 

 say that the tactics i>ursued by the pro- 

 moters of that organization do not raise 

 them above such suspicion. We are ali»!> 

 lo infer that the buyer, holding a certifi- 

 cate of the National Hardwood Lumber 

 Association for the car. was so over- 

 whelmed by the presence of the later in- 

 spector that he paid somewhere from $00 

 to .$70 more than the National certificate 

 called for. 



Oh, well: it doesn't matter. We publish 

 the letter so that all the trade may read 

 it. It was not sent to the newspapers, 

 with possibly one exception. 



There are some good men and warm 



personal friends of ours who have become 

 ideutifled with the movement, and a good 

 many whose names have been used with- 

 out authority. The good men who belong 

 joined because they sincerely believed that 

 some good would come to the hardwood 

 trade by the movement; but the movement 

 is dominated by those whose principal en- 

 deavor seems to be to injure and disrupt 

 the National association, and defeat its 

 only object, the establishing of uniform 

 inspection., And the quicker the good men 

 cut loose the better. 



The object of the National association, 

 and its only one, is the securing of uni- 

 form inspection, and the attack being made 

 upon it is clearly intended to defeat that 

 movement. With the rules of the National 

 association all our readers are familiar: 

 and they know the character and standing 

 of the men named above, who have charge 

 of the application of those rules. That all 

 of their inspectors are infallible is, of 

 course, not possible; but we believe it will 

 be a long time ere the hardwood trade 

 will take the control of their inspection 

 from such men and turn it over to— well, 

 we will mention no names, but it will be 

 a long time. 



-Vnd down at the bottom of all the mis- 

 chief is Mr. .T. E. Defebaugh. 



AN AUTHORITY ON GUM. 



Boston (East Cambridgei ilass.. Sept. l.j, 

 1002. 



Mr. Editor: — We are iileased to commend 

 your editorial on gum in the issue of Sep- 

 tember 0. We have no experience in the 

 manufacture of this wood, but have 

 handled it successfully for more than 

 twenty years, and have probably sold more 

 than all the other dealers in Boston. Long 

 years ago we discovered one at least of the 

 secrets of getting it straight, and keeping 

 it so. The first that came to Boston was 

 al>out sixty days old when it was put into 

 the dry kiln, and it came out twisted in 

 all kinds of shapes. We tried the experi- 

 ment of sticking it carefully, and letting 

 it remain until very dry. and since then 

 have had no trouble. We believe that it 

 is a valuable wood, and if in'operly stuck, 

 say four or Ave sticks for twelve feet, and 

 kept on sticks until thoroughly dry, it aWII 

 be straight and stay so. We find that there 

 is no better wood to stain or paint, and 

 if finished right in the natural color, it 

 is hard to find in the common woods any- 

 thing prettier. We have handled a good 

 deal of it quarter-sawed, and find when 

 properly dried it will stay anywhere, as 

 well as the best pine. We do not believe 

 that the height of tlie pile has anything 

 to do with the splitting of the lumber if 

 it is manufactured as it should be, pile the 

 length separate and have the last stick 

 close to the end. And while it has nothing 

 particularly to do with the value of gum, 

 we would like to get the ear of every man- 

 ufacturer of hardwood lumber in these 

 United States, and impress upon them the 



