May 25, 1022 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



ing that commodity among the ultimate consumers thereof and there 

 is no reason for regarding the lumber industry as being exempt from 

 the application of this economic law. The man who invests in timber, 

 equips a sawmill and engages in the process of reducing his trees and 

 logs into lumber is a manufacturer. The man who goes into the mar- 

 ket and sells lumber is a merchant. If it so happens, as it frequently 

 does, that these two functions are discharged by one individual, the 

 duality of the operations is in nowise affected. In one instance the 

 individual acts as a manufacturer and in the other he functions as a 

 merchant. In many lines of industry the processes of manufacture 

 and of merchandising are never combined in one individual, but in- ' 

 stead, the manufacturer is content to produce the commodity con- 

 stituting his line and turn it over in bulk to the jobber and whole- 

 saler for further distribution; and I believe that I am correct in stat- 

 ing that this method has the approval of sound economic authority. 

 But the make up of the hardwood lumber trade is more complex. We 

 have the manufacturer and the wholesaler; the wholesaling manufac- 

 turer and the manufacturing wholesaler, making it exceedingly dif- 

 ficult in practice to draw a line of demarcation between the functions 

 discharged by the various groups; and the National Hardwood Lum- 

 ber Association has never attempted to draw such a line, because 

 whatever functions its members may discharge they all are, in the 

 final analysis, hardwood lumbermen and as such have common inter- 

 ests which can well be promoted by associated effort. In fact, how- 

 ever, the manufacturing element in the association's membership pre- 

 ponderates in the ratio of two to one as compared with the whole- 

 saling element. This preponderance is not due, however, to any 

 process of intentional selection, but doubtless results from the fact 

 that there are more manufacturers than wholesalers in the hardwood 

 lumber business. 



Why Lumber Inspection Rules? 



Mr. Palmer gave the buyers a most interesting exposition of the 

 logic of lumber inspection rules. In this connection he said: 



While we are accustomed to regard and to refer to lumber as a 

 manufactured product, it really comes to us as a product raw from 

 Nature's laboratory, changed in form but retaining most of the natural 

 characteristics with which it was originally endowed. The sawmill 

 can only reduce the log to certain dimensions, remove the bark and 

 heart, rip out a defect here and trim off another there, leaving the 

 inherent qualities of the final product absolutely unchanged from its 

 natural condition. Nature deals in infinite variety. In a thousand 

 leaves from a single tree no two can be found exactly alike. And 

 so with the lumber produced from that tree, no two boards are dupli- 

 cates. For that reason lumber cannot be sold by sample as is the 

 case with many other commodities, but each board must be judged 

 and classified from its individual peculiarities, and this process of 

 judging and classifying lumber is called grading, or inspecting. 



In order that the process of grading may be possible standards of 

 quality are demanded which set forth in detail the requirements of 

 the various grades; and it is the duty of the lumber inspector to match 

 the quality of each board handled by him with the particular require- 

 ments demanded by the grade to which it may be assigned. These 

 standards are known as Inspection Rules and are entirely arbitrary in 

 nature. There is no more reason for a specific inspection rule than 

 there is for a specific freight rate. It is to be regretted that a com- 

 plete set of hardwood inspection rules was not handed to Moses on 

 Mount Sinai in connection with the Ten Commandments, but such 

 was not the case; and those in existence today in no manner bear 

 the stamp of Divinity, nor are they inspirational in origin, but. in- 

 stead, they are the product of finite intelligence, abetted in a degree 

 by the process of evolutionary developments. 



The value of any standard does not depend so much upon the unit 

 of quantity or of quality which it expresses as it does upon its uni- 

 formity and its stability. If a yard stick were two feet long instead of 

 three feet it would make no partictilar difference, if all yard sticks 

 were always two feet long. But if there were other yard sticks three 

 feet long, or if all yard sticks w'ere sometimes two feet long and at 

 other times three feet long, the situation would become confused. No 

 one would be able to know what the length of a yard might be and 

 the standard, as such, would be of no value. Such a situation pre- 

 vailed in the hardwood lumber trade prior to the advent of the 

 National Hardwood Lumber Association. 



i f'oiifinurd from page 21) 

 campaign could be inaugurated for the standardization of sizes, par- 

 ticularly in furniture, it would eliminate much waste motion, and 

 be a great saving. This, of course, would have to be concurred in by 

 all branches of the lumber industry, and would take considerable time 

 and very able leadership. Unless we go about it from this angle it 

 seems almost impossible to convert the user, as he claims, and this 

 has been fully demonstrated, that it would be necessary to painstak- 

 ingly educate his factory hands up to the point where they would, 

 from altruistic motives, work for the benefit of the present generation 

 and of posterity, for the human element enters very largely into this 

 as into all other practical lines. Labor says. "You ask us to turn out 

 so much work per day; to do this we must have the kind of lumber 



that will make your product with the least possible effort on our 

 part." This you may say is very selfish, and I grant you that is true, 

 but this is where the human element enters in again, and who of us 

 would care to say but they take the same stand we would take if we 

 were in their places. 



Furniture Styles Change Often 



If our deductions are correct it would seem that our only alternative 

 lies in a campaign for standardization of sizes, and we all know that 

 would be a long drawn out affair in a country such as ours where 

 styles change much oftener than the moon and with less apparent 

 reason. TTiere has been much juggling in the past from Italian Renais- 

 sance to Louis Sixteen, Adam and Queen Anne. This being some of the 

 Period patterns, some straight slender lines, others more massive and 

 some showing much carving, others less, but nearly all recent pat- 

 terns are in overstuffed in tapestry and velours with a small amount 

 in high priced silk damask, and practically every change in style calls 

 for a change in sizes of cuttings, and this is what you are up against 

 when you come to talking standardization in the furniture fines. 

 This, of course, is not as noticeable in the interior finish. 



Just now there is a campaign on by the furniture people to make 

 a special design combining many of the period styles, and adding 

 Americanizing touches trying to work out something that will be 

 popular, and hoping that it will last and get away from the frequent 

 changes. 



During the National Convention of Box manufacturers at the Drake 

 Hotel in Chicago, in April, your committee was invited to attend one 

 of their executive sessions. They have a committee working out a 

 campaign to educate the public to use wooden containers. This com- 

 mittee thought it might be mutually beneficial for us to get together 

 and we might be able to get some information that would benefit this 

 organization, so met with them. Though your object in appointing 

 this committee did not have this in mind, still, it is easy to see the 

 benefits that might be derived by our members if anything could be 

 done to stimulate the box business generally, as it would have a ten- 

 dency to raise the price of lower grades and take up a part of the 

 burden, which is now borne entirely by the higher grades. 



There were about one hundred present, most of whom were purely 

 box makers, but some were in both the box and lumber business. 

 Reports were read from the New England section, and from the 

 Metropolitan district of New York, from the southern states, from 

 Kansas, Nebra.ska, and from Wisconsin and Michigan territory. All 

 agreed that the box industry was in a bad way, and held no hope of 

 making a profit in 1922. From various reports they are running 50 

 to 60 per cent of normal and sales are at or below cost, and do not 

 cover overhead. 



The delegates from Kansas reported that one of their large custom- 

 ers, a wholesale grocery house, told them recently that their customers 

 were asking for wooden containers for canned goods. The reason 

 given was, the paper containers draw moisture from the air, sweat the 

 cans, loosen the labels, and cause the cans to rust. The question was 

 asked if this was a local condition. He answered that his house had 

 branches in Birmingham, Ala.; Memphis, Tenn.; Kansas City, Salt 

 Lake City and Denver, and believed it was general and not due to 

 local atmospheric conditions, and if this is true it should be good news 

 for holders of low grade hardwoods, for much of the trade lost is due 

 to paper containers. 



The various sections reported plenty of lumber available at reason- 

 able prices and some very soft spots in northern birch and maple, and 

 all agreed that unless there was a reduction in freight rates no lower 

 prices could be hoped for, as it is being sold at a loss now. 



Low Grade Cut WiU Be Less 



Your chairman explained to them that while there was plenty of 

 lumber on hand for present needs, this year's cut would not develop 

 as much low grade, and anything like a normal demand would soon 

 exhaust the supply. 



It was interesting to get the buyers' viewpoint, and rather surpris- 

 ing to note that they were in possession of what are at times con- 

 sidered trade secrets among us lumbermen. Tliey agreed almost to a 

 man that no one had much stock on hand, but in spite of the blue 

 reports, generally. I was pleased to find a spirit of optimism, and 

 "never say die." that might be well for lumbermen generally to culti- 

 vate in time of trouble. 



In summing up, it appears to your committee that any changes in 

 the present custom will be governed largely by the prices prevailing 

 for each grade, and will not be much affected by any campaign that 

 can be brought about in our organization, as false stimulants are only 

 of a temporary nature, and do not have much effect on human natures. 

 There is a tendency at this time to buy lower grades for furniture, 

 and as soon as labor gets low enough, and is willing to listen to reason, 

 the trouble will adjust itself to such a degree that our only worry 

 will be the No. 3 grade in hardwoods, and if we desire to enter into 

 an advertising campaign to stimulate the use of wooden boxes, it 

 should be done jointly with the Chicago box makers and the Northern 

 Hemlock & Hardwood Manufacturers' Association. 



It was voted that the next quarterly meeting be held in Minne- 

 apolis, Minn., about July 10. 



