Juile 23, 1022 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



27 



Where Self-Government Specifically Applies 

 Tbis matter of sound self-governmeut, as repeatedly emphasized by Secre- 

 tary Hoover, is fimdamental to every great industry, but, geDtlenien, it is 

 of especial significance to lumbermen. 



For many years our people have realized the almost public utility nature 

 of your business, founded as it is upon control of one of the great elements 

 of national wealth. Recently instances of malpractice have focused public 

 attention on the industry with telling concentration, and while these dis- 

 honesties have been limited to very few, the entire group is in some measure 

 hampered by suspicion. 



Certainly no time could be imagined more favorable for the development 

 of a new breadth and unity among all branches of lumber. Secretary 

 Hoover has suggested, as you know, a most promising means to this end — 

 the establishment by your industry of a national inspection bureau sup- 

 ported pro rata by the several associations, and available to every citizen 

 upon payment of appropriate fees. His thought is not that the inspection 

 of the national bureau shall supersede present services of grading, sizing 

 and inspection, but that the new organization shall co-ordinate these 

 services and gradually develop any necessary modifications of sectional 

 practice required to give greatest stability to the lumber business and 

 greatest ability to the lumber user. 



Inspection Must Be Centralized 



Let me emphasize again, that there is in the secretary's proposal no 

 implication of the necessary substitution of a new service for services 

 already functioning properly ; rather, his proposal is the co-ordination 

 of present services under a representative national organization, which 

 can aid in the broadest and most constructive development of the lumber 

 resources of America. 



This proposal the Department of Commerce feels to be basic. Without 

 a definite correlation of all lumber inspection, it is almost impossible to 

 conceive the proper protection of the consumer and such proper develop- 

 ment of producers' interrelations as shall meet present criticisms and 

 build stably for the future. 



We confidently expect the broad-visioned men in the sub-groups of 

 lumber to lead in working out a practical program for such national 

 service. True, we are told that there are certain natural divisions in 

 lumber which make it impossible for any true unification of the entire 

 field. It is stated by some representatives of hardwood interests that no 

 similarities whatever exist ,in softwood and hardwood ; that nothing in 

 the way of practices applying to one can possibly apply to the other. As 

 against this we are told by other representatives of hardwood and by the 

 best technical men, that all wood is essentially similar and that, while 

 many modifications of rules and procedure applying to specific uses must 

 be recognized, the great fundamental basis of grades, inspection and 

 nomenclature can well be identical for all lumber products. 



The Industry's Move! 



In such questions the Department of Commerce must await the recom- 

 mendation of the industry itself. If hardwood and softwood producers 

 insist upon existence as separate industries, with all the weakening of 

 self-government, with all the misunderstandings and limitations which 

 must inevitably follow, the Department of Commerce must accept that 

 decision, much as we shall regret it. Our only function in lumber, as in 

 all industries, is to support the best thought of the allied groups when 

 those groups shall unite in unanimous action. 



It appears most diflicult to obtain realization that this is our true func- 

 tion. Following last month's discussions we have been in receipt of great 

 numbers of letters and telegrams, particularly from hardwood interests, 

 stating that this group or that group does not properly represent hard- 

 wood : that this group or that group now has perfect inspection, perfect 

 grading, perfection, indeed, in every detail of practice, and that any one 

 dissenting from such 100 per cent performance is an insurgent-revolution- 

 ary unworthj' of hearing. These letters and telegrams show much funda- 

 mental misconception of the purpose of the department I We cannot decide 

 between groups. We can only serve a united industr.v which conceives 

 itself a permanent closely knit unit in our coujmercial structure. 



A-wait Decision of Majority of Millmen 

 When the majority of the hardwood producers can agree on proposals 

 for grading, sizing and naming of goods the Department of Commerce is 

 at their service in presenting those proposals to truly representative con- 

 ferences of all interests. If these conferences will adopt the original 

 proposals, or some modification thereof, the Department of Commerce will 

 publish these as its own. giving the weight of its moral support and 

 prestige to the movement, but until producers of hardwood are in sub- 

 stantial agreement among themselves, and in further agreement with pro- 

 ducers of softwoods, the sort of national constructive action for which 

 Secretary Hoover hopes is quite Impossible. So long as personal jealousies 

 or the assumption of present perfection controls the councils of lumber, 

 broad self-government is but a dream, and forecast of the future must 

 regard governmental regulation as the most probable outcome of the piti- 

 fully foolish policy of uninspired self-interest. 



Gentlemen, you have great opportunity. By forgetting past animosities, 

 by uniting in genuine effort to develop a national lumber practice of 

 highest ethical grade, you can place your Industry in the lead of great 

 .\merlcan projects. You can forestall regulation by making such regula- 

 tion utterly unnecessary. The Department of Commerce stands ready to 

 assist in every way in bringing such unification to consummation, but 

 the problem of developing wise national practice is your problem, not 



ours. We can. and will, support and follow up stabilizing recommenda- 

 tions to the full, but our department — any department of Federal govern- 

 ment — can aid only in so far as you build for lasting stability and the 

 greater ultimate rewards attained through the vision of broad public 

 ser\-Ice. 



Gentlemen, we are looking to you to so build — to wipe out any lingering 

 enmities In the hardwood field — to establish unified proposals for all 

 aspects of lumber service — to go forward, with the same energy that has 

 carried your business to its first rank importance, to that clarifying and 

 co-ordination of policies which shall place you among the leaders in the 

 stabillzatiim of our American industries. 



President Sherrill argued for every member to go home and work 

 for membership in his community, to go ahead -with the -work 

 undertaken and not let matters rest, as has frequently been the 

 case following an enthusiastic meeting. 



Resolutions Define Purposes 



Next was the report of the resolutions committee, this report 

 being adopted in full as read. 



Next on the program was the report of the nominating commit- 

 tee, the full report being adopted as read, the entire slate going in 

 ivithout dissenting voice. 



Sales Code Report 



T. E. Sledge, as chairman of the committee on sales code, made 

 the following report: 



Report of Committee on Sales Code 



Yuur committee on sales code begs leave to report that we have gone 

 thoroughly into the subject of the sales code and have agreed upon the 

 principles which should obtain in a sales code for a manufacturers' organi- 

 zation, but there are so many details to be worked out to get same in the 

 proper form for presentation, as well as certain legal phases that should 

 be gone into more thoroughly before a sales code is finally adopted, that 

 we request that we be given more time to complete our work, and that this 

 meeting authorize the board of directors to adopt a sales code as soon as 

 your committee has finished its work. 



Submitted : 



T. E. Sledge, Chairman : 

 J. W. Mavhew, 

 M. B. Cooper. 



Until this new sales code can be completed, which should be 

 within two or three weeks, according to Chairman Sledge, the 

 organization will use the old American Hardwood Manufacturers' 

 sales code. 



The Closing Remarks 



President Sherrill started calling on individual members for 

 expressions of opinion concerning the discussions heard and plans 

 as acted upon, and it quickly developed that the organization had 

 been completeh' sold on the idea and was 100 per cent interested, 

 and willing to do a lot of v\ork, use a lot of time, and do anything 

 possible to aid in getting the unity plan or Hoover plan in opera- 

 tion. General statements reflected a belief that the hardwood 

 producers at last had a trail that led out of the woods, and that it 

 would be followed nose down. 



Among those speaking favorably for the plan were S. M. Nickey, 

 E. B. Norman, E. M. Carrier, Hugh L. White, G. W. Allport, M. "W. 

 Stark, E. L. Jurden, Max Sondheimer, Fred Conn, B. F. Dulweber, 

 C. M. Kellogg, Harry Anderson, James E. Stark and others, while 

 the various newly elected officers and some of the directors made 

 statements concerning the issue, all of these statements being 

 highly optimistic and declaring for full support. W. M. Bitter went 

 so far as to state that if necessary he would call off a proposed 

 European trip this summer. E. M. Carrier, Sardis, Miss., who 

 served the organization as president, and has been active for years 

 '" its councils, stated that he pledged his same loyal support as 

 heretofore. Ealph Jurden reported 100 per cent for the plan, and 

 confident that other organizations in which he was interested, but 

 for which he didn 't have authority to speak, would back the plan 

 to the limit. Hugh L. White, well known as a pine man, but a 

 hardwood producer of but little more than a year, pledged full sup-i 

 port, stating that he had seen a need of a real producers organiza- 

 tion and had seen need of such a body in some bad practices that 

 had come before him within sixty days. M. W. Stark stated that 

 while it was a big order, there shouldn't be so much trouble in fill- 

 ing it, as it was only a matter of pulling together. Max Sondheimer 

 was for the plan, and in a way that no one but Max could tell it 



