30b 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Juue 



1!I22 



The New President of the National Hardwood 



Lumber Association 



A Biographical Study 



THERE are few nieu who have travelled in as straight a line as 

 has John W. McClure, the iiew president of the National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association. The consistency of Mr. MeClure's prog- 

 ress is calculated to excite the envy of less happily organized men. 

 His career seems not to have been marred at any point, as often 

 is the career of other men, by vacillation and uncertainty, false 

 starts and stumbles, falls and recoveries, turnings, this way and 

 that, like the fitful weather cock. With an almost uncanny direct- 

 ness, he has moved along to wealth and a high position in his 

 chosen field of endeavor — the hardwood industry. 



This might suggest a lack of struggle, a movement along the 

 line of least resistance, luck, or something of the sort. But 

 this is not true. John McClure had no advantage that the average 

 American boy doesn't enjoy; he didn't rise by pull, but had to 

 work hard for everything ho has ever achieved. His success has 

 been continuous because he started out by being master of himself. 

 He is a remarkably self-controlled man and has never permitted 

 himself to be led away by an illusion, nor blown out of his 

 course by a passion. Early in life he concluded that he would 

 know something, make money and be something, and he has held 

 himself rigidly to the accomplishment of that purpose. He is 

 possessed, too, of a genuine bigness, the momentum of which has 

 quietly and steadily urged him forward from one success to another. 

 There is a gracicmsness about him that is winning and he has the 

 ability to persuade men to work with him and for him with the 

 minimum of resistance. The charm of his affable disposition is 

 enhanced by a tall, stalwart body, the result of a rugged Scotch- 

 Irish ancestry and a life time of devotion to athletics and clean 

 living. He is reserved, but not cold, and a kindly smile always 

 hovers about his firm mouth. His gaze is direct and unwavering.. 

 The men of the hardwood industry have implicit faith in John 

 MeClure's integrity and his ability to get things done. There 

 are those in the industry of convivial disposition to whom his 

 strictly absteminous habits (he uses neither liquor nor tobacco 

 in any form) do not particularly appeal. But this antagonism 

 does not prevent those who indulge in this feeling from endorsing 

 John McClure when the industry is in search of a leader of 

 dignity, capable of clear thinking and tireless devotion to. duty. 



Stood on Tip-toe to Reach Knowledge 

 John McClure has confided to his friends that his controlling 

 desires have always been to learn, to serve and to save. There is 

 abundant proof that in this particular he has correctly analyzed him- 

 self. His desire to learn began to make itself manifest before he 

 got out of swaddling clothes. As soon as he could walk and talk 

 he began tip-toeing to reach a top drawer where his mother kept 

 old papers. He would take these old papers to anyone who would 

 help and ask what the letters were and what they meant. This 

 was before he was two years old. Before he was three this 

 avidity for knowledge had enabled him to master the alphabet and 

 by the time he was four he could read and write a little. 



His other ruling propensities, that is, the desires to serve and 

 save, or, rather, to work and save, were almost as early revealed 

 in his character. His father had moved his family to Hopkinsville, 

 Ky., before the days when telephones were common and John 

 used to run errands for the neighbors, gaining the reputation of 

 never forgetting a message. Frequently a neighbor who had older 

 boys than he would send him to the corner grocery for a spool of 

 thread or a cut of meat, because the neighbor understood that 

 John was disposed to bring back, and that quickly, what he had 

 gone after. For these errands John received small sums of 

 money and instead of spending these earnings for stick licorice 



and other things dear to the palate of the small boy, he saved them. 

 Thus when he reached four years of age and his mother was 

 ready to graduate him from the sexless raiment of the infant to 

 pants, his thrift had netted liini enough to buy his own outfit — 

 suit, shoes and cap. John remembers that this rig cost him $14. 

 It was a big day in his life. 



Throughout the gangling, red-haired, freckle-faced days of his 

 adolescence, John continued to grasp firmly any opportunity to turn 

 an honest penny that ventured within his reach. He acquired a 

 smattering dexterity at the carpenter's trade and during vaca- 

 tions put on shingles and siding for the neighbors in need of such 

 work. During this period he also read a great <lcal, for the 

 studious bent of his babyhood had remained. 



In the year 1891, John's father, who was a contractor and bridge 

 builder, originally from near Londonderry, Ireland, moved his 

 family to Memphis. In this year John entered high school. During 

 his high school days he joined his fellows in their conventional 

 sports, but didn't devote so much time to play that he couldn't 

 lead his class all the way. In 1896 he graduated with honors. 

 Begins His Hardwood Career 



By this time John had begun to feel pretty strongly the urge 

 of ambition, and he soon had an opportunity to obey it. He 

 seized this opportunity with his customary firmness and prompt- 

 ness. After graduation he had started to Y. M. C. A. night school 

 to learn stenograph}'. But at the time the aforementioned oppor- 

 tunity raised its head he had onlj- had a few lessons in shortliaml 

 and none in typewriting. He saw a blind ad in a local paper 

 which advertised the need of an expert stenographer. In spite 

 of the glaring difference between his own skill as an amanuensis 

 and that of an expert, John had the nerve to answer the ad. He 

 made a simple request for an interview and was much surprised 

 to receive a reply from a lumber firm, granting his request. He 

 learned afterward that this letter had been selected from a 

 large number of others because of its clear and careful hand- 

 writing. The resulting interview was naturally most interesting and 

 John succeeded in convincing the lumbermen in search of an 

 expert stenographer that they did not so much need an expert 

 stenographer as they did a willing lad named John McClure. Whilej 

 thus advising his prospective employers, John saw on the desk' 

 before him a credit memorandum, showing the purchase of a 

 carload of lumber, and an invoice for the sale of the same ear. 

 The difference of purchase and sale price revealed to Jolm 's quick 

 eye a snug profit, and lie was convinced that this was a business 

 worth learning. 



The job which he secured by this interview was his first and 

 only one, and from now on you will begin to perceive the direct- 

 ness of his progress. The job commenced Jan. 1, 1897, and lasted 

 exactly five years. It was with the old firm of Taenzer & Thompson, 

 consisting of E. E. ("Ed") Taenzer and J. W. ("Jess") Thomp- 

 son. When the latter partner sold his interest, the firm continued 

 as E. E. Taenzer & Co. 



■lohn McClure started in on his first and only job with a salary 

 of ,$30 a month, but by the second year this had been advanced 

 to $75. The young clerk early evidenced an aptitude for the 

 business and when, after only a few months, a yellow-fever scare 

 struck Memphis and both of his employers left the city with their 

 families, he assumed the management of the business. He stuck 

 ti) his post throughout the summer, but only a few deaths occurred 

 :nid there was no epidemic in Memphis. 



Saves Capital from Earnings 



It so happened that John was the oldest of a family of six, 

 (Contiiuird OH page 4;ti 



