38 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



June 25. 1922 



Conferees Adopt Hardwood Sales Code 



Eepresentatives, uumbiriiig some 100, of thirty different orgaui- 

 zations of producers, distributors and consumers of hardwood lum- 

 ber, adopted a National Hardwood Sales Code at a conference held 

 under the auspices of the National Hardwood Lumber Association 

 in the Drake Hotel on the afternoon of June 21, the day preceding 

 the opening of the twenty-fifth annual convention of the National 

 Hardwood association. 



This widely representative group assembled on the invitation of 

 Earl Palmer of Memphis, Tenn., chairman of the sales code com- 

 mittee of the National Hardwood Lumber Association, who pre- 

 sented to them a tentative code — the result of one solid year of 

 intensive study, conducted by Mr. Palmer and the members of his 

 committee among the consuming, producing and distributing divi- 

 sions of the hardwood trade. So well had Mr. Palmer and his asso- 

 ciates done their work that the most painstaking and critical 

 examination of the tentative code resulted in only a few minor 

 changes. The interests of both buyer and seller had been so ably 

 and fairly provided for; in other words, equity was so substantially 

 written into the code, that none of all those who consider the work 

 could discover a major fault. Those who served on the committee 

 with Mr. Palmer were M. M. Wall, Buffalo, N. Y.; J. H. Maassen, 

 Memphis, Tenn.; R. B. Goodman, Goodman, Wis.; Charles H. Bar- 

 naby, Greencastle, Ind. 



The conference was opened by Mr. Palmer, but he immediately 

 proposed to turn the meeting over to the delegates. This proposal 

 ■was accepted and E. E. Parsonage of the John Deere Plow Com- 

 pany, Moline, 111., and president of the Association of Wood-Con- 

 suming Industries, was nominated and elected chairman. 



Frank F. Fish, secretary-treasurer of the National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association, was elected secretary. 



After Mr. Parsonage had assumed the chair and made a brief 

 address, in which he explained his peculiar position in the trade, 

 being both manufacturer and buyer and consumer of hardwood lum- 

 ber, and thus on "both sides of the fence," Mr. Fish began reading 

 the tentative code. 



The business of considering the code then proceeded with such 

 earnestness and concentration that within the matter of some three 

 hours the delegates had examined it from preamble to the last 

 section of the concluding article, and adopted it by an overwhelm- 

 ing majority. 



Palmer Opens the Conference 

 Opening the conference and presenting the recommendations of 

 the sales code committee, Earl Palmer of the Ferguson & Palmer 

 Company, Memphis, chairman, declared that "never before in the 

 history of the hardwood trade has there been a gathering so com- 

 posite in nature, and representative of so many different lines of 

 important industries, assembled for the purpose of considering a 

 common problem with the view of arriving at a satisfactory solu- 

 tion, that will be eminently fair and satisfactory to all interests 

 involved. Unless I mistake the true meaning of this conference, it 

 is indicative of a new spirit which is to bring about a better under- 

 standing between those who produce and distribute, who buy and 

 sell; a spirit of broader thinking and of fairer dealing." 



Mr. Palmer explained to the delegates that in presenting a sales 

 code to the conference, the committee did not desire to convert the 

 conference into a "cut and dried affair, assembled only to ratify 

 the work of the committee; but, rather, to afford a tangible basis 

 upon which to begin and conduct the work of the conference." 



The code, in the final form in which it was presented to aad 

 adopted by the National Hardwood Lumber Association on June 23, 

 is as follows: 



NATIONAL SALES CODE 



PREAMBLE 



The purposes of this hardwood sales code are as follows : 



1. To establish uniform practices in the conduct of transactions. involT- 

 ing the sale and purchase of hardwood lumber, by defining in plain and 

 unequivocal terras, the approved customs and usages of the trade under 

 which such transactions are conducted. 



2. To supply reasonable regulations governing elements of transactions 

 that are not already covered by established customs. 



3. To provide practical and responsive means for the settlement of 

 disputes arising between sellers and buyers of hardwood lumber, without 

 recourse to litigation. 



ARTICLE I. 



NAME 



The following statement of principles applying to transaction involving 

 the sale and purchase of hardwood lumber expresses customs and usages 

 common to the hardwood lumber trade, and as arranged, shall be known 

 as the National Hardwood Lumber Sales Code. 

 ARTICLE II. 



PARTIES 



Section 1. Parties subscribing to this code shall consist of trade or- 

 ganizations, the members of which are directly engaged in either the 

 production, distribution or consumption of hardwood lumber, and that 

 adopt and recommend to their members the use of this code in transac- 

 tions involving the sale and purchase of that commodity. 



Sec. 2. No organization possesses authority to impose the use of this 

 code upon its members. The terms of this code can be rendered binding 

 as between buyers and sellers of lumber only by contractual agreement 

 of the parties at interest that they shall apply to specific transactions. 



ARTICLE III. 



QUOTATIONS 



Section 1. Quotations are of two classes, general and special. 



Sec. 2. General quotations in the form of stock lists or circular letters 

 are made subject to prior sale and immediate acceptance. 



Sec. 3. Special quotations made at request of the buyer should be pro- 

 tected for a specific period by mutual agreement. 



ARTICLE IV. 



ORDERS 



Section 1. The term "order" refers to a contract of sale and pur- 

 chase existing between seller and buyer. 



Sec. 2. All orders should be in writing and should specifically embody 

 all provisions of the agreement of sale and purchase, to-wit : Kind. 

 variety, quantity, dimensions, grade, inspection, point of delivery, time of 

 shipment, price, terms of payment, etc. 



Sec. 3. An order taken by a salesman is not binding upon the seller 

 until it has been accepted in writing by the buyer or until delivery under 

 the order has begun, and in the absence of either of these forms of ac- 

 ceptance, it is subject to cancellation. 



Sec. 4. Any provision or provisions omitted by the buyer from his 

 formal order may be supplied by the seller, or any provision or provisions 

 contained in the formal order may be amended by the seller in his ac- 

 ceptance of the order, but such additions or amendments do not become 

 a part of the contract of sale and purchase until they are specifically 

 nceepted bv the buver. 



ARTICLE V. 



QUANTITY AND LOADING 



Section 1. Where a specific quantity of lumber is required, the quan- 

 tity should be stated in feet in the order, and the seller should adjust 

 the contents of shipments going forward under the order in a manner to 

 enable him to make substantial delivery of the specified total. 



Sec. 2. When an order specifies a carload or a given number of car- 

 loads, the seller should load and the buyer should receive cars loaded sub- 

 stantially to the capacity of weight or contents. 



<Xote : There is no relation existing between fair and honest loading 

 and the trend of the market, and any attempt to make the prevailing mar- 

 ket a determining factor for the contents of a shipment is a breach of 

 good faith under this code.) 



ARTICLE VI. 

 delivery 

 Section 1. A bill of lading properly filled out. showing buyer as con- 

 signee, or if to the order of shipper, properly endorsed by him. shall con- 

 stitute evidence as to the fact and time of delivery at shipping point. 

 ARTICLE VII. 



TIME OF shipment 



Section 1. Where time of shipment is not an essential element of the 

 contract, and is not so stated in the order, shipment shall be made within 

 a reasonable time. 



Sec. 2. Where time of shipment is an essential element of a contract. 

 (Continued on page 42) 



