June 25, 1922 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



43 



{Continued from page 30-B) 

 and his father, who had suffered business reverses in the panic of 

 1893, had become a railroad employe. John knew that if he was 

 ever to have any capital he would have to save it out of his 

 earnings. Again his fundamental thriftiness stood him in good 

 stead. During the year of 1898 he saved $500 out of a year's 

 salary of $900. He accomplished this by adopting a budget system 

 and keeping a strict set of books on himself. This performance 

 pleased his employers, and on his promise to duplicate the feat 

 the following year, Mr. Taenzer agreed to allow him a five per 

 cent interest in the profits of the firm, for which he invested his 

 original capital of $500 and gave a twelve-months' note for a 

 like sum. This investment was most opportune, for the year 

 1899 was a fat one for the hardwood industry, and John cleaned 

 up $1,300 as his share of the profits. This with the $1,000 he had 

 saved, gave him a capital of $2,300, and he had firmly planted 

 his feet on the road to success. 



At the end of five years John had added considerable to his 

 savings and experience. He was ready to go in business on his 

 own account, and this he did in 1902. In partnership with 

 Albert N. Thompson, he organized the firm of Thompson & McClure. 

 Each partner put $3,000 into the business and it prospered from 

 the start. In 1906 the business assumed the dignity of a corporate 

 institution, being chartered under the name of the Bellgrade Lum- 

 ber Company and taking in new capital and personnel. At the 

 out-set the active participants in the corporation were W. L. Cren- 

 shaw, Albert N. Thompson, T. M. Cathey, J. W. McClure and 

 F. P. Gearhart. Mr. McClure owned a one-fifth interest. Fol- 

 lowing the panic of 1907, which restricted the possibilities of the 

 business, the partners, one by one, withdrew, with the exception 

 of Cathey and McClure, who remained and bought in the stock 

 of the others. These two were left as equal partners, and then the 

 name of J. S. "Williford, who had grown up in the employ of the 

 company, was added to the list of oflBcers of the company. The 

 business has grown and prospered steadily. Cathey and McClure 

 were strong believers in the future of red gum and were among 

 the pioneers in introducing this wood. Because of the good busi- 

 ness judgment of the partners, together with their eagerness to serve, 

 and their strict integrity at all times, the business has achieved a 

 position second to none in its field. 



Begins Association Activities 



It was in 1906 that John McClure 's career first began to grow 

 out of the narrow limits of his private business. In that year the 

 Lumbermen's Club of Memphis elected him secretary. He served 

 one term, and this experience opening his eyes to the possibilities 

 of co-operative effort, confirmed in him an enthusiastic belief in 

 trade association work. Since then he has devoted a large part 

 of his time and thought to this enthusiasm. He assisted in the 

 organization of the Southern Hardwood TraflSe Association, and 

 was its second president. He also was one of the organizers of the 

 Gum Lumber Manufacturers Association and has been one of the 

 most devoted workers for the fame of gum lumber. As vice- 

 president of the gum lumber organization he was the first to 

 start a general advertising campaign to extend the demand for a 

 special wood. He was one of the organizers and the first presi- 

 dent of the Southern Alluvial Land Association, which has helped 

 to settle farmers on thousands of acres of Delta cut-over land, 

 and direct the attention of the whole country to the unexampled 

 fertility of the lower Mississippi valley. 



When he was appointed to the inspection rules committee of the 

 National Hardwood Lumber Association, John McClure 's career 

 begun to take on a national aspect. After the second year in the 

 ranks of rule maker, he was made chairman of this important 

 committee and remained in this position for eight of as construc- 

 tive years as the history of National Inspection can show. He did 

 much for the simplification, standardization and stabilization of 

 the National grading and inspection rules, which have become 

 the universal standard for hardwood inspection not only in this 

 country, but in Canada and Europe. Mr. McClure was vice- 



president of the N. H. L. A. from 1918 until his elevation to the 

 presidency on June 23 of this year. 



Into whatever wing of the hardwood industry John McClure 's 

 growing business has sent him he has ranked with the leaders. 

 Thus his expert interests resulted in his being called on for service 

 on various of the committees in the National Lumber Exporters 

 Association. He has also served on the board of directors of this 

 organization and for one term was vice-president. 



His company joined, the National Wholesale Lumber Dealers 

 Association and his enthusiasm and ripened experience in organiza- 

 tion work, soon caused him to be placed on the board of trustees, 

 from which place he passed successively through the vice-presi- 

 dencies, and, in 1920, became president. He was at the helm of 

 this organization during the two difiicult years of depression, 

 handling it with such skill that its membership increased and its 

 usefulness received acknowledgment throughout the industry. 



On Oct. 2, 1907, in Union City, Tenn., John McClure was married 

 to Allinc C. Crenshaw. Their family consists of three children, 

 Ruth, 13, J. W., Jr., (Jack) 12, and Donald Cathey, now a year old. 



The Bellgrade Lumber Company, of which John W. McClure is 

 secretary-treasurer and equal owner with T. M. Cathey, the presi- 

 dent, operates large hardwood mills at Louise and Gary, Miss. 

 These mills are under the direct management of Mr. Cathey, who 

 enjoys the reputation of being one of the ablest hardwood operators 

 in the South. Both mills have large areas of excellent hardwood 

 timber of the various southern species, but chiefly gum and oak. 



The business connections of John McClure have expanded be- 

 yond the confines of his chief interest, the Bellgrade Lumber Com- 

 pany. He is president of the Memphis Lumber Corporation, operat- 

 ing retail yards and planing mills. For several years he has been 

 a director in the Union & Planters Bank & Trust Co., of Memphis, 

 one of the largest banking institutions in the South. He was until 

 recently president of the De Soto Hardwood Flooring Co. He has 

 served several terms as director of the Memphis Chamber of 

 Comnieree. During the war with Germany he was active in a 

 number of patriotic endeavors. He organized a company of Home 

 Guards, of which he became captain, and, going into the Liberty 

 Loan organization was made District Manager over a territory 

 comprising three counties of West Tennessee. He is a Eotarian 

 and a charter member of the Memphis Eotary Club. He is a 

 Mason and Knight Templar. He served as chairman of the Board 

 of Mendicancy in the Memphis Commission Government, and is 

 always to be found among the workers for any movement In 

 Memphis for charity or civic improvement. 



John McClure was born in Columbia, Tenn., on September 18, 

 187S, and his mother was a member of a fine old Tennessee family. 

 From this announcement you can easily deduce that he is just forty- 

 three years of age. Therefore, the best of his years are ahead of 

 him, and, with his fine habits and robust health, we may well 

 .Tssume that the best of his accomplishments also lie ahead. 



Russian Timber Trade Overestimated 

 The much mooted Importations from Russia have been less for April, 

 1922. than for any recent month, according to the Lumber Division of 

 the Department of Commerce, comprising only 70,800 cubic feet of sawn 

 softwoods of very poor quality and valued at £6.541. It is said, however, 

 that there has been much English buying for deliveries later in the season. 

 The .\11-Russian Co-operative Society (Ltd.) (.\rcos) reports having sold 

 only £2,414 of timber in the United Kingdom during .\pril and attributes 

 this low total to the seasonal suspension of navigation from northern ports. 

 .\rcos reports tlwt "Severoless" (northern forests) has twenty-nine 

 sawmills capable of dealing with 4,000,000 logs during the season ; the 

 actual output during the four months of this year being 57,000,000 board 

 feet of sawn timber and 672,000,000 feet of all kinds. It is understood 

 that "Severoless" employs more than 20,000 workers of all grades. 



Interest is being aroused in English timber circles concerning the huge 

 forest areas in Siberia, which are reported to be of more than 300.000,000 

 acres in extent, containing more than sixty varieties of timber useful for 

 building and manufacturing purposes, as oak, ash, acacia, cork, walnut, 

 birch, aspen, lime, elm, cedar, pine, larch and flr. 



