50 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



June 25. 1922 



{Continued from page 48) 

 could condense my remarks to a comparatively small space, but 

 I have not been able to bring myself to the point where I could 

 feel that 1 had done my duty to bring, or attempted at least to 

 bring, home to you the vital points on which 1 feel so strongly. 

 Should Solve Publicity Enigma 



"On the subject of trade extension. 1 shall not attempt to say 

 much. I believe that you have done unintentionally through your 

 former officers an injustice to both your committee who gave so 

 much time and energy voluntarily to the association and the 

 Conover-Mooney Company, w^ho went into the proposition with 

 every belief and confidence that it would be carried out in accord- 

 ance ■with the action of your trade extension committee. Finan- 

 cially we are not obligated for any vast amount of money as your 

 Commissioner will have reported to you, but morally, as the nego- 

 tiations w^ith Conover-Mooney were made on the basis by v/hich 

 they w^ere to obtain their compensation through commissions from 

 the advertisers with w^hom the association would have contracts. 

 1 believe that you should determine definitely today what you are 

 going to do with the work which your committee so faithfully 

 performed, i. e.. throw^ it into the scrap heap, or hold it for the 

 future when the treasury shall have accumulated sufficient funds to 

 justify proceeding with it, or the association members are in such 

 a frame of mind as to stand an assessment which w^ould finance 

 the w^ork. 



"We will hear from some of the reports of the advertising and 

 trade extension committee, and it w^ill be for you to determine 

 w^hat can be done. 



"May I again refer to the matter of budget, or assessment? We 

 fell heir to some financial obligations, and undertook the payment 

 of our commissioner at a comparatively slight increase in propor- 

 tion to the increase in work over that w^hich had been paid him 

 by the Plyw^ood Manufacturers' Association, and probable member- 

 ships, and it was the idea of your executive committee, that, from 

 time to time, as the various groups would consider it advantageous 

 to organize, they could finance their ow^n groups in so far as their 

 individual activities were concerned by assessment within their 

 groups, when special work w^as required in special lines, but, in the 

 event you have familiarized yourself with the by-laws and pro- 

 ceedings of the meeting of March 14, at which time the consolida- 

 tion w^as finally effected, as well as the meeting of the executive 

 committee, you will know that the Commissioner will act as secre- 

 tary of any group, w^hich will be organized at no additional salary 

 or office expense other than the actual postage and traveling ex- 

 pense of the Commissioner, but in the event the costing engineer 

 is required, then such additional expense will devolve upon the 

 individuals of the groups who use him. 



Need Storm-Proof Cost Accounting 



"Let us not be like the ostrich and stick our heads in the sand, 

 and think that the storm is past, or that w^e can stick our heads in 

 the sand at any time, and let the storm pass, but let us build a 

 properly constructed storm-proof cost accounting system, so that 

 w^e may not be surprised by an adverse statement at the end of 

 our inventory period, and may be able to anticipate our losses, 

 w^hich would otherwise occur. 



"A letter came to me recently from one of our past presidents, 

 and a man of distinct ability and success which gave me a new 

 slant on the attitude of some of you toward the consolidation. 

 The argument used was that the National Veneer & Panel Manu- 

 facturers' association has a distinct place in the lives of the various 

 concerns, including rotary, sliced, sawed and the plywood, but tak- 

 ing this on a national scale, the different interests are so widely 

 varied and so distinctly different that association w^ork for the 

 entire group must necessarily cover only the high spots. And, he 

 stated that he believed that such an association is of value to the 

 entire trade in a social and economical w^ay. 



"Now^, then, if a number of the members of this association have 

 that same feeling, I am perfectly satisfied that they have not 

 realized the objects and intentions of the association as organized 

 under the new by-law^s. For, it is not the intention of the National 



Veneer & Pane! Manufacturers' association in so far as has been 

 possible to decide to do anything other than attempt to knit to- 

 gether the various interests into a common interest in such func- 

 tions as are common to us all, and to subdivide our work in those 

 parts of the industry as you may determine for yourselves to be 

 logical and to your advantage. You. no doubt, have heard of 

 the recent meeting which the National Lumber Manufacturers' 

 association held with Mr. Hoover, and Mr. Hoover's statement 

 that, if the industries did not get together and arrange to conserve 

 the forests of these United States voluntarily, then the Govern- 

 ment w^ould have to step in and force them to do so through estab- 

 lishing rules, regulations and methods by law, and you all know, 

 with all due respect to Government officials and their earnest en- 

 deavor to give benefit to the business w^orld generally, that they 

 can not, from their theoretical point of view, consummate mat- 

 ters of this sort, as w^ell as those who have spent their lives and 

 energy on one industry. 



"Gentlemen, if the lumber industry which has so far progressed 

 as to have established a set of rules for inspection and inspectors 

 giving certificates of inspection on cars of lumber through the 

 National Hardwood Lumber association, is criticized, then pray 

 w^hat condition are we in to meet the Government's w^ishes, and 

 may we not be forced to do some things which we know are wrong, 

 simply because we have not been foresighted enough to properly 

 organize and meet the changed conditions which have been brought 

 about by the increased efficiency and the wonderful education we 

 had during this w^ar period, the subsequent fictitious prosperity, 

 accompanied by the sad awakening, followed by the period of 

 liquidation } 



"If these industries can not now be united under the National 

 V^eneer & Panel Manufacturers' association and subdivided into 

 groups by various kinds of wood or methods of manufacture, as 

 well as the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association have or- 

 ganized, covering softwoods, hardwoods, and yea, practically 

 everything in the way of forest products. What are we to do? 



*I hope you \vill understand the differentiation made in the above 

 between the different lumber manufacturers* associations, and the 

 National Hardwood Lumber association, which are two separate 

 and distinct associations, but w^ith which you may not have come 

 in contact sufficiently to differentiate, but our line, being so varied, 

 namely, through sawmill, veneer saws, and rotary operations, we 

 have had to keep in touch ■with the whole general line, and I feel 

 that ■we certainly will have missed an opportunity, yes, even 

 show^n our gross ignorance of things that are happening about us, 

 if we do not get w^holeheartedly behind the National Veneer & 

 Panel Manufacturers' association and make a stand in our subdi- 

 vision of the industry equally as high as any other association in 

 any other business, and I am thoroughly convinced that w^e are 

 now so connected up through Mr. Wulpi, our commissioner, as 

 to be entered upon a period of association activity, such as w^e 

 have never heretofore realized or known. 



"Gentlemen, 1 thank you." 



"Why Manufacturers Organize'* 



Other particularly interesting features of the June 20 morning 

 session w^ere the addresses on the value of trade association work 

 delivered by George N. Lamb, secretary of the American Walnut 

 Manufacturers' association, Chicago, and Frank F. Fish, secretary- 

 treasurer of the National Hardw^ood Lumber association. Chicago. 



Mr. Lamb's address was in the form of a paper, and specifically 

 was on "Why Manufacturers Organize," opening with a reference 

 to man's tendency since prehistoric times to unite w^ith his fellows 

 for mutual advantage and coming dow^n to the present day, when 

 organization is the rule in industries and its value is demonstrated 

 by the fact that the most prosperous and aggressive industries in 

 the country are the ones which maintain strong associations. In 

 full, Mr. Lamb, said: 



"Perhaps a million years ago our ancestors had completed the 

 evolution as tree animals that gave them the prehensile hand, 

 ?^trong active bodies, and an alert brain. About this time the 

 iContitnictl on page 58) 



