46 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



July 25, 1922 



Furniture Council Proposes Changes in Hardwood 



Grading Rules 



The request of the National Council of Furniture Associations that 

 the National Hardwood Lumber Association abandon its efforts to 

 formulate and establish a Hardwood Sales Code, and devote its 

 energies exclusively to co-operate with the "ultimate purchasers 

 of lumber" to see that the National Hardwood grading rules "are 

 developed to as near perfection as it is possible, has been followed 

 by the suggestion of specific changes w^hich the National Council of 

 Furniture Associations desires made in the grading rules. 



In a bulletin to its members, w^hich repeats the original statement 

 to the Sales Code Conference asking that the code efforts be aban- 

 doned, the Council announces that arrangements are being made 

 for a conference between the Council's Committee on Lumber and 

 the Grading Rules Committee of the National Hardwood Association, 

 to consider the proposed changes. The changes which the Council 

 proposes are as follows: 



Eliminate — Grade "Selects." 



Eliminate Grade Quartered Red Gum — Sap no defect" and sub- 

 stitute for same — grade Quartered Sap Gum. 



Eliminate The "4 per cent" clause. 



Insert — Season checks should be considered serious defects. 



Change No. I Common to read " *4' and over wide." 



Change Rules to read "All lumber should be graded from the 



poor side of the board." 



The committee w^hich presented these proposals to the National 

 comprises W. A. Thomas, chairman; O. E. Landstrom, Geo. B. 

 Wilson and Joseph F. Johnson. 



It will be recalled by those who have interested themselves in 

 the progress of the sales code movement that when it came time 

 for the National Council of Furniture Associations to vote on the 

 code completed at the Sales Code Conference in Chicago at the 

 Drake Hotel on July 21, Wm. B. Baker of Chicago, as spokesman 

 for the Council's delegation, arose and read a long formal state- 

 ment urging the complete scrapping of the code plan. The es- 

 sence of that statement, which has already been given wide pub- 

 licity by the trade press, follows: 



We, the Committee, representing the Furniture Industry, are 

 here today to suggest that the National Hardwood Lumber Asso- 

 ciation desist in its attempt to establish the Proposed Sales Code 

 and that it concentrate its efforts upon a recognition by all pur- 

 chasers of hardwood lumber of the National Grading Rules. What 

 the buyer wants today is a standard set of grading rules, to know 

 what to order in the way of lumber for his particular requirements, 

 and have a measure of value whereby he can secure what he orders 

 and an inspection service based on these rules which will be a proper 

 check against any infringement of the grading rules. 



It is the suggestion of this Committee that every effort be made 

 by the manufacturers of lumber and the ultimate purchasers ol 

 lumber to see that these grading rules are developed to as near 

 perfection as it is possible. 



Further w^e recommend that the National Hardwood Lumber 

 Association conduct an inspection service so that a buyer of lum- 

 ber may secure that service in the event that the lumber being 

 inspected has been purchased from a lumber manufacturer or 

 wholesaler who is not a member of the National Hardwood Lum- 

 ber Association. 



The immediate need is for a universal recognition of the National 

 Grading Rules and to gain the support of the majority of manu- 

 facturers and users of lumber, a broader application of the inspec- 

 tion service must be made available in order to gain the recognition 

 essential. 



We desire to have the Committee on Grading Rules of the National 

 Hardwood Lumber Association take a new view^ of the situation and 

 be more amenable to the needs of the industries who are consumers 

 of lumber, through the rules inspection. 



We, as a Committee, are here for a constructive purpose and 

 believe that if we can all unite to gain proper recognition of the 

 National Rules of Inspection, that this meeting will not have been 

 in vain. 



The roll call was then taken, which resulted in the adoption of the 



code, which the National Hardwood Lumber Association is com- 

 mitted to support as its ow^n. The National council committee 

 voted "No." 



The bulletin which the Council has sent to its members has the 

 following to say in furtherance of this negative vote: 



"The following day the National Hardwood Lumber Associa- 

 tion in its annual session adopted the sales code as submitted front 

 the conference on the preceding day. Therefore, the lumber in- 

 terests connected with the National Hardwood Lumber Association 

 will endeavor to have the buyer of lumber agree to the provisions 

 of the Sales Code. 



"The purpose of this circular is to state the facts to you as a 

 buyer (italics in circular) of lumber and to indicate that the Na- 

 tional Council of Furniture Associations believes that the Code 

 is unnecessary." 



Then follows the announcement of the arrangements made by 

 the Council w^ith the National to consider the proposed changes in 

 the grading rules. 



Attorney Hawke Suspended from Law Practice 



George S. Hawke, attorney and "dry leader," with offices in 

 the First National Bank building, Cincinnati, has been suspended 

 from the practice of law in the State of Ohio, in a decision handed 

 down recently by Judges Edward T. Dixon, Stanley Struble and 

 Fred L. Hoffman of the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. 



Attorney Hawke, it will be remembered, announced last year 

 his intention of launching a campaign against furniture manu- 

 facturers and retailers throughout, who he said, misrepresent their 

 merchandise. This campaign was to have been conducted under 

 the auspices of the "National Furniture Association" of which 

 Mr. Hawke is acting secretary and one of the incorporators. 



The suspension of Attorney Hawke, by Judges Dixon, Struble 

 and Hoffman is the result of disbarment charges filed against 

 him by a committee representing the Cincinnati Bar Associa- 

 tion and appointed by Judge Thomas H. Darby of the Hamilton 

 County Common Pleas Court. But the written decision handed 

 down does not contain the word "disbarment" and opens the w^ay 

 for Hawke to be reinstated. It reads: 



"The judgment of the court is that George S. Hawke be sus- 

 pended from office as an attorney-at-law in all the courts of the 

 State of Ohio until such time as he presents to the satisfaction 

 of this court that he has awakened to a full realization of the 

 gravity of the conduct of which he had been guilty as a member 

 of the bar and there have gone on in his professional character 

 such reforming and regenerating processes as are calculated to 

 restore the confidence reposed in him when he was originally ad- 

 mitted to practice law^ in Ohio." 



In suspending Hawke the judges said that the evidence clearly, 

 conclusively and convincingly shows unprofessional conduct involv- 

 ing moral turpitude in that in violation of his oath as an officer 

 of this court he has deliberately and knowingly and repeatedly, 

 by false swearing evaded a valid ordinance of the City of Cin- 

 cinnati and in connection therewith had enabled alien residents 

 of Cincinnati to engage in business in violation of the laws of the 

 city. 



The charges which resulted in Hawke's suspension were filed 

 against him by three attorneys appointed as a committee by 

 Common Pleas Court Judge Darby, who ordered the investiga- 

 tion as a result of Hawke's own statements that licenses were 

 obtained through the Lincoln Poolroom Company for the opera- 

 tion of poolrooms by aliens. During the hearing of the disbar- 

 ment proceedings which began July 10, it was shown Hawke has 



