Aut'ust 2.-,. 1922 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



19 



National Aims of Institute Emphasized 



Officials Speaking at Regional Meeting in Memphis Point Out Advantages to 

 Hardwood Manufacturers of National Organization 



The Harilwood Manufacturers' Institute nut only ]iroposes to render 

 the most effieient servir-e possible to luirdwood manufacturers, consum- 

 ers and tlie general public, but it also proposes to do this in a national 

 way, thus giving a verv broad scope to the activities of this organ- 

 ization. 



This was made plain at a regional meeting lielil at Memphis August 

 9 and attended by approximately 75 hardwood producers from the 

 southwestern and central producing territory. C. H. Slierrill, presi- 

 dent: J. H. Kirby, newly-elected director, ami B. F. Dulweber, 

 chairman of the inspection rules committee, euijihasized the national 

 aims and aspirations of the institute and Mr. Kirl>y, in liis address, 

 said that he desired to send a message to hardwood manufacturers 

 in all parts of the United States to join the organization and help 

 to develop the very fertile field that lies immediately ahead of it. 



This was the first of a series of similar meetings to be held to 

 acquaint hardwood producers with the objects and purpose of the 

 institute and to let them know what is being accomplished. President 

 Sherrill announced during the day that meetings would be held later 

 in the Southwest, in the Appalachian territory, and in the East. "The 

 plans of the institute are national in scope," he said, "and we are 

 going to idaee ourselves in position to respond to Secretary Hoover 

 as a unit when he desires any information or data regarding the 

 hardwood industry." 



Sherrill Presents Executives 



President Sherrill presented J(din M. Pritchard, secretary-man- 

 ;iger: S. F. D. Me,1cy and C. E. Van Camp, assistant secretaries; 

 and F. F. Murray, technical engineer, to the members and outlined 

 briefly the duties or eaeh of these gen lemen. They in turn pledged 

 their best efforts to disehivge the duties assigned to them. 



Mr. Sherrill spoke of the dissatisfaction with existing grading rules 

 on the part of consumers and expressed the hope that there would be 

 some step to revise the rules so as to meet, as far as possible, the needs 

 of consuming interests, and also so as to conserve a great national 

 resource. He ])resented letters from representative organizations ol 

 idusumers indicating changes in grading rules desired. 



He pointed out that 61 per cent of the standing hardwood timljer of 

 the country is in the South and declared that it is up to the owners 

 to get into the fight and put before the people in proper form the 

 uses to which hardwood lumber is adapted. He said that there is a 

 far greater use for hardwood lumber than is now being experienced 

 and suggested that this fact rendered trade extension work imperative. 

 He also advanced the idea that cutting low grade hardwoods into 

 dimension stock in sizes desired by consumers would go a long way 

 toward heljiiug to expand the use of this class of material and he 

 made a brilliant plea for standardization as a means of accomplishing 

 the same end. 



Mr. Sherrill also announced that no statistics of the industry would 

 be compiled until the forms which are to be sent to manufacturers 

 when seeking data have been approved by the proper authorities at 

 Washington. These are now before them for consideration and he 

 indicated that, if they were approved, it would be a big lielp to the 

 industry. 



Decries Runaway Market 



President SherriU suggested that the railway strike and the resultant 

 car shortage are likely to lead to "selfishness and higher prices." 

 He thouglit No. 1 common and better high enough and emphasized that 

 hardwood manufacturers could render a distinct service to the public 

 if they prevented a ' ' runaway ' ' market. In this connection, he read 

 a letter from Franklin D. Boosevelt, prominently identified with the 

 building industry, urging co-operation on the ]iart of hardwood manu- 

 facturers in stabilization of prices. 



In conclusion, Mr. Sherrill urged that nuMubers of the institute read 



the lumber trade journals and other trade publications, which are 

 discussing standardization and other uptodate topics, as a means of 

 getting the views of these on subjects of vital interest to the industry. 

 E. B. Xorman, second vice-president of the institute, said that this 

 organization could furnish a home for manufacturers of hardwood 

 lumber and afford them ample opportunity to discuss their own peculiar 

 problems and find a solution thereof. He regretted that hardwood 

 manufacturers had made such small progress in technical research 

 and in improving processes of production and distribution and he 

 thought that they should be active in overcoming this handicap. He 

 believed that there should be "more clear and more severe lines of 

 demarcation t>etween manufacturers, consumers and the public, on the 

 one hanil, whose interests are common, and those intervening interests, 

 on the other, whose plans are not the same and whose interests may 

 be conflicting." He thought that manufacturers had been yielding 

 too much to these intervening interests and that the success of the 

 manufacturers of harilwood lumber in solving their pressing problems 

 and in advancing the interests of the industry was inextricably bound 

 up in the Hardwood Manufacturers' Institute. He gave the following 

 outline of what is required in order to insure the success so devoutly 

 desired : 



We must have .'in intdliKcnt set nf rules, the integrit.v and practicability 

 of which can tie ininiciliatcly recognized by the consuming ptiblic. and a 

 practical method of applying these rnlcs that will be open to all the world. 



We must have a statistical bureau that will give to the public all the 

 information that those of us within the business caoi procure, and it is to be 

 hoped that the Department of Commerce will allow these statistics to be 

 gathered and distributed so that they will be informative to the public and 

 to ourselves. This is of special importance to the small producer dt)wn in 

 the woods who does not now have the means to keep informed. 



We must have a wide advertising campaign, intelligently telliaig to the 

 public the truth about our business, and our problems. 



We must have an engineering department, capable of working out the 

 needs of the consumer, to the end that he may have better and cheaper 

 lumber, if possible, for the purposes to which he is putting it. 



We must secure the membership and the heartfelt loyalty of every pro- 

 ducer of lumber. 



We must make this Institute serve all these great purposes to which it is 

 dedicated. Through our ii:telligence. efforts and loyalty, this will be ac- 

 complished in a great national way. 



Higgins Discusses Expert Possibilities 



A, J, Higgins, Higgins Lumber & Export Company, New Orleans, 

 told members of the Institute that American hardwood manufac- 

 turers could materially increase their sales in Europe if they would 

 cater to foreign needs in the matter of sizes; if they would keep a 

 continuous supply of lumber for shipment abroad even when it is not 

 as profitable to sell in foreign as in the home markets; if they would 

 devise a better classification so that foreign buyers would know just 

 what they are ordering; if they would advertise, in an understandable 

 way. just what they have to sell; and if they would ship exactly what 

 they have sold. He strongly advised against "juggling of grades" and 

 he thought that there should be some higher authority back of grades, 

 classification, nomenclature, etc., than any single organization now in 

 existence as a means of assuring foreign buyers that they will receive 

 what they order. He did not believe that, in the present entanglements 

 — finaneially, economically, industrially and politically — there would 

 be much foreign business, but he emphasized that, when political and 

 business stability return, the manufacturer who eaters to the foreign 

 trade and delivers what he sells will have little cause for complaint 

 regarding the extent of his overseas business. He urged standardiza- 

 tion as a factor in increasing foreign turn-over but he did not believe 

 that this would help quite as much in the case of hardwoods as of 

 southern pine. 



The Value of Trade Associations 



John H. Kirby, of Houston, Texas, speaking on "The Value of 



