HARDWOOD RECORD 



27 



ably call out the attendance of nearly the totality of the associa- 

 tion membership. This organization is one of the strictly live wire 

 associations of the country, and is doing much good not only for the 

 Michigan trade but for the hardwood industry the country over. 



The annual meeting of the Northern Hemlock & Hardwood Jlanu- 

 facturers' Association, made up largely of the Wisconsin contingent, 

 will be held at the Hotel Pfister, Milwaukee, on Tuesday, January 31. 

 This promises to secure the attendance of the larger portion of the 

 hemlock and hardwood producers of the section of the field it covers. 

 as many matters of importance will come before the meeting. 



Forest Fires 



The Eec'ORD is in receipt of a letter from that dean of forest stu- 

 dents and foremost timber land factors, James D. Laeey, head of the 

 Chicago, New Orleans and Pacific coast house of James D. Laeey 

 & Co., in which he most pertinently and locically suggests that one 

 of the most important subjects for hardwood associations to take 

 up at the present time is a vigorous policy in securing the enact- 

 ment of more rigid laws and the enforcement of them, for protection 

 against forest fires in the hardwood sections of the South, particularly 

 in the mountainous regions, where it means a great fight to save 

 timber and prevent the destruction of the wood growth by reckless 

 firing for an}' kind of purpose from a squirrel hunt up. 



He recites that last year a fire was lighted on the Tennessee side 

 adjoining his operations in North Carolina, and the blaze spread to 

 one of his old slashings, requiring the efforts of the entire mill and 

 woods crew for three days and nights to prevent its spreading to 

 his operations and get it extinguished. He says that two years 

 ago, when the Vanderbilt woods were so badly burned, he saw a 

 large area of young forest growth of hickory, ash, oak and other 

 hardwoods burned to a crisp in the same manner, through a fire that 

 was started by some squirrel hunters. This timber, if protected 

 from fire, would, in the next decade or two, have been valuable for 

 lumber purposes. 



Mr. Laeey contends that if good laws were enacted and their 

 enforcement insisted upon, many of the larger companies could suc- 

 cessfully cut their mature timber and hold their stand of young 

 growth, which would leave a permanent forest, both for the protec- 

 tion of the water sheds and to furnish merchantable lumber in years 

 to come. He says that, to his mind, after watching the result of these 

 fires, the most important work for hardwood associations is to urge 

 the passing of stringent laws, and after such laws are enacted the 

 public must be educated to realize that the destruction of timber 

 means a distinct personal loss to them as well as to posterity for 

 actual value that cannot be reproduced. 



Mr. Laeey 's suggestion is one of paramount importance and should 

 be vigorously taken up by the hardwood associations. 



The citations that he makes of timber fire losses in the mountain re- 

 gions, not only in the Appalachians, but in the West as well, are only 

 instances of numerous heart-rending calamities that the forest ai'eas 

 have sustained for many years in the past and which are apparently 

 increasing in destruetiveness as time progresses. It is time for lum- 

 bermen in all branches of the trade to thoroughly organize and ap- 

 peal to state legislative bodies for suitable enactment, and beyond 

 that install a systematic way of education in seeing that the laws are 

 fullv observed. 



The Hardvvood Sales Managers' Conference 



There is a manifest increasing interest in the forthcoming con- 

 ference of hardwood sales managers, to be held at the Auditorium 

 Hotel, Chicago, on Thursday, February 23. It now looks as though 

 the meeting would call out the attendance of sales managers of nearly 

 every important hardwood manufacturing and merchandising house 

 in the country, as well as that of many of the lesser factors in the 

 trade. 



Among other suggestions that ha\e been presented for discussion 

 at this meeting is the idea one correspondent conveys that traveling 

 salesmen should be invited to attend this meeting for the educational 



matters which will be jjresented, as he figures that salesmen should 

 l>e supplied with all the information possible to assist them in their 

 work as they jdod the "cinder paths" every day. He thinks also 

 that a good many salesmen could give valuable pointers from per- 

 sonal experience on marketing, credits, terms, etc., and will be able 

 to supply the proposed organization with many "nuts to crack" in 

 llie shape of the difficult obstacles that sales managers can assist them 

 to surmount. 



Another correspondent suggests that at the meeting some arrange- 

 ments should be made to prevent the padding of stock sheets. He 

 says that while the selling price of hardwoods is regulated by the 

 law of supply and demand, an erroneous impression is given to con- 

 sumers of lumber by reason of the large stocks of certain items that 

 many manufacturers and wholesalers seem to be carrying. He urges 

 that if every manufacturer and wholesaler would make it a point to 

 list just as little of each grade, thickness and kind as consistent to 

 secure inquiries for his stock, instead of stretching the amount, it 

 would make a vast difl^erence in the apparent supply. He recites that 

 if a consumer would refer to a copy of "Lumber Stocks" or "Hitch- 

 cock's Stock List," he would think that lumber was never more 

 plentiful, and the tendency would be strong to beat down the j^rice 

 and postpone buying. 



The same writer also suggests that a thorn in the side of the manu- 

 facturers and legitimate wholesalers is tlie demoralizing influence of 

 the commission man and scalper. 



Several other very pertinent suggestions have been presented to 

 H.\RDWOOD Kecokd for handling at this meeting. These will all be 

 classified and presented at the proper time. 



The call, published in Hardwood Record of January 10 issue, is 

 herewith repeated. 



Call for C3nference Hardwood Lumber 

 Sales Managers 



Believing that a conference of those having in charge the marketing 

 of hardwoods would be of manifest advantage to lumber sales mana- 

 gers, the undersigned subscribe their names to a call for a meeting 

 of all interested in the wholesale marketing of hardwood lumber to be 

 held at the Auditorium Hotel, Chicago, on Thursday, February 23, 

 1911, at 10 a. m. 



The objects of this meeting are; 



First: To perfect either a temporary or permanent hardwood sales 

 managers* association. 



Second: To adopt a logical set of rules covering trade ethics under 

 which buying and selling transactions may be conducted on a uniform 

 basis. 



Third: To agree on terms of sale. 



Fourth: To get at a systematic >*'ay of handling the work of travel- 

 ing salesmen. 



Fifth: Discussion of methods of exploitation and advertising. 



Sixth: To make plans for exchange of credit information. 



Seventh: To work out a uniform plan covering lumber weights: 

 uniform forms for making claims; analyzing loading rules and classi- 

 fications; forms for the tracing of shipments and other matters per- 

 taining to shipments. 



Eighth: And all other matters pertaining to the marketing of hard- 

 woods that shall appeal to anyone as pertinent and valuable to the 

 trade. 



It is understood that this conference is to be executive in character, 

 and that no portion of the proceedings will be released for publication 

 save as authorized by the convention through its secretary. 



R. A. Chambers, Enoclis-Chambers Lumber Company, Jackson, Miss. 



Chapin L. Earr. Whiting Lumber Company. Philadelphia, Pa. 



R. McCracken, Kentucky Lumber Company, Cincinnati, O. 



E. W. Bartholomew, J. B. Ransom & Co., Nashville, Tenn. 



W. W. Dings, Garetson-Greason Lumber Company, St, Louis, Mo. 



L. Frank, SoHithern Lumber & Manufacturing Company, Nashville, 

 Tenn. 



T. R. Le Sueur, W. J. Cude Land & Lumber Corapanj', Nashville, 

 Tenn. 



W. H. Greble, Three States Lumber Company, Memphis, Tenn. 



C. L. Harrison, Himraelberger-Harrison Lumber Company, Cape 

 Girardeau, Mo. 



C. E. Ingalls, C. L. Willey. Chicago. 111. 



J. W. Mayhew, >v'. M. Ritter Lumber Company, Columbus, O, 



F, J. Roys, Fullerton-Powell Hardwood Lumber Company, South 

 Bend, Ind, 



