HARDWOOD RECORD 



43 



A. JOHXSO.N, PENNINGTOX GAP. 

 VICE-rRESIDEXT 



VIRGINIA 



GEORGE E. BREECE, ClIAULESTOX, WEST 

 VIRGINIA VICE-PRESIDENT 



r. E. GARY. TUItKELL, ARKANSAS 

 DIRECTOR 



lislied, showing their territory ; stoclis wauted and financial news. 



On November 5 — Minutes of the Executive Board meeting published 

 and date and place of ninth annual meeting announced ; further post- 

 ponement of freight advances to February 1, 1911. 



On December 10 — Formal notice of ninth annual meeting ; proposed 

 trafiic meeting discussed. 



On December 24 — Announcement of plans made for the meeting today ; 

 notice of Panama Exposition workers desiring New Orleans; vote to be 

 taken January 17. 



Closixg 



In conclusion I desire to thank the ofBcers, the members of the various 

 committees and the entire membership of the association for their assist- 

 ance in working out the problems that confront the secretary's otfice, 

 and their ready help in all cases where we have called upon them. It is 

 only by such hearty co-operation that we can hope to succeed in our 

 endeavors and I bespeak a continuance of your affiliation in this way, 

 which is certainly most thoroughly appreciated. 



Mr. Delaney: Mr. President, I move you that the chair appoint 

 a committee of three on officers ' reports, the committee to submit 

 its report at the next session of this convention. 



The motion was seconded and carried, and President Carrier 

 appointed the following as such committee: F. P. Pee, Thomas W. 

 Pry and Frank May, and requested the committee to kindl}' have 

 its report ready immediately after recess. 



On motion of Mr. Delaney the convention now went into recess 

 until 2:30 p. m. 



AFTERNOON SESSION, JANUARY 31 



The convention met pursuant to recess. President Carrier in the 

 chair, iSecretary Doster recording. 



Mr. Vansant: I move that the chairman appoint the regular 

 standing committees, as usual, the same as was done last year. 



The motion was seconded and carried. 



Mr. Vansant: The meeting of the Executive Grading Commis- 

 sion will be held in Room 414. 



A Voice: Does that mean 7:30, or 8 o'clock? 



Mr. Vansant: 7:30, absolutely. Ten dollars fine if you are not 

 there at that time. 



President Carrier: Gentlemen, we have with us this afternoon 

 the secretary of the National Classification Committee, Mr. Charles 

 E. Brower. I wish to state that Mr. Brewer has been doing for 

 the past couple of years most excellent work for the producers of 

 lumber. As we know, there has been a very great substitution in 

 boxes, b.y fibre. Mr. Brower has been carrying on the work and 

 securing for the wooden package its own, enlarging the field, and 

 has done excellent work for the lumbermen with respect to low- 

 grade lumber that goes into boxes and which we always want to 

 dispose of. We have Mr. Brower here this afternoon and I am 

 sure he will make you a most interesting address. Gentlemen, 

 Mr. Brower. 



Mr. Brower: I am not entirely prepared with a paper today, to 

 give definite details of the subject 1 have in mind; but I will 

 present in a general manner the topic and speak in an extern 

 [loraneous way afterwards as to details. 



Wood Containers, or Substitute Packages 



Tlie subject of my remarks embraces features which are so vitally 

 important to every manufacturer of lumber throughout the United States 

 that none can well afford to idly pass them by without giving this subject 

 the deepest possible thought. If conditions which now prevail are not 

 remedied we must eventually lose our market for such low-grade lumber 

 as is utilized in the manufacture of wooden packing cases. At first 

 glance this almost seems to be a preposterous statement, but when we 

 consider the conditions which have prevailed for the past four years, 

 and the warnings we have had, we must reach the conclusion that some- 

 thing is wrong somewhere. 



The something in question is rule 14-B, Western Classification Nos. 

 48-49. This rule is a flagrant violation of every conservative business 

 precedent, and provides, under the guise of "competition," for the 

 exclusive protection of a new and untried industry which as yet has not 

 demonstrated itself to be worthy of the position it seeks to assume in the 

 liusiness world. I refer to what is commonly known as the strawboard 

 industry, or rather that portion of that industry which assumes to dis- 

 place the wooden box as a shipping container by the substitution of a 

 Hlmsy and inadequate strawboard or fiber container. Rule 14-B, Western 

 Classification Nos. 4.S-49, provides for this particular class of package on 

 a preferred basis. Reduced to its most concrete form, this rule states 

 that all commodities packed in a paper or substitute shipping container 

 shall take the same rate of freight as the same commodities packed in a 

 wooden box. At a glance this rule seems innocent enough, but if you 

 will study it carefully you will observe that it amounts to nothing more 

 or less than a distinct invitation to the manufacturer of wooden packing 

 cases either to shift to the manufacturer of the substitute packing case 

 or to go out of business altogether. 



As we all know, the wooden box manufacturer is the largest consumer 

 of low grades of lumber, and without this very important factor our 

 low grades must become disturbed by virtue of the necessity of reorgan- 

 izing our prices on high grades of lumber. For the past four years 

 you have all seen a congestion of these low grades, due to the paternalism 

 of Rule 14-B, Western Classification Nos. 48-49. The improvement which 

 has occurred in the past year in the box business and in the low-grade 

 lumber markets I unhesitatingly pronounce to be due to the activity of 

 your classification committee in lis efforts to offer intrinsic opposition to 

 those manufacturers of strawboard and substitute containers who have 

 invaded the legitimate market of the wooden box in a basis of low prices 

 and a misunderstood chain of eflicacy. 



After carefully going over the situation your committee has reached 

 the conclusion that the paper container is a fallacy and that without 

 the paternal attitude of Rule 14-B, Western Classification Nos. 48-49. 

 it could get nowhere as a shipping container. An exhaustive investiga- 

 tion by your committee has proven conclusively that the paper or sub- 

 stitute shipping container costs the railroads more to handle than the 

 wooden box. and in every instance must have preferred handling in order 

 to have the contents of the paper container reach destination in market- 

 able and merchanlable shape. It must be protected from the weather, 

 cannot be handled roughly, the freight handlers cannot use hooks In 

 handling the paper container nor place it near contaminating articles 



