20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



chair to pick out officers for the association, 

 whereupon Messrs. Mcf rillis, Peters and 

 Gates were a]i|)uiuteil. Their choice of offi- 

 cers, which was approved by the association, 

 was as follows: 



rresUIcnt— T. R. Clendlnen, Atchison, Kan. 



Vice I'l-esldent for Hickory Division — P. C. 

 Scott, St. Louis, Jl". 



Vice rroslJcnl foi- Onk and Ash Division — C. 

 \V. Spcrr.v, Fl. Wii.vne. Ind. 



Vice I'lesldent lor Ma|)li' and Minor Woods 

 Division — ir. B. Alexander, lllllsboio, Tnd. 



Si'iTotary Treasuier — II. II. Gibson, Cliii'aKo. 



General Discussion. 



Jlr. Scoil : I iicitico soniu KeiilliMiien present 

 lii.'re who have not .joined the assoetation. Would 

 like to know It the.v will not come forward and 

 nmilnte with us now. 



Mr. Ward : Our hoard of directors asked nie 

 to make a report of this meeting, and I think 

 win be very favorable to coming into the associa- 

 tion. At least I sluili Instruct them to that 

 effect. 



Mr. Smilii : I am here as an individual, and 

 represent the Alliiori Handle Company in a way ; 

 the chances are tiii'v will be members In the very 

 near future If Ihiy don't quit business. 



P. C. SCOTT, ST. LOUIS, MO., V. PUES. FOR 

 HICKORY DIVISION". 



Mr. Leonard . .\s I said before. 1 will take the 

 matter up later. 



Mr. Sperry : I am in the ash line, and 1 tun 

 hardly si)eak for our present pooling organization, 

 btU I tliink Mr. Leonard had better stay and 

 help make the association to suit him. I will 

 take the matter up with the ash people and see 

 It we cannot work together. 



Mr. (,'olvert : I am here as a visitor and not 

 as a member. I do not belong to this assouia- 

 tlon, but think I may in the future. I am not 

 a handle man and did not intend to continue the 

 operation, but we are going along now and doing 

 a nice little business. I am not expecting to stay 

 in the handle company, however, so had not 

 thought much about Joining at this time. I 

 would enjoy an association of this kind aiui be- 

 lieve it will do you ail good. I came here to get 

 acquainted with you. 



Mr. McCriiiis ; We ought to unite in an asso- 

 ciation where we can get together and talk over 

 matters of our business and consult one another 

 in a friendly business way and promote good 

 feeling among us all. It will work to our mutual 

 benefit and the great thing we ought to do In 

 this association Is to grade our handles and all 

 grade alike. As a gentleman has remarked, one 



man will go to work and grade up bis 4X bandies 

 and sell them for 3X, and he Is a demoralizer 

 of the ti'ade. This Injures all other manufac- 

 turers, and I feel as though we all ought to 

 belong to an association, becau.sc there arc one 

 or two or three llrnis In this country that could 

 ruin nil the rest of us if they were so disposed. 

 But they are not disposed to do anything of the 

 kind, and for that reason I think we all ought 

 to Join. I think probably the Hrst mall will 

 bring down our dieck for membership, and I 

 would like to see all the nunuifnctiirers in the 

 business Join the association and all work to- 

 gether. If we ai*c going Into It atid Just cut each 

 other's throats we will soon be down, and lots 

 of us will be out. I hope I can carry home a 

 report to our people that this movement is going 

 to be a success. 



Just 'Values. 

 Ml. Peters : I don't like to talk too much, but 

 this gentleman made a few remarks Just now 

 that are very pointed. A great many people will 

 always bring certain firms up — Turner, Day & 

 Wot>Iworth, for instance — as thought they were 

 afraid of them. I want to say right here that 

 they are my strongest competitors, but I would 

 rather go into competition with that concern 

 today tlmn any other concern I know of, because 

 they want to get good prices. That is what we 

 all want to do. We want what our goods are 

 worth. I will go into any market in the world 

 today and put iiandles up against anybody. I 

 am not afraid of them, for tlie ver.v reason that I 

 make first-class handles and I will go into a 

 market with other people any da.v. What makes 

 .1 handle standard, anyhow ? It is the price you 

 get for it ! I won't go against somebody's .$3 

 handle and say 1 can make a $2 handle Just as 

 good. The buyer would say right away, if he 

 had any sense. "Why. that man doesn't make 

 handles right !" I don't care if I do have the 

 name of being a follower. Some people seem to 

 he so scared for fear folks will say they are fol- 

 lowing along behind somei)ody else I I am per- 

 I'ectly willing to be led along by anybody that 

 ran sliow me how to market my i>roduct and make 

 money ! "NA'hy shouldn't I be? But you can Just 

 bet that if Turner. Day & Woolworth or an.vbody 

 else tried to lead me along where I would be the 

 loser. I wouldn't follow for a minute. I'd pull 

 an<l pull and iiull my nose off but what I'd get 

 away from them! I can show you today where 

 men prelend to be handle manufacturers and 

 they sell 20 to 30 per cent less than all the large 

 companies are selling in .Australia today. Why 

 don't those fellows that sell handles so low go in 

 and take those orders? Because the customers 

 want our goods : because we hold them up to 

 standard and they can depend on their being 

 standard. The only way to get good prices is to 

 make your goods standard and ask standard 

 prices for them. If I don't sell but ten dozen 

 handles in a year. I would not sell under rlgiit 

 prices. I will quit selling when I can't get the 

 same price as the best of them. Now what are 

 we going to do about this? Are you going to 

 l:eep out of the association or are yon going to 

 come right up In line? Had we not better sell 

 a few handles and make something reasonable 

 on them than to sell a lot and lose money on 

 them? One of our customers was sold 15 per 

 cent under what we can sell lately. Now what 

 does that man thiuk he is doing to sell at such 

 a price? He is hound to lose. He can't help 

 it. I would call us a lot of chumps to let things 

 go on in that way. Turner, Day & Woolworth 

 could put us all down lo selling handles below 

 cost If they wanted to, Imt they can also go to 

 work and hold it up. What are we afraid of, I 

 would like to know? I know those people are 

 business men : tliey know when they are losing 

 money ; they know what handles cost them — 

 for labor, insurance, material — everything else. 

 I could tell you myself, but I don't want to 

 take up the time. Still we have people today 

 who are selling 3X handles at 30 cents a dozen 

 less than we are, and delivering them, while 

 we arc selling f. o. b. cars at the factory ! Now 



Messrs. Hartwell. 

 as the remalnliuT 

 rif Dirci tors. 



are such people making any money? Or even 

 a living margin? If so, I would like to have 

 them show me how to run the handle business! 

 I have beeu working in the handle business for 

 many years and I kiir>w about how tilings are. 



Board of Directors and Executive 

 Coinmittee. 



Mr. Hartnell : Inasmuch as our Kxecutlve 

 Committee requires one more member, according 

 to the constitution, I move that Mr. Peters be 

 added to II. 



Seconded and carried. 



Mr. dates; I move Unit 

 King and Ward be elected 

 three members of the Board 



Seconded and carrlinl. 



Grading. 



Mr. Scott : Perhaps a little discussion on the 

 important suiijeet of grading w<;uld be of In- 

 terest. 



Mr. Peters : We liavr' what is called a stand- 

 and grade, hut, for Instance, a No. 2 jilck 

 handle may vary considerably. The majority 

 may run half white and red. while someone's 

 else runs all red. My handle may happen to 

 run a little redder than somel).)dy's else. A 

 grade specilies tlie. lowest adinis.uble lo any 

 grade. We can crmtrol our grade by assorting. 

 We have to do that to make it run very uni 

 form. But as for making timber red when :ts 



H. B. ALEXANDER. HILLSBORO, IND.. V, 



PKKS. FOR MAI'LE AND MINOR 



WOODS DIVISION. 



white, and vice versa, we have not learned to 

 do that yet. You could not cover grading much 

 better than the rules of our old hickory asso- 

 ciation did. They covered tlie whole thing. I 

 was chairman of that committee that got those 

 grades up. aud I know they were right. 

 Appropriallon for Expenses. 



.Mr. Scotl : I note that the secretary-treasurer 

 is to have some sort of compensation, wiiu h I 

 believe might be taken up here, and I will re- 

 ceive a motion to the effect that the few little 

 bills for letter-heads, etc., herewith presented 

 by Mr. Gibson be paid. 



Mr. Gibson ; I wish you people to understand 

 that I do not desire any compensation for any 

 of the work done up to the meeting (Jet. 8, nor 

 for any clerical woik or anything of that sort 

 since that time. However, two batches of let- 

 ters and cards, about 6U0 each, were sent out 

 Oct. 14, Nov. 8 and Nov. 16, for which I have 

 presented the cost of postage and letter-heads 

 printed for the Committee on Organization. 

 There is also a little printing bill covering the 

 constitution and by-laws which were mailed to 



