HARDWOOD RECORD 



»9 



Annual Northwestern HardWood Lumbermen's 



Association, 



The annual niootiug of the Xorthwoslerii 

 Hardwood Lumbermon 's Association was 

 held at St. Paul, Minn., on tlie afternoon 

 and evening of Doc. 3. The business ses- 

 sion was held in one of the club rooms of 

 the Carling cafe, opened about two months 

 ago, and a banquet, voted one of the best 

 in a long list of successes, was served at 

 6:30 p. m. in the Louis XVI. dining room. 

 This was followed by a theater party at 

 the Orpheum. The St. Paul eomniittee, which 

 made arrangements for the entertainment, 

 consisted of F. A. Xolan, W. C. Stanton and 

 A. K. Peterson, and it received a hearty vote 

 of thanks. 



The Railway Conference. 

 The long planned conl'oroueo with rail- 

 road oflBcials on the question of overweight 

 claims took place at 10 a. m. in the ' ' Soo ' ' 

 general offices in Minneapolis. The associa- 

 tion's railroad committee was reinforced by 

 several other lumbermen, the delegation at 

 the meeting including President D. F. Clark, 

 A. II. Barnard, P. B. Hamilton, W. H. Sill, 

 E. Payson Smith and A. S. Bliss, of Min- 

 neapolis; and F. A. Nolan, A. E. Peterson 

 and W. C. Stanton, of St. Paul. F. E. Beck- 

 er, of Chicago, chairman of the Western 

 Railway Weighing Association, was present. 

 and most of the northwestern railroads were 

 represented by their general freight agents. 



The lumbermen presented their complaints 

 in telling fashion. They showed how in- 

 consistent the weighing association is in its 

 treatment of claims and they had the facts 

 at hand to prove every statement. Their 

 main contention was that claims should be 

 settled on the basis of estimated weights, 

 and Mr. Becker was forced to concede that 

 the association table of weights was fair. He 

 did not promise anything, however, except 

 to give personal attention to a number of 

 old claims now hanging lire. The railroad 

 men were hinting at concessions on the side, 

 but gave no assurances in the open meeting, 

 and the lumbermen felt they did not accom- 

 plish nmch except to state their case. They 

 discussed future action in the meeting of the 

 association, and agreed not to let the matter 

 rest anywhere till some just basis of set- 

 llenirnt is reached. 



Opening Business Session. 

 The association convened for its nineteenth 

 annual meeting at St. Paul in the afternoon, 

 the call for order being given shortly after 

 4 p. m. by President Clark. He congratulated 

 the as.sociation on passing another milestone 

 in its career of usefulness, and spoke of the 

 influence and standing it has attained. He 

 took up the establishment of National inspec- 

 tion here about six months ago, and said that 

 so far it had given satisfaction on the whole. 

 While the expense to date had exceeded re- 

 ceipts, he stated that he believed this busi- 

 ness would grow. 



President Clark reviewed the controversy as 

 to overweights briefly, and also spoke of the 



current iMisiuc-^s sltitatiuu as darkness just bo- 

 fore a brlgbter dawn. lie lliought It Ibc duty 

 of the membPis as l>usiness men to take a band 

 in dispellln;; the ;;Io(>ni timt depresses so many, 

 lie closed l)y tbankinc tbe members for the splen- 

 did support acct)rded bim during his year as 

 president. 



Report of the Secretary. 



.T. ]■'. Iliivden. as secretary, llieii read his re- 

 port, covering tlie work of the orpiuization dur- 

 ing the pasi year by a review of the various 

 meetings lieid during tiiat time. lie stated that 

 last year the association has been especially 

 lieneficiai to the trade of the Northwest in that 

 it had been instrumental in securing a National 

 inspector for that territory. 



Mr. Ilayden reviewed the progress thus far 

 made in the matter of overweiglit claims and 

 stated tliat he believed tbe lumbermen would be 

 eventually successful in this undertaking. His 

 report showed the membership of the association 

 to Ijo steadily increasing, the last year having 

 added the names of live prominent hardwood con- 

 cerns of the Northwest. 



The Association's Finances. 

 C. V. Osborne, treasurer, presented a report 

 sliowing receipts for the year of $lG2.S."t, of 

 which $10.72 was the balance from last year. 



D V. (T^MtK. MINNEAPOLIS. RE-ELECTED 

 PRESIDENT. 



S23.8G in grading fees. .$00 in dues, $13 re- 

 ceived from members for idatcs at dinner, and 

 $4i5 from an assessment on tbe members for the 

 April lianquet. Disbursements were $1G9.4,3, leav- 

 ing a deficit of .$G..")7. This was made up before 

 the afternoon was over by payment of new dues. 



Report of Railroad Committee, 



Frank A. Nolan was called on for a report 

 from tbe Kailroad Commitlee. and spoke of the 

 meeting with the railroad otlicials. expressing 

 tbe belief tiiat it would result in good to the 

 association. He tiiought tlie faults of the weigh- 

 ing system had been brouglit up so forcibly that 

 the committee of freight agents would report in 

 favor of a plan of settlement on the estimated 

 weights, whicli Mr. Hecker admitted in tlie meet- 

 ing were fair. 



A communication was read liy tbe secretary 

 from the (Jrcgon & Wasbinglon Lumber Manu- 

 facturers' .\ssociatlon, urging adoption of a reso- 

 lution similar to theirs, favoring a law to pro- 

 hibit the raising of an interstate rate where 

 objection Is made, without a hearing of the par- 

 ties by the Interstate Commerce Commission. 



'I'lie passage of such a resolution was favored in 

 siuirt talks by I'. A. Nolan. I". H. Lewis and 

 W. ('. Bailey, and a resolution modeled on that 

 of the Oregon association was carried unani- 

 mously. It reads as follows : 



WiiERE.v.s. The interstate commerce law now 

 in effect does not contain any provision whereby 

 a bearing is required before a change in any 

 inlerstale freight rate may become effective, and 

 Whereas. Experience has fully demonstrated 

 the urgent necessity for an amendment to rem- 

 edy this serious defect ; therefore, be it 



Resolvvd. By the Northwestern Hardwood 

 Lumbermen's Association, that at the coming 

 session of Congress an amendment be offered and 

 lis adoption strenuously urged, providing sub- 

 stantially that when any railroad company seeks 

 to advance or lower any interstate freight rate, 

 or change the classification of any commodity, 

 it must, if objection be made thereto, receive 

 I lie approval of tlie Interstate Commerce Com- 

 mission before such rates or changes in the 

 classification shall become effective. Be it further 

 Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be 

 sent by the secretary to each senator and rep- 

 resentative in Congress from Minnesota and their 

 support urged to such an amendment. 



F. II.- Lewis, reporting for the Arbitration 

 Committee, explained that there bad been no 

 work for them since the assignment of a Na- 

 tional inspector to this territory. In the early 

 part of the year the local inspectors passed on 

 sixteen cars, and STl.lS in fees were taken in, 

 of which the inspectors received .?G3.94 for their 

 services. 



F. A. Nolan brought up tbe question of a reso- 

 lution indorsing the improvement of deep water- 

 ways. After talks on tbe subject by D. F. Clark, 

 A. II. Barnard and W. C. Bailey, Mr. Nolan was 

 directed to prepare a resolution similar to the 

 one drafted by him at the Atlantic City con- 

 vention of the National Hardwood Lumber As- 

 sociation, to be sent out as tiie sense of the 

 association. 



Reelect Old Officers. 

 Tlie election of officers came next, and the chair 

 was empowered to appoint a nominating com- 

 mittee of three. He selected W. C. Bailey, F. A. 

 Nolan and F. II. Lewis. They presented a re- 

 port favoring tbe rei-^lection of all the retiring 

 (illiceis and committees, and it was carried 

 unanimously, the secretary casting the ballot of 

 the association for each one named. The list 

 follows : 



President. D. F. Clark : vice president, A. H. 

 liarnard: treasurer, C. F. Osborne: .secretary, 

 .1. F. Ilayden: Arbitration Committee, F. H. 

 Lewis, P. It. Hamilton. S. II. Davis. F. A. Nolau 

 and A. K. Peterson : Membership Committee, W. 

 C. Stanton, I. P. Lennau and K. Payson Smith. 

 Before adjournment there was some di-scussion 

 of market conditions, which brought out the fact 

 already well known that dry northern hardwood 

 stocks are extremely scarce. The overweight 

 question was also "cussed and discussed" and 

 the general sentiment was that tbe endeavor to 

 get a just system of allowing claims would not 

 be allowed to drag, but would be pushed vigor- 

 ously with ail tbe means at tbe disposal of the 

 association. 



Tbe business meeting closed at si.x, and the 

 members sat down to a well appointed feast in 

 c'arling's bani|uet room. It was entirely In- 

 formal and without auy attempt at after-dinner 

 oratory. From the banquet table the party ad- 

 journed to the Orpheum theater, where they had 

 seats in a body and thoroughly enjoyed a vaude- 

 ville performance. 



Attendance, 

 Those present at the meeting were : 

 D. F. Clark, Osborne A: Clark. Minneapolis. 

 .\. II. Barnard, Minneapolis. 

 F. A. Nolan, St. Paul. 



W. C. Stanton, Stanton-De Long Lumber Com- 

 pany, St. Paul. 



George De Long, Stanton-Dc Long Lumber 

 Company, St, Paul. 



