HARDWOOD RECORD 



31 



bvllevcd that such a conimlitee. with the moral 

 force of the association behind It. will be In 

 position to obviate the possibility of imposition 

 of the buyer upon the seller anil incidentally of 

 the seller upon the buyer. 



A standing committee on classlHcatlon and 

 gradlnc rnles is recommended. There will be 

 presented to you for adoption ameiideil rules 

 for the classification and sradins of rotary-cut 

 woods of all kinds and thiiknesses ; also rules 

 /or the classificaiion and grailing of quartered 

 oak. l>oth sawed and sliced, in thicknesses 

 ranging from 1-30 in. to 1-4 in. 



.Vuother committee suggested Is a valuation 

 vomtniltee. If this association desires to go 

 Into the discussion of prices to be recommended 

 to Its members, then such committee will In 

 my judgment be necessary. Values are thor- 

 oughly discussed in the clubs, our offspring. 

 l*rices are there recommended as the minimum 

 which ought to be obtained for certain items. 

 There are members of the association who are 

 I not members of the clubs, and there are fre- 

 ijuent inquiries made of your secretary and 

 president for "association prices," so called. 

 The secretary not being in possession of flg- 

 I ures cannot sujjply the information, and while 

 I the president has frequently given prices as his 

 or those of bis house, no official tigures have 

 «ver been quoted. I believe that there is con- 

 siderable diversity of opinion upon this subject 

 and hope that there will be a free and full dis- 

 . iission of the subject at the proper time. 



1 have alluded to the clubs within the asso- 

 ciation. They consist of three, as follows : 

 The Veneer Manufacturers" Club, whose mem- 

 bership consists of rotary cutters ; the (}uar 

 lered oak Club, consisting of manufacturers in 

 that line, and the American I'anel Club, whose 

 members make glued-up stock of all kinds — not 

 necessarily panels alone. These clubs have 

 meetings more or less frequently. They discuss 

 costs from the log to the shipping room and 

 arrive at conclusions as to the value of their 

 output, and, as already mentioned, prices are . 

 recommended as those whicli ought to be ob- 

 tained. I think that a great majority of the 

 club members are making efforts along the price 

 line and 1 know that great good has been ac- 

 complished. 



During the past six months there has been a 

 contest with "the official classification commit- 

 tee" in regard to classification of thin cut woods 

 from domestic timbers. The discussion was 

 precipitated by the threat of the committee to , 

 ' proceed against one of our members, Adams & . 

 Itaymond, under federal laws, for misrepresent- 

 ing sliipments made within the state of Indiana. 

 Adams & Itaymond not only took this matter up 

 with the Indiana State Itallroad Commission, 

 but also brought it before the Veneer Manufac- 

 turers' Club, which club directed various of its 

 members to enter their several protests with the 

 Official Classification Committee, and to also take 

 the matter up with the railroad commissions in 

 their several states. Kventually the Official 

 Classification Committee granted a hearing to a 

 committee of the club, and your president, who 

 had officially bad some correspondence with this 

 body, was made a memlier of the committee. 

 This committee, which consisted of P. B. Ray- 

 mond. H. W. Lord. Burdls .\nderson, your presi- 

 dent, and Dr. Price, manager of the Singer 

 Manufacturing Company, went before the Official 

 ' lassification Committee at Its office in New 

 ^'irk, on October 1. A very curt hearing was 

 given us, in which we could barely state the 

 grounds ^t our complaint. Later the committee 

 decided that it would make no change in the 

 classification as Issued. 



In the first place, when we called we were put 

 off and given a ticket. No. l.'I or 2:5, to come 

 back on later, when we would receive ten min- 

 utes for a hearing. We got back on time. 1 ::!". 

 and finally got Into the sanctum sanctorum of 

 the official committee, and as 1 slated bad a 

 very rui-t b.-arlng. I don't think anybody has 



ever discovered any medals on me for patience, 

 and that was one of the times when I felt very 

 indignant, but I hope it is to my credit that I 

 controlled myself and said nothing offensive to 

 the gentlemen, although I was much disposed 

 to do so. 



The features of this complaint are: The Offi- 

 cial Classification Committee calls everything in 

 thin ctit woods, no matter for what purpose 

 used or their value, ij 1-10 of an inch or less 

 in thickness, "veneers," which they class as 

 third and fifth class In carload lots and less 

 than carload lots respectively; If 1-1") of an 

 inch or thicker it Is called lumber and fourth 

 class in less than carload lots and sixth or less 

 in carload lots. Our contention is that all thin 

 cut woods from domestic timbers, regardless of 

 thickness, should be classed alike at the lower 

 classification in rates. 



Another objection to their rules, effective Oc- 

 tober 1. is that upon carloads of so-called 

 veneers the minimimi weight has been increased 

 from 24.000 pounds to :iO,000 pounds, and this 

 increase also has taken place in glued-up stock 

 or "compound wood," as they term it, while 

 they have at the same time increased the mini- 

 mum on carload lots of lumber from 30,000 

 pounds to 34,000 pounds. This increase in 

 weight on lumber is not particularly burdensome. 



P.URD.IS AXDEKSOX. MUNISIXG, MICH., 

 ELECTED PRESIDENT. 



.vet it , is over 13 per cent. But cars will hold 

 the weight, and the extra quantity in feet of 

 lumber required is not so great. But In veneers, 

 so called, the in<*rcase is 2~t per cent in weight, 

 whicli makes it impossible at times on account 

 of the bulk to get :!0.ipoo pounds Into an ordi- 

 nary 34 or 36-foot car, and, besides, requires 

 the purchase by your customer of at least 23 per 

 cent more stock to make up the car, which the 

 majority of buyers are loath to do, the only 

 other alternative being for the seller to pay 

 freight on the excess weight charged for, which 

 is that much money thrown away or unneces- 

 sar.v expense. The objection to the increased 

 weight as applied to compound wood also con- 

 stllnlt's a burden, as seldom does a carload 

 order of any commodity In that line weigh up 

 to 30,000 pounds. 



So far as the state of Indiana is concerned, 

 their railroad commission has practically de- 

 cided in favor of the views expressed to them 

 by Mr. Itaymond and already detailed. The 

 Veneer Manufacturers' Club and other organiza- 

 tions and manufacturers generally expect to 

 take the matter before the Interstate Commerce 

 Commission at the very earliest opportunity, and 

 I bespeak for their efforts your assistance as a 

 national organization. 



In the nature of a communication from the 

 Oregon & Washington Manufacturers" As.socla- 

 t ion, which will be presented to you In due course, 

 our attention Is called to a present defect in 

 the interstate commerce law and we are asked 

 to take action, recommending to congress the 

 passage of an amendment at the present session 

 corrrectlng the fault. As the law stands rail- 

 roads or combinations of railroads have tlie 

 privilege of making changes in their tariff classi- 

 fication and weighing plans by simply filing with 

 the Interstate Commerce <_"oaimission the 

 amendment to existing tariffs, announcing when 

 the amendment becomes effective, and the work 

 is done. The object of the amendment to the 

 interstate commerce law Is to prevent these 

 changes without shipper having due notice and 

 having the privilege of protesting and being 

 heard in protest before the changes become ef- 

 fective. This is only reasonable and I trust 

 the action which will be recommended to you 

 later will be had. 



The president then called for the secre- 

 tary's report, whicli lie gave extempora- 

 neously: 



Secretary's Address. 



Mr. I'resident and Ccntlemen : 1 am not in 

 very good condition to make a report of the 

 veneer business. For the past twenty- four hours 

 I have been a cement man and am liable to 

 branch off any minute and talk about cement as 

 a building material. There is one thought, how- 

 ever. I wish to mention in connection with the 

 work of this association, and that is that when 

 some of our friends first came together they 

 used to complain about our meeting at the 

 Auditorium — whether it was the price or liquor 

 or what it was I dont know. But now it is 

 surprising to see that they all want to stop at 

 the Annex — nowadays the Auditorium isn"t good 

 enough for them — they insist upon stopping at 

 I lie Annex, at twice the rate. There must cer- 

 lalnly have been some progress made in the 

 veneer business if conditions have changed so 

 in the past two years. 



The life of this association has not been as 

 active as it might have been, but we have cre- 

 ated an interest among veneer manufacturers 

 everywhere and a desire for better conditions in 

 their own business. As an instance of this, 

 through the intiuence of this organization west- 

 ern manufacturers have come together and now 

 have a good working association. They have 

 recently joined us through their central sales 

 agency and write very friendly letters in refer- 

 ence to the Influence of our organization. Your 

 president has mentioned the various clubs in 

 connection with this organization, and if they 

 have been able to assist you in a small measure 

 during the times when orders were plentiful 

 certainly at a time when we are having a 

 "'Christian Science panic" there should be 

 greater benefit to be gained from them. My 

 experience has been that when trade was dull 

 and there was more production than demand, 

 manufacturers were very anxious to get trade 

 at no matter what price. They wanted orders. 

 1 have never .seen one at any time who didn't 

 want orders, but we have just gone through two 

 .^■ears when nobody was esiiecially anxious for 

 them. Now, If we are going to have 33 per cent 

 less business because we arc going to have an 

 election, or some of our banks got cold feet, 

 there is no use In cutting prices — there is no 

 reason In the world for it when the banks are 

 full of money and the barns are full of grain. 



I don't think there is any need for any fear 

 of the future in the veneer business, because 

 in canvassing the manufacturers along all lines 

 1 don't think they are as extendeil as they have 

 been in times past. While their liabilities may 

 be larger than In 1.S'.I3, their assets are also two 

 or three times greater. That being the case, 

 with anything like a fair business, everything is 

 going to be all right, for you know prosperity 

 always comes from the ground — when the farmer 



