HARDWOOD RECORD 



33 



,.ii>ly nssorlwl that n railroad company whirli 

 has liiul 111 I'lTt'tt a rali' fur a iiiiiiilu'r of years 

 laiinot assiiiiH- that Ilii' ralo lias not lii-i-n fairly 

 prolitalilf. anil In the short iulerral whlili It 

 will ii'MUlre In order to give the Comnilsslon 

 n i-liant-e to pass upon the reasonableness of a 

 rate hefore beeoniin;; effeetlve no hardship will 

 hi' worked upon the railroad, while, on the other 

 baud, the iiupesltlon of a new rate may seriously 

 affei-t the shipper. 



Would he exeeedin^ly i:\ihI to hear from you 

 oil this suhjeet. as our assiK-iation in eoininoii 

 with others on the I'aellic coast has taken this 

 matter up anil hopes to have the law amendeil 

 at the rouiin^' session of Congress. If you favor 

 this amenilment kindly write to your representa- 

 tives in I'on^ress, and. In the meantime, advise 

 us of your views In the matter. 



l-^ncloseil jiiease find eoi'y of resolutions pnssi'd 

 hy the Orp;;oii and Wiisliliifrinn I.umlier .Mjnui 

 faetiirers' Association. Would sim^est thai your 

 asswiation take similar action, in which case 

 we would appreciate It if you would mail us a 

 copy of same. IMeasc send us a list of tlie mem- 

 bers of your association, to whom we may ad- 

 dress literature on this suhject. 

 Yours very truly. 



A. li. W.vsTKi.r.. 



Si'cri'tarv Defebaugh thou read his report 

 as treasurer of the association, wliich 

 showed finaueial matters in good condition 

 and an excellent balance ou hand. This 

 report was referred to the Auditing Coni- 

 niitee. 



The president auimunced the following coiii- 

 niittees to report at the afternoon session: 



Xoniinations: Messrs. Dayton, Benjamin 

 and Mnnyon. Auditing: Messrs. Baker. 



Bass and B. Anderson. Constitution and 

 By-laws: Messrs. Lord, (iroffnian and S. B. 

 .\nderson. Railroads: Messrs. Lcinl. K.iy 

 niond and B. Anderson. 



Au excellent paper lui "Confidence and 

 Harmony," by .7. W. Roche, was then read, 

 as given below: 



Mr. Roche's Paper, 



cleiillemen: The subject. ■Confidence and 

 Harmony." was assigned me. but our worthy 

 president could have selected one more compe- 

 tent to do the subject justice than I. My time 

 and mind have been so fiiil.v iK'cupied since, that 

 I have had very little to give to this matter. 

 On either word, confidence or harmony, lectures 

 could be delivered and volumes written : eillier 

 Is far-reachin;; and embraces much. 



Webster defines confidence as trusting or put- 

 ting faith In, as In the reality of a fact or the 

 Integrity and veracity of another. The most 

 perfect illustration of the trait is found in little 

 children. Who of us has not seen a frightened 

 child ijulcted and calmed just by being clasped 

 In Us motluM-'s arms. The perfect faith and 

 trust of the child Is lieauliful to behold; as 

 manifested toward the mother it Is Instinctive. 

 but he learns to place confidence In other mem- 

 bers of the family and frienils of the house- 

 hold.- That Is precisely what each and every 

 one of us should do. Those who are not mem- 

 bers of this Veneer Club family should become 

 members at once and have entire confidence in 

 the honesty, integrity' and goiKl-wiil of each 

 other and so conduct our business affairs that 

 confidence In each other will not be shaken. 



CoDfidene-e Is an absolute essential to success: 

 confidence Is the foundation and mainstay of our 

 republic today. It has already been demon- 

 strated, as you are well aware, during the past 

 ninety days. Confidence Is the basis of all busl- 

 nes.s : Indeed It Is the basis of all active, pro- 

 gressive life; It Is the fundamental base of re- 

 ligion : it Is the foundation upon which the 

 home Is built ; It Is the very fundamental of 



government : It Is the greatest basis upon which 

 life Is built. As we have seen In the recent 

 (lurry, the result of the least shaking of confi- 

 dence with a country more prosperous than It 

 was befori', a country busier than It has ever 

 been before, with a currency per capita larger 

 than it has ever been before, there has come 

 from wliat cause it may a shaking of business 

 confidence with what result yiui well know. It 

 but illustralcs my point that the basis of prog- 

 i-ess and luisiuess is confidence. You may en- 

 large your money a thousand times, you may 

 fill your harvest fields double, you may dig from 

 your mines tons of gold, but unless you have 

 confidence your business Is dead. 



And this is true not merely as a general prin- 

 cljile luit also with relation to one firm with 

 another and one man with another. There can 

 lie no success assured to the efforts of this club 

 unless it Is built upon a strong confidence. '£\ie 

 \'eneer Manufacturers" Club affords a means of 

 relief from a large part of our worries ; we can 

 coiiperate with its work wholly or partiailj*. but 

 the greatest benefit is only possible through an 

 honest and hearty cooperation in all matters. 



My company lias affiliated with the Veneer 

 Mannfacturers" Club for the plain and simple 

 purpose of making uu>ney through its work, and 

 we are making money Ibrough its work. It is 



J. A. TNI)i;itW()()l>. \V.\I SAC, WIS.. I'-IKST 

 VICF. ritKSlDK.NT. 



duf III tile work of this club thai llie present 

 prices exist for rotary-cut stock. I don't tiiink. 

 nor do I expect, that any other member is con- 

 nected with the club or is present here today 

 for any other purpose. 



We are contributing our portion toward the 

 expenses of the club and regard It as a good in- 

 vestment. There is no check we more cheer- 

 fully sign and we have been shut down for a 

 greater part of the time since we became iiiciii- 

 bers. It the club Is good for us, it must In' 

 good for all who cut rotary slock : and again I 

 Invite you to make application for membership 

 and then respond frankly and freely to each 

 and every request thai Is made hy our secre- 

 tary, who Is a disinterested party, but who 

 hanilles the whole business in the Interest of 

 all. Have confidence in him. 



Confiden<-e is not the only essential to success, 

 either of nation or liusincss — tliere must be har- 

 mony. ,\ nalion wilii discord between the vari- 

 ous sections and various states can never be n 

 progressive nation, because discord destroys con- 

 fidence, and discord carried to Its final conclu- 

 sion means war, and war never means prosperity 

 to either nation or business. 



Now for years we have heard the proverb. 

 "Competition Is the life of trade." On the con- 



trary we will harmonize through honest exchange 

 of business views relating to all branches of our 

 business, and confidently place all that Is re- 

 quested In the hands of our secretary for the 

 purpose of luomotlng our general welfare, there 

 will be less loss of sleep and more money made 

 In cutting thin lumber than we have realized 

 from the business In many years, because coni- 

 petiliiui is friction, and friction Is war, and war 

 is ileatli. .Modern day business has clearly proven 

 this. I ilo not mean, of course, that this justi- 

 fies combinations that strangle or kill. or. If you 

 please, destroy others — that would not be har- 

 mony: that would again be discord and war — 

 but a healthy harmony which seeks liy methods 

 of economy and by fairness to. all to promote 

 the success and legitimate profit of all. 



.Vll extremes meet; combination at Its extreme 

 destroys. It must all rest upim the sense of 

 justice anil riglit in the people engaged. With 

 sense of riglit and justice lo otiieis. with firm 

 confidence in each other as we work for each 

 other's interests, with a harmony tuned to one 

 key in our acts and our efforts, let us go forward 

 in liarniouy seeking the welfare and success of 

 each otiier's business. 



The following address was delivered bj' 

 S. B. .Vnderson, the well known Memphis 

 lunilicrman: 



Address of S. B. Anderson, 

 I was notified by the secretary to say sonie- 

 ibiug In regard to association work. When 

 1 accepted the invitation I expected to have lime 

 In pi'eparc a paper on tlie matter, but for the 

 last four or six weeks 1 have been imsy keeping 

 Ibe wolf from the door. However, in a certain 

 measure I liave been iireparing for this paper 

 for ten years, as I have been in association 

 work about that time. I find it is good. It 

 seems to me now is a more Important time for 

 association work than any we could have. If 

 tliere is any time in the world when manufac- 

 Uirers should get together, it is a lime like this, 

 when everybod,v has lost confidence : everybody 

 is anxious for trade; everybod.v is afraid he is 

 going to lose something somebody else will get. 

 Now. if we get together, we talk matters over 

 and find we are all pretty gooil fellows after 

 gelling acquainted. That Is something I used to 

 have grave doubts about — I always thought the 

 other fellows were cutthroats and bad ones, bnt 

 1 have found they are not — they arc reliable 

 men. 



Now. it seems to me that if there Is any time 

 when it is necessary for prices to be maintained. 

 it is now. The manufacturer does not expect to 

 I urn mil as much goods as last year. Itaw ina- 

 leri.-ii will cost as much as last year, and labor 

 ihe same, and .vour goods cannot be put on the 

 market for any less money. I do not believe 

 any of ns have been making any nii>re money 

 than we ought. The next two or three months 

 will lie the crucial period, when It will be deter- 

 mined what the rest of the year will be. It 

 looks to me as tliough prosjiects are gooil. The 

 country Is In good condition ; farm prmlucts 

 are very large and going Into consumption at 

 high prices. The .Vmerlcan people are In the 

 habit of spending nioueyt I noticed last month 

 we exported to Kiiropc $0,(100,110(1 worth of goods 

 more than during any other month In Ibe his- 

 tory of the nalion. Now, If we can hold to- 

 gether and keep prices on the present basis for 

 two or three months trade has to come back to 

 us. There Is one good feature aboyt this 

 "would-be" panic. It Is going to cause hesitation 

 oil the part of people who are almiit to start 

 new plants — prolmbl.v ver.v few will be started 

 In Ibe next year or two, and In that way this 

 present Hurry will be a benefit to present manu- 

 facturers, and I believe that It each one will 

 make It his duly to sec that prices arc main- 

 tained eacli will find It beneficial to himself and 

 the rest. These gentlemen here know I heir prices 

 and the prices of the others. If we will see the 

 necessity of maintaining present values, I think 



