Kindly jronslder the dllTercnt lines of business 

 today that are most stieccssful and yon will 

 see that they are snceesstul lieeanse they arc 

 well organized, and what we need In the veneer 

 business Is orsanlzatUin. 



The hardwood lumber nianufaetnrers today 

 !,:ive an inspection departmenl. and it a man 

 .miplains about the gradinj: »( lumber they send 

 an hispcetor and he goes over this lumber. If 

 the buyer is right, the shipper pays the expense 

 of It. It" the shipper Is right, the buyer pays 

 the e.\pense of it. and in thai way l)oth the 

 shipper and the buyer get a sciuare deal. 



Let us have a credit bureau, well organized, 

 not only as regards credits but with a compe- 

 lent inspector to settle disputes. Then if we 

 want to know about a customer we write this 

 l.ureai and they give us not only the mans 

 liuancial standing, but they give us the opinion 

 .1 the veneer men who have dealt with this 

 man. which opinion is worth a whole lot to us. 

 llien if we have a dispute over inspection of 

 stock we cau have a National inspector investi- 

 gate it. and the buyer will not complain unless 

 he is pretty sure of his ground, and if he is 

 right we ought to pay the expense of having a 

 man go there, but if he is wrong and we ship 

 the goods correctly, he pays that expense. 



With an association with most all the veeneer 

 men as nieml)ers. a man who buys veneer knows 

 he has to buy in the future and he is not going 

 to complain of stock unless he is fairly sure 

 of his ground, and if he complains once and 

 tlnds he is wrong he will hesitate before he com- 

 plains again, as he is dependent upon us for his 

 stock and does not want to have a reputation 

 among the veener men for claiming unjustly. 



It is a mistaken idea for anyone with goods 

 to sell to feel that it is a great favor .when a 

 buyer gives us an order, because he is not order- 

 ing the stock unless he wants it and he is re- 

 ceiving value for his money, and I believe the 

 buyers as well as the veneer men would like to 

 see an organization kept up so that the buyer 

 will receive what he pays fur. and the veneer 

 man will receive pay for what he ships. 



Instead of talking as much as I have I could 

 have summed up the whole business in one 

 word, and that is ■Organization." 



A great many concerns in business buy mate 

 rial on long time, but the conditions of the 

 veneer business are such that a man pays cash 

 for his logs, and generally a long time before 

 lie receives them ; he pays cash for liis lalxjr and 

 buys practically nothing tliat lie receives on time 

 except a- few supplies, and possilily machinery. 

 which is a small item in his business, and I 

 know of no business where the credits should 

 be watched closer or the terms should be shorter 

 than in manufacturing veneer. 



Considerable interesting discussion fol 

 lowed, in which Messrs. Maris, Raymond, 

 Kline and others participated, and sev- 

 eral instances v^■erc cited which showed the 

 value and influence of tlie association vvlieii 

 buyers made un.iust claims against ship 

 pers, and were informed that the matter 

 would be taken up by the organization 

 The desirability of establishing a credit bu 

 reau or department was also discussed, ami 

 the methods of the lumber associations 

 along this line taken up. The president 

 reviewed some correspondence wliich had 

 been sent him for the association to con- 

 sider and stated he thought the establish- 

 ment of a grievance committee would be 

 the approved manner of handling such af- 

 fairs. Such a committee was later pro- 

 vided for by proper legislation. 



A sort of "experience meeting" was 

 held in which members from all sections of 

 the countrv were very frank in their ex- 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



lirossions of opinion regarding the financial 

 and business outlook for thp coming year. 

 .\ few of the members -were somewhat pes- 

 simistic in their views, but on the whole 

 the general feeling seemed to be that the 

 present dull period will not continue for 

 any length of time and that the coming 

 year will be a good one. 



Mr. Groffman Talks. 

 Mr. Croffman : While we are not doing a 

 land offlce business, we have plenty to keep the 

 wheels turning. I find some of the furniture men 

 are very optimistic over the situation. They 

 think after the loth of January — I don't know 

 just wiiy they say the 15th— there will be a 

 free circulation of money. There Is one thing 

 I want to say that seems to impress a great 

 many furniture men : They have an idea that 

 logs are going to be very cheap and the result 

 will be that veneers and panels will go down 

 correspondingly. I had one say to me the other 

 day that he was down in Memphi.? and the river 

 was just lined with logs, and that the mills 

 were all shut down and there was no money 

 lo cut up the logs with I lie said he was to'd 

 tluit those logs would d.'iireciate in value unless 



34A 



I,. I'. lIUllI-l-MAN. ST. LOIIS. MO., TIIIUI) 

 VICK PRESIDENT. 



they were utilized soon, and the result would 

 lie that they would have to be cut up and woulil 

 lie very cheap I I told him in a very few wo;ds 

 that those logs would not depreciate if thej 

 laid there six or eight months and he needn't 

 worry aliout our raw material coming down 

 iiiiicli cheaper if there was anything like that 

 ill 111' wind we certainly would know some- 

 iliing of it. He admilled tlien that lu' must 

 liavc been misinformed '. 



Further discussion along similar lines 

 t'ollowod, participated in by Messrs. .Schoen- 

 lau, .lohuson, .\llen, Sanders, Halicr. Kline 

 and otlicrs. 



Mr. Lendrum's Remarks. 



On request of I'resident Kline, Alex. Len- 

 drum repeated in part an address which he 

 made to the panel men the preceding even- 

 ing. He proved one of the most interest- 

 ing speakers of the day and gave I lie ineiii 

 bcrs many helpful ideas which lie had 

 gathered from experience in other lines of 

 association work. He urged amateurs in 

 the veneer business not to look upon it as 



a gold mine, sit down with a pencil anil 

 figure themselves rich in fifteen minutes, 

 but to go slowly and conservatively before 

 rushing into it. He cited examples where 

 concerted action and friendly feelings upon 

 the part of men engaged iu the same lines 

 had warded ulT unscrupulous customers, 

 and placed demoralized trades upon digni- 

 fied, paying bases. He particularly urged 

 the employment of a strong, paid secretary 

 for the association, and said he considered 

 an organization with so splendid a begin- 

 ning should do things up right and get one 

 with all possible dispatch. Mr. Lendrnm 

 spoke at some length regarding various 

 types of valuable hardwoods, and said in 

 comparison with what is paid willingly for 

 imported woods the so-called "high prices" 

 for quartered oak were positively ridiuulous. 

 Adjournment for luncheon was taken at 

 1:30 and the second session convened at 

 :! p. in. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



.■Vt the opening of the second session H. .V. 

 Heinkensmeier read a very able paper on 

 "Our suggestions regarding a thorough sys- 

 tem for the handling of glue as applied to 

 the veneer business." It is herewith re- 

 ];roiluced: 



Mr. Reinkensmeier's Paper. 



1 tni-t il will lie inulerstocid that these few 

 rentarks on the subject of glue are not offered 

 with the idea of criticizing an.v method of using 

 glie, as employed liy the manufacturers here 

 today : and so far as that is concerned, it is not 

 :ny wish to criticise anyone's method of handling 

 this article. I trust that all of what will be 

 said will be accepted as what I believe will 

 afford relief from some of the problems obtain- 

 ing 'u connection with ibe handling of glue In 

 the average veneer plant. 



I realize you gentlemen have given consider- 

 able thougiit and hard work to reaching your 

 views and method of deciding on a basis of 

 iiiensurement of value of glue in the veneer 

 business, especially so in your respective grades 

 of work. 



IMiis lallir point is a very important consid- 

 eration, as tlie class and grade of work, kind 

 aud quality of lumber, local conditions (such as 

 factory eio'ipment I. workmen obtainable, cii- 

 luatic conditions and water, as well as numerous 

 other difficulties, all bearing on the desired re- 

 sults, must have thorough consideration. At 

 least that is my conclusion in the matter. 



.My object is to put in the form of a sug- 

 gestion my views of a method of getting at a 

 standard, or basis, for measuring the value and 

 glue for veneer work. Considerable thought ami 

 discussion has been given to the idea, and I 

 believe the metiiod lias some merit and could lie 

 advantageously employed, and If employed, an 

 Important step toward the elimination of glue 

 troubles in the veneer room will have been taken. 

 II is a fact that very little attention Is given 

 by most ginc mannfaeturers to the mechanical 

 conditiim of glue: that is to say, glues made 

 from the same grade of glue stock and of iden- 

 tically the same glue test, according to the glue 

 manufacturers' tuethod of testing, do at the 

 same lime work dilTerently when put In use, 

 owing to tlie fact that the meibanlcal condition 

 in the case of flake glue is not the same, for one 

 may have dried out thicker or thinner than the 

 other, as the case may be : or the breaking may 

 have been coarser, that Is to say. a greater 

 number of medium-sized or large pieces. Again, 

 a >arIatlon In the cut, say thin, medium and 

 thick cut : these three, as you will note, would 



