H 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Indianapolis Jan. 16 promises to show the best attendance of any 

 this orjranization has ever had, which is saying a great deal, inas- 

 niiu-h as not only its members operating in the home state, but 

 those loyal lloosiers who have embarked in business in the South, 

 the North country and the far East, always strain a point to ar- 

 range their affairs in shape to attend the good old "home-com- 

 ing"; while numbers of visitors from other associations and states 

 invariably attend. The Indiana association has always held out 

 the olive branch to the entire trade, and always taken a firm 

 stand in favor of any measures which redound to the benefit <>t 

 the hardwood industry; its attitude on the matter of uniform in- 

 spection is too well known to need comment at this time. 



The Hardwood Lumber Manufacturers of Wisconsin will hold 

 their annual meeting at Eau Claire on ,)an. 16. They cordially in- 

 vite every hardwood lumber manufacturer, whether he be a mem- 

 ber or not, to attend and to be their guest at a banquet which the 

 Kau ('laire contingent will serve in the eveniiii;. 



Within a few days the Michigan Hardwood Manufacturers' As- 

 sociation will meet at Saginaw, and this live young organization 

 always has well-attended, enthusiastic meetings. Since it last met 

 a permanent secretary has been employed, and the organization 

 has gone into association work very vigorously and extensively — 

 a step fully warranted by the large output represented in its mem- 

 bership and the importance of Michigan as a hardwood state. 



The manufacturers of Arkansas have caught the spirit, and 

 their local gathering assembled at Newport the other day cnthu 

 siastically declared in favor of a state organization, whicli tln'v 

 formed forthwith. 



The date of the Hardwood Manufacturers' Association meeting 

 is yet to be announced by the directors, but it will occur within 

 the month. The Northwestern Lumbermen's Association will meet 

 at Minneapolis Jan. 14-16. Of minor interest to the general trade, 

 but none the less important to those concerned, is the meeting of 

 the National Lumber Exporters' Association at New Orleans on 

 .Ian. 22, and the Handle Manufacturers' Association at Indian- 

 apolis on .Jan. 14. 



It is to be hoped that the general spirit of conciliation toward 

 all may prevail in every instance, as was the case last year, and 

 that each meeting may prove a genuine "love-feast" to bring all 

 branches of the trade into closer touch and better understanding. 



The Coining Handle Meeting. 



As noted at the head of the editorial pages, a special meeting of 

 all divisions of the Handle Manufacturers' Association of America 

 will be held at the Claj-pool Hotel, Indianapolis, at 10 a. m. Tues- 

 day, Jan. 14. 



The officers wish to lay added emphasis upon one point which has 

 been dwelt on many times, bnt which still seems to remain a little 

 obscure in the minds of many correspondents: There seems to be an 

 idea prevalent among some of the ash and maple men who have 

 not joined the association that the hickory trade expects to monop- 

 olize the organization and get all the benefits out of it. Nothing 

 could be further from the fact. The three branches will maintain 

 their own iilentity, under their own presiding officer, each entirely 

 independent of the others as far as being controlled by them in any 

 action. The hickory handle trade has been organized before, and 

 well knows the benefits of association work; hence they have joined 

 in strength, while the other branches are of course harder to line 

 up, as is always the case with a new movement of this kind. If the 

 broom handle men and the ash people would do likewise, and be 

 willing to take the word of their friends in the hickory trade that 

 there is good in organization, these two divisions would soon show 

 as fast an increase in membership; in fact, it is said that there arc 

 about five- broom handle and dowel men to one hickory. 



With regard to membership and objects of this association, ]icr- 

 haps the spoke manufacturers, who met at Chattanooga last month, 

 voiced sentiments which cover the ideas of the handle people as 

 well as they can be- expressed, in the following: 



' ' Our organization is composed of the ' who "s who ' in the spoke 

 manufacturing business of this country. We eliminate the 'has- 



beens' and the 'to be's' and acknowledge only the 'issers'; that is 

 to say, the organization is comjiosed of manufacturers who nmke 

 the manufacture of spokes their business and whose cardinal prin- 

 ciple is to make spokes the best they know how at as low a j)rice 

 as the cost of production will permit. Our jilans for the future are 

 especially to establish a more uniform and consistent grading, that 

 the interests of liotli buyer and seller may be better subserved; to 

 discourage the liranding U|) of goods; to encourage a still higher 

 degree of workmanshiip; to study further the relative costs of mak- 

 ing spokes and in every way ]n'omote the best interests of the l)Hsi- 

 ness, that both buyer anci seller may be benefited." 



It is a foregone conclusion that the greater the nnmber belong- 

 ing to an organization, the greater the good that may be accom- 

 plished, and it is to be hoped that every member of the handle as- 

 sociation will constitute himself a committee of one to secure the 

 attendance, membershi)) and cooperation of every manufacturer of 

 his ai-qnaintance. The Indianapolis meeting is not to be held for 

 members only. The situation is critical today, and it is imperative 

 that every maniifacturer who has the slightest interest in his own 

 business and the good of the industry be present. He need not 

 join the association unless he cares to, liut he should attemi at 

 least. One manufacturer expresses conditions in a few words, lie 

 writes: "Shall attend the gathering, but we succeeded in cle;iu- 

 ing up our handle business pretty well before the recent 'panic.' 

 mill it would have to look pretty good to us to get us to have any- 

 thing further to do with it." 



.V social feature of the coming meeting will be the banquet 

 which will be served to members and guests at the Claypool Hotel 

 following the afternoon session. At every association meeting, in 

 every line of trade, prominent members are wont to declare that 

 aside from all tangible benefits derived, if tln'v never made a dol- 

 l;ir by mutual education and cooperation, they consider getting 

 acquainted with their competitors, comparing notes with each other, 

 ;ind finding out that "the other fellow'' isn't such a rascal after 

 all, is worth many times the effort and money spent in attending 

 the meetings, and that they would gladl.v go were there not a thing 

 to be gained except through social intercourse. 



II is to be hop<>d that there will be a record-lircaking attend- 

 ance at the Indianapidis conference, and it is perhaps not putting 

 it a bit too strong to say that '<pon its deliberations absolutely de- 

 pends whether the handle business for 1908 shall be conducted with 

 iprofit or with loss! 



Another Inspection Conference. 



It is reported that another inspection conference between delegates 

 from the National Hardwood Lumber Association and the New York 

 malcontents has been arrange<l to take place the latter part of this 

 month. 



From the fact that the last inspection revision of the National 

 Association was perfected at a meeting in the extreme East, at which 

 the eastern members largely predominated, and the New York con- 

 tingent had every opportunity of being heard and of protesting if the 

 jiropo.sed revisions did not meet its approval ; and from the further 

 fact that a tacit understanding was had with this same element sev- 

 eral weeks in advance of this meeting — it should scarcely be deemed 

 necessary to permit a reopening of the case, especially as even the 

 managers of the National Association have no authority to make 

 clianges in the inspection rules. 



This little New York defection, engineered solely by the young gen- 

 tleman up on the corner of Twenty-fifth street and Eleventh avenue, 

 whose knowledge of the hardwood business came to him in the same 

 manner as did his money — by inheritance — should not receive any 

 great amount of attention at the hands of the national body. He 

 and his few supporters don't care a rap about the particular terms of 

 the inspection rules. What they do want is a recrudescence of the 

 old New York system whereby the buyer not only handles the board- 

 rule but interprets the inspection rules as well. 



The rules of both the National and Manufacturers' associations at 

 present prevailing in all jmrts of the country, are eminently satisfac- 

 tory to the vast majority of the lumber buying trade, and the sooner 

 there is an end of starring the son of Ichabod in the enterprise, the 

 sooner universal hardwood inspection will be accomplished. 



