16 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



June 23. 1921 



tion that some basic commodities are down about to normal produc- 

 tion costs is bringing about a gradual stimulation. There is still a 

 lot of money in this country and it will gradually be drawn in in- 

 creasing volume back into trade as the people who control it become 

 fuUy convinced that sales prices again reflect lioncst values. 



Great encouragement may be derived from the apparent tendency in 

 various ma.ior branches of wood-using industries to forget former 

 inflation and regulate current offerings on the basis of actual inventory 

 value. In other words, stimulation in cost and selling prices tending 

 to create a greater measure of confidence in future markets is gradu- 

 ally being wrought from the caos of figures that has prevailed during 

 the past "eighteen months. The test will come at the July furniture 

 shows where as stated the manufacturers will come together with thb 

 determination that standardization in prices will govern. The retailor 

 will thus be enabled to determine his purchasing requirements and 

 as his goods are badly broken the probability is that he may place 

 considerable business at that time. 



On the Knees of the Gods 



WISE COUNSEL WAS UTTERED on both sides of the sales code 

 question at the National Hardwood Lumber Association con- 

 vention in PhUadelphia, June 10, but after all was said and done 

 the decision was made in the interest of progress. However, the 

 progrcssiveness of the decision was tempered with the conservatism 

 of the opponents of the code idea, which was indeed a good thing. 

 A hardwood sales code is a very pronounced departure from prece- 

 dent; it means adventuring into an uncharted sea. Meaning this, It 

 is well that the matter is not to be handled hastily, but that it is 

 to receive prolonged and careful consideration. Hardwood Eecord 

 must commend the conservatives of the association for their fear- 

 fulness of new things while praising the advocates of the code for 

 their inspiration. The responsibility of the National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association is very great; it has a dignity and an authority 

 tu sustain. What it gets behind it will stand behind and push 

 through. Therefore, it must be most circumspect about what it 

 gets behind. ' 



During the discussion of the question of whether there should 

 be a code, J. H. Maassen of Memphis projected a meaty thought 

 into the debate — one that is worthy of no little rumination. He 

 said that a customer of the firm he represents complained about the 

 grades of a car of hardwood lumber. The car had been carefully 

 loaded under national rules at the point of origin by the firm's 

 inspector, but after the ' ' kick ' ' was made a National inspector was 

 put on. The official inspection developed some off grade stuff. 

 "The market was declining; the car was refused," to use the words 

 of Mr. Maassen. The case was put into the hands of an attorney. 

 The attorney said: "Maassen, I know the law on this is very 

 plain, but what is the custom of the trade?" "There's where he 

 had me — 'The custom of the trade,' " said Mr. Maassen. "That 

 is to say, if it is going up take the lumber; if it is going down 

 refuse it." 



Now it is hardly necessary to say that that is a most deplorahle, 

 an insufferable custom. It ought to be made taboo somehow by 

 a sales code or otherwise. If a sales code will do it, that is one 

 powerful argument for a sales code. 



There, no doubt, are other abuses in the trade that might be 

 eliminated, or at least outlawed, by the creation of a "constitution 

 of morals.' ' 



The question is by no means settled, of course. The committee 

 which President Taylor authorized to appoint to draft a code has 

 a hard and long job before it, which will require not only work and 

 brains, but inspiration. When they have finished the result of their 

 labor.s must run the gauntlet of the association's membership at the 

 1922 convention. This test may result in no code, or it may give 

 the industry an instrument which will result in imnieasuraijle good 

 to all concerned and always be a source of congratulation. 



It is already a matter of congratulation that the code was 

 debated with statesman-like dispassion; that the debaters main- 

 tained an attitude of true sportsmanship throughout and every one 

 was willing to be satisfied with the result of the duly registered 

 vote. 



A Dash of Vanity, Please 



ACCEPTING THE ELECTION to a second term as president of 

 the National Hardwood Lumber Association Horace F. Taylor 

 of Buffalo made a few remarks concerning the hardwood lumber 

 business that can not easily be over-emphasized. "There is one 

 fault with the lumbermen," said Mr. Taylor. "We don't rate high 

 enougli the industry in which we are engaged. We don't shout 

 enough for it. We don't publish our rights enough. We are taking 

 the bad end of the stick all the while. You can hardly pick up a 

 d.aily newspaper that you don't see charges that the Lumberman is 

 a robber, from the tree to the finished product, all along the line. 

 There is no business that can equal the lumber business. Think of 

 the horizon that you have got in the lumber business, both economic 

 and social. ' ' 



It is true, the lumberman is modest, but his humilit}- is a virtue 

 as well as a fault. It will do him good to occasionally consider 

 that there is much in the fact of being a lumberman in which one 

 should take pride. The business is dignified, virile and absolutely 

 indispensable. The lumberman is not a parasite. He earns his keep 

 in this paradise of worms and it might have a salutary effect on 

 some of the other worms if the lumberman should every now and 

 then rear up on his hind feelers and tell 'em about it. There is 

 many an ass who brays at the lumbermen who is doing less for the 

 development of these United States than any one of them, who 

 works hard and intelligently taking timber out of the forests and 

 converting it into boards. There are a great many politicians and 

 such like that the country could spare with much less hurt to its 

 well being than it could the boards which the lumbermen produce. 

 Yes, the quiet spoken lumberman may not caress the public ear 

 with the silver-tongued clatter of the demagogue, nor delight the 

 eye with artistic haberdashery, but he hath his uses. 



Table of Contents 



REVIEW AND OUTLOOK: 



General Market Conditions lS-16 



A Dash of Vanity, Please 16 



On the Knees of the Gods 16 



SPECIAL ARTICLES: 



Forestry Legislation 17-18 



Details of Lumber Statistics Plan 19 



The Capital Stock Tax Return 20 



Controlling Moisture in Lumber and Veneers 34 & 38 



August Sales May Enliven Grand Rapids 36 



Stabilization Is Key to July Market 38 



POWER LOGGING AND LUMBER HANDLING: 



A Roller Bearing Logging Car 22 



NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL CAPITAL: 



Trade Commission Attacks West Coast Lumbermen 21 



CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS: 



Miscellaneous - 24 



Lincoln Wins Golf Championship 22 



Page of Snapshots from Chicago L. G. A. Tourney 23 



Veneer and Panel Men Will "Carry-On" 31-32 & 4S 



An Open Letter to Veneer and Plywood Makers 40 & 42 



HARDWOOD NEWS ■ 30 & 51-56 



HARDWOOD MARKET 56-60 



CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS 64-66 



HARDWOODS FOR SALE 66-68 & 70-71 



ADVERTISERS' DIRECTORY 61 



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