Si'iitcrnlicr, 10, 1921 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



15 



A *'Hawk " in the Furniture Barnyard 



Covert Methods of Cincinnati Attorney in Campaign Against 

 Misrepresentation of Furniture Invoke Condemnation 



The inrorc wliieh one Georgo S. llnwke of Cincinnati, Attorney 

 and Counselorat-Law, has created in the furniture iniUistry and 

 trade may be likened to tlie disturliance which results in a populous 

 barnyard when a real hawk of the bird genus swoops down to pluck 

 a victim. This lawyer Hawke has created consternation, auger, 

 resentment, disgust, curiosity (in quantity) and perhaps even sym- 

 pathy. The apparent anonymity of a part of his campaign against 

 misrepresentation for walnut or mahogany of furniture made par- 

 tially or wholly of other woods, caused first the American Walnut 

 Manufacturers' Association and then the Mahogany Associ.-ition to 

 disclaim any connection with the campaign and express their strong 

 disapproval of the methods pursued. 



Condemn.-ition of this covert method also issued from other 

 sources. In an editorial appearing in its issue of August 25 Hard- 

 wood Record took notice of the "Friendly Warning" which 

 Hawke 's agents had been sending to members of the retail furni- 

 ture trade presumed to be misrepresenting walnut or mahogany 

 stained furniture as genuine. Hardwood Record condemned this 

 |)rocedure in unequivocal terms, declaring that this propaganda, 

 "while resting on a good principle, is ill-conceived, and because its 

 source is anonymous and its spirit steeped in misrepresentation, its 

 re-action must eventually be harmful." The Associated Advertising 

 Clubs of the World, sent out a bulletin from their New York head- 

 quarters disapproving the Cincinnati attorney's methods in very 

 emphatic terms. "From the literature which has been sent in to us 

 it appears,'' .said this bulletin, "that Mr. Hawke is conducting his 

 campaign for the purpose of discouraging the imitation of walnut 

 and mahogany used in the manufacture of furniture, and he has 

 asked the co-operation of local Better Business Bureaus in his 

 work. 



Upon its face the matter wonlii appear to have merit. l>ut the methods 

 n'hich Mr. Ilawke, apparently proposes to [)ursue in contUicting his cam- 

 paign are not iu line with ttie work heing flone h.v this committee and do 

 not meet with our .approval. 



Mr. Ilawke's plans as detaileil to us incluile the sendiujr out of anon.v- 

 nious niptices or "Friendly Warnings." He states that he is not permitti'd 

 to divui^i' the names of men whti are backing his movenieut and so words 

 his literature that prosecution is implied. 



In our endeavors to correct wrong nu'rchandising and advertising prac- 

 tices, it has been this committee's experience that temporary compliance 

 with its suggestions are not sufflcient ; that educational methods are to 

 l)e preferred because they are more lasting. 



We never send out anonymous communications and do not coniiteuance 

 tlireats even by implication, anil the purpose of our work as well as the 

 names of the men who stand behind the work, are at all times open to 

 the public. 



This bulletin was signed by Richard H. Lee, counsel for the 

 advertising clubs, and tran.smittcd to H.\RDW00D Record by Frank 

 F. Fish, secretary-treasurer of the National Hardwood Lumber 

 Association. 



An Extensive Propaganda 



But these anonymous warnings, which received such prompt ami 

 general condemnation, were only a small part of Attorney Hawke 's 

 campaign against the so-called misrepresentation of furniture. 

 Over his own signature he sent hundreds of letters to retail fur- 

 niture dealers asking these dealers, in the strictest confidence, to 

 inform upon any other de;iler in their section who might be offering 

 for sale gum or l)irch furniture under the name of walnut or ma- 

 hogany. Similar letters were sent broadcast to furniture manu- 

 facturers and likewise to newspapers and jieriodicals, though in the 

 case of newspapers the.v were asked to disclose the name of any 

 publication known to them which might be accejiting advertise- 

 ments misrepresenting furniture. 



Preceding the propaganda over the Hawke signature there came 



letter,-, from a certain • • K. .Scoggin, Home address, 1702 Valence 

 St., New Orleans, La.," app.-irently dovetailing with the Hawke 

 attack on the furniture industry, but having no positively provable 

 connection therewith. These letters appealed to the public to 

 realize the extent to which it is being hoaxed by so-called walnut 

 and mahogany furniture and were sent to the newspapers and trade 

 periodicals throughout the country. Some of them found their 

 way into print and resulted in an exchange of letters between 

 Mr. Scoggin and A. ('. Brown, secretary of the National Alliance 

 of Case Goods Manufacturers, which revealed some asperity on 

 both sides. 



All of this ])ropaganda and correspondence stirred up such a con- 

 fused discussion of Attorney Hawke and his jmrposes that Hard- 

 wood Record decided to go direct to that gentleman to put him on 

 record in so far as possible as to his specific intentions, his backers, 

 the procedure to be used in carrying out his threatened prosecu- 

 tions, and the progress to date of his campaign. 



Statement From Hawke 



Under date of September 2, Mr. Hawke replied: 

 Our plans are to discourage nnsrepresentatlon of furniture in the ad- 

 vertisements of retailers and of the retail furniture .salesmen to the public 

 and any misrepresentation to the retail furniture dealers on the part of the 

 manufacturer. II is interesting to note that while many of the retailers 

 write to us and blame the manufacturers, we cannot get a single manu- 

 facturer to admit that they are in any way at fault, but tliat on the 

 contrary the retail furniture buyer knows or ought to know just what 

 he is getting. It is not our wish in the least to discourage the nnnnifac- 

 ture and sale of furniture nuide of the cheaper woods. They have a very 

 proper place and no one would be foolish enough to deny or dispute It, 

 but we do think that when the public asks for walnut or mahogany fur- 

 niture, that they should not be sold gum or birch stained walnut or 

 mahogany color. You will be interested to know that some salesmen and 

 some stores call anything and everything nnihogany that has a mahogany 

 color, irrespective of the kind of wood of which the furniture is made. 

 I cannot give you the details of the program at this time, but from 

 the favorable replies of the newspapers of the country, I know that they 

 will refuse to accept the advertising of firms who wo can prove guilty of 

 misrepresentation and then we will be ready to put on an e<lucational 

 campaign of newspaper advertising to the public, directed so that it will 

 insist upon leceiviug the kind of furniture it wants and asks. 



Withholds Client's Name 



In reply to tlie rcipiest that he give the name of his client in this 

 campaign Mr. Hawke had this to say: 



I wish to say that my connection with the movement is pundy pro- 

 fessional, that of attorney and client. The movement is for the benefit 

 of the buying public, and we have the strongest endorsement of many of 

 the country's largest retailers of furniture as well as others. It is financed 

 and backed by men whose standing is the highest. I am not permitted to 

 divulge their nanu's at the present time, because they do not care to run 

 the risk of l)eing boycotted by concerns who do not favor the nmvement. 



Thus it will be seen that there is little hope of finding out from 

 Mr. Hawke just now the idontit.v of the "man higher up." There 

 has been a great deal of gossip as to the identity of this person, or 

 persons, but thus far there is nothing in this regard authentic 

 enough to warrant publication. 



Mr. Hawke declared in his statement th:it "a great nation- 

 wide interest has been aroused in our campaign and we have 

 received many hundreds of replies and many valuable suggestions 

 from all over the eountrv. 



The program which we have mappi'd out for ourselves is ([uite extensive. 

 We have circularized Iwi<'e the retailers of the whole country and the 

 nmnufacturiTs once. In addition to this we have written hundreds of 

 personal letters. TlU' replies which wo have received have been very 

 Interesting and most encouraging. 



Mr. Hawke was asked if he had begun a specific prosecution and 

 under what statutes .ind in what courts he expected to proceed. 

 He replied to this: 



