D- 



ecember 



10, 1918 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



25 



The National Veneer Meeting 



The annual meeting of the National Veneer and Panel 

 Manufacturers' Association convened December ! for a 

 two-days' session at the Auditorium hotel, Chicago. In 

 the absence of the president, A. E. Gorham, the sessions 

 were presided over by Vice-President Maris of Indian- 

 apolis, Ind., who delivered a brief address, in which he 

 declared that no indication of business decline in the ve- 

 neer and panel business has been noticed since the signing 

 of the armistice. The manufacturers are proceeding to 

 buy logs in anticipation of prosperity. The price of labor 

 is not expected to show^ much decline. 



The following special committees were appointed: 



Membership — E. R. Morrison, chairman, Jamestown, 

 N. Y. ; Otto Steiner, St. Louis, Mo., and H. B. Sale, Fort 

 Wayne, Ind. 



Auditing — L. P. Groflman, chairman, St. Louis, Mo. : 

 H. B. Spencer, Newport, Ark., and H. J. Barnard, Indian- 

 apolis, Ind. 



Nominating — D. E. Kline, chairman, Louisville, Ky. ; 

 B. W. Lord, Chicago, 111., and E. W. Benjamin, Cadillac, 

 Mich. 



J. T. Home, formerly of Indiana but for the past ten 

 years of Alabama, where he is connected with the J. T. 

 Home Veneer Company of Tuscaloosa, addressed the 

 meeting on the subject of labor in the future. 



His speech turned mostly upon how^ labor ought to be 

 treated and how it w^ould respond, and he went into 

 details of the policy his company has pursued with its 

 labor and the results reached. It has been his policy to 

 pay laborers half wages during sickness; and if the sick- 

 ness is long-continued and entails extra hardship on the 

 sick man or his family, the company lends him money to 

 tide him over the difficult period. Workmen who save 

 money during the year are given a bonus of ten per cent 

 of what they save, on the principle that "unto him that 

 hath shall be given." A plan of profit sharing is also in 

 force, and five per cent of the company's profit is pro- 

 rated among the workmen; and this year the rate was 

 raised to ten per cent. 



He does not believe that labor will ever return quite 

 to the low level which it once occupied, because the experi- 

 ence and broader view^ acquired by soldiers abroad and 

 in the camps at home will be reflected in his future atti- 

 tude toward his work and his employers. 



Some readjustments of labor will be necessary. Mil- 

 lions of men were withdrawn from industrial activities and 

 their places were taken by others; but most of them will 

 come back and many will apply for their old jobs, and the 

 old jobs have been promised to many of them. This 

 will call for rearrangement, and the changes will call for 

 care and judgment. 



Mr. Home said that in what he was about to say he 

 anticipated that some of those present would criticize him: 

 nevertheless, it was his firm conviction that in the past it 

 too often had happened that the laborer did not receive 

 his just share of the profit. 



He named the building of roads by the government, or 

 otherwise, as a sensible plan to provide employment for 

 labor, in case the field of employment should grow too 

 narrow as business readjusted itself. 



Three duties confront us, as Americans, declared the 

 speaker. We must feed the world; we must supply raw 

 material for much of the world's industries; and we must 

 finance the world to a considerable extent. He did not 

 believe that money would be scarce in the near future, 

 and was convinced that capital would find many places 

 for investment, and opportunities to engage in profitable 

 business would be many. 



Reconstruction is in the air these days and business 

 men are hearing of it on every side. The veneer associa- 

 tion was fortunate in securing George H. Gushing of Chi- 

 cago, editor of the Black Diamond, a coal journal, for a 

 talk along the line of sound principles of reconstruction. 



The speaker confined himself chiefly to a review of the 

 recent meeting of the National Chamber of Commerce at 

 Atlantic City, where he was a delegate. He had brought 

 away with him a summary or digest of the meeting so far 

 as it related to rebuilding what the war had torn down. 

 He seized upon the salient points of that question and 

 explained the attitudes taken by speakers and interests at 

 Atlantic City, and made clear expositions of the various 

 matters. 



He took much the same ground as the preceding 

 speaker, Mr. Home, and staked out America's task in 

 three parts: To provide food; to furnish money; and to 

 produce necessary raw materials. Each of these is a sub- 

 ject so extensive that it can be mentioned but cannot be 

 adequately discussed in the brief space of a formal talk. 



He stated that the salient features of the Atlantic City 

 meeting fall under three heads: 



The question of government ownership of resources and 

 utilities. 



Industrial co-operation for the benefit of manufactur- 

 ing, buying, and selling. 



The labor problem in all its branches and ramifications. 



A paper on the subject of "The Immediate Future of 

 the Veneer and Panel Business, " was given by S. B. An- 

 derson of Anderson-Tully Company, Memphis. Hard- 

 wood Record will publish this paper in full. 



Treasurer E. H. Defebaugh read his annual report in 

 which he showed that the association's condition is ex- 

 cellent. The report gave the following summary of 

 figures: 



Cash balance on hand $131 7.29 



At the last meeting there was a balance of . . . . 878.60 



There are no obligations, and the association is in a 

 sound financial condition. 



The treasurer's report was referred to the auditing 

 committee. 



The convention then adjourned for lunch, which was 

 served in the meeting room. 



