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Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



December 10, 1918 



Afternoon Session 



The afternoon session was opened by an address by 

 C. H. Rodehaver on railroad problems and the particular 

 problem of transportation and rates. He regretted that 

 it was not practicable to take an optimistic view of matters 

 of that kind because the present prospect was that a 

 good deal of unscrambling eggs await the attention of 

 business men. The government took the railroads and 

 caused the discharging of the trained railroad salesmen 

 and clerks, who have found employment elsewhere and 

 the railroads will never get them back. Consequently, 

 when the roads are turned back to their owners, as they 

 soon shall be, a working force along these lines will not 

 be available. 



The speaker dwelt at some length on the value of 

 efficient organizations to take up and carry on the work 

 of reconstruction. The situation is now upon the country 

 when no progress can be made in business without or- 

 ganizations prepared to handle it. That fact should be 

 borne in mind by those who expect to take part in the 

 work that lies ahead. 



Testing Veneers and Glue 



Clyde H. Teesdale of the government laboratory at 

 Madison, Wis., explained to the meeting the work being 

 done by the laboratory in testing veneers, panels, and 

 glue. At the beginning of the war the laboratory had 

 eighty-five men; at its close the number had grown to 

 460. The cost of the increase had been borne almost 

 wholly by the army and the navy, and most of the 

 work done had been on behalf of the navy or army. 



An important work consisted of tests for panels and 

 investigations of glue. The laboratory worked out a 

 system of inspection to meet the demands of airplane 

 work, and trained inspectors to do that work. They had 

 to work from the bottom up, because nothing like that 

 had ever been done. Factories using veneers for gov- 

 ernment work sent men to the laboratory to be trained 

 in inspection work, after which they returned to their 

 plants. 



Waterproof glue received special attention at the labo- 

 ratory. It was practically unknown in a commercial way 

 two years ago, but such glue was demanded by air- 

 plane makers, and it was the laboratory's business to 

 test and experiment. Great variation was found in glues 

 which claimed to be waterproof, and with the best of 

 it much was to be desired. The result of the investiga- 

 tions has been highly satisfactory. Mr. Teesdale stated 

 that it is not unreasonable to claim that the efficiency of 

 waterproof glue has been doubled since the laboratory's 

 tests were begun, and further improvements are now 

 within reach which will provide such glue that will resist 

 water indefinitely, and it will be possible to make boats 

 successfully of waterproof glue. 



Educational work along the glue and panel line was 

 announced by Mr. Teesdale, if plans in contemplation 

 can be carried out. A training school is contemplated 

 at the laboratory. Panel manufacturers will have the 

 privilege of sending their men there for instruction in 



wood technology and glue properties. A term of about 

 four weeks each year is contemplated, and the men w^ill 

 receive as much intensive training as will be possible in 

 that length of time. It will be free to those who attend 

 so far as instruction is concerned; but those who avail 

 themselves of the training will pay their own living and 

 traveling expenses. 



Mr. Teesdale put the question to the association 

 whether the plan would be supported to the extent of 

 sending ten or more men yearly to receive the instruction. 

 A committee w^as appointed to confer with members and 

 afterv^rards give Mr. Teesdale an answer. The com- 

 mittee consisted of E. V. Knight, O. C. Lemke, and 

 C. H. Barnaby. 



Foreign Trade Prospects 



H. H. Merrick, vice-president of the Central Trust 

 Company, Illinois, spoke on the prospect of securing 

 foreign trade for America; and a point which he em- 

 phasized was that the business man vs'ho has nothing to 

 sell abroad is little less interested in the matter than is 

 the man who expects to ship his product across the 

 seas, because it is general prosperity that counts most, 

 and all people share in general prosperity. 



He believed that a market for American panels can 

 be found in the Spanish American countries south of us; 

 but he expressed doubts whether we would be able to 

 sell many panels in Europe, for the reason that they could 

 make panels in Europe cheaper than we could make them 

 here and ship them across. He stated that today a ship- 

 ment from New York to South America can be made 

 by way of Liverpool for thirty-three per cent less than 

 the same shipment can be made direct. He believed 

 that our salvation lay largely in ships to carry our prod- 

 ucts. He ridiculed the idea of the "freedom of the 

 seas," and said 100,000,000 people in America and 

 400,000,000 in Europe did not know what was meant 

 by it. But what we do understand, and what counts for 

 something is ships for a merchant marine. The ships 

 which will carry merchandise cheapest and best will get 

 the business, w^hether the ships fly our flag, England's, 

 or some other. 



The speaker declared that we v^^ere unprepared for 

 war and novif -we are equally unprepared for peace. We 

 might have suffered from unpreparedness in the first 

 instance, and -we may suffer almost as much from the 

 same thing in regard to peace. We trusted to Providence 

 to save us from the results of unpreparedness for v^rar, 

 and some people believe that Providence did so; but 

 we were saved not by Providence but by the British 

 navy. If we now^ trust to be saved from the results of 

 not being prepared for peace, who is going to do the 

 saving? Shall we again trust Providence? or the British 

 navy? 



Discussion of Labor 



At the close of the regular program, a general dis- 

 cussion of labor matters was taken up. B. W. Lord read 

 a carefully prepared paper on the situation confronting 

 the country, including industry and labor, and several 



