March 25, 1919 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



J^a 



F. R. BABCOCK. PITTSBURUn. 



TRUSTEE 



M. BROWN, LOUISVILLE, 

 TRUSTEE 



C. A. 



GOODWIN, MARINETTE, 

 TRUSTEE 



WIS., 



Ing with a complete kuowletlge of the lumber situation and, therefore, 

 ■entitled by every consideration to universal support, rather than that 

 they should be harassed by .criticism arising from the hardship to which 

 individuals or particular groups were unfortunately though unavoidably 

 subjected. 



So important in its interest to our members was the position of your 

 association under these circum-stances, that a report for the year neces- 

 sarily has much to do with these relations of the wholesaler, and of this 

 association in its effort for his protection, and to secure him in his legiti- 

 mate opportunity to carry on business under the unusual government regu- 

 lations in force. It has already been made clear that the radical action 

 urged by some wholesalers could not be endorsed by the association as 

 such. As was reported at our last annual meeting, an able committee 

 representing this association had submitted to the director of lumber in 

 the fair of 1917, a well considered plan by which wholesalers as a class, 

 and oftVrlng a{lequate guarantees, might assist in supplying the govern- 

 ment. This offer received a firm refusal upon the ground that the lumber 

 director was estopped by higher authority from consenting to government 

 purchases from any source save the manufacturer. The principle upon 

 which this refusal was based seemed to be part and parcel of the policy 

 adopted by the administration, and it must be admitted that it seemed 

 to have also the personal support of the Director of Lumber for reasons 

 which at the time seemed reasonably convincing. 



The result of this particular decision and as well the careful considered 

 attitude of discretion adopted by this association did not, however, satisfy 

 some groups of wholesalers who felt it their duty still to protest. It Is 

 fair to say that a majority of those who were thus dissatisfied, had only 

 a partial knowledge of the entire situation, including the membership 

 composition of the National Wholesale Lumber Dealers' Association. 



There were the soundest of reasons why this association could not at 

 once take up the cudgels on behalf of the wholesaler alone in the hostile 

 manner demanded by the more radical wholesale members. In the first 

 place, their idea of campaign involved a tremendous expense which if it 

 could liave been met at all by this association, could not properly have 

 been assessed upon its entire membership. This membership iucluded many 

 men who were familiar with the policies adopted at Washington and were 

 convinced that they should not be assailed. It included, also, many manu- 

 facturers who could not be charged with any substantial part of the cost 

 of a campaign of wholesalers alone. It included many members who were 

 yard wholesalers not affected by the rulings. It included many strong 

 Canadian members who obviously could not be brought into such an enter- 

 prise. 



Perhaps beyond and above these considerations, your association in- 

 cluded members experienced in association work who realized that nothing 

 could be more dangerous to the life of an organization combining various 

 interests than to use that organization to promote the ends of a particular 

 section of its membership in a manner which might prove objectionable 

 or hostile to the equally important interests of other classes of its mem- 

 bers. 



With a sincere desire, therefore, to get the broadest possible expres- 

 sion of the views of wholesalers, and without committing your associa- 

 tion as an organization, your president saw fit to call an informal and 

 general conference of wholesalers at Pittsburgh in April, 1918, which 

 was attended not only by prominent members of this organization, but 

 by many wholesalers who were non-members. The various aspects here 

 set forth were fully discussed but without the result of reconciling all who 



were present with the situation your officers had seemed compelled to 

 maintain. 



Following this Pittsburgh conference, a group of wholesalers of whom 

 some of those at the conference formed a nucleus, resolved to go in force 

 to Washington, and in what seemed to them good judgment, to demand 

 from the lumber division what they believed to be their rights, at what- 

 ever cost in time and money, and in an openly expressed disregard for 

 the policies enforced by the director of lumber in what he in turn believed 

 to be the best interests In the national emergency. 



War Service Committee 



At about the same time, and following a suggestion of the Chamber of 

 Commerce of the United States, your association had appointed a war 

 service committee to, co-operate for national purposes with similar com- 

 mittees representing other industries. Our committee in pursuance of 

 this general purpose held its first meeting in Philadelphia on May 7, and 

 on the following day reconvened in Washington, and, as it happened, at 

 the time set for the organization of what was to be known as the National 

 Bureau of Wholesale Lumber Distributors. An exchange of views be- 

 tween the members of our committee and the new bureau made it evident 

 that their plans had much in common, and with good judgment the con- 

 olusiou was reached that to avoid duplication of effort, these special in- 

 terests of the wholesaler which seemed to be menaced by the war policy 

 of the government could best be left to the care of the new organization 

 lieing formed with that end in view. 



The new bureau, therefore, although having no organic connection with 

 the National Wholesale Lumber Dealers' Association became by common 

 consent, the agency through which the peculiar troubles of the whole- 

 saler were to find expression, and through which wholesalers as a group 

 hoped to secure proper recognition and relief in other ways, for we have 

 always looked upon the bureau, within the purposes for which it was 

 formed, as providing a very necessary service to the wholesaler. If in- 

 deed there has been any feeling that the association and the bureau were 

 at cross purposes, that feeling can by no means have arisen from the 

 attitude of the association. 



It is quite apparent that the most valuable results achieved by the 

 bureau have been in the exploitation and advertisement of the position of 

 the wholesaler as such, and I believe it fair to state, as regards the 

 original purpose of the bureau, that is to say to force a change in the 

 government policy respecting the purchase of lumber, no tangible results 

 can be found to show that the bureau has actually accomplished more 

 than the association alone would have done. Any claim, for instance, 

 that "the wholesaler owes his existence today to the efforts of the bureau" 

 is hardly borne out by tangible facts and must rest upon the enthusiastic 

 imagination of its zealous promoters. Recently and since the peculiar 

 restrictions due to the war emergency have been removed, the extended 

 work of the bureau has accomplished little of permanent value distinct 

 from the scope of our normal association program. At present, there Is 

 no official discrimination against the wholesaler on the part of govern- 

 ment agencies, and it is the expressed purpose as noted in various de- 

 partment letters and circulars, that lumber purchases are to be made on 

 a strictly competitive basis, and that consideration is to he given to the 

 usual matters of price, facilities and deliveries. 



The report by E. F. Perry, secretary of the association, dealt with 

 history, and concerned itself with happenings of the past year, 

 particular attention being given to railroad matters. The assoeia- 



