HARDWOOD RECORD 



GcoiRO V. Masscy, E. F. Perry, secretary National Wholpsalc Lumbm- 

 DcaU'is' Association. James K. Mitchell, Mal)lon L. Savns;e, Goorce II. 

 Smith, Harry Walters and Uobcrt \V. Welsh. The occasion proved a 

 Jolly one. and a liberal How of wit and repnrt^ kept the giiests In roars 

 of laiit'liter throughout the tvenlnR. The committee to whom the suc- 

 cess of ihe entertainment is due Is composed of W. II. Smedley of the 

 Smedley Brothers i.'ompany. Frank Buck of estate ct Daniel Buck, and 

 Ualph Souder of Halloweli & Souder. 



News of tbe Manufacturers' Association 



Secretary W. II. Weller of ilu- llanlwond Manufacturers" Association 

 of the Inlted States recently returned to Cincinnati from a trip to 

 Memphis and Little Rock, where he went to make the preliminary 

 arrangements for the forthcoming twelfth annual meeting of the associa- 

 tion, which is to he held at the Gayoso hotel. Memphis, ,Tan. 21 and 22. 



Mr. Weller makes the statement that jud.i;ing from the evidence he saw, 

 the coming convention will be one of the biggest and most successful ever 

 held by the association. 



While in Memphis, Secretary Weller had a conference with R. M. 

 Carrier. Sardis, Miss. ; J. F. Mclntyre. Fine Bluff, Ark. : M. B. Cooper. 

 Memphis, Tenn., and Ralph May of Memphis, in which plans for the 

 meeting were discussed and definitely outlined. Mr. May assured Mr. 

 Weller that the Memphis lumbermen appreciated the fact that their town 

 has been selected for the convention, and are eager to do everything they 

 can to make the stay of the visitors at Memphis a memorable one. 

 . A committee is now at work on the entertainment, which will probably 

 be held on Ihe evening of January 21. 



Hardwood Inspections in November 



The official bulletin of The National Hardwood Lumber Association for 

 December gives the total inspections for the preceding moutli at 13,698.- 

 316 feet. Of this amount 7.972.484 feet were credited to salaried inspec- 

 tors, and 5,725. .S32 to fee inspectors. John M. Fritchard tendered his 

 resignation as chairman of the inspection rules committee, and it was 

 accepted. He has accepted the position of secretary of the Gum Lumber 

 Manufacturers" Association. A meeting of the board of managers has 

 been called for January 13. 1914. 



Annual Arkansas Clvib 



The first annual convention of tiie .\rkansas Lumbermen"s Club was 

 held in the travelers" rest room of the Marion hotel. Little Rock on 

 December 13. At this meeting officers of the association for the ensu- 

 ing .vear were elected as follows : C. A. Buschner, Freeman Smith Lum- 

 ber Company. Millville, Ark., president ; George W. AUport, Varner Land 

 & Lumber Company, Geridge, first vice-president ; A. W. Judd, Gates 

 Lumber Company. Wilmar, second vice-president ; W. J. Grossman, Forrest 

 City Manufacturing Company. Forrest City, secretary-treasurer ; O. O. 

 Axley, Southern Lumber Compan.v. Warren : Edwin Bower, Eagle Lumber 

 Company, Eagle Mills; L. A. Baudine, Wisconsin Lumber Company, Hut- 

 tig, trustees for the two year term. 



All of these men, except Secretary Grossman, who was re-elected, hav- 

 ing served in the capacity of secretary-treasurer for the club since it 

 organized, are yellow pine men. The selection of all yellow pine officers 

 in the association was done at the suggestion of the retiring president. 

 J. F. Mclntyre of J. F. Mclntyre & Sons, hardwood manufacturers with 

 mills at Pine Bluff. An effort was made to re-elect Mr. Mclntyre to the 

 presidency of the Club for another year, but he stated very positively that 

 in his opinion, for the welfare of the organization, the officers should 

 alternate from year to year between the hardwood and the yellow pine 

 men. 



The annual banquet was served in the evening to a large number of 

 members and visiting ladies and gentlemen. At the dinner Mr. Buschner, 

 the newly elected ijresident, presided, and as toastmaster called upon a 

 number of men for short talks. The occasion was a very enjoyable one. 



Annual Dinner St. Louis Liunbermen's Exchange 

 The Liimbermen"s E.^change annual dinner li"l(l Tuesday evening Decem- 

 ber IG. at Fairst"s Restaurant, was one of the most enjoyable held for 

 several years. In addition to the local members present, several out-of- 

 town members were present. During the dinner there was a cabaret 

 performance. 



After the dinner was finished, there was a brief business session held. 

 President F. H. Smith, presided, and after a few preliminary remarks, he 

 introduced K. A. Buschner. president of the Arkansas Lumbermen's Club, 

 who urged the lumbermen to unite in opposition to certain measures 

 adopted in southern lumber camps in regard to labor, by the Industrial 

 Workers of the World. 



Following the talk. Secretary McBIalr read his annual report. In which 

 the year's work is reviewed. The total inspections of the year exceeded 

 6.00(1.001) ; a net increase of thirty firms in the membership was attained, 

 and a deficit at the beginning of the year of $200 was wiped out and a 

 substantial balance on the other side of the ledger was secured. A new 

 feature of the work for the year was the inauguration of a yellow pine 

 inspection service ; not only in St. Louis but in the yellow pine centers. 

 The hardwood j'ards in St. Louis got together In a co-operative movement 

 •and Issued two publications monthly. Tlic St. Louis Buyer is sent to 

 2,000 lumber manufacturers in the producing states and 5,000 copies of 

 the St. Louis Salesman are mailed to planing mills, furniture factories, 

 carriage and wagon factories, car builders, and other probable purchasers 

 In the consuming territory. 



The report of the Traffic Committee of the exchange, of which Charles 

 E. Thomas was chairman, was then submitted and was unanimously 

 accepted. It staled that the Traffic Committee is opposing the proposed 

 five per cent advance on railroad rates, .so far as they apply to hardwoods. 

 The committctt does not believe that the lumber business, as a whole, 

 can stand any advances in freight rates on its product at the present 

 time, and is now paying its full pro rata of the revenue necessary to 

 conduct the mil reads of the country if they are conducted along econom- 

 ical and business like lines. It is claimed that If the value in dollars and 

 cents of a car of lumber is compared to a carload of cotton or sugar, or 

 other freight it will appear that the freight rates on lumber are much 

 higher in proportion than they are on some other commodities that are 

 often given preference in handling by the railroads, especially at certain 

 times of the year. Another thing to be considered is that the lumber 

 shipped In cars docs not burn up, nor is it so apt to be damaged In 

 transit as some other freights that take comparatively lower rates, all 

 things being considered, than lumber is compelled to pa}'. 



The report continued by saying that the time may come when railroads 

 will be able to show that they are entitled to an advance in freight 

 rates so as to increase their general revenue, but this does not neces- 

 sarily menn that all rates should be advanced uniformly five per cent, 

 simply because the railroads need the money. It would be a great mis- 

 take to make one industry pay an advance, if that industry is already 

 paying a much greater rate on its freight in proportion to other lines 

 of business, and if that industry is struggling along and is compelled to 

 meet competition with substitutes, as the lumber business is at the 

 present time. Steel and concrete and fibre have and will continue to take 

 the place of lumber to a greater and greater extent, and the lumber 

 industry requires rates so as to encourage rather than discourage the 

 use of lumber. Doubtless there are numerous cases where the railroads 

 are entitled to a raise in rates, so as to increase their revenue, but the 

 raises should not be made on freight that is already paying more than its 

 proportion. 



The committee further reported that it has succeeded in having the 

 advance rates to St. . Louis from the southwestern territory suspended 

 from time to time, and they are now suspended until July 1, 1914. These 

 rates, which carry on an average of from three to four cents advance per 

 hundred pounds to St. Louis on hardwood lumber, would' have taken 

 effect December 1, 1912, if it had not been for the work of the Lumber- 

 men's Exchange. The committee succeeded in raising considerable funds 

 to fight these proposed advance rates, which it now has in the hands of 

 Joseph A. Hafner as trustee for the funds. 



Henry A. Boeckeler, chairman of the Missouri rate committee followed 

 with his report, which was accepted. The report is as follows : 



This committee of the exchange was appointed by President Smith 

 after a general meeting held in September. Its work has been to investi- 

 gate thoroughly the operations of the intrastate rates as fixed by Statute 

 No. 3241 of Missouri and it is empowered to act — being, however, re- 

 quired to report back to the Exchange before taking any action which 

 might incur any expense. Its investigations thus far have brought to 

 light the fact thai the railroads are giving shippers the benefit of the 

 new law- except whore .a two line or more haul is involved. The law- 

 states that a continuous mileage rate shall be applied regardless of the 

 number of lines which carry a shipment. The railroads were instructed 

 by the Public Service Commission to obey this portion of the law but the 

 important ones have refused to do so and at a meeting of the committee 

 in the Exchange rooms attended by the Public Service Commissioner 

 Woerner. the committee was promised that .\rtorney Kc-an. for the Com- 

 mission, would begin work en this immediately and has furnished the 

 commission two instances of law violation on shipments of .\beles & 

 Taussig and the Gideon-.Vnderson Lumber Company. Nothing has been 

 dene, however, to date by ilii rnTiimi-sifin. 



The final action Judge JIc I'h. r^..ii niarte necessary by the July decision 

 of the Supreme Court of the Iniiid States has been promised a number 

 of times. It was last promised fur Deceihber 5 and according to advices 

 received from the Public Service Commission is again promised for the 

 lotli. This decision has not yet been handed down and until it is nothing 

 can be done in the direction of proceeding in the collection of these rates. 



Thos. E. Powe, chairman of the Public Affairs Committee, offered a 

 resolution urging immediate passage of the currency bill at Washington. 

 After considerable discussion it was passed. 



The reports of the two nominating committees for officers during the 

 ensuing year were then received. The committee appointed from the floor, 

 composed of J. L. Benas. chairman, and Geo. Cottrell and Thos. E. Powe, 

 submitted the following slate : 



Presii>knt — II. A. Boeckeler. 



Vh-k-Prksidknt — F. 11. Smith. 



Directors — E. H. Luehrmanu, Thos. E. Youngblood. T. J. Noser, F. E. 

 Sheldon, W. W. Milne, Chas. E. Thomas. G. E. Hibbard. 



Aruitratiox — F. J. Liebke, L. Krug, J. A. Hemphill, Robt. Abeles, Jr., 

 David O'Neall. 



The committee appointed by the chair, and composed of R. F. Krebs, 

 chairman, Thos. J. Noser and A. R. Kingsvcrry, named the following as 

 their selection : • 



PRESID^:^•T — F. H. Smith. 



\'ice-1'resident — H. A. Boeckeler. 



Directors — W. R. Anderson. L. E. Cornelius. E. H. Luebrmann. W. W. 

 Milne, Thos. E. Powe, F. E. Sheldon. Franz Waldsteln. 



Arbitration — J. L. Benas, E. W. Blumer, L. M. Borgess, C. A. Bowman, 

 R. V. Fletcher. 



The election will be held at the rooms of the Exchange on January 2. 

 Following the nominations, the meeting adjourned. 



Cincinnati Trade to Entertain 



There is a combliwd effort on the part of all hardwood lumbermen of 

 Cincinnati to see that the visiting delegates to the convention of the Ohio 

 Retail Lumber Dealers' Association to be held here at the new Hotel 



