26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



eral, conititions imist be shaped in coiifoiinity to it. lie saiil tlmt the 

 law would undoubtedly be amended later on, although it is elainied 

 by ita framers that it is practically flawless. He said it was unfor- 

 tunate that objections were withheld until it was too late to effect 

 changes, as business men should have interested themselves in the law 

 before it was passed. 



Tie then touched upon the terms of sale, saying that this subject 

 properly claimed attention in the early part of the year. It had been 

 suggested that the subject was old and shopworn, but facts indicate 

 that lumbermen are realizing more and more the imi)ortance of hav- 

 ing sales contracts include technical terms of settlen\cnt and they 

 fully appreciate that such terms seriously affect profits. 



He touched upon the prospective report of the railroad and trans- 

 portation committee and its importance to association mendjers. Mr. 

 Perry said that the work of securing new members during the past 

 year was difficult. He said that he did not agree with some of the 

 lumbermen who claimed that there are too many associations. He 

 .said he believed in the variegated lines of associations for respective 

 work in respective localities, that he is fully in favor of the work 

 being accomplished by other organizations that are national in their 

 scope. He stated, however, that in his opinion the National Whole- 

 sale Lumber Dealers' Association was among the first to handle in- 

 ternational lumber questions and is well able to undertake many of 

 these problems and handle them from an experienced standpoint. 



He said an effort had been made to increase the membership dur- 

 ing the past year; that the association began the year with 40.5 mem- 

 bers and that without any unusual effort thirty-five new members had 

 been secured. Through causes over which the association had no con- 

 trol, thirty-five were dropped, leaving the membership the same as in 

 the beginning. There is a gain of three in the bureau of informa- 

 tion. The secretary said that no other trade association in the 

 country received such co-operative support through its officers and 

 board of trustees. He said that lumbermen seem to be more loyal 

 to their industry than any other set of men and that hunbermen work- 

 ing in this spirit always made themselves felt on legislative questions 

 affecting lumber. 



The speaker referred to the proposed Interstate Commerce bill, say- 

 ing that he had discussed this bill with prominent business men and 

 few of them were conversant with its contents. He said that lum- 

 bermen particularly should familiarize themselves with what the bill 

 proposed. Mr. Perry said the wholesalers' association has always 

 stood for right trade conditions and that this new trade commission 

 could, if properly carried out, become a great menace or could be a 

 great co-operative force. Figuring on the probability of the bill 

 being passed, business men should use their efforts to see that it is 

 properly carried out. 



The secretary spoke of the further proposed legislation which will 

 require examinations of all corporations which do an annual gross 

 business of $.3,000,000 a year. There are 350,000 corporations in the 

 United States now engaged in interstate commerce, which as defined 

 by Judge Adamson is a pretty broad principle, as he says: "If a 

 gentleman owned a hen in one state and she went over the state line 

 and laid an egg this would be called interstate commerce." The 

 majority of the members of this association are engaged in interstate 

 commerce but do not realize it. The proposed commission would 

 have the right to search into the business secrets of every business, 

 corporation and members of the association, however small that cor- 

 poration might be, and give public statements of what they may find. 

 Mr. Perry said it would require thousands of agents to make the 

 investigations. These men would not Ue under civil service, but 

 would be regular appointees who may or may not have qualifications 

 of inspectors. He suggested this fact as a reason for greater inter- 

 change of detail in association work in order that members might keep 

 abreast with the times. The secretary urged that it would be to the 

 advantage of business men if a further clause could be added to the 

 commission bill, giving authority to the proposed commission thereby, 

 as a result of investigations made, right business methods may be 

 suggested. This would result in greater cooperation and better means 

 of trade. He said that if upon investigation it is found that this 

 trade commission is desirable the association should insist with all 



the forces possible that it be made cooperative and not condjative. 



Secretary Perry then referred to the decision to hold the meeting 

 in Buffalo, stating that as many of the original members were north- 

 ern men, men operating in the Lake states, considerable impetus 

 could bo given to association activities by holding the sessions at 

 that point. 



The secretary then commented ujion the social features, stating 

 that this is necessary in business, ami not a weak point. 



Mr. Perry then said that benefits which will be derived from the 

 close and cordial affiliation of retailers and wholesalers are difficult 

 to describe. He said that some day there will be an organization 

 comjiosed of repre.seidatives from all of these various organizations 

 and that the time is not yet opportune or the excuse has not yet pre- 

 sented itself for this organization. 



He thanked those in attendance and closed his report. 



C. E. Kennedy of New 't^ork read a report of the audit and finance 

 committee. The report of Treasurer Henry Cape of New York 

 showed that the expense of carrying on association work is approxi- 

 mately $40,000 a year. 



A. L. Stone of Cleveland, chairman of the board of managers of the 

 bureau of information, presented a short report in which he referred 

 to the coming report of W. W. Sehupner, superintendent of the bu- 

 reau of information. Mr. Stone said the work has been kept up to 

 a high state of efficiency during the year. He said the number of 

 subscribers has increased and that the board is in better shape to 

 serve its members than ever before. He made an urgent appeal to 

 the non-subscribing members to join the tjureau and thus share in the 

 benefits and cooperate with one of the most important branches of 

 the association work. 



W. E. Chamberlin of Boston read a report of the committee on 

 membership, saying that that body had worked hard during the year, 

 that the unfavorable financial condition prevailing all over the coun- 

 try had made the result of its efforts rather meager. He then re- 

 peated the membership statistics given by Secretary Perry, but ex- 

 pressed himself as believing that during the coming year there would 

 be considerable increase in membership, as there is real promise of 

 much more favorable business conditions. 



W. W. Sehupner, superintendent of bureau of information then 

 read a detailed report which appears in part as follows: 



Report of Superintendent of Bureau of Information 



Wo cannot waste any time in accumulating figures but we have revi,se<] 

 on an average of twenty-five reports per day. To do this, easily 12,000 

 requests for statements of assets and liabilities were made ; approximate- 

 ly 22.000 special inyuiries were made of lumbermen outside the asso- 

 riation membership where references were furnished, also in communi- 

 cating with banks, attorneys, etc. Over 26,000 names were placed on 

 our tracers and 48,000 special inquiries were sent to our members ; 800 

 names appearing on List A. Not included in this are hundreds of spe- 

 cial letters required in investigating beyond what can be obtained through 

 the formal inquiry. 



This information, when returned to us, has to be carefully distributed 

 each day and placed in the hands of trained clerks where the new re- 

 port starts on its way to revision, and in its course receives a personal 

 touch and supervision which we believe Is not equalled by other credit 

 institutions. 



An examination of the reports you receive will show a larger percent- 

 age of statements of assets and liabilities than heretofore. A hard process 

 of education is bringing many a retailer to the point of seeing it to his 

 advantage to give us full and detailed Information. 



If v/e could insist upon each subscriber furnishing us with his list 

 of customers, we would do so, because we know what a real value this 

 privilege is. Seventy-three new lists were sent in last year, and we can 

 point to instances where they have saved a doubtful or l>ad account. 

 Neglecting to take advantage of this feature of the bureau has also been 

 noted when a failure has occurred and to our surprise we found a mem- 

 ber as a creditor, because we knew our report advised caution. Investi- 

 gation revealed the fact that the member had not filed a customers list 

 with us and relied upon other sources for Information. We cannot make 

 our appeal too strong in urging you to help yourselves by keeping us 

 posted with an up-to-date customers list. 



It is well to repeat that many a valuable hint is received through 

 voluntary correspondence from members who report an unsatisfactory 

 transaction or an observation which they believe requires investigation. 

 Frequently thest lead to uncovering an apparently good condition and 

 place us in position to warn Interested subscribers of impending trouble. 

 We urge a free use of the weekly pink tracer sheets and every sub- 

 scriber will be well repaid for the time spent on these reports. They, 



