:9iT 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



22a 



intervention and secui-e a postponenient of tariffs antl liave a date s«t 

 for a hearing. 



Draft of Program for National Convention 

 Assistant Secretary II. J. Fuller o£ the National Hardwood Lumber 

 Association has issued the first draft of the program for the convention 

 that will be held in Chicago on June 14 and 1.5. He states that the address 

 feature for the morning's session of the first day will be made by either 

 Senator Weeks of Massachusetts or Congressman Fordney of Michigan : 

 Pro<:r.\m of BisixEss 



THURSDAY, JUNE FOCKTEENTH 



9 :30 a. m. 



Registration of Members and Guests at entrance to Convention Hall. 



First Floor. Hotel Sherman. 

 10:30 a. m. 



Address. "The Lumber Industry'' — ^Hon. Jas. W. Fordney, Saginaw, Mich. 



Officers and Committee Reports ; 

 President's Address — Hon. John M. Woods. 

 Report of the SecretaiT-Trea surer — Frank F. Fish. 

 The Chamber of Commerce of the F. S. A. — Gardner I. Jones. Boston, 



Mass. 

 Report of Committee on Japanese Oak — Earl Palmer, Chairman. 



1 :00 p. m. 



Intermission for Lunch. 



2 :30 p. m. 



Report of Committee on Officers' Reports. 



Report of Inspection Rules Committee — John W. McClure, Chairman. 



Discussion of proposed Inspection Rules Changes. 



'ionight — Seven o'(^lock — In this Room 



Complimentary Banquet 



Tendered by the National Hardwood Lumber Association 



to Members and Invited Guests. 



Secure Tickets at Registration Desk. 



Notice — Owing to the amount of important business 



which the present Convention has to deal with, ana the 



large attendance expected of those directly interested 



therein no provision has been made this year for the 



entertainment of ladles. 



yRID.iY, JLXE FIFTEENTH 



9 :30 a. m. 



Convention Called to Order. 



Resumption of Discussion of Proposed Inspection Rules Changes. 

 12 :30 p. m. 



Intermission for Lunch. 

 1 :30 p. m. 



Unfinished Business. 



Report of Committee on Resolutions. 



New Business. 



Election of President and Three Vice-Presidents to Serve One Year. 



Election of Eight Directors to Serve Three Years. 



Entertainment in This Room Tonight at Seven o'clock. 



Beefsteak Supper and Smoker. 



Music — Vaudeville. 



Something Different. 



Secure Tickets at Registration Desk. 



Lumbermen of the South Acquitting Themselves Well 



Secretary F. E. Stonebraker ami his assistant. V. H. Schoffelmayer, 

 are compiling valuable information regarding farming, clearing and drain- 

 age of cutover lan.Is through a personal inspection of the properties 

 owned by members of the Southern Alluvial Land Association and they 

 will compile this in booklet or pamphlet form for distribution shortly 

 with a view to stimulating the development and colonization of these 

 properties. These gentlemen have been inspecting thoroughly the hold- 

 ings of members in both Arkansas and Mississippi and have been making 

 a careful study of what is being accomplished on these lands. They have 

 already determined that it requires only two years to put these lands 

 into a state of profitable cultivation and that, in some instances, this 

 , goal may be reached in a single year. They are studying methods of culti- 

 vation and will be prepared, when the investigation has proceeded some- 

 what further, to give valuable assistance to those who undertake the 

 development of such holdings. 



Both Mr. Stonebralier and Mr. Schoffelmayer bring back the most 

 encouraging information regarding the manner in which members of the 

 association are co-operating with the authorities in the efforts to increase 

 foodstuff production. Some of them are undertaking the clearing of land 

 not intended for cultivation this year in order to have larger areas avail- 

 able for the planting of corn, peas, beans and other crops. If all interests 

 take hold as earnestly as the owners of these lands it Is felt that there 

 will be a full response to the appeal made to the people of the South by 

 the Department of Agriculture at Washington. Much space would be 

 required to tell what is being done in specific insances. Suffice it to say 

 that the owners of cutover lands in the alluvial regions are putting forth 

 the best efforts of which they are capable and that they are planting 

 other crops at the expense of cotton acreage to a degree not anticipated 

 by even the most optimistic. 



Memphis Petitions for Government Car Construction 



The Lumbermen's Chib of Memphis, at the regular semi-monthly meet- 

 ing held at the Hotel Gayoso Saturday, April 2S, decided, on motion of 

 James E. Stark, president of the Southern Hardwood Tr^c Association 

 and chairman of the river and rail committee of the club, to memorialize 

 the L'nited States Chamber of Commerce to send out a referendum on the 

 question of the building by the government of 200,000 freight cars and a 

 proportionate amount of motive power, the work to he undertaken through 

 enlargement of the present federal shipping board or through any other 

 agency that may be regarded as practicable. 



This action followed a report oy Mr. Stark of his trip to Washington, 

 where he and Mr. Townshend, secretary-manager of the association, went 

 to present to the Interstate Commerce Commission the resolutions recently 



adopted by the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association protesting against 

 tbe proposed advance of 15 per cent in freight rates and against the tre- 

 mendous car shortage. 



Mr. Stark informed members of the club that he had learned while in 

 Washington that there is a deficit of more than 175,000 freight cars in 

 the country at present and that the car shortage is due much more largely 

 to this fact than to the present methods of car distribution. He said that 

 he had discussed with senators and representatives in Congress the ques- 

 tion of taking up this subject of car shortage as emergency legislation be- 

 cause of the trem?ndous bearing it must necessarily have on the ability of 

 the government to secure prompt transportation of lumber and other raw 

 materials needed in the preparation of military equipment, but that pros- 

 pects were not very bright for any accomplishment along that line. He 

 therefore thought that the importance of the subject ought to be brought 

 home to Congress and urged the referendum through the Chamber of 

 Commerce as the best means of showing the sentiment of business and 

 commercial interests throughout the country in regard thereto. There 

 was some opposition to the resolutions on the ground that they paved 

 the way for government ownership of the railroads, but Mr. Stark and 

 " other members of the club answered this argument by saying that the gov- 

 ernment was on the eve of taking over the distribution of cars on all lines 

 of railway and that government ownership, if not actually an accomplished 

 fact, is virtually so. 



The resolutions will be presented to the Chamber of Commerce at once 

 and lumbermen here will await with much intex-est the decision of that 

 body with respect to the propriety of sending out a referendum and the 

 result of the referendum vote If such is actually ordered. 



Mr. Stark told members of the club that the proposed advance of 15 per 

 cent in lumber is even greater than appears on the surface, since it applies 

 to logs as well as to lumber and since an advance of Hi cents on logs 

 is equivalent to about 6 cents on lumber. He declared that the advance 

 on lumber, if allowed, would therefore be nearer 25 than 15 per cent if 

 logs were included. He intimated that lumber interests might stand 

 this advance under present abnormal conditions, but he urged that It 

 would mean much loss and probably disaster when the war was over 

 and everything returned to normal, with the keen competition with the 

 metals and other substitutes for lumber that would be encountered. 



"There is one ray of hope," he said. "The commission has ruled that 

 all commodities will not be advanced but it is up to those who ship com- 

 modities to be exempted to show that they are already paying their full 

 share of the burden of transportation cost. This means a fight and a 

 hard one. It also means much expense as witnesses must be sent to 

 Washington in behalf of the lumber industry. I therefore appeal to every 

 member of the club to do his full share in support of the Southern Hard- 

 wood Traffic .\ssociation which is looking after the subject." 



President Ralph May also urged that the situation was serious and that 

 it was not only up to the members of the club to do the necessary work 

 but also to raise the necessary money to defeat the efforts of the carriers 

 to bring about higher rates on lumber. 



John W. McClure. Bellgrade Lumber Company, said it was inevitable 

 that lumber interests would liave to return to an increasing degree to 

 the use of the Mississippi and other waterways in the handling of lumber 

 and logs and that ~hey might as well get busy to that end. He called 

 attention to the forthcoming conference of business and commercial in- 

 terests at St. Louis May S-9 for the purpose of discussing ways and means 

 of rehabilitating transportation on the Mississippi and urged that the 

 president appoint a committee from the club to take part in this con- 

 ference. President May was authorized to appoint such a committee and 

 its personnel will be made public later. 



Resolutions were adopted expressing the very high regard in which the 

 late George D. Burgess was held by members of the club because of his 

 ability and progressiveness and because of his unselfish efforts in behalf 

 of every movement looking to the betterment of the lumber trade, convey- 

 ing the sympathy of the organization to the members of his bereaved 

 family and ordering that a copy thereof be spread upon the minutes ot 

 the meeting. Mr. Bnrgess was a former president of the club but was 

 not a member of the organization at the time of his death. 



O. C. Ferguson, resident manager of Kosse-Shoe & Schleyer, Cincin- 

 nati, was elected an active member. Two applications for active mem- 

 bership were filed. They will be voted upon two weeks hence. 



There were more than eighty members and visitors, present at this 

 meeting. The usual luncheon was served. Flags were placed at intervals 

 on the long tables, thus lending a touch of patriotism to the occasion. 



Free Time on Southern Exports Not Altered 



W. H. Russe of Russe & Burgess. Inc., and J. 11. Townshend. secretary- 

 manager of the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association, returned May 3 

 from New Orleans where they went to attend the hearing May 1 before 

 George Brown, attorney-examiner for the Interstate .Commerce Commis- 

 sion, involving a proposed reduction from ten to five days on free time 

 on export shipments through gulf ports. 



Mr. Townsend recently said it was brought out at the hearing that 

 free time on lumber moving through rates will not be disturbed, the prin- 

 cipal thing for which the local lumbermen contended. 



R. E. Dickinson of the Anchor Sawmills Company, and George Land, 

 traffic manager for the Lamb-Fish Lumber Company, Charleston, Miss., 

 also attended the meeting as part of the committee from the Southern 

 Hardwood Traffic Assoociation. 



(Continued on pane 31) 



