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Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



May 25, 1917 



Furniture Federation Meeting 



Important Action Taken by Manufacturers at Their 

 Semi-Annual Meeting 



IHE FEDERATION of Furniture Manufacturers 

 held its semi-annual meeting at Congress hotel, 

 Chicago, May 9 and I 0, and was attended by 

 250 manufacturers, according to the list which sat down 

 at the banquet where the people interested in the furni- 

 ture industry met socially as well as in a business way, 

 and discussed questions of great importance. 



The election of officers for the coming year resulted 

 in J. A. Corey as president. He succeeds himself in 

 this office. He is from Shelbyville, Indiana. S. Karpen, 

 of Chicago, was unanimously chosen vice-president. The 

 secretary and treasurer will be elected at the next meet- 

 ing of the board of governors in July. 



The banquet was presided over by E. W. Schultz, of 

 Sheboygan, Wis., who acted in the capacity of toast- 

 master. He presented figures on the comparative sums 

 spent yearly in this country for certain commodities, and 

 the comparison furnished food for reflection. 



Article . Yearly Cost 



Chewing gum $ | 50,000,000 



Furniture 238,000,000 



Liquors 2,500,000,000 



ACTIVE SELLING CAMPAIGN 



It was apparent that more furniture ought to be sold, 

 and a campaign is under way with that purpose in view. 

 It will be accomplished by encouraging improvements 

 in home conditions. The better the home, the better the 

 class of furniture that will go into it, and the more of it. 

 This matter was discussed by some of the foremost men in 

 the furniture business. An advertisement campaign, 

 looking to the beautifying of homes has been planned to 

 continue five years. George H. Helm, Knoxville, Tenn., 

 in speaking on this subject, said that he thought funds 

 for the campaign should be raised from members, pro 

 rata, according to the amount of business done, and he 

 suggested a rate a little below one per cent of the busi- 

 ness done. 



The increased cost of materials entering into furniture 

 received much attention, and a schedule was prepared 

 showing advances since 1914. 



COST INCREASES SINCE 1 9 1 4 

 Increase 

 Per Cent. 



Sap gum 40 



Red gum 30 



Birch 33% 



Soft Maple 25 



"Mahogany 30 



Walnut 10 



Oak 10 



Crossbanding 3 7J/2 



Three-ply stock 30 



Rotary cut 33 



Brads . 

 Butts . 

 Screws 

 Casters 



90 Hair felt 100 



40 Crating 25 to 40 



200 Paper 150 



30 Coal 125 



Oils and waste 30 



Tacks 122 



Nails 145 



FREIGHT PROBLEMS 



Freight rates and the troubles and adjustments grow- 

 ing out of them was the subject handled by C. S. Bather, 

 traffic manager. He made a report of his year's work. 

 During the twelve months he handled 89 disputed claims 

 for members, and was successful with eighty-one of them. 



S. George Graves, general manager for Young & 

 Chaffee, of Grand Rapids, gave a paper on the relation- 

 ship that should exist between the manufacturer and the 

 retailer, in the course of which he deprecated the vast 

 amount of retailing that goes on in the various furniture 

 centers in exhibition spaces. He claimed that more than 

 $4,000,000 worth of furniture is sold in the sample 

 rooms of Chicago each year, a condition not appreciated 

 by retailers. Mr. Graves told of the new National Re- 

 tail Furniture Agency which has been organized to com- 

 bat unfair selling of goods in exhibition spaces or in any 

 other manner except through the retailer. 



BUSINESS IN SOUTH AMERICA 



A movement is under w^ay to increase furniture sales 

 in South America. Only $4,000,000 worth of furniture 

 from the United States now goes to the continent south 

 of us, where 90,000,000 people live. TTie sales ought to 

 be greater. The government will soon send a man to 

 those countries to open the way for more business in 

 furniture. The man selected for the South American 

 mission is Harold Everly. He attended the Chicago 

 meeting to exchange ideas with manufacturers concern- 

 ing the work and how it can best be done. He will go 

 to South America in the near future. 



TARIFF ON FURNITURE 



The tariff question is a live topic w^ith furniture manu- 

 facturers. It is not so vital at the present time as it was 

 in the past and as it will be again, because the war has 

 temporarily checked the shipment of furniture to this 

 country from Europe. The question was discussed by 

 S. Karpen. An extract from his address follows: 



Though the furniture industry of the United States is an im- 

 portant industry, yet, when the total of manufactured products 

 is considered, we realize that it is a comparatively small industry. 

 The total production of furniture in the United States for the 

 year 1915 is given as $238,886,000. One hundred and forty-four 

 thousand operators were listed as having been employed in this 

 work. Assuming that all of this was used in the United States, 

 we have a home consumption of something less than $2.25 per 

 capita. 



Exports and imports of furniture during 1912-13-14-15 and 16 

 were as follows: 



