Febniurv 10, I'JIS 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



26a 



Tile ri'iHirts pnintetl out tluit tlu< must nssi'iitliil i>nrt of tlio plnu Is 

 thnt meuibors report their actual sales. Anions- the leiuTTng topics ills- 

 cussed at those iiieetlUKS were cur shortage, freight rates, ami iiictho<ls 

 for helping the goveruinent. and similar topics. 



The open competition plan Is only a beginning ami will be followed 

 by others of eiiual Inportnnci'. The spirit of the times Is open. In the 

 full light, square and fair transactions, and, untler Ihc plan oi' opera- 

 tion it cannot lie harmful to the members. 



The Plan Discussed 



The submission of ilr. Stark's report of the plan led to an in- 

 teresting iliscussiou by a number of persons present at the meeting. 

 The first speaker was A. O. Davis, Beaumont, Texas, manager of 

 the hanlwood department of the Sabine Tram Company. He spoke 

 of the large number of intiuiries among Texas mills, and the quan- 

 tit.v and kinds of stock on liaud. He was convinced that the saw- 

 mills must find some other outlet for their Xos. 1 and 2 common oak. 



A. Deutch, Oakdale, La., of the Sabine River Lumber & Logging 

 Conipan.v joined in the discussion and described how greatly de- 

 pleted some of the stocks were iu his region. There is no drv stock 

 thicker than 2'-j inch. A large amount of oak is wanted for 

 vehicles for tlic government, but prices have not been fixed. It is 

 up to the manufacturers of vehicles to get the stock, but the.v have 

 not yet offeied a price that will bring it. Mr. Deutch liad nothing 

 but praise for the open competition plan. 



P. A. Ryan of the P. A. Ryan Lumber Company, Lufkin, Tex., 

 spoke along the same general line as to stocks and markets in his 



half of what it was last .vear, in oak flooring markets as arc most 

 Mctive. Rv SI. I'lirtailing conditions woiifil be lietter met. 



Co-Operation Within the Law 



.Judge L. C, Boyle of Kansas City, then mounted the speaker's 

 stand and was warmly greeted. At previous conventions Judge 

 Bo.vie delivered most impressive addresses and the hall was 

 tiironged by the time he began to talk. Judge Boyle is a speaker 

 of groat force and his words, soundly backe<l b.v logic carry con- 

 viction to all who hear him. He talked on "Co-operation Within 

 the Law," a timely and exceedingly interesting subject to the 

 lumbermen. New elements are coming on in the industrial world, 

 declared the Judge, and he predicted many vital readjustments in 

 the business world after the war and further predicted that it 

 would behoove the country to find wa.vs and means of meeting 

 the socialistic jiropaganda. He stirred the patriotism of his hear- 

 ers when iu ringing tones he declared "your son and niv son have 

 gone over the water to fight. They are seeking no extension of 

 territorial rights, but only to make this world ideal and safe after 

 the war. Our boys now fighting are the finest bn.ly of soldiers 

 that over stood on the ground of France." 



Tlie speaker pointed out that while the nation as a whole has 

 grown from rural conditions to industrial dimensions, sawmill men 

 have remained essentially what they always were, pioneers and 

 indiviilnalists. Only in recent .vears have they begun to form as- 



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 l;i;U KU.VKD OF GOVEUXOKS 



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 1!(I.\HII (IK CdVEUXORS 



part of the country. The supply of green oak, hickory, and ash 

 is good and the market active, and the railroad demand is strong, 

 but so much couM not be said for the flooring, sash, door, and in- 

 terior trim situation with logs still to be cut to meet present de- 

 mand the present year will dewlop into a prosperous one for the 

 lumbermen of his section. 



Thomas Forman, Detroit, Mich., followed Mr. Ryan, and gave a 

 hearty indorsement of the open competition plan, which he char- 

 acterized as one of great promise, working to the interest of the 

 purchasers as well as of the seller. He viewed the matter from 

 the standpoint of the purchaser. It was liis opinion that business 

 in the manufacturing of oak flooring wouM not be very brisk until 

 building conditions got around to normal. The call for oak floor- 

 ing cannot be large until the class of buiblings calling for that 

 class of material come again to the front. He said that the oak 

 flooring business has increased in recent years until it now ex- 

 ceeds maple flooring in quantity. During 1917 manufacturers pro- 

 duced 125,000,000 feet of oak flooring and ll."i,000,000 feet of 

 maple flooring. The output in 1018 was likely to be little more than 



sociations for united action. Speaking of the purposes of the Na- 

 tional Lumber Manufacturers' Association, he said: 



This organization grew up out of the conception in the mind of the 

 inaiuii'actnrer that there were certain problems that were inherently re- 

 lated to the inannfacture and nut to tlic wholesaliui; of hardwood prod- 

 ucts. I am not here to criticise nor in any wise to draw invidious com- 

 parisons, but I do say that the hardwood manufacturer of this country 

 who doi's ni.t realize that his problem is essentially a problem for him to 

 debate an.i discuss wifti other manufacturers and not with the distributor 

 of his product does not understand and has not grasped the proper con- 

 cept of his economic and Industrial life. 



He dwelt at some length on the fruitless efforts by lumbermen to 

 form comhinations to better their conditions, until about 1914 when 

 the Clayton bill and the Federal Trade Commission act were passed, 

 and from that time a new understanding began to take form. 



There was a change of methods along with a change of ideas. 

 There were no selling secrets, but what was done was public, after 

 it was done. When sales were made, the prices were announced. 

 That was cooperation within the law, so long as attempts were not 

 made to ]irearrange prices. 



