April 111. I'JIS 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



Sensational Expose by Oak Men 



Memphis Committee Proves Attempt to Profiteer at Expense of Lumbermen 



Members of the American Hardwood Manufacturers' Association 

 have their hats off to E. L. Jurden, John M. Pritchard and John W. 

 McClure, members of the special committee who went to Wash- 

 ington to investigate certain pliasps of the vehicle contracts, for 

 the manner in which they brought about disclosure of the actual 

 prices used by the vehicle manufacturers as the basis of the cost 

 of their materials wlien they secured these contracts from the 

 government; also for the manner in which they successfully resisted 

 all efforts of those directly interested in the vehicle contracts to 

 create the impression that there was virtually no difference between 

 the prices offered the lumbermen for thick oak plank and the prices 

 which these interests used as the basis for securing the contracts 

 in question. 



The committee, immediately following its return to Memphis, 

 issued its report and this was published in pamphlet form and dis- 

 tributed to all members of the association. Neither the committee 

 nor officials of the association have given out any statement what- 

 ever for publication. But the report has been widely distributed 

 and has become public property, with the result that it is available 

 for disclosure of the principal features thereof without any viola- 

 tion of confidence or of the pledge of the committee made to Senator 

 McKellar of Tennessee in regard thereto. 



Stock in the association has risen rapidly on the basis of this 

 accomplishment, and there is a rapid growth in membership in 

 progress because of this very definite and very substantial victory 

 on the part of the committee, which received invaluable aid from 

 United States Senator K. D. McKellar, and which likewise received 

 unfailing courtesy and consideration from Acting Quartermaster 

 General George W. Goethals. 



The overshadowing feature of the report is the prices of materials, 

 certified to by Colonel W. S. Wood, as "a true copy of the approved 

 cost lists submitted to the Quartermaster General of the army for 

 establishing prices on escort wagons." The prices of materials, as 

 thus certified, are given herewith: 



Nov. 26, 1917. 

 PRICES OF MATERIALS 



Singletrees f -^^ 



1" oak 6" and up •'^^•I'^ 



1" oak 10" and up 85.00 



2" oak, Ists and 2nds 95.00 



No. 1 common 75.00 



2%, 2% and 3" oak, Ists and 2nds 110.00 



No. 1 common 90.00 



3% and 4" Ists and 2nds, oak 120.00 



No. 1 common 100.00 



Poles, 3x4% — 12' or 3x4%— 12' 120.00 



Reaches. 3x4 — 7' 115.00 



Rims, 3>/jx2'/2 — 3' 10" and 4' S" 8.60 



Felloes, 3%x3 — 3' 8" and 4' 8" 5.50 



Spokes. 2" Sarven clubs turned, each .16 



Front bolster, 4x5'/^ — 4' 5" 115.00 



Axle beds, 3%x4 — 4' 5" 100.00 



Brake bar, 2V4x5V4 85.00 



Slider bar, 2%x3'/4 — 4' 4" 80.00 



Hound bar, 2V45t6 — 4' 80.00 



All other gear dimensions 80.00 



Bows, per set 2.25 



Lead bar 95.00 



Bottom cleats 70.00 



Brake blocks 55.00 



Double trees 95.00 



Pine bottoms, 1x4x6x112' 65.00 



Gum box boards, 1x8 to 12" 52.50 



Same, 1x13 to 17" 57.50 



I hereby certify that this Is a true copy of the approved cost lists sub- 

 mitted to the QuartennuRtcr General of the army for establishing prices 

 on escort wagons. This extract consists of bIx pages. 



(Signed) W. S. Wood, 



,T. M. Bech. Colonel Q. M. Corps N. A. 



Before the committee reached Washington, General Goethals had 

 addressed a letter, under date of March 8, to Senator McKellar, as 

 follows: 



"Heferring to your call on March 5, with Mr. Ewing, I beg to 

 advise as follows: 



Certain prices were llxed for completed wagons and wheels, and In arriv- 

 ing at these prices to be paid for the finished product, the following prices 

 of raw materials were fixed : 



Red and white oak, grass green planks, Chicago delivery : 



PerM. 

 2 Vi " to 3 Vi ", firsts and seconds .• • • ■ $80 



No. 1 common 60 



3" and 4". firsts and seconds 85 



No. 1 common 65 



The above prices were increased by $20 per M for dry stock of twelve 

 to eighteen months ; $30 per M for dry stock of eighteen to twenty-four 

 months, and .$40 per M for dry stock of twenty-four months, or over. 



The foregoing prices will be for all raw materials unless specific con- 

 tracts were entered into by wagon manufacturers, in which case the con- 

 tracts themselves will govern. 



I do not know Mr. Ewlng's address. Please send him the enclosed copy 

 of this letter and oblige. Yours very truly. 



(Signed) Geo. W. Goethals, 

 GWG — MW. Acting Quartermaster General. 



The committee in its report made the following notation: 



You will observe that these prices covering red and white oak, grass 

 green plank, are based on Chicago delivery and that the prices given are 

 identically those prices fixed by the wagon and vehicle purchasing com- 

 mittee to be paid by the vehicle manufacturers for these Items, and this 

 is confirmed by the "confidential" price list Issued by the wagon and vehicle 

 purchasing committee, effective December 20, 1917, which list was sent 

 to its members for their "confidential" use. The committee then quoted, 

 in its report, the entire list of these "confidential" prices. 



The committee was under the impression that the prices named 

 by General Goethals in the foregoing communication were "those 

 prices that the vehicle manufacturers had used as their costs in 

 securing government contracts." It had certain information, how- 

 ever, which led it to believe these prices were not the prices used 

 as the costs of the vehicle manufacturers in securing contracts and 

 that General Goethals, in writing the letter to Senator McKellar, 

 "was laboring under a misapprehension or did not have the correct 

 information." 



The committee therefore called on General Goethals, in company 

 with Senator McKellar on the morning of March 19, and told him 

 that his letter of March 8, in so far as it pertained to "the can- 

 cellation of contracts" was satisfactory to the lumbermen, but 

 that some of the vehicle manufacturers who had contracts at specific 

 prices felt that "they should have a specific order from the Quar- 

 termaster General permitting them to carry out and execute these 

 contracts." General Goethals thereupon, according to the com- 

 mittee, dictated a letter, under date of March 18, to one of the 

 vehicle manufacturers (whose name was omitted) who had entered 

 into contracts for large amounts of green oak plank and had later 

 attempted to cancel such contracts, stating as his reason ' ' that the 

 prices paid or contracted were in excess of the prices fixed by the 

 wagon and vehicle purhasing committee and in excess of the prices 

 which he was allowed to pay." The last paragraph of this letter 

 is quoted herewith: 



We are not authorized to fix prices for the wood which enters into the 

 manufncture of the wagons, and you were not authorized, so far as this 

 department Is concerned, to press upon the producers a lower price than 

 that named In your specific contract, and In good faith your contract should 

 be ciirrlcd out and the prices named there should be paid for the raw 

 material." Yours very truly, 



(Signed) Geouob W. Goethals. 

 Acting Quartermaster General. 



The committee made this notation "You will therefore observe 

 that this definitely settles the question as to the right of any vehicle 

 manufacturer to cancel existing contracts or the right of the wagon 

 and vehicle purchasing committee to, in any manner, interfere -with 

 existing contracts." 



In this connection it will be recalled by readers of the Hardwood 

 Record that the Mississippi Valley hardwood manufacturers and 

 the members of the Lumbermen's Club of Memphis, early in this 

 controversy, adopted resolutions in which they charged that a 



