.Illlll' II). I'll,' 



V. STIMSON. mNTl.NCltlUC, 

 KIKST VICK I'lUCSIIiKNT 



INI'.. 



VON PLATEN, GKAND KArir>!>, 

 SECOND VICE-PKESIUENT 



MUM., 



l". L. liUUWN. CilMACO. Tlllltli VUE- 

 I-ltKSIKENT 



We have passed through probably the most discouraging year to make 

 money In that the members of this association have ever had. It would 

 seem that we had reached a point where any change for the lumbermen 

 would be for the better. It would seem that the sun of prosperity Is 

 slowly but surely rising, although there arc many that do not look for 

 a restoration of business prosperity until we have a re-enactment of a 

 protective tariff and legislation to remove the many harsh provisions In 

 the present laws regarding business. Letting Canadian and British Co- 

 lombia lumber Into our country free and paying seven and one-half per 

 cent export duty on all lumber shipped there In return is neither reciprocal 

 nor fair to American lumber manufacturers. 



Can It be said that we lumbermen with our forty thousand saw mills, 

 our seven hundred and elgbty-flvc thousand employees, our annual nut- 

 put amounting to $1,100.000,000 — which Is greater than that of any other 

 Industry In this country — should not be considered in making the laws 

 of our land? Is it not time that wc sat up and took notice with this 

 very old. very large and very honorable business? 



Your officers and directors have steadfastly maintained the principles 

 of this association and at the same time endeavored to advance Its best 

 Interests. They have not overlooked the fact that It was your expressed 

 desire to avoid frequent changes of the association's rules for grading 

 lamber. 



Meetings and Confeuences 



During the past year the association has been solicited to meet other 

 large trade organizations that will probably lead to writing new history 

 in the sphere of the lumber world. 



Early In the year we were called upon by Robert W. Irwlu, president 

 of the Federation of I'urniture and llxture Manufacturers, to meet that 

 organization in conference. In addressing us, he said : 



We feel that as large purchasers of lumber we should have some part 

 in. or rather be considered In the making of the rules which surround 

 the purchase and sale of this product. We come to you in the spirit of 

 constructive work. We are e.xtremely anxious as manufacturers for the 

 establishment and maintenance of standard grades of hardwood lumber, 

 grades that will not be changed from year to year. We are not coming 

 to you with any idea of asking for anything that in any way fixes or 

 limits the price of your product. What wc want and w'liat we ask of 

 you is some working agreement whereby, when a set of rules are estab- 

 lished, they can be maintained one year after another, so that the experi- 

 ence we accumulate under our cost system in our factories will be 

 available from one year to another, and will not all be thrown In the air 

 because of changes in grades. 



You will recognize this as a high class, dlgnl&ed request from a great, 

 big organization of big and splendid business men. Up to this time they 

 had refused to use our authorized rules for inspection. Their represen- 

 tatives were met by our rules committee. The two committees, after a 

 long conference, agreed that the federation would use our present rules 

 for the Inspection of lumber and that the conferring about rules should 

 be prosecuted throughout the next year. 



Again, your officers and directors were requested to meet the repre- 

 sentatives of the Hardwood Manufacturers' Association of the United 

 States, with a view of reconciling any differences between the two or- 

 ganizations and a hope that some common ground could be found whereby 

 these two organizations could be amalgamated and at the same time the 

 Interests of all be protected. 



These conferences with the sister associations were taken part in by 

 full committees representing our association and by big and broad guage 

 men representing their organizations. 



While the endeavors to come to a mutual understanding with the 

 Manufacturers' association were unsuccessful, a vastly better feeling 

 now exists between the two organizations than has apparently existed at 

 any time past. 



I say to you with considerable forethought that the existence of two 

 rival hardwood organizations, antagonistic in some respects, is detri- 

 mental to the best interests of the members of each. 



It Is the expectation of your president, and probably of your other 

 officers and directors, that common ground will be found for construc- 

 tive co-operation between the Federation of Furniture and Fixture .Manu- 

 facturers, and the intense hope that common ground can be found for 

 the amalgamation of the now rival hardwood lumber associations, to the 

 end that the interests of tbelr members will be not only protected, but 

 enhanced and bettered. 



Mutual Inteuests Involved 



Pardon me for saying that both these organizations started out with the 

 thought that we had hoofs and horns and wound up with the idea that ours 

 was an association of class, wltli a simple desire to further the best In- 

 terests of all in the hardwood lumber business. We need the federation for 

 customers and there is nothing to be gained by fighting our brother 

 lumbermen. 



It has been the privilege of your president and secretary to be Invited 

 to the meetings of many lumber trade organizations. It was also their 

 privilege to attend and address the convention of the Hardwood Manu- 

 facturers' Association of the United States, the Indiana Hardwood Lum- 

 bermen's Association and the Northern Hemlock and Hardwood Manu- 

 facturers' Association. They were received with enthusiastic courtesy 

 and appreciation. The reception by the Wisconsin and Northern Michi- 

 gan people was extraordlnar.v. 



I shall not usurp the privilege of the secretary or the chairmen of the 

 committees who have their annual reports to make. 



In 1910. at Louisville. Ky.. at the thirteenth annual convention. Presi- 

 dent Aglcr said : 



The primary object, for the accomplishment of which this organization 

 was originally effected, as announced in Its constitution. Is to promote 

 the Interests and protect the welfare of the hardwood trade. This state- 

 ment of its purpose is sufficiently compreliensivr' to include all those hav- 

 ing for their vocation the production and distribution of hardwood lum- 

 ber ; and this liberal attitude has been strictly adhered to at all times. 

 • • • Two duties yet remain for this association to discharge In this 

 connection. One is. to maintain, without llincblng. its existing standards 

 of Inspection, and the other Is, to increase the elliclency of its inspection 

 department, to the end that prompt, efficient and uniform service may be 

 rendered by that department to any and all members of the association. 

 .\galn, in June, 1912, at the fifteenth annual convention In this city. 

 President Dlgglns said : 



The law of supply and demand will always establish the price at which 

 1000 feet of firsts and seconds, number one, two or three common, may 

 be sold, and our only function is to say what shall constitute a thousand 

 feet of firsts and seconds, number one. two or three common. In the 

 exchanges between the producer and wholesaler, or consumer. We 

 should do this with a full realization of the fact that the real Intrinsic 

 worth of the lumber, and not our classification of it, will eventually 

 determine the value of any grade we may describe and that if we raise 

 or lower an existing standard, a corresponding Increase or decline In 

 price must naturally follow such legislation. He also said: I confess 

 that If I had to choose between the radicals and ultra-conservatives In 

 this association. I would unhesitatingly stand with the latter, because a 

 satisfactory business has been and can still be successfully carried on 

 under the existing rule.-!, while experiments and untrlixl theories are 

 always of doubtful value, and many times prove detrimental to good 

 l>uslness. 



In recently addressing the Federation of Furniture and Fixture Manu- 

 facturers, at their convention In this city, I used the statements of these 

 two men, both having been potent factors In this organization and both 

 having been called to the great beyond. 



These statements clearly set out the bedrock principles on which this 

 organization was founded and stands today. These statements were 

 made by those distinguished members of this association, both of whom 



