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J. UKTUEUl.NLiTuN. TOUO.NTO, ONT., 

 DIRECTOR 



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lIMIIlT, CIM'l.N.NA ri, 

 DIRECTOU 



yllNI-AN. Siil'KUTON. WIS.. IJIRECTOE 



I know that some will say that It cannot be done. That If a bu.ver can- 

 not tell whether he is getting a straight grade or not, some one will talie 

 advantage of the situation and get the business, but I say to you it can 

 be done by a campaign of education and by the more general use of your 

 National Inspectors. I understand that out of a production of a billion 

 feet of hardwood a month, there is less than twenty million shipped 

 under National Inspection with Bonded Certificate. 



Why is it that more lumber salesmen do not urge the use of this in- 

 spection? In all my experience in buying lumber. I do not believe that I 

 ever bad a seller suggest to me that the basis of our trade by your na- 

 tional inspection, and on the other hand, roy experience has been that 

 where given, it is with more or less reluctance. That is where a national 

 certificate was asked for. I do not say that this Is the general practice, 

 but it happens to have been my own experience. 



Inspection TJbged 



If you really want to make the grades you publish the standard grades 

 in fact as well as In name, you should urge the acceptance of national 

 inspection. You should tlirough this means contribute your part to the 

 education of the buyers for the purpose of more eCfectually establishing 

 standard grades. 



We feel that lumber buyers should be able to call for a national in- 

 spector any time they want one. It should not be necessary to develop 

 a difference with the seller to obtain one of your Inspectors. There should 

 be some corps of trained lumber inspectors that can be to our lumber 

 departments what an auditor is to our accounting departments. When 

 that time comes, and their use becomes general, as I am sure it will be, 

 under such an arrangement, you will find less and less manipulation of 

 grades. 



This work should be done by the Inspectors of your organizations, but 

 If such an arrangement cannot be made, it will have to be handled in 

 some other manner. There is a real need for such a service and it is 

 going to be supplied before very long. Turning on the light of day in 

 this matter will make for more stable market conditions and cannot help 

 but be of service, not only to the consumer but to the manufacturer and 

 to the jobber who wants to do his business upon a high moral plane. 



Is there a man here who is not repeatedly confronted with quotations 

 that he Is asked to meet where he knows positively, in view ot the 

 market prices, that his competition is not figuring upon a straight na- 

 tional grade? What are you going to do in a case of that kind? You 

 must either guess at how much the buyer knows about lumber and do 

 your business upon the same basis as your competitor, or you must lie 

 down and say : "I cannot take your business." Does not this demoralize 

 to a large extent your market conditions? Would it not be much better 

 for all to figure upon the same stock, and would we not all feel better — 

 both buyer and seller — if the grades were more standard as they arc in 

 many commodities? Mill orders for "seventy-five per cent firsts and sec- 

 onds, and twenty-five per cent No. 1 common, mil thoroughly," should 

 be things of the past. 



I have spoken plainly, gentlemen, upon this subject. I am making no 

 charges against this organization, for I feel sure that it does not coun- 

 tenance any such practice. 1 am making no charges against tlie rank and 

 file of the lumbermen. Many of my best friends are in the business and 

 they are men possessed of the highest degree of Integrity and business 

 principles. I, however, feel that this practice, which is more or less 

 common, is a blot upon the business and I would be doing less than my 

 duty If I did not ask you to join with us in a campaign to do away 

 with it. 



I am confident that your oificers will report to you at some early date 



—30— 



that they have reached an agreement with the committee representing 

 the I'"ederatlon of l*"urniturc Manufacturers and I hope that that report 

 will meet with your unanimous approval. We only intend to ask for 

 what is fair and I am sure that your organization stands ready to meet 

 us lialf way. If we can reach an agreement upon the matters that we 

 have under consideration, we will have established a basis for future co- 

 operation between our orgnnlzatloiis that will be mutually advantageous. 

 Co-operation Versus Competition 



An address by Harry A. Wheeler, vicc-iiresideut of the Union Trust 

 Company of Cliicago, was a feature of the afternoon session which 

 met with applause and received earnest attention. He referred to the 

 fact that competition may be highly destructive and is by no means 

 a safe remedy against the evils of combinations. In fact, he de- 

 clared that, if he were compelled to choose between the two, he should 

 say that too much competition is worse than too much combination. 

 He referred to the history of business in its early stages, when there 

 were no combinations. Every man was for himself, and every com- 

 petitor who cut in on his business was looked upon as a personal 

 enemy. Rivalries became animosities, and destruction of a rival and 

 his business was a part of business ethics. The only place where 

 the individuals in trade could get along under the old order was 

 where they were so far apart that one could not trespass upon the 

 field of another. 



That ideal condition might obtain in thinly settled regions, but 

 not where population was dense. The growth from individualism to 

 combinations was natural. When business grew until it demanded 

 more capital and better organization than the individual could fur- 

 nish, the combination came into existence. It lessened or eliminated 

 competition for a time; but finally there was rivalry between combina- 

 tions, or between combinations and individuals, and it was as sharp 

 and as destructive as when one man contended against another. 



Modern conditions grew out of the old, but one great lesson ba8 

 been learned, namely, that there must be competition; but another 

 fact is being learned also, and that is that co-operation can cure evils 

 which rivalry cannot heal. Business has outlived popular condemna- 

 tion. The outcry against large combinations for business purposes is 

 dying out. It is now coming to be recognized that the people and 

 the country's business are not enemies. It is understood at this late 

 day that one cannot exist without the other. Efforts are now made 

 on all sides to pull together, where formerly the opposite was the 

 policy. This spirit is recognized in politics as well as out. Politicians 

 and agitation are not now applauded as they used to be when they 

 attack everything that is large in business. 



The sensible people of the country are tired of attacks which are 

 intended only to pull something down. They encourage that class of 

 activity no longer, because they now see that what is wanted is help 

 for business, and not hurtful attacks, construction and not destruc- 

 tion. That frame of mind, when it leads to action, is best described 

 and defined by the one word co-operation. 



