HARDWOOD RECORD 



34E 



erly bring the matter before you, I will pre- 

 sent it in the form of a resolution. 



For resolutions see page 34. 



Now, gentlemen, we hold that this matter 

 is second in importance only to the rules 

 themselves and we ask a full and free dis- 

 cussion. It is not expected that you will 

 adopt the full text and phraseology of this 

 resolution as read. After the matter has been 

 freely discussed, I move, Mr. Chairman, that 

 a committee of three be appointed to draft 

 trade times and conditions along tnese lines, 

 tc be submitted to this meeting at the ear- 

 liest possible moment, at a designated time 

 and for definite action by this meeting. 



Mr. Stimson — I second the motion for dis- 

 cussion. 



President Palmer — Any further re- 

 marks! 



Mr. M. B. Farrin — Mr. President, the 

 germ of this resolution is that lumber claimed 

 to be not up to grade at the time it is re- 

 ceived must be laid aside in separate, distinct 

 piles for reinspection, and the lumber thus 

 laid aside shall be the only basis for settle- 

 ment. I don't think there is any shipper of 

 lumber who is not in favor of that. I don't 

 think there is a fair-minded lumber buyer who 

 is not in favor of it. It is not for a buyer 

 to say, ' ' I am not satisfied with that carload 

 of lumber. It is not as good as some other 

 I got from you. It does not please me and I 

 think about $50 on that car would make me 

 better pleased, better satisfied. That would 

 heal my lacerated feelings, or $2 or $5 a 

 thousand." I don't think that buyer would 

 agree for a moment with a shipper who had 

 billed him a carload of lumber, say $500, and 

 refused to specify the number of feet and 

 the kind, so the buyer would be able to deter- 

 mine whether he got the car or not. That 

 article in the resolution is manifestly fair 

 and I think it would do away with a great 

 many kicks and it would give an opportunity 

 for both the buyer and the seller to determine 

 which was right and which was wrong, and 

 I hope there will be a full discussion of this 

 matter. 



Mr. McMillan — I would like to ask the 

 gentleman who offered the resolution if he 

 meant that that part of the resolution which 

 is off grade could be accepted by the buyer 

 after it had been passed upon by the inspec- 

 tor or whether it should be rejected. 



President Palmer — The question now is 

 on the appointment of the committee. That is 

 a proper matter for the committee to con- 

 sider. Shall we or shall we not appoint a 

 committee ? 



Mr. McMillan — I think you asked for dis- 

 cussion. I don 't want to vote until I know 

 and understand it. If it was not up to 

 grade, then what? 



Mr. Korn — It would be laid aside and 

 made the basis of the claim. 



Mr. Lloyd — I don't think I would like to 

 print all of that on the back of one of our 

 order slips. Some of the greatest troubles 

 the lumbermen have come from selling lum- 

 ber to men they ought not to sell to. I am 

 selling lumber for a company that sells quite 

 a little in the course of a year, and we don 't 

 have such troubles. 



Mr. Korn — You don't have any kicks? 



Mr. Lloyd — Mighty few. 



Mr. Korn — You do have some kicks? 



Mr. Lloyd — Yes, I do, and if I didn 't 

 have some kicks, I would discharge every in- 

 spector we have. While we make some mis- 

 takes we try to give every man the value of 

 his money. 



Mr. Bennett — Mr. President, I don't 

 think any of these personal remarks have any 

 reference to the matter before us. This is 

 something we are all interested in, we all 

 have complaints about our lumber. For in- 

 stance, a salesman makes a sale today, and 



tomorrow Mr. Lloyd's man may offer that 

 lumber for one dollar less. The lumber your 

 salesman offers is just as good as Mr. 

 Lloyd's. But you may have sold to one man 

 at $1 a thousand less a carload of poplar 

 siding — and I know of responsible people who 

 have refused cars when a difference of 25 

 cents a thousand existed on 50 or 100 thou- 

 sand feet of lumber, one, two or three ears — ■ 

 and that would not have occurred if such a 

 contract as this had been in force. I think 

 Mr. Farrin 's position is a proper one — we 

 are here to encourage one another. There is 

 no objection to Mr. Lloyd's leaving that off 

 his order blank but I see no reason why this 

 association shouldn't endorse a good, honest, 

 fair proposition, no difference who brings it 

 up or what part of the country it comes 

 from. We may differ in our views as to this, 

 but it is for the good of all that we are 

 working and not personally in anything. This 

 association was founded on lines for the 

 greatest good of the greatest number. Down 

 in Cincinnati we are selling a little lumber 

 and we have got good, honest people to deal 

 with and we get our money as a rule. There 

 have been no failures down there recently 

 and people generally pay one hundred cents 

 on the dollar in the Ohio valley. I think the 

 Ohio valley ought to be encouraged in any 

 good thing they bring forth, and I hope you 

 gentlemen will vote with us. 



Mr. R. B. Stone — Why can we not in sell- 

 ing our lumber make contracts that the lum- 

 ber is sold on National Hardwood Lumber 

 inspection, and put it on our order blanks 

 and let that be the basis of settlement? Any 

 man who buys lumber on the National inspec- 

 tion is willing to have one of our inspectors 

 go there to adjust. Let this be on your selling 

 order and contracts. I have never sold on 

 National Hardwood inspection. I sell on my 

 own inspection — my own inspector's applica- 

 tion of the rules, and I am perfectly willing 

 to put on any inspector. . 



Mr. Farrin — This has already been en- 

 dorsed in the National Exporters' Associa- 

 tion, of which they are members, I believe. 



Mr. Lloyd — Possibly I rubbed the fur the 

 wrong way. We are not members of the Na- 

 tional Exporters' Association. I am in favor 

 of Mr. Farrin 's position. He misunderstood 

 me. 



Mr. Farrin — Very well, if that is so, all 

 right. 



Mr. Stimson — This is a body of delibera- 

 tion and it should thrash out these matters 

 thoroughly. There is nothing obligatory in 

 that resolution. There is no reason why any 

 member of the association should put it on 

 his contracts if he doesn't want to do so. It is 

 a good idea to have some manner of adjudi- 

 cating these questions and to have a basis of 

 settlement. That is about all it amounts to 

 ■ — a basis of forcing a settlement. 



Mr. McMillan — We can incorporate this 

 in our inspection rules, then when we sell on 

 the National hardwood grading rules, we will 

 have a remedy for any errors or mistakes. 



In the absence of President Palmer, Acting 

 Chairman Thompson put the question on Mr. 

 Korn's resolution, and the resolution was 

 adopted. The appointment of the committee 

 by President Palmer was left until later on 

 in the meeting. 



Mr. Stimson — I would like to ask if there 

 is an article in the constitution and by-laws 

 defining the duties of the surveyor general 

 and what governs his office. 



Acting Chairman Thompson — There is a 

 book of rules that govern his office that were 

 especially gotten up by the Inspection Bu- 

 reau and adopted by the convention in a 



bn.lv. 



Mr. Stimson — The reason I ask the ques- 

 tion is because it has been discussed by 

 members of the association today. It seems 



to be the disposition of this association to 

 have a surveyor general to devote his entire 

 time to the business. There seems to be 

 doubt as to the rule or article in the Consti- 

 tution and By-laws governing his office, and 

 I think that that, matter should be thorough- 

 ly considered here. 



Mr. Korn — Is it proper to introduce the 

 resolution at this timet 



Acting Chairman Thompson — Yes. 



Mr. Korn — If it is proper I would like to 

 offer this resolution now. 



Whereas. President Roosevelt has by re- 

 peated public utterances shown that he is 

 in favor of proper national legislation on 

 freight discrimination and regulation of 

 rates, and 



Whereas. It is reported in the public prints 

 that the Senate Committee on Interstate 

 Commerce has practically agreed upon a bill 

 that does not increase the powers of the 

 Interstate Commerce Commission nor give 

 them authority to substitute reasonable rates; 

 therefore, be it 



Resolved, That the National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association in full convention as- 

 sembled do hereby pledge themselves un- 

 qualifiedly to support President Roosevelt in 

 his position on the question, and be it further 



Resolved, That this association njrotests 

 against the enactment of any law that does 

 not give the Interstate Commerce Commis- 

 sion power to substitute reasonable rates, and 

 that it is the sense of this association that 

 proper national legislation should be enacted 

 for the abolition of freight discrimination and 

 rate regulation. 



It was moved and seconded that the resolu- 

 tion be adopted, and upon vote the motion 

 was carried. 



Acting Chairman Thompson — Mr. 

 Palmer has already made a notation of the 

 men he would like to serve on the committee. 

 They are, Mr. Korn, Mr. Evans, Mr. S. L. 

 Dodds, the committee to report after Mr. 

 Perry has submitted his proposition. 



Upon motion, which was seconded and car- 

 ried, the meeting adjourned until Friday 

 morning. 



Third Session, Friday, May 19. 



The meeting was called to order at 10:45 

 a. m. by President Palmer, who announced 

 that the first business before the association 

 would be in the nature of a discussion of a 

 resolution to be presented by the committee 

 appointed to investigate the matter of car 

 stake equipment, which had been introduced 

 by Mr. Perry of the National Wholesale 

 Lumber Dealers' Association. 



The secretary read the following telegram 

 from Lewis Dill, president of the National 

 Wholesale Lumber Dealers' Association, ad- 

 dressed to President Palmer: 



"National wholesalers will present car 

 stake equipment matter for reciprocal action 

 with your association. Trust you can consider 

 it favorably. We want to assist hardwood in- 

 spections or propositions in any way possible. 

 Find impossible to attend convention or ban- 

 quet. Accept my regrets and wishes for suc- 

 cessful meeting." 



The Car Stake Question. 



Mr. Perry then addressed the meeting as 

 follows : 



Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I desire to 

 thank you, first, for this opportunity "l ap 

 ing before your association as the secretary 01 

 the National Wholesale Lumber Dealers' Asso- 

 ciation. m , , 



Ihe ,,( allowance for freight on 



stakes furnished by the shipper and ot allow- 

 ance made for furnishing equipment on Bat anil 

 gondola cars is not a new subject to lumber- 

 men. It has been discussed by them as indi- 

 viduals and as associations for many 

 \s I recall it, some eisht or ten years ago, the 

 vellow pine shippers in Georgia and Florida 

 took up this question, and I am told that in 

 Florida certain laws were passed compelling 

 railroads to furnish equipment and make the 

 allowance, but I also understand that the rail- 

 secured injunctions, which prevented the 

 lumbermen from getting the allowance, conse- 

 quently this matter has never been brought to 

 a satisfactory conclusion, so far as we : 

 in any territory. I also understand that the 



