26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



February 25, 1921 



Quixley Tells Wholesalers to Cheer Up 



At tlic annual convention of the Nortliern Wholesale Hardwood 

 Lumber Association, held Feb. 15 at the Milwaukee Athletic Club, 

 A. C. Quixley of Chicago delivered a message of optimism for the 

 future. He said that through the efforts of the Chamber of Com- 

 merce of the United States a campaign for home building was 

 gaining headway, which, he believed, would soon result in a marked 

 improvement in the lumber business. Banks and insurance com- 

 panies have announced their intention to be more liberal in making 

 loans to home builders, and several state and national laws are 

 being framed, or have already been passed, which will exempt new 

 homes from taxation for a period of years. 



C. O. Cogswell of F. M. Elkinton, Inc., traffic experts, reviewed 

 the transportation situation, speaking particularly of the necessity 

 of watching tariffs closely, as they contain many errors. He also 

 spoke of the recent announcement of the roads in Western Trunk 

 Line territory that combination rates made during the war were 

 to be withdrawn unless shippers offered competent arguments for 

 their continuation. 



The report of Treasurer J. B. Andrews 

 showed a balance on hand in the treasury 

 amounting to $306.74, with all bills paid. 



Harry Christiansen, reporting for the reso- 

 lutions committee, called attention to sev- 

 eral laws now before the Wisconsin legis- 

 lature which, if enacted into law, will mate- 

 rially increase taxes, and the secretary was 

 instructed to get the numbers and purport 

 of these laws and advise the members to use 

 their influence against them where they are 

 unfair. 



The annual report of Secretary J. F. Hay 

 den was presented as follows: 



Report of Secretary Hayden 

 My report will be brief, and I rather think 

 that you will agree with me that there is very 

 little to say. Just now the hardwood lumber 

 market is a stalemate. Your efforts to sell lum- 

 ber in volume are met by the stubborn resistance 

 of buyers who steadily refuse to stock up at a 

 time when they are in doubt as to whether or 

 not they will be able to sell the flnished products 

 of hardwood lumber. In spite of all this, bow- 

 ever, almost every hardwood wholesaler with 

 whom I have come in contact is optimistic and 



believes that when the worm turns trade will be enough better to make 

 him forget his troubles. 



I need not tell you of the rather hectic year through which you have 



A. C. Quixley 



recently passed, fur your e-\perieuces are too fresli in memory to need 

 recalling. I do not think the secretary's oifice could have done anything 

 to dampen your enthusiasm during the early months of the year, nor 

 ameliorate your discouragements of the more recent months. 



In a general way I have endeavored to convey to you information of 

 the situation in the hardwood lumber market, through the medium of 

 semi-monthly or monthly reports issued during a part of the year. This 

 information has been gleaned from reports from the large hardwood mar- 

 kets of the South and Middle West. They have not afforded much encour- 

 agement, but I hope they have been fairly accurate. 



A lu'ight spot is the situation with respect to stocks. Your own statis- 

 tical report will be distributed to you during the meeting. This report 

 also shows the amount of unsold stock held by the manufacturers. 



Of the amount being produced by northern mills, you can judge from 

 the figures or green stock in the hands of the manufacturers on the first of 

 January, as follows: Ash, 743,000 feet; basswood, 6,160,000 feet; birch, 

 11,492,000 feet; soft elm, 2,523,000 feet; rock elm, 534,000 feet; soft maple, 

 660,000 feet; hard maple, 14,742,000 feet, and oak, 282,000 feet. 



Statistics of southern hardwood production arc nut available, but up to 

 the first of the year the southern mills were curtailing greatly. 



Production of soft woods is also being curtailed. Unsold hemlock held 

 by northini) manufacturers on the first of January amounted to 198,000,000 

 feet. Northern pine mills, with very few excep- 

 tions, are not running. Southern pine mills are 

 cutting to only about sixty-five per cent of ca- 

 pacity ; west coast mills are cutting only forty 

 per cent of normal ; Inland Empire mills are cut- 

 ting fifteen per cent of capacity. 



Early last year you were saying with Monte 

 Cristo, "The world is mine," and, with Alex- 

 ander, you were looking for more worTils to con- 

 quer. During the latter part of the year, and up 

 to the present time, .vou have been at the bottom 

 of the pit, holding up your hands for assistance. 

 May we not hope that the period of slow trade is 

 about to end, and that you will soon again be 

 riding on the top wave of prosperity. 



We have lost one member during the year by 

 the death of Arthur H. Barnard of Minneapolis. 

 Otherwise the membership remains the same as 

 at the beginning of the year and numbers thirty- 

 five. 



The election of officers and directors re- 

 sulted in the choice of the following: 



President, T. T. Jones, Minneapolis. 

 Vice-president, Geo. W. Mason, Ehine- 

 lauder, Wis. 



Treasurer, J. B. Andrews, Wausau, Wis. 

 Secretary, J. F. Hayden, Minneapolis. 

 Directors for two years: L. H. Wheeler, 

 Wausau; Payson Smith, Minneapolis; H. C. 

 Humphrey, Appleton. 

 President Jones was immediately installed in his new office and 

 began to handle the gavel with a style which promises a live 

 administration. 



(Continued from page 21) 



advances were granted the carriers by the Interstate Commerce 

 Commission. 



Only One Non-Conformer 



Nothing has transpired to indicate that any of the carriers object 

 to the conference or desire to prejudge the appeal of the associa- 

 tion with the exception of the letter written to officials of this 

 organization by the president of the Gulf Coast Lines, Houston, 

 Tex. This gentleman has made an effort to dismiss the conference 

 idea, so far as his road is concerned, with the suggestion that it is 

 unwarranted, and with the further suggestion that it was con- 

 ceived by the association for the specific purpose of decreasing the 

 revenues of the carriers derived from lumber tonnage. The asso- 

 ciation, however, is not willing to be treated in this manner and 

 has written a letter to the gentleman in question, copy of which 



has been sent to all the other carriers, informing him that it is 

 entitled to a hearing before judgment on the issues involved is 

 passed and further apprising him of the fact that the association, 

 while admittedly working in the interest of its members, is like- 

 wise working in the interest of the carriers, as disclosed by the 

 Icnowledge that, unless rates are reduced on lower grades of hard- 

 wood lumber, the railroads are going to secure a smaller revenue, 

 through decrease in tonnage incident to present restrictive rates, 

 than they secured before the advances were granted by the Inter- 

 state Commerce Commission. This is, in effect, practically a state- 

 ment of the position the association will take at the conference, 

 and it is believed by officials of this organization that there is so 

 much of "common interest" between the lumbermen and the 

 carriers that they will be able to find a "common ground" for 

 solving the problem of rate adjustment which carries so much 

 import to both. 



