fe 





Uclubrr SS, 1013 



Alichigan Manufacturers IVlect 



-T 





The quarterly meclini; of Uip MieliiKnii llnrilwuoti Mauufneturera' 



•i.T Oil Till • I 1 t.ibcr 



II wliirli \% lit in 



Uk* «*lltlfv MUMlllH-miltp. 



Secretary J. (.'. Knox »ai>i in lii« rr|>ort tlint tlio cnxh Imliinci* on 

 hand October i>, liUS, wnii $l.::i:ui.'> in the (•■•iieriil funil iind <'l,li|0.11 

 in the foreat flro fund. Anion); other thint^K lio Niid, ' ' We niiidc the 

 statement in our report of April £6, 1015, that the K*^ncral busincM 

 of the country wan nlowly pirkini; up. Wo Htill ImMiuvo this to l>e n 

 fact, and every evidence fihonx tlint hiniUT. which in iiUout the Inst 



• • time bnck at com- 

 I inuuiis iind ^liKhtly 



lowur lijjuri'^ lur tiie low jjratic.'^. ' ' 



The report of the treasurer fjivin;; an iteniirx>d account of above 

 resultii was accejited after being read by Mr. Knox. 



Chief Warden J. L. Morford rejiorted on forest fire work for the 

 last three montlis. Mr. Morford said the season opened on April 

 10 and that various di.stricts had been grailually closed up, as it 

 was apparent that extra ranger work was not needed. Mr. Morford 

 said the danger is over for the year 191.'). 



The figures read showed a total of 274 fires which burned over 

 1,407 acres, with an aggregate loss of $.").120.27, as compared to an 

 aggregate lo.-<s for the same jicriod in 1914 of $11,793, while of this 

 total loss only $100 was for standing timber. 



Chairman W. C. Hull of the market conditions committee then 

 read his report, as follows: 



Report of Market Conditions Committee 



It hn.« bc'n ni.i.iir.iit |.« all thai tiil^ var w.Miiii i,,- a (laiiKcrou.s one 

 for mnniifacturiTs of hnrdwood bdJ for this ri'a.soa iiartlcular attention 

 bag been paid to the matter of production, and .vou have been asked to ' 

 give thrif dllTLTcnt ostlmates — one In .Inniiary. one lu .\prll and one In 

 October. The .\prll estimate was consldurably lower than the one in 

 Januar.v. but the last one. which gives th<! arlual cut to October first and 

 an estimate for the bnlnncc of the year, shows thai tlie .laiiuary estimate 

 of .'UiO.OOO.OOO feet will be very close to the actual out. The actual cut 

 for 1U14 «os 470.000.000 feet and this represents an unusually heavy 

 curtailment, and Its wisdom Is made manifest when we come to com- 

 pare present stocks with those of a year nco. We have on hand of 

 No. 2 C and II I!»4.l)00.000 against lIll.OOO.OOO a year ago, but wc have 

 on band unsold "O.OOO.OOO against "G.OOO.OOd. There Is ample evidence, 

 however, that the demand Is much better than a year ago. You all know 

 you arc receiving more Inquiries and the records show that for the past 

 three months the volume of sales Is more than three times that of the 

 corresponding three months of last year. .Mso as compared to July 1, 

 present stocks have decreased :i4.000.000 feet. :;:!.000,000 feet of which 

 Is maple, which means tliat we actually sold ami shipped that much more 

 laml>er thon we produced, with practically all of the mills running 

 steadily, 1».000,000 of the maple referred lo above was No. 2 C and B. 

 The reported sales, however, show that many of our members have made 

 concessions In price and arc receiving on an average from one lo two 

 dollars per thousand feet less than a year ago on many of the grades. 

 Firsts and seconds arc being sold at from two to three dollars less than 

 list prices and No. 1 common at as low as five dollars off list. Many 

 members, however, are receiving full list prices and a few sales are re- 

 ported at higher than list. In this connection, it Is well to state that 

 certain members of the committee have knowledge of sales made by a few 

 members at low prices that have not been reported to the secretary. The 

 only chance that this association has to be of value to Its members is Its 

 opportunity to put tieforc them all the existing conditions under which 

 they ore doing business. No one is obligated to get the list prices, but 

 everyone has a moral obligation to report all sales. There is absolutely 

 no other accurate way to determine true market conditions, and it is a 

 distressing commentary on the loyalty of some of our members to say 

 that this committee must gum shoe around the trade for price sale 

 information. .\ny member sacrlflcing stock does himself and the associa- 

 tion less Injury by frankly acknowledging the transaction than he docs 

 by covering it up. Any meml>cr who persistently covers up such tran.s- 

 actions may Justly be suspected of trying to take advantage of other 

 members, who are not only trying to get a fair price for their goods, 

 but who also, when necessity constrains them to a sacriiice, make a 

 report of It to the association, thereby putting all members in position to 

 know the real conditions. Secrecy will ultimately reflect more injury 

 upon the author than upon bis associates whom he has misled by bis 

 silence. 



No. 3 common has been slow sale and at unsatisfactory prices for most 



—26— 



of Uie year. Kluel. ' . UOU,0«>0 ■gnlnit TT.OOO.UUO a jroiir aco. 



Itrr II,, i„n i.iit,,rliii have l>een making heavier pur 



cb ('. It. II. I* ngnln In the iiiiirkel f<ir lien. Tlil» lian 



• Iti - . ^ ct and within the pant t»i' «■.!.. ii,u n,,,, im. i., .u 



•tllTrni,! !:•■ dollar per tbuu>and. 



IIKMUK-K 



Our • 'of prtHluctlon verlUen the uiie mmle in Jnti- 



uary, » o.ouo, ni> nKnlnut an actual count of I'lio.oou.ouo 



(or Ian) .\i.ii I hand Is 1NI,UUO,000, as ngnln't l.'iri.oiHi.iMiit one 



year auo > the low prlcei of yellow pine, liemloek pricea 



\ux\ ' II, having di'riliied only .'o reno to Kl.iHi on the 



ni' 11.00 on tile cull lUi cargo trade to wbnbMlem, 



wit ■' •■-•I- T '•-■iit Hliarp advance 



111 "k price* tu laBt 



yeiir iilldlng operatlunn 



are sbuwing a general gain. 



The great Impruveinent In lumber trade condition* Kenrraily and the 

 already appareut though slight Improvement In the hardwmid situation 

 should encourage lis to stand firm for a little while yet, when we will 

 begin to fell the nwnnl for the fortitude with which we bnve withstood 

 this |)ast period of depression. 



llerinnn Kunnert raised the question of providing regular sales 

 bulletins to the luemlMTS. C'hairnian Hull of the inarket ronditions 

 committee in replying to this question said that this is extremely 

 desirable, but has not been carried out on uccount of the absence of 

 support by the membership, who are with difliculty persuaded to give 

 information as to sales. After n discussion it was moveil that the 

 market conditions committee adjourn to consider the question and 

 return with a recommendation. On ro-convcning it vvus recom- 

 mended by the committee that the sales statistics be gathered and 

 sent out by the secretary every week to all members who expres.sed 

 themselves as being willing to give regular reports, the reports to 

 cover shipping points, prices at shipping jioints, the rate if delivered 

 price is quoted, grades, thickness, quantity and quality, whether jiur- 

 chaser is consumer or dealer and whether shiiuneut is made by rail or 

 water, and also any specific description as covering the qualifications 

 of that stock. It was provided that this work is to be carried on as 

 long as it is deemed advisable. The recommendation was accepted 

 and will be put into effect immediately. 



It was moved by C. A. Bigelow that the association ajipropriate 

 $1,000 a year for the next five years to assist in financing the trade 

 extension work now being carried on by the National Lumber Manu- 

 facturers' Association. 



Mr. Bigelow moved that a regular assessment of two cents per 

 1,000 feet of hardwoods shipped from October, 1914, to October, 

 1915, be levied, and that in addition there be levied an assessment of 

 one cent per 1,000 feet of hemlock manufactured from January, 1915, 

 to January, 1916, this assessment not to be levied until next January. 

 The motion was carried. 



R. B. Goodman, president of the Northern Hemlock & Hardwood 

 Manufacturers' As.sociation, referred to the excellent results already 

 showing from work being carried on by the National Lumber Manu- 

 facturers' Association's trade extension department. From this he 

 led up to the question of further broadening the indiridual markets 

 for specific woods, referring in particular to efforts recently put into 

 effect on hemlock by the organization of which he is president. He 

 urged that the Michigan manufacturers co-operate with the Wisconsin 

 territory to the end that this plan may be made more effective for all. 

 It was moved that a committee be sent to attend the meeting of his 

 association at Milwaukee on October 26. 



It was moved that the association go on record as favoring the 

 election of C. A. Goodman of the Sawyer-Goodman Company, Mari- 

 nette, Wis., to the presidency of the National Hardwood Lumber As- 

 sociation at its annual meeting next June. Mr. Goodman's qualifica- 

 tions for this position are recognized by everybody who is at all 

 familiar with the northern trade. It was further suggested that as 

 Wisconsin has never held the presidency, it would be fitting that that 

 state be given the honor. 



The meeting then adjourned, and all those attending enjoyed a 

 very jileasant luncheon, wliich was served in the convention room. 



