October 25, 1915. 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



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Clubs and Associations 



National Veneer & Panel Men Announce Date of Meeting 



The annual meeting of the National Veneer & I*anel Manufaeturers* As 

 sociation will be beld at the Auditorium hotel, Chicago, on Tuesday and 

 Wednesday, December 14-10. A special meeting of the association was 

 held on Tuesday, September 7, and plans were made for taking care of 

 veneer and panel Interests at the investigation of re-classiflcatlon, which 

 is to be held by the Interstate Commerce Commission on December 15. 

 There will be the usual meaty talks and papers which are ordinarily pre- 

 sented at the annual meetings. 



Semi-Annual Meeting Cypress Association to Be Held in Florida 



The semi-annual lucetiug of the .Southern Cypress .Manufacturers' .Vsso- 

 elation will be held at the Hotel Mason, Jacksonville, Fla., on Wednesday, 

 November 17. In issuing the call for a meeting President Frederick Wil- 

 liert says : 



"It is very apparent that a turning point has been reached in general 

 trade conditions and that business improvement is Imminent. It Is also 

 apparent tliat the work this association has been doing In the past several 

 years is beginning to show greater results than ever before. For these 

 and other reasons our meeting at Jacksonville will be more important than 

 any meeting thus far held, and the various problems to bo submitted at 

 that meeting should receive the earnest consideration not of a few mem- 

 bers only, but of all members." 



Trade Extension Workers Are Decidedly Alive 



Every day brings evidence of activities of those in charge of the trade 

 extension department of the National Lumber Manufacturers' Associa- 

 tion. The latest of these Is a little booklet being sent out for the pur- 

 pose of distribution among employes of lumbermen all over the country. 

 The booklet, on its cover, reveals the contents with the following, "Why 

 you should specify and in.sist on liaving goods shipped in wooden boxes," 

 with the suggestion that it be distributed in pay envelopes so that the 

 general idea of increasing the markets for lumber through this means will 

 be spread. The plan should certainly work out well. 



Traffic Association Ready to Fight for Its Contentions 



The Southern Hardwood Traffic Association will shortly be ready to 

 submit answers to the questions recently propounded by the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission involving reclassiilcation of lumber and lumber 

 products. The association nas, through a number of committees, represent- 

 ing practically every branch of the hardwood industry, and its board of 

 managers, been working on this subject for several weeks and when the 

 answers are Anally submitted they will reflect the practically unanimous 

 sentiment of tlie hardwood trade in this territory on the Issues raised. A 

 meeting of the board of managers was held in Memphis October 18, follow- 

 ing which the announcement was made by J. II. Townshend, secretary, 

 that but one more meeting would be necessary. He Is leaving this week 

 for Washington and on his return there will be one more meeting at which 

 the finishing touches will be given. 



The association is strongly In favor of an .-Vmerlcan merchant marine. 

 .Vt the meeting October IS a motion that a small committee be appointed to 

 co-operate with the larger committee named by the United States Chamber 

 of Commerce, in the presentation of this subject to Congress, was unani- 

 mously passed. This body some time ago took a referendum vote on the 

 subject of an American merchant marine and found nearly all business 

 organizations in the country to be in favor thereof and it is expected that 

 the latter will appoint conmiitees. Just as the Southern Hardwood Traffic 

 Association has decided to do, to assist in bringing this subject to the at- 

 tention of Congress in a manner that will give results. Mr. Townshend 

 said that the members of the association were very much in favor of a 

 merchant marine because they needed better ocean-carrying facilities and 

 more equitable rates than now obtainable, and that this organization would 

 lend every aid in its power toward the realization thereof. 



The railroads have aunounced that new tariffs will be issued about 

 December 1 providing lor higher rates on shipments of lumber and forest 

 products from pornts in Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee into Central 

 Freight Association territory. Increase in rates from southern points to 

 Ohio river crossings were recently allowed by the Interstate Commerce Com- 

 mission in I. & S. 520 and the new tariffs will provide that this increase to 

 Ohio river crossings shall apply to points included in Central Freight Asso- 

 ciation territory. The former advance did not very greatly affect southern 

 manufacturers and shippers, but it Is pointed out that, as a very large 

 percentage of lumber shipped from the lower Mississippi valley goes Into 

 Central Freight Association territory, the advance in the through rates will 

 be a very serious blow to the lumber industry in the South. This advance, 

 if allowed, will be heaviest on gum and the fear is expressed that it will be 

 necessary for some of the big manufacturers of gum lumber to close down 

 their plants and cease cutting this lumber. It is also stated that, since no 

 tree under twenty-six inches in diameter can be profitably converted into 

 lumber and sold on the basis of the higher freight rates proposed, the 

 advance will seriously interfere with the clearing and subsequent cultivation 

 of cut-over lands. The lumbermen recently pledged their support to the 

 Business Men's Club which Is seeking the opening up of such lands, but it 

 is emphasized that inability to profitably manufacture small trees into lum- 



ber will very greatly add to the expense Incident to clearing these lands if 

 it does not make It wholly Impossible. 



Until the new tariffs are actually filed with the commission no action can 

 be taken by the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association. It Is known, how- 

 ever, that the proposed advances will be strenuously opposed and that the 

 biggest guns that can be brought into action by the lumbermen will be 

 unlimbered before the contest is over. The railroads have paid no atten- 

 tion whatever to the contentions of the representatives of the lumber 

 industry, although the latter have opened their books to them, and have 

 likewise ignored the agreement effected at the "harmony" conference in 

 Memphis last April to enter into Joint conferences with the representatives 

 of the lumber industry east and west of the Mississippi for the purpose of 

 discussing differences with a view to adjustment. It is therefore regarded 

 as practically certain that the forthcoming contest will be so vigorous as to 

 make some of those In the past, regarded at the time as quite vital, pale into 

 complete insignificance. 



Vehicle and Implement Men to Hold Convention 



The convention and exhibition of the Trl-State Vehicle and Implement 

 Dealers' Association will be held In Cincinnati this week, beginning Monday, 

 October 25, and continuing all week at Music Hall where the exhibition 

 will be held. There will be a number of trade talks by local and out-of-town 

 men and the usual reports of officers and committees and election of officers. 

 Nearly fifteen hundred delegates are expected from the three states, Ohio, 

 Indiana and Kentucky. 



Philadelphia Exchange Meeting 



The monthly meeting of the Lumbermen's Exchange was held October 14 

 in the Crozer building. After the meeting waiting motor cars rushed the 

 seventy-five present from the center of the city to the Whltemarsh Valley 

 Country Club, Just beyond Chestnut Hill, a delightful run of twelve 

 miles from the starting point. Out at the club dinner was served and 

 everybody had a big time. At the business meeting, which preceded the 

 social function, it was unanimously decided that it would be a mistake to 

 reduce the number necessary to a quorum to fifteen members. This had been 

 proposed in an amendment to the by-laws at the June meeting, laid over for 

 action in September and again delayed in September until the October 

 meeting. President Chcsnut appointed W. T. Betts, William C. MacBrlde, 

 V. L. Luckenback, John E. Lloyd and Robert G. Kay a committee to take up 

 the tariff commission subject with a special committee appointed by the 

 Chamber of Commerce of the United States. The board of directors sub- 

 scribed $100 to the lumber extension movement of the National Lumber 

 Manufacturers* Association. 



I With the Trade 



Hardwood Exporters to Have Own Ships 



Representatives of eleven big lumber exporting firms, aggregating $5,- 

 000,000 capital, have organized a company in Memphis to charter steam- 

 ships to carry .southern hardwoods from gulf ports to the principal ports 

 of Europe. It has a capital stock of $100,000, fully subscribed, and will 

 operate under the name of the Lumber Exporters' Line. Organization has 

 been perfected on a permanent basis and, while It Is the Intention of the 

 new company to charter vessels for the present, it is planned in the end 

 for it to own and operate ships. Inability of southern hardwood export- 

 ers to transport lumber profitably to the European market since the out- 

 break of the world war is responsible for this method of protecting their 

 trade in Europe. Ocean rates long ago reached a prohibitory point and 

 even at these excessively high rates there is almost no freight room avail- 

 able. It is proposed to begin operations at once and it is announced that 

 the first chartered vessel will sail early in December and that, after that 

 time, sailings will be made regularly two or three times a month. Options 

 have already been secured on several steamships and it is anticipated that 

 these will be exercised in the immediate future. Mobile and Gulfport will 

 be the home ports, both being in easy reach of the southern hardwood 

 territory. Chartered ships will be sent regularly to London, Liverpool and 

 Genoa in the beginning and later these vessels may call at other ports. 



It is planned to utilize sixty per cent of the space on each ship for the 

 transportation of lumber, the remaining forty per cent to be used for the 

 transportation of heavier products. The lumber firms which are among 

 the owners of the Lumber Exporters' Line will have first call on space 

 on these chartered ships, but, when the members themselves do not require 

 all that is available, the remainder will be offered to other southern hard- 

 wood manufacturers. Exporters believe that the company will score an 

 Immediate financial success and that the launching of this enterprise wiil 

 result in very substantial benefit to the southern hardwood trade. It is 

 estimated that the demand from Europe now is about fifty per cent of 

 normal, but there are very few ships to make it possible even to supply this 

 demand. It Is believed that ocean rates will be high for a long time after 

 the war in Europe is over because of the enormous demand that will pre- 

 vail for southern hardwoods for the rehabilitation of cities in Europe 

 destroyed during the war. Geo. D. Burgess, president of the National 

 Lumber Exporters' .Association, is authority for this view and is one of 

 the principal owners of the Lumber Exporters' Line. As soon as the 

 company begins operating, southern lumber exporters will not only have 



