January li.'i. i;»n; 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



19 



Since I have been in the business I liuve bouglit all the timber I could 

 use off ol' sotne tracts, at three different times, and I am not so aged, at 

 that — I would not acknowledge it, at least. The young timber takes root 

 first, and then grows the top afterward, and it doesn't take so very long 

 to make a pretty good sized tree, after it is once rooted — especially in 

 our oaks and gums. 



After a brief talk by Daniel Wertz 011 membershiji and by W. W. 

 Ivnight of Indianajjolis on trade conditions, tlie president called on 

 \V. L. Taylor, Indianapolis, ex-attorney-general for the state, who 

 talked on the subject, ' ' After the War. ' ' Mr. Taylor presented some 

 new views on this question, but showed an ignorance of the aims and 

 jiresent efforts of the lumber business wlien lie stated that lumber 

 at present is a luxury. 



President Kramer appointed a nominating committee composed of 

 J. V. Stim-son, Frank Reynolds and W. A. Guthrie. 



He also appointed a committee on officers ' reports composed of 

 Charles H. Barnaby, A. J. Smith and Walter Crim. 



Wallace D. Riddell of the LumbernuMi 's Mutual Casualty Company, 

 talked to the members on the work of that organizatioii. Mr. Riddell 

 said that during the year the company took in 700 new members, and 

 that at the close of business, December 31, net cash assets amounted 

 to $130,761, a gain during the year of 34.7 per cent. 



The president called on Alexander Hamilton, who talked on tlie 

 subject of co-operation in the lumber business. 



Mr. Hamilton held out a ray of hope when he stated that in his 

 opinion there will follow after the war an increased interest in moral 

 development, which will overweigh the commercial anxieties. He 

 maintained that we are going to have an enlightened and educated 

 public opinion, which will demand improvement in the new generation. 



The program committee arranged for the presence of Arthur Robin- 

 son, candidate for United States senator. Mr. Robinson has already 

 gained the title of "the boy-senator," being only tliirty-six years old. 

 He talked on general subjects, putting himself on record on certain 

 political questions. 



Resolutions were adopted on the deaths of O. O. Agler and W. O. 

 Martin, and the secretary was requested to send copies to the families 

 of the deceased. 



J. M. Pritchard, secretary of the Gum Lumber Manufacturers' Asso- 

 ciation, and a former Indiana operator, said that the Indiana associa- 

 tion is unique in that when a man is once a niemlicr he is always a 

 member. 



Charles H. Barnaby, chairman of the committee on officers' reports, 

 recommended that the reports be adopted and placed on record. The 

 recommendation was adopted by vote. 



J. V. Stimson of Huntingburg, in a commentary talk, moved tliat 

 the association go on record as supporting the nomination of John M. 

 Woods for the presidency of the National Hardwood Lumber Associa- 

 tion, at the election to be held at the annual meeting in June. 



The recommendation was seconded by Charles H. Barnaby, and 

 Van B. Perrine said that while it was possibly not in order, he wanted 

 to ' ' third ' ' the motion and expressed himself in very enthusiastic 

 terms as to Mr. Woods' qualification for the office. 



The motion was carried unanimously. 



E. V. Babcock, president of the National Hardwood Lumber Asso- 

 ciation, talked briefly and invited those present to come to the banquet 

 in the evening to ' ' hear him take a fall out of Mr. Taylor. ' ' 



The nominating committee recommended the election of the follow- 

 ing officers for the coming year : 



President — Daniel Wertz. 



First Vice-President — Walter Crim. 



Second Vice-President — George Palmer. 



SECRETiUY — Edgar Richardson. . 



Treasurer — James Buckley. 



Directors — Charles U. Barnaby, C. 11. Kramer, W. A. Guthrie, .T. V. 

 Stimson. Sam Burkholder. Claude Maley, H. B. Sale, Frank Galbraith, 

 Haines Egbert, VV. W. Knight. George Waters, Frank Reynolds, Frank 

 Sheppardson and Van B. Perrine. 



The motion for the election of these officers was seconded and pre- 

 vailed unanimously. 



Daniel Wertz took the chair and expressed his appreciation of the 

 honor. 



There being no other business, the meeting adjourned. 



ENTERTAINMENT 



A very elaborate and pleasing banquet was tendered to the members 

 and visitors in the evening, the association being the host. The ban- 

 quet was held in the Riley room of the Claypool hotel, which room was 

 dedicated to James Whitcomb Riley. 



Mr. Babcock was the principal speaker of the evening and took occa- 

 sion to reply to the suggestion made by Mr. Taylor during the business 

 session that wood is a luxury. Mr. Babcock said that we are all 

 rocked in cradles made of wood, our homes are made of wood, and the 

 coffins we are buried in are made of wood, and asked how a material 

 that is so manifestly a necessity could be classed as a luxury. 



Flooring Strips 



The hardwood lumber item commonly spoken of today as flooring 

 strips is made up of narrow widths of high-grade lumber in oak, 

 usually running from selects to clears and in width from three to 

 six inches. In quartered oak it is often the narrow stock obtained 

 in making flitches for veneer, and also the same stock which at times 

 is sorted out from the wider boards in quartered oak lumber. There 

 is room for the development of another idea, and that is in strips 

 ripped to specific width of flooring stock and trimmed to various 

 lengths. 



In a recent talk with a hardwood flooring manufacturer, who 

 specializes in high-grade oak flooring, the subject of making a cheaper 

 oak product was under discussion. He said he couldn't buy the oak 

 lumber delivered and turn out the finished product at a price that 

 would meet competition from mills in the woods and leave him a 

 margin of profit. He said freight on the waste material involved 

 in the manufacture was quite an important item. Then the ques- 

 tion was put to him of the possibility of getting raw material for 

 oak flooring ripped and trimmed to specific dimensions before ship- 

 ping so as to reduce the weight and save shipping cost. In response 

 to this he said, that so far he had heard of only one mill undertaking 

 anything of the kind. As a rule efforts to obtain narrow strips from 

 sawmills resulted in getting a lot of trashy stuff that really proves 

 as wasteful in the end as if one had bought common lumber and 

 refined it. He said, however, he had heard of another mill which 

 had proposed to go at this matter in a business way and cut and 

 trim flooring strips just as they would be cut and trimmed at the 

 flooring factory before running through the planer. 



It is this incident and the discussion taking place in connection 

 with it that suggests the idea of a specific item in flooring strips, 

 especially in connection with oak lumber. There is a great pub- 

 lic inclination toward oak flooring today. It is one item that has 

 made progress all this year while business has been dull in practi- 

 cally all other lumber linos. It's progress is hampered a little now 

 and then by the item of cost, and if it is practical to hold fhis 

 down to a reasonable basis by a systematic manipulation, oak would 

 dominate the flooring industry in a large territory. 



One of the important cost items involved is that of the freight 

 cost on common and low-grade lumber that may be converted into 

 oak flooring. If this can be reduced by a process of refining at 

 the sawmill it will not only help hold down the cost of the finished 

 article but it should serve another good purpose by making it pos- 

 sible for the sawmill men to utilize in this item lots of material 

 that commonly goes to waste. It will take time and perhaps the 

 efforts along this line will furnish the usual percentage of disap- 

 pointment, yet the idea looks good euough to be worth while. There 

 should be developed in the course of the next year or two a regu- 

 lar item of flooring strips, strips ripped to specific dimension at the 

 sawmill in the woods and trimmeil off for defects, ready to go into 

 the flooring machines. 



One of the big items of waste in the average woodworking in- 

 stitution is the waste heat in the exhaust steam. Even after the 

 pressure is gone, there is lots of wasted pressure in steam, unless 

 some method is contrived to use the heat advantageously. 



