.Taniuiry 25, 1916 



Hardwood Manufacturers* Annual 



The atmosphere was sur-charged with genuine optimism and confi- 

 dence in further and unchecked improvement in hardwood markets at 

 the fourteenth annual meeting of the Hardwood Manufacturers' Asso- 

 ciation of the United States, held at the Hotel Sinton, Cincinnati, 0., 

 on Tuesday and Wednesday, January 18 and 19. The prospects of an 

 unusually strong program and the desire to talk things over brought 

 together a more representative body of lumbermen than has gathered 

 at these conventions for a long time. 



All the reports supported the belief in the future of the association, 

 which maintains a sound fii ■ 

 ancial condition and is grow- 

 ing in membership steadily. 



President John H. Him- 

 melberger opened the busi- 

 ness session with a meaty 

 report and summary of the 

 present and the future. His 

 address follows: 



Address of President 



It gives me pleasure to wel- 

 come you to this, the fourteenth 

 annual meeting of the Hardwood 

 Manufacturers' Association, and 

 to e.xtend you greetings in be- 

 half of its officers and board of 

 governors. 



The situation that we look 

 upon today is very different 

 from that of one year ago. The 

 clouds that then darkened and 

 depressed the business life of 

 our country, and especially of 

 our industry, have lifted and I 

 cannot but feel that all signs 

 now point to a period of pros- 

 perity such as we have not 

 experienced in years. 



Optimism and faith in the 

 future should be the spirit of 

 this meeting ; I believe condi- 

 tions warrant both. 



The past three months have 

 seen the Inert and exhausted 

 lumber industry spring back to 

 life and strength with a vigor 

 that means prosperity for some 

 time to come. Orders are plen- 

 tiful — for some kinds and grades 

 almost too plentiful, for the 

 pendulum has swung far to the 

 other side, and instead of a 

 surplus of stock at the mills as 

 there was a few months ago, 

 there is now actually a shortage 

 of many items. 



The beginning of the year is 

 a time of planning for the future, 

 and I shall not prolong this ad- 

 dress by recounting the past, 

 further than to say that one 

 fond hope that many of us car- 

 ried home from our last meeting 

 has not been realized. 



I refer to the adoption by both of the hardwood associations of one set 

 of rules for the measurement and inspection of hardwood lumber. In my 

 address last year I stated that I believed we were all agreed that there 

 should be only one set of rules. The seed sown at that meeting developed 

 into conferences of committees of the two hardwood associations, hut 

 unfortunately their efforts came to nought. 



On February IS, 1915. a committee from your association met with the 

 executive committee of the National Hardwood Lumber .\ssociati(jn, at the 

 Blackstone hotel In Chicago. At this meeting the National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association was represented by the following metabers of its 

 executive committee : E. V. Babcock, president ; Hugh McLean, chairman 

 of inspection rules committee ; C. H. Barnaby, Theodore Fathauer, T. M. 

 Brown, W. E. Chamberlain, and Frank F. Fish, secretary. Representing 

 our association were J. H. Himmelberger, president ; W. E. DeLaney, chair- 

 man of the executive grades committee ; L. Isaacsen, R. M. Carrier, E. A. 



J. H. HIMMELBERGER, CAPE GIRARDE.AU, MO., RETIRING PRESIDENT. 



I.aug, F. R. Gadd, B. B. Burns, and W. H. Weller, secretary. .\t this 

 meeting the two committees reached an agreement upon one set of rules 

 for the measurement and inspection of hardwood lumber, with the under- 

 standing, however, that before the agreement became effective, it would be 

 necessary for the executive committee of the National association to sub- 

 mit the proposed rules to its inspection rules committee for its approval, 

 and to be then submitted to the membership at the annual meeting, and 

 also it would be necessary lor our committee to present the matter to our 

 board of governors for its approval. The board of governors of our 

 association approved the agreement but the inspection rules committee of 

 the National Hardwood Lumber Association refused to approve of the 



action of the executive commit- 

 tee of its association and our 

 efforts failed to accomplish any 

 definite results. I believe, how- 

 ever, that these conferences left 

 l)0th sides with a better under- 

 standing of each other, and per- 

 haps the earnest effort made by 

 those committees shall not have 

 been entirely lost. 



The Hardwood Manufacturers' 

 Association holds itself at all 

 times in readiness to confer with 

 any organization that has for its 

 object the betterment of the in- 

 dustry, and the development of 

 one set of rules for the measure- 

 ment aud inspection of hardwood 

 lumber. 



In April last we began pub- 

 lishing our monthly sales report. 

 This sales report is a record of 

 actual sales of hardwood lumber 

 as reported by our members. 

 In our first booklet on sales re- 

 port, sales to the amount of a 

 little over 5,000,000 feet were 

 reported. In our December 15 

 sales report actual sales to the 

 amount of over 31,000,000 feet 

 were reported, an increase of 

 500 per cent in eight months. 

 While this increase is extremely 

 gratifying, at the same time it 

 is by no means as complete as 

 it should be, and I trust that 

 every member of this association 

 who is not already doing so will 

 resolve to henceforth make these 

 reports as requested by your 

 secretary. That these sales re- 

 ports even now, with only a 

 small proportion of the mem- 

 bership reporting, are appreci- 

 ated by those who receive them, 

 and that they are of value is 

 evidenced by the fact that a 

 number of our members are re- 

 ciuesting extra copies to place in 

 the hands of their salesmen, as 

 well as by the number of letters 

 of commendation received from 

 contributing members. These 

 sales reports are sent to all 

 members who contribute by re- 

 porting their sales. If all 

 members would report sales, the sales reports alone would be worth many 

 times the cost of membership in the association. If all members would 

 report stocks of lumber on hand and contribute credit information from 

 time to time, as requested by the secretary, these features of your associa- 

 tion coBld be made much more valuable to the membership. 



It is absolutely vital that your officers have the co-operation of the 

 members of the association to succeed. The benefits derived will be in 

 direct proportion to the extent to which you as members co-operate with 

 them. Our association is in excellent condition. Our membership Is 

 Increasing. We are out of debt, and as will be shown by the treasurer's 

 report we have a nice balance in the treasury. If the members of our 

 association could be induced to co-operate with its officers in the various 

 activities of the association to the same extent and as faithfully as they 

 pay their membership dues, we would have an association which in the 

 scope of its activities, membership and influence would soon dominate the 



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