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The mass meeting of lumbermen, timber owners, and manufacturers 

 wliich was set for February 24 and 25, at La Salle hotel, Chicago, 

 for the purpose of organizing a Forest Products Federation, was 

 called to order at 10:30 a, m. by E. H. Downman, chairman of the 

 executive committee. 



The United States was represented from all its parts. A number 

 of persons were in attendance from the Pacific coast, while the Atlan- 

 tic region, the Lake stat<>s, the South, the Plains states, and the 

 central territory sent well-known lumbermen to the meeting. All the 

 leading associations had one or more men present at the opening of 

 the first session, and tlie attendance increased later. 



The purposes for which the meeting was called were stated by 

 E. A. Sterling, secretary, in a paper that touched only the main 

 points by way of suggestions, and left the details and the working 

 out of plans to those present. Little more than two months have 

 passed since the idea of a federation of forest and lumber interests 

 first assumed visible form; but within that time much work of a 

 preliminary nature has been done. In addition to numerous letters 

 written to individuals, more than 32,000 printed circulars and cards 

 have been mailed from the Chicago office at 1621 Otis building, by 

 the secretary and B. S. Kellogg, treasurer of tlie federation. 



Mr. Sterling's paper, which might be called the preface to the 

 meeting, pointed out certain things which dealers in lumber ought to 

 earnestly consider. The first of these is that wood has held its 

 ground chiefly because it sells itself, and that a time has now come 

 when it is questionable whether it can continue to do so in the same 

 way. Whatever steps may be taken to j)romoto the uses of forest 

 products, should consider all woods, and not those of particular 

 regions or certain kinds. The movement, if it means anything, is 

 broad enough to take care of all alike, with promotion for all and 

 booms for none. 



Mr. Sterling laid particular stress upon the fact that the field for 

 the chief work lies outside the lumber business, not within. Buyers, 

 not sellers, are the men to reach. The ultimate users are the ones who 

 can make or mar the whole lumber business, because they are the 

 court of last resort, to adopt or reject wood when it is presented in 

 competition with other materials. 



Building Codes 



The report of the committee on building codes struck straight to 

 the business in hand. The committee was assisted in the preparation 

 of the report by the United States Forest Products Laboratory at 

 Madison, Wis. That assistance was extremely opportune, because 

 when the committee took up its work it discovered that there was no 

 directory and little information covering that subject, and it ap- 

 peared that building codes of the hundreds of cities which have or 

 ought to have them could be consulted only after months of labor in 

 bringing them together. It was found, however, that the Madison 

 Laboratory had already done that work, and the director, Howard F. 

 Weiss, placed in the hands of the committee a summary of the in- 

 formation desired. 



It was declared that building codes constitute an unexplored field 

 for lumbermen. They never consult them, and often do not know 

 that such things exist; yet it frequently happens that these very 

 codes do more than anything else to shut wood from places which it 

 formerly filled and which it ought to continue to fill. The reason for 

 that is, that a city's building code specifies what kinds of material 

 shall be used in buildings, and if no lumberman or other person 

 interested in seeing wood used has a hand in compiling the codes, 

 the probability is that wood will get a shabby deal, and that is 

 exactly what it has been getting. 



Other building materials are looked after by persons whose busi- 

 ness it is to do so; but it seems to have been nobody's business 

 to look after wood when most of the building codes were made up. 

 In fact, it was intimated that the most prolific writers of building 

 codes in the United States are the insurance companies. One city 

 which found that the cost of preparing a code would exceed $15,000 

 was generously offered one free by the insurance people. 



Figures were quoted to illustrate the enormous inconsistencies con- 

 tained in different codes in specifying strength and other properties 

 demanded in building timbers. Variations ran as high as 200 per 

 cent in some instances. There seems to be no standard whatever in 

 wood, according to the wild and meaningless specifications discov- 

 ered in comparing the code of one city with that of another. That 

 is because nobody is looking after the interest of wood when the 

 codes arc being compiled. 



Wliatever gets in, as specifications, must be complied with by the 

 lumberman who furnishes the stuff; and what chance has he, com- 

 pared with the steel, stone, cement, and tile dealer who finds prac- 

 tically the same specifications in his lines (and reasonable specifica- 

 tions) everywhere? The interests of all dealers in building materials 

 are looked after by competent experts, except wood, and that has 

 been left to chance and the tender mercies of its enemies. 



One of the first things the Federation should do, according to the 

 committee 's recommendation, will be to make it somebody 's business 

 to look after wood and see that it gets proper consideration and 

 receives just recognition in the building codes of towns and cities. It 

 was shown by statistics that in some cities there is a hea^•y decrease 

 in the number of frame buildings erected ; and the blame for it is 

 placed on the pitiful consideration accorded wood in building codes, 

 and to the energetic campaign carried on by the sellers of substitutes. 

 There is just now a strong tendency in the countrj- to revise building 

 codes, and now is the time to get in the best licks. 



It was further urged that steps be taken to standardize the names 

 of woods; to adopt and use one name only for each wood. At present, 

 some common woods have three or four names, and when used in 

 specifications, confusion and serious misunderstandings often result. 

 One name should belong to one wood, no matter where it is bought, 

 sold, and used. The code committee consisted of J. V. O'Brien, 

 chairman, E. H. Burgess and W. W. Knight. Mr. Burgess read the 

 committee's report. 



Among the men who spoke on the building code question were 

 Howard W. Weiss, of tlie Madison Laboratory, Herman von Schrenck 

 and Julius Seidel of St. Louis. 



Right and Wrong Methods op Promotion 



A discussion in which a number of prominent men took part was 

 introduced by Robert D. Kohn of New York, president of the 

 National Fire Protection Association, under the text : ' ' The Right 

 and Wrong Way to Promote the Use of Wood in Buildings. ' ' The 

 speaker said he was a practical architect and spoke from his knowl- 

 edge of that subject and from his experience in New York and else- 

 where. He said that two causes were open to the Federation. One 

 he called the open democratic policy, the other the dog-in-the-manger 

 policy. If the former is followed, wood will be pushed only along 

 those lines where it can be wisely used; but if the dogin-the-inanger 

 course is adopted, there will be a fight against every material that 

 can take the place of wood, regardless of whether it is better or 

 worse than wood. Hope was expressed that the latter course would 

 not be followed. 



Lumber interests have not gone to enough pains to prove their 

 case, said Mr. Kohn. They should make sure of their facts and 

 figures, and then drive them home in a way to make them stick. For 

 instance, the speaker gave it as his opinion, and as the opinion of 

 other architects of his acquaintance, that wooden floors, properly 

 laid, and properly isolated by partitions, do not increase fire risk in 

 tall business blocks; but lumbermen have taken no trouble to prove 

 this, or to furnish figures and facts, or to convince architects that it 

 is so. He expressed a similar opinion regarding wooden trim in tall 

 buildings; but lumbermen seem to have lain down and have not 

 taken advantage of the opportunity to push wood into that important 

 place. All the propaganda has been against wood for that place, noth- 

 ing to help it along. Nearly the same thing was said of heavy 

 wooden beams, of suitable kinds, in New York. The impression has 

 gone out in that district that good heavy timbers can no longer be 

 had, so architects are specifying steel. At the same time there are 



