18 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Meeting Wisconsin HardWood Lumbermen's Ass'n. 



A special spring meeting of the Wiscon- 

 sin Hardwood Lumbermen's Association 

 was held at Grand Eapids, Wis., on Tues- 

 day, March li». in the handsome club rooms 

 of the Elks, the use of which was tendered 

 President E. P. Arpin as a courtesy of the 

 order. 



Xhe meeting was called to order at 10:30, 

 with President Arpin in the chair, and Sec- 

 retary A. E. Beebee at his desk. The min- 

 utes, of the September meeting at Milwau- 

 kee were read and approved. 



Applications for membership were re- 

 eeived 'from the Steven & Jarvis Lumber 

 Company of Eau Claire, Stolle-Barndt Lum- 

 ber Company of Tripoli, and from the 

 Cooper .V Maxso'n Lumber Company of Mil- 

 waukee. All the applications were acted 

 upon favorably and the several houses were 

 elected to membership. 



President Arpin addressed the conven- 

 tion, making the suggestion that it was a 

 very favorable time for all the members 

 present to get thoroughly acquainted with 

 each other ami talk over trade conditions, 

 and mi behalf of the Consolidated Water- 

 power Company of Grand Kapids invited the 

 members and their guests to visit the great 

 eleetrfcal plant of this company before leav- 

 ing the city. He then made the following 

 address: 



President Arpin 's Address. 



In accordance with our custom of recent years 

 io meet each spring and compare notes as to 

 output ot logs, amount of lumber on hand and 

 the outlook lor trade, your president and sere- 

 tary called this meeting for this time and place. 



It is tin- tirst time the association has met in 

 the city of Grand Kapids. and it is with pleasure 

 that I welcome you here. Grand Rapids, with 

 its number of railroads, has become of late 

 quite a convention city, and I feel that you have 

 been aide to reach this point unite readily and 

 trust thai your visit here will be a pleasant 

 one. If you have the time to spare. I am sure 

 that you will be repaid by a visit to the Con- 

 solidated Water Power Company's plant here. 

 which is one of the Largest paper mills operated 

 by electricity in the United states. Xhe last six 

 months has' witnessed a continued and enlarged 

 di niand for Wisconsin hardwoods. This lias 

 been occasioned partly by the car shortage, 

 which lias prevented the lumber from the south 

 and west entering into the central states. The 

 low grade hardwoods were never in such demand 

 and the prices were never so high as at the 

 present time. The logging conditions in the 

 south last summer and fall were unfavorable, 

 owing io the wet weather. 



The manufacturing interests have all been 

 very active and the call for lumber has been 

 constantly growing. All these conditions have 

 caused an increase in deinaud and prices for 

 hardwoods. 



Added to this is the extra cost for logging 

 last winter, owing to the increase in wages and 

 the unfavorable conditions, aud we can readily 

 see why prices of hardwoods are now up mi 

 such a high level. The car shortage aud the 

 result of the agitation caused thereby, which 

 has crystallized in the demand for the reciprocal 

 demurrage law, is a subject of vital importance 

 to the lumber industry. The importance of this 

 problem is one that is now seriously considered 

 by all the industries of the United States, aud 

 none more so than the lumber industry. The 

 Lumbermen have always been classed as a con- 

 servative element, and were slow to make com- 

 plaints against the railways. This has been 

 evidenced by the fact that at the conventions 

 for rate regulations held a year ago last October, 

 the lumbermen were mostly defending the rail- 

 roads, and now we are quite surprised to find 

 most of them joining to urge that the railways 

 make a determined effort" to furnish motive 

 power and cars to take care of the business 

 offered to them. 



Permanent prosperity requires a healthy 

 activity of commerce in all ways. While the 



car shortage has apparently caused a high level 

 of prices, it will readily be seen that there is a 

 great waste at both ends of the line, which the 

 country must ultimately feel, provided this con- 

 dition 'of affairs continues to exist. There is a 

 feeling among most of the business interests 

 that the railways are too indifferent to the 

 seriousness of the present situation. On the 

 other hand, the railway people feel that they 

 have been doing their very best, and that the 

 people do not appreciate their, efforts. 



Tlie fact remains that there is a growing 

 feeling of antagonism between the shipping 

 interests and the railways, and it is to be hoped 

 that this will not continue to grow. Kate 

 regulation is now a fact as far as law can make 

 it so. and the railways ought to obey the spirit 

 of the law. This rate regulation was persist- 

 ently opposed by the railways. It is only of 

 recent date that one of the foremost railroad 

 men stated that rate regulation was a good 

 thing, and it ought to be improved by being 

 made- more stringent. This might mean that 

 there are other things which they have opposed 

 and which they know are really out of just ire 

 due the people. The very fact of the govern- 

 ment's inability to secure what is fair may 



decide for government ownership most any ti 



that the railroads make a persistent stand 

 against what the people know is right. 



One of the important subjects for our associa- 

 tion to consider is the securing of a uniform rule 

 "i inspection and grades. There has been a grow 

 ing sentiment toward making changes to define 

 the grades more closely than heretofore, and to 

 furnish the manufacturer such a grade of Lum- 

 ber as he can use with the best economy. He 

 sometimes pays for a better grade of lumber 

 than he might use economically. 



the growing scarcity of lumber suggests the 

 need to avoid all waste possible. Therefore 

 lumber should be trimmed to odd lengths, when 

 possible, instead of even lengths as heretofore. 

 A live association necessarily requires consider 



E. 1'. ARPIN, PRESIDENT, GRAND RAPIDS. 



able active work through its committees, and 

 tins,, committees usually are obliged to incur 

 considerable expense in traveling. Our associa- 

 tion dues now are so small that they do not 

 provide an adequate sum for these expenses by 

 our committees, and we should levy an assess- 

 ment to meet this need. 



You have all read the detailed report of the 

 car -lake situation, so will not speak at any 

 length on this subject. Some of the railways 

 are placing steel car stakes on flat and gondola 

 cars and are sending them out to be loaded with 

 Lumber. Some of our associations have been 

 notified that these cars have been sent out to 

 them, but as yet we have not received any 

 report of their being used. 



The value of association has become recog- 

 nized more and more as being great and it is to 

 be hoped that the Wisconsin Hardwood Lumber- 

 men's Association will continue to take the 

 active hand that it has in the past. 



The secretary has been very faithful in his 

 work and has a report to make of the stocks 

 on hand. The committee on west bound coast 

 rates have received repeated assurances from 

 the railroads of their good intentions to put 

 reduced rates in effect. The matter now seems 



to depend on the Harriman lines to decide as 

 the other lines promised to work for this rate. 



II. A. Jones, general traffic manager of the 

 Southern Pacific, recently wrote that they hoped 

 that this matter would soon be brought up 

 before the Transcontinental Freight Bureau and 

 intimated that their line would favor the reduc- 

 tion. It is the delays and avoidances of put- 

 ting in effect simple justice like this rate matter 

 that cause even the conservative lumbermen to 

 question the sincerity of the railroad managers. 



The railways tire at work trying to raise rates 

 by making a change in classification. Some 

 changes have been made and the railways 

 threaten a general rise in rates. The meeting 

 of the Lumber Manufacturers' Association will 

 lake place at Norfolk. Va., May 28. and a com- 

 mittee to attend, should be appointed. 



Secretary A. E. Beebee' then read his 



report as follows: 



Secretary's Report. 



Since lite annual meeting of this association 

 September last we have lost six firms from our 

 membership roll, caused by their selling out 

 their business aud other reasons. The names 

 of the firms withdrawn are : 



T. D. Kellogg Lumber & Manufacturing Com- 

 pany. Antigo. 



Little Wolf River Lumber Company. Manawa. 



South Arm Lumber Company. Milwaukee. 



Star Lumber Company, Upson. 



C. Wuuderlich Lumber Company," Antigo. 



Hells Lumber & Shingle Company, Eau Claire. 



This reduces our membership to fifty-four 

 firms, not including the applications for mem 

 bership received and acted upon at the meeting 

 today. 



I Hiring the last few mouths there has been a 

 large demand for copies of our grading rules 

 from lirms not members of this association, and 

 our supply of said books of grading rules is 

 nearly exhausted. We understand that the 

 national associations are contemplating revising 

 their rules, therefore hardly think it best to 

 have a new supply of the books of rules printed 

 till after we see what changes are made in the 

 national rules, but of course this is a matter 

 for this meeting to determine. 



At the September, 1906, meeting at Milwaukee 

 a grading bureau committee was appointed, and 

 lie result of their labor will be seen in a report 

 from said committee which will be read at this 



meeting. 



A few weeks ago the secretary sent out 

 pamphlets to all members describing the credit 

 rating book of the National Lumber Manufac 

 liners' Association. Prom all we can ham 

 i hose who have subscribed for the credit rating 

 book are well pleased, and we wisli all members 

 of this association who are not subscribers to 

 look this matter up carefully. 



tin March 1 the secretary sent out blanks tor 

 lumber statistics. Replies were received from 

 twenty-seven firms. A summary of said reports 

 is presented in connection with this report. 



This report was accepted. 



The Grading Bureau appointed at the 



Milwaukee meeting in September reported 



.is follows: 



Grading Bureau Committee Report. 



The grading bureau committee, appointed at 

 lite Milwaukee meeting in September, 1906, met 

 a i Marshtield, March S, with all members 

 present. 



The situation was thoroughly canvassed as to 

 cost of establishing and maintaining a grading 

 bureau for inspection at the mills on the lines 

 of similar work as carried on by the Northern 

 Pine Association and the Northwestern Hemlock 

 Association. Also the probable financial support 

 that could be obtained at this time from the 

 manufacturers in this association, and it was 

 your committee's unanimous opinion that this 

 work could not be done at this time without 

 the financial burden of same falling too heavily 

 upon only a few members. To carry this work 

 forward "it would require a secretary-chief-in- 

 spector who could devote his entire time to the 

 work and possibly one additional inspector, at a 

 probable cost of $3,000 or more annually. From 

 the information we had before us, and estimates 

 made by the committee, a sufficient amount of 

 money could not be raised at this time to carry 

 the work to a successful conclusion. 



We respectfully submit the above as our full 

 report and ask to be relieved from further 

 service on this committee. 



F. H. Paudoe. 



George H. Chapman. 



George E. Foster. 



