niiitii vn i; inr.si- 



SICCltlCTAHY 



quietly anj seriously stated that lie had always considered Green- 

 castle, Ind., to bo quite some town, but after listening to Mr. Sul- 

 livan 's glowing account of Buffalo, he was led to the conclusion that 

 Buffalo might have a shade on his home place, after all. 



President Bamaby then introduced Arthur W. Kreinhcdcr, jiresi 

 dent of the Buffalo Lumbermen's Exchange, who extended the formal 

 welcome of that body to the convention attendants. Mr. Kreinhcdcr 

 outlined the preparations that had been made for taking care of 

 the visitors in an expeditious and pleasant manner, and expressed 

 himself as sincerely ho{)eful that the plans would work out smoothly, 

 so that the enjoyment of Buffalo's guests would not be marred 

 in any way. 



Mr. Kreinheder went on to outline briefly the development of the 

 Buffalo Lumber Exchange, stating that it was originally formed as 

 the Buffalo Lumber and Stave Association in 1880. This name was 

 subsequently changed in 1886 to the Buffalo Lumber Exchange. The 

 purpose of the organization, as expressed by the speaker, is not to 

 work for the interest of any one faction, but rather to do everything 

 possible ,to foster the luml)er business of Buffalo as a whole and to 

 boost Bqffalo. He then enumerated the various successive presidents 

 and gav« the terms. 9JE office of each. 



Mr. I'yreinheder Eulogized the National Hardwood Lumber A.sso- 

 ciation and its purposes and efforts, and closed with a facetious story 

 of the arrangements which had (presumably) been made to remove 

 from the city temporarily those city oflBcials who, through a mis- 

 taken s«)nse of dutj-, might interefere with the enjoyment of the 

 city's guest.s. 



President Bai^iaby announced after Mr. Kreinheder had retired 

 that he wanted the youngest member of the association to acknowl- 

 edge the cordiality of the welcome. After affected difliculty in 

 picking the man he wanted, the president's eye finally located John 

 M. Woods, who was requested to do the honors in behalf of the 

 National Hardwood Lumber Association. 



Mr. Woods' highly amusing little talks are already too famous to 

 need further exposition. Suffice it to say that he kept )iis audience 

 in a jierpetual state of laughter with his stories, his humorous denial 

 of Buffalo 's announced supremacy over Boston, and in fact with his 

 whole talk, only the latter part of which had any bearing as an 

 expression of appreciation of the cordiality of the other two speakers. 



When the applause for Mr. Woods had subsided. Secretary Fish 

 announced the excursion around Niagara Falls which was planned 

 for the afternoon. 



The next business iu order was the annual address of the president, 

 which follows: 



President's Address 



It is my plcasuri- to present to you a brief report at this our seven- 

 teenth annual meeting. We meet in Buff.nio again after on al>scnce of nine 

 years and. as is well liiiown. BulTalo .ind her lumliermen have had much to 



do with the success of thU organization. Our (Irst surveyor general wai a 

 KulTalo man and bis unselOsh and eDlcient work In the eorly days of 

 volunteer service had much to do with the early progress of the Inspec- 

 tion bureau. It is with much gratiflcatlon that we may renew the 

 rapid strides our association has made since the year 11)03. At that 

 lime, only nine years ago, wc had a membership of about three hundred — 

 today wc have practically reached the nine hundred mark. In the face 

 of business conditions of the past yinr ami the Increase of our annual 

 dues, wc have made a net gain of thlriy-llvc members. To accomplish 

 this result In the seventeenth year of an organization which ban enlisted 

 1,361 new members since 1905, means much more than would appear at a 

 casual glance. Statistics covering the a.ssoclatlon work and past experi- 

 ence prove that approximately twelve to flflecn percent of the member- 

 ship either fail or ^retire from business annually. This means on the 

 basis of the present association membership that about one hundred new 

 members must be secured every flscal year to prevent an actual loss, 

 so that the gain of 35 for the year Just ended must mean that 118 mem- 

 bers have been admitted. 



While wc must concede that the demand tor lumber is far from 

 normal, I believe there exist excellent reasons for taking an opttmlstic 

 view of the future. The depression is no more than would naturally fol- 

 low a marked change In administrative policies and as far os your 

 chairman has observed, stocks In the bands of consumers are very low 

 and the hand to mouth policy of buying is the present attitude of a 

 majority of them — so naturally, when business docs resume, we may all 

 expect a splendid demand. In the meantime. 11 may be wise lo redcct the 

 attitude of our government along the lines of "watchful waiting." 



Much has been said through the dally press in regard to the so-called 

 "lumber trust" I know that the National Hardwood Lumber Association 

 has violated no law and has absolutely nothing to fear and I do not 

 believe that any other lumber organization is trying to bide or cover 

 up any of Its movements. On the contrary, many of them are Insisting 

 on the government investigations In order to vindicate themselves in the 

 eyes of the public. The officers of this organization have been watching 

 the reports of the government and so far the only reference made by the 

 government that even Indirectly might effpct our work. Is In the asso- 

 ciated despatch article under date of April .'!0. where the Commissioner 

 of Corporations Is quoted as saying Ihnt "while it may be proper and 

 desirable for producers In any line of business to establish standard 

 srrades. It should be pointed out that the standardization of grades is the 

 (irst step in price fixing." Just how the commissioner would have the 

 lumbermen successfully carry on their business without standardization of 

 grades is unknown to your chalrmon. but I trust our committee on rules 

 have consulted this oracle. 



The year's work in the Inspection department shows total feet Inspected 

 l)y our salaried and fee inspectors of 101.000,000 feet. I firmly believe 

 that this total represents over 95 per cent of the hardwood lumber oHl- 

 clally Inspected during the year. We have this jear re-Inspected 1,711,- 

 000 feet, of which 1,291,000 feet was within the 4 per cent, leaving 

 420.00(5 feet over the 4 per cent. This splendid showing for the year's 

 work, in the face of unusual business conditions, is largely due to the 

 efliclency of our inspectors, and I want to lake Ibis opportunity to highly 

 commend their capability and loyalty. Of our thirty-three salaried In- 

 spectors (whose record in detail will appear in the report of the secretary) 

 all but eight have been with the association five years or more. The 

 future success of our inspection department will depend largely, as In 

 the past, on the fldcllty of these men and others which in the further 

 growth of the service it will be necessary to engage. 



Your president, secretary and other delegates attended the annual 



