meeting of tlii- Chamln'i- of Commcice of the U. S. of A., held in Washing- 

 ton last February. Too much stress cannot be laid on the importance of 

 the Chamber of Commerce, the great work it has done and opportunity for 

 Important work in the future. The Chamber of Commerce of the U. S. 

 of A., as you no doubt know, is a league of business organizations of the 

 United States and includes local chambers of commerce, boards of trade 

 and national trade associations, and is to serve the nation as a local 

 chamber of commerce serves the community in which It is situated. The 

 membership at the present time comprises over five hundred and thirty 

 organizations representing over two hundred and fifty thousand firms and 

 Individuals. The National Hardwood Lumber Association is a member of 

 this chamber of commerce and has the honor of being the largest trade 

 organization, numerically, belonging to that body. The Chamber of 

 Commerce has already been a powerful factor in shaping national legisla- 

 tion and its work is inestimable. I believe that the business men of our 

 nation can look with confidence to this large and representative body of 

 men to guard against the enactment of vicious legislation and promote 

 desirable and just laws. During the February meeting a National Trade 

 Organization Secretaries was organized consisting of the secretaries of 

 the National Trade Associations belonging to the Chamber of Commerce. 

 Its purpose through interchange of ideas by its secretaries is to increase 

 the efficiency of its members, to promote the interest of represented organ- 

 izations and to co-operate with the Chamber of Commerce of the U. S. 

 of A. This is a very important body of which much good will result. 

 Am glad to say that our secretary. F. F. Fish, was made chairman of 

 this National Trade Organization Secretaries. 



The present method of disbursements is upon a warrant drawn by the 

 secretary-treasurer and approved by the president. This means that all 

 voucher checks must be countersigned by the president. As most of the 

 •disbursements of our association are in settlement for salaries to our 

 Inspectors, it is, therefore, very important that vouchers be mailed 

 promptly the first of each month. The fact that these must be signed by 

 the president often causes delay. Inasmuch as our secretary-treasurer is 

 bonded by a surety company for a sum of $10,000, I recommend that the 

 countersigning by the president be dispensed with and the words "and 

 approved by the president" be stricken out of Article 2, Section 2 of the 

 by-laws relating to the drawing of the warrants for the disbursement of 

 funds. 



The executive committee deemed it advisable to sound a note of warning 

 in the April official bulletin regarding certain opposition to the applica- 

 tion of the rules of inspection now in force. In order to present the 

 matter clearly to this meeting, I can do no better than to introduce in 

 full the communication to which reference is made : 



lumber consumers to adopt the 1912 rules of inspection of the National 

 Hardwood Lumber Association, instead of using the 1913 rules, which we 

 consider a very unfair set of rules." 



"We can bring about this adherence to the 1912 rules at the present 

 time if we go after it and stay by it, because the lumbermen are anxious 

 to sell now. Later on, if we are not well organized and the lumber busi- 

 ness gets brisk, we may have some trouble." 



The two paragraphs quoted above are taken from a letter written to 

 a prominent furniture manufacturer by a former member of this asso- 

 ciation, who, though being a consumer of hardwood lumber, also possessed 

 connections with the manufacture of lumber sufficient to entitle him to 

 a membership. Not long since he resigned and, for good and sufficient 

 reasons, his resignation was promptly accepted by the board of managers. 



It is proper to call the attention of this membership to the fact that 



owing to rile Inspiration afforded by the ex-member quoted above and to 

 another disgruntled consuming member of this association, efforts are 

 being made on the part of various consuming organizations to discredit 

 and render nugatory the existing rules of inspection of this association. 



The form in which this attack is being made is in the nature of reso- 

 lutions adopted at the meetings of various consuming organizations, de- 

 nouncing the existing rules and declaring adherence to the rules of 1912. 



The wisdom of this course of action is seriously to be questioned. It 

 has never been the policy of this association to antagonize in any manner 

 the consumers of lumber, for to do so would be nothing less than sui- 

 cidal of the interests which it primarily seeks to serve. This association, 

 since its inception, has consistently stood for single and universal stan- 

 dard of inspection. In developing, maintaining and administering such 

 a standard, it has. In a broad sense, served the interests of the consumer 

 while serving the interests of its members. The standard which it has 

 developed and rendered effective by the most comprehensive inspection 

 service ever attempted, has not only enabled the lumbermen to determine 

 beyond question the grade of the lumber he is selling, but it has also 

 enabled the consumer to know with an equal degree of certainty the 

 grade of lumber he is buying. 



This association is not at war with, nor antagonistic to, any line of 

 trade. Its affairs are being administered along highest ethical lines. 

 It has, however, maintained a middle of the road policy and has never 

 been swerved from what a majority of its members believed to be right, 

 by any ephemeral condition of the market, nor by any extraneous influ- 

 ence. It has from time to time altered its rules of Inspection for the 

 purpose of conforming to new requirements of the trade, as they developed, 

 and to changing conditions under which lumber is produced. These altera- 

 tions have never been radical, but have always been framed with the 

 idea of occasioning the least possible disturbance to regularly established 

 grades. The existing rules of this association were unanimously adopted 

 by the largest number of its members ever assembled at a meeting. A 

 vast majority of the consuming trade would have accepted this dictum 

 without question or complaint had it not been for the pernicious activity 

 of two or three concerns whose representatives were present at the 

 meeting and who were not in harmony with the action taken. 



This membership should understand that the seeming contest involved 

 in the existing situation is not between this association and the consum- 

 ing trade as a whole, because that trade is not entirely unaware of the 

 benefits which this organization has conferred, but rather that the matter 

 is being agitated by a certain small element of the consuming trade and 

 that it is dictated wholly by selfish interest. Therefore, this is a time 

 for every member of this association to stand by the organization and to 

 absolutely refuse to be coerced or cajoled into yielding up a principle in 

 order to effect the sale of a car of lumber. 



National inspection can only be employed In the application of the 

 rules of the association now in effect ; and the protection assured by use 

 of this inspection is of greater value to a shipper under unfavorable 

 conditions of the market than at any other time. 



To contract lumber under rules that would deprive the Shipper of this 

 protection at a time when it is most needed would be most unwise and 

 would almost certainly result in annoyance and loss from which no 

 relief could be obtained. 



Evidence to the effect that this was no idle forecast is found in the 

 fact that on May 14 in Chicago a general federation of fourteen regional 

 associations composed of furniture and fixture manufacturers was con- 



immated. 

 While the announced purposes of this organizati 



along the legitl- 

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