MA> 



JOHN M. WOUUS, ICAST CAMUUIHIM;. MASS., 

 CHAIRMAN FORESTRY COMMITTKE 



male lines usually adopted where federated effort Is employed to smooth 

 the pathway to commercial and Industrial success. It has been publicly 

 announced lo the trade press, without denial on the part of the newly 

 orsanlzed federation, that Its immediate efforts are to be directed to the 

 substitution of the inspection rules existing before the annual meeting 

 In Chicago last year for the rules which are now In effect. Further, 

 according to the trade press, a resolution was adopted by that body 

 showing that they Intend using the 1912 rules of this organization only 

 until they have perfected Inspection rules of their own. The resolution 

 adopted reads as follows : 



"Resolved, that on the organization of the conferatlon of associations 

 a committee of seven be appointed to draw up a set of lumber specifica- 

 tions for the use of lumber consumers, and that until that committee 

 reports and its report Is adopted we adhere strictly to the 1912 rules of 

 the National Hardwood Lumber Association in all our lumber pur- 

 chases." 



That this is the primary object of the new organization becomes further 

 apparent from the fact that requests for quotations on hardwood lum- 

 ber from many members of the federation bear endorsement of the follow- 

 ing nature : 



"We accept lumber inspected according to National Hardwood Lumber 

 Association rales only. Rules adopted .lune. 1912." 



The issue, therefore, that Is fairly joined between the new federation 

 and this association is that they will purchase lumber only under the 

 1912 rules, while we can only administer the Inspection of this associa- 

 tion under the rules now In effect, and this is the Issue that must fairly 

 be met by this membership. According to the above quoted resolution, 

 rules of their own making will be used as soon as their committee of 

 seven has had time to make Its report. It Is, of course, unnecessary to 

 state if they are successful In their efforts and the members purchase 

 on their rules, the National Hardwood Lumber Association will have no 

 voice In the inspection and measurement of hardwood lumber as far as 

 this consuming body Is concerned. Cnn any hardwood lumberman Imagine 

 the state of affairs that would exist under these circumstances? 



It Is greatly to be regretted that a contest of this nature should have 

 been precipitated at this time, or at any other time ; but It is much more 

 to be regretted that the consuming trade should permit Itself to be mis- 

 led as to the attitude which this association sustains and always has 

 sustained toward that trade. 



It Is also to be regretted that a great body of business men such as 

 those of which this federation is composed should permit themselves to 

 be regarded as opportunists In the settlement of matters of grave and 

 permanent importance by taking advantage of a condition "when lumber- 

 men are anxious to sell," to enforce the stand taken by them, rather than 

 Ignoring momentary conditions of the market and discussing and settling 

 the question on its merits only. It would seem that they had learned 

 an unworthy lesson from the worse side of trade unionism, of which all 

 of them have complained so bitterly in the past. 



It Is not my purpose- to go into the details of the comparative state- 

 ments, diagrams of boards, etc., which have emanated from the main 

 exponents of opposition and which endeavor to demonstrate the lowered 

 value of existing grades as compared with the grades before the changes 

 in the rules complained of were made. Suffice It to say that these state- 

 ments and diagrams are based upon extreme cases and are, therefore, 

 absolutely misleading when applied to the general run of lumber. I am 

 also justified In the statement that they are not only misleading but 

 that they are Intentionally and willfully misleading. To illustrate, I 



quote briefly from the speech of the leader In this movement before the 

 Chicago conferoncf of hardwood consumers on May 14. In speaking of 

 the changes In rules, he says: "The lumbermen Justify the changes in 

 these rules on the plea that as logs grow poorer there Is less high-grade 

 lumber sawed out them, and they must, therefore, reduce the cutting 

 value of the upper grades In order to get an equal amount of the three 

 grades out of a poor log that they formerly got out of a good log. 

 This," he further says, "is so absolutely absurd, It not absolutely dis- 

 honest, on the face of It," that he must make a comparative Illustration, 

 as follows : "Formerly the Wisconsin farmers got forty bushels of wheat 

 from the rich virgin soil of Wisconsin, but as time went on and the 

 fertility of the soil was not kept up, the crop was only twenty-live to 

 thirty bushels to the acre. Now." he further says, "supposing the farmer 

 should go to the legislature and ask that the law be changed so that 

 forty pounds of wheat would make n bushel Instead of sixty, and then, 

 under the law. be would get about the same number of bushels he 

 formerly did." 



In answering this alleged eomparlscn, I can do no better than lo quote 

 from a recent editorial of a leading lumber paper, which says : "The man 

 who even "for the sake of argument' or 'after a manner of speaking' cam 

 .confuse quality grading with unit of measurement Is capable of almost 

 any sort of argument." 



Referring further to the same address, the speaker states 'that the 

 lumber Jobber dominates the National Hardwood Lumber Association, and 

 Insinuates that rules are made to enable him to milk the grades, and 

 that the jobber buys on "the first three gr.ndes of the National rules, 

 that Is, first and seconds. No. 1 common and No. 2 common, and then 

 sorts these three grades Into five or seven grades — the upper or selecU 

 being sold to a customer willing to pay for selects — the balance going to 

 somebody who could be bullied into accepling It as the grade under which 

 it was designated. It Is quite unnecessary for me to state to the mem- 

 bers of the National Hardwood Lumber A.ssoclatlon that our organiza- 

 tion Is not dominated by the Jobber, the large majority of our members 

 being manufacturers, and from two-thirds lo three-fourths of our board 

 of directors are manufacturers. At the same time I desire to emphasize 

 the fact that this association today invites and welcomes the support of 

 all legitimate Jobbers or wholesalers equally with that of the lumber 

 manufacturer. It is, of course, true that the closer the grading, the less 

 the opportunity for the very thing that Is complained of, that Is, rob- 

 bing the grades. The speaker, in addressln;; the federation of furniture 

 manufacturers, Is further quoted as saying : 



"About a year ago something over six hundred protests from lumber 

 consumers were filed with the National Hardwood Lumber Association, 

 protesting against any further changes in the rules of grading. So far 

 as the committee having this work in charge could see from the treat- 

 ment accorded, these numerous protests were Ignored. The committee 

 was never given an opportunity to be heard. No mention was ever made 

 of the protests by the secretary or the ofllcers to the delegates of that 

 convention." 



These statements are absolutely without foundation in fact, for the 

 association files show that Instead of ignoring the committee of con- 

 sumers who protested, the chairman of the inspection rules committee of 

 the National Hardwood Lumber Association wrote one of the Wisconsin 

 consumers most active in the agitation, under date of January 2T>, 1913, 

 as follows : 



"I assure you that the National Hardwood Lumber Association in 

 working out this problem of uniform Inspection has always considered 

 the Interests of the consumer. In fact, at times, we have been severely 

 criticized by some for our attitude toward the consumers claiming that 



