3° 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



on log input established a decrease of eleven per cent during the 

 year in all woods aid a decrease of fourteen per cent in the input 

 of hardwood logs. 



Secretary Kellogg deplored conditions which will permit the mar- 

 keting of log grade stock at far less than cost. He quoted the 

 figures of a prominent Wisconsin manufacturer as showing a total 

 manufacturing and marketing cost of $11.73, against an average 

 selling price of $6.44 for No. 3 hemlock. The same firm showed 

 proportionate figures for hardwoods. 



In discussing the question of insurance among the members of 

 the association, the secretary stated that the average ratio of 

 losses to premiums on the present basis is thirty per cent for 

 sawmills, twenty-eight per cent for planing mills and thirteen 

 ])er cent for the yards. 



After touching briefly on general advertising of lumber by the 

 association members, Secretary Kellogg closed with an analysis of 

 general market and trade conditions that were both comprehensive 

 and encouraging. 



President E. H. Hamar then presented the following report: 



President's Address 



Since our annual meeting held Jan. 31, we have seen a steady improve- 

 ment in market conditions, notably in hemlock and low-grade hardwoods. 

 The general condition in the country is gradually improving in all lines 

 of trade. The presidential election is no longer a bugbear, and from 

 present indications business men and business interests are doing business 

 regardless of politics. All indications point to a strengthening market, 

 and if we do not get the cost plus a fair profit out of our lumber during 

 the coming year, we shall have no one to blame but ourselves, as apparently 

 we are our own competitors. The cargo market on hemlock at upper 

 Lake Michigan points is now about $14 for merchantable 10 to 16 feet. 

 This means practically $15 for No. 1 and $13 for No. 2. How many of 

 us are getting this shipping by rail after deducting yarding and carrying 

 cost? It is a self evident fact that the large wholesalers are looking 

 for a good market, or they would not be laying in stock at these prices. 

 Another indication of the strength of the market is the constant inquiry 

 from eastern points. 



At the annual meeting our president was instructed to appoint an 

 advertising committee to look into the matter of joining the National 

 association in its advertising campaign, or of carrying on an independent 

 campaign. Such committee was appointed and will report today with its 

 recommendations, which I trust will bf favorably acted upon. We 

 lumbermen have boon asleep while the patent roofing man, the cement 

 man, the stucco man and numerous others have been carrying on extensive 

 advertising campaigns. All of the building substitutes are floated by 

 liberal advertising. There is not a patent roofing or building substitute 

 that is not sold almost exclusively on an advertising basis. If the lumber- 

 men are going to head off this encroachment, they must do it through 

 advertising. 



Your secretary, as instructed at the annual meeting, has been gathering 

 statistics regarding the amount of money expended by the members for 

 insurance during a stated period of years. In this work he has been 

 partially successful. He has, however, found some members averse to 

 giving him the necessary figures. As long as the rates are not asked for 

 we can see no good reason for not giving him the information. A compila- 

 tion of these figures plainly shows that the lumber manufacturer has 

 been paying too much for insurance. There are now a number of good, 

 well managed inter-insurance associations in the field that insure at 

 actual cost. These associations will bear investigation and we think they 

 can be made the means of saving our members a large amount of money. 



One of the things the members of this association should take into 

 consideration is the matter of forest fire protection. We have in the 

 upper peninsula of Michigan a well organized association with secretary in 

 charge and a number of forest rangers. Why could not the Wisconsin 

 timber holders join this association and make one large organization of it? 

 I think that this is worthy of your individual consideration. 



We have with us today a member of the Wisconsin Industrial Commis- 

 sion who will later address you on safeguarding machinery. Up to 

 the present time, or rather until the workman's compensation law was es- 

 tablished, we have been a little careless of this part of our business. I 

 think it a good plan for a manager of a plant to take an occasional trip 

 through the lower part of his mill looking for unguarded places. A 

 foreman becomes so accustomed to seeing these exposures that ht- becomes 

 hardened to them and they cease to appear dangerous. 



Following this report, the president opened a discussion of the 

 question of inter-insurance among the association members and 

 manufacturers in Michigan. He suggested that operators in Mich- 

 igan and Wisconsin organize an inter-insurance company, stating 

 that present companies of that type can carry about fifty per cent 

 of the possible business. It was moved by A. L. Osborn and car- 

 ried that the president appoint a committee of three to look into 



the possibilities of such an organization, separate from the asso- 

 ciation, and report at the next meeting. 



C. W. Price of the Wisconsin Industrial Commission gave an 

 interesting talk on the Possibilities and Actual Accomplishments 

 in Preventing Accidents and Loss of Life in Industrial Plants. 

 Mr. Price had provided an exhibit of several hundred pictures 

 illustrating present methods in use in large plants for safeguard- 

 ing workmen. He told of results of the application of modem 

 ideas for the protection of men in some of the largest plants in the 

 country, citing as an example the plan of the Hlinois Steel Com- 

 pany, the father of the movement. This concern in eight years 

 reduced the number of accidents over fifty per cent. The system 

 as explained by Mr. Price embodies not only the installation of 

 safeguards, but a campaign of education among the workmen, 

 inspection and meetings of foremen of dejiartments, with the idea 

 of bringing out ideas through discussion. 



In closing Mr. Price said that the Wisconsin Industrial Commis- 

 sion is endeavoring to promote the scheme on the same basis as it 

 is already applied privately, and is incorporating the best ideas of 

 all the present systems. 



B. A. Johnson, editor Lumber World Review, Chicago, spoke 

 broadly on the subject of a forest products exhibition, enumerat- 

 ing the possible features of such a function and the benefits to 

 the lumber trade at large. A motion then prevailed that the presi- 

 dent appoint a committee to co-operate with any other committees 

 which may be appointed by any of the other associations. 



W. A. Collar, chairman of the railroad committee, spoke of the 

 threatened withdrawal of railroads running into Chicago territory 

 of the concentrating rate on box lumber. It was moved that the 

 committee do everything possible to prevent such a withdrawal, 

 and that its members attend the hearing of the box manufacturers 

 in Chicago on April 18. 



The report of Chairman MeCullough of the advertising com- 

 mittee was then read as follows: 



Eeport of Advertising Committee 



I am firmly convinced that we should advertise. Every substitute for 

 lumber, both for rough construction and finish, have been busily pushed 

 for some time, and are making serious inroads on our business. We have 

 been asleep, and this is strikingly brought home by a recent letter to our 

 secretary from the editor of a building and engineering magazine who 

 says : 



We take the lilxu'ty of stating that the reasons our pages contain so 

 much cemi'nt news, etc., is on account of the fact that the cement manu- 

 facturers keep us constantly supplied with such data. etc.. and despite our 

 frank requests, we have never yet succeeded in getting even a line from 

 any lumber firm, although we are and have always been ready to give 

 such articles space. 



The further I look into this matter the more convinced I am that we 

 should do something in the way of proper advertising. A campaign can 

 be carried on, of course, for any amount we care to spend, but I believe 

 a great many will be 'as surprised as I have been to know how eflCective 

 a publicity campaign can be carried on for a comparatively small amount. 



For instance — an attractive booklet can be gotten up, and all necessary 

 information could be placed in the hands of architects and builders direct 

 from our secretary's ofllce for not to exceed $.'iO per thousand. I under- 

 stand there are approximately 5.000 architects in the United States. 



I am sure that a much more effective campaign could be carried on by 

 using a few advertising mediums that will roach the very people who in- 

 fluence the character of materials usimI in private and public construction 

 of all kinds. 



In reply to our secretary's circular of Feb. 23, asking for data on 

 advertising from each of our members, forty-five answers were received. 

 Of this number, twenty-oigbt firms report no expenditure at all for adver- 

 tising, and seventeen members report a total expenditure of $0,300 per 

 year. This circular was sent to eighty members, so it appears thirty-five 

 failed to report at all. We certainly can assume that the total amount 

 spent by all our members for advertising is at least from $9,000 to 

 $10,000 per year. Some of the answers given by the members as to the 

 effectiveness of their advertising, replying to the question : "What in your 

 opinion have been the results of your advertising';" are as follows: 



"Not very effective.** 



"Not that we are able to see." 



"Has not benefited us very much." 



"Scwes to keep name only before dealers." 



"Sliahl." 



".Always." 



"None." 



"Not what it should l]i' in comparison to the amounl sp.'ut." 



".\dvortise only to kei'p our iianii' familiar. Uo not look for direct 

 results." 



"None." 



"Has increased number of inquiries in some territory." 



"It may to some extent, but doubt if it pays." 



