22 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



sentation of professional men and an equal number of employers 

 and emploj'es. This commission conferred together for a consider- 

 able period and worked as a unit without any apparent desire on 

 the part of any faction to drive a hard bargain with the others. 

 As a result the law, as outlined in the report at the convention of 

 the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association at Cincinnati, 

 meets every phase of the question squarely and successfully, and 

 provides for adequate insurance in event of accident without 

 working any injustice to the employer. 



The operation of the act so far has been highly successful and 

 in every case the beneficiaries have received their benefits in full 

 at a minimum cost. It is provided in the act that emploj'ers must 

 reimburse the insurance fund which is created by assessing the 

 various industries, by half the benefits paid, when accidents are 

 due to noncompliance with existing laws providing for safety 

 appliances. It is the aim of the act to raise only sufficient 

 funds to make the insurance fund itself neither more nor 

 less than self-supporting. This 

 means that basing it on per- 

 centage of payroll, which is 

 the manner of assessment, the 

 cost will represent but one per 

 cent of that amount. A pro- 

 vision is made in the act for 

 assessments only when they 

 are needed as the fund de- 

 creases, hence there is an addi- 

 tional incentive to employers 

 to do all in their power to pre- 

 vent accidents. 



The act is more conipleti'ly 

 outlined in the report of the 

 convention contained in this 

 issue of Hardwood Eecoed, and 

 might well serve as a model on 

 which to formulate similar acts 

 in other states. 



Abolition of Commerce 

 Court 



The decisive vote in the 

 House of Representatives on 

 May 9 of one hundred and 

 twenty to forty-nine amounts 

 practically to the abolition of 

 the C'onmierc-e court, and is not 

 an unexpected ]ihase of Wash- 

 ington legislation. It is be- 

 lieved that the Senate will con- 

 cur in the vote of the House. 

 While the Court of Commerce is 

 a pet measure of President Taf t, 



there seems to be such a general feeling the country over that this 

 court has played into the hands of the railroads to such an extent as 

 to make its continuation undesirable, hence there is a well-defined 

 desire on the i)art of the general business public that it be abolished. 



Undeniably the President will feel that this action tends to upset 

 his pet contention against the recall of the judiciary, but at the 

 same time it is not believed that he has strength enough, even if 

 he should veto the enactment, to succeed in continuing this re- 

 actionary court, whose unpiqiularity hns steadily increased. 



Men of the Meaner Sort 



Men of ihe meaner sort men of the section gang — 



Men of the pick-stroke men of the hammer clang — 



Men of construction camps, forcing the track 



Always ahead, with not a look back 



Into the wilderness put through the right of way 



On which you are gliding so smoothly to-day. 



Men of the meaner sort? maybe but then 



The work that they do is the work of men. 



Men of the meaner sort men of the safety lamp, 

 Facing the cave-in, daring the fire damp 

 Gnomes of the coal mine — down in the dark. 

 Toiling like Vulcans, sweating and stark. 

 Digging out coal that your house may be warm. 

 Though deep the snow and chill winds storm. 

 Men of the meaner sort? maybe — but then 

 The work that they do is the work of men. 



Men of the meaner sort -men of the forest tracks — 

 Men of the lumber camp men of the ax — 

 Men of the logging trail — men of the clearing — 

 High of heart, strong of hand, pioneering. 

 Now^ >vhere the wolf howled rings out the ax stroke; 

 Now where the Indian skulked farm chimneys smoke. 

 Men of the meaner sort? — maybe — but then 

 The work that they do is the work of men. 



— Wex Jones 



The Cincinnati Meeting 



In this issue llARinviKiri Kkcorh lias a pretty thorough abstract of 

 everything that happened of importance at the tenth annual con- 

 vention of the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association. The 

 more important documents are carried in full or practically so, and 

 a thorough perusal and analysis of the work of the association is 

 worthy the attention of evervone interested in the lumber business. 



Especial attention is called to the analysis made concerning work- 

 men's compensation legislation, the trust question, adverse con- 

 ditions affecting the lumber industry, the cypress situation, the 

 fire hazard attack on lumber, lumber prices, the attitude of the 

 Hardwood Manufacturers ' Association of the United States as 

 voiced by President DeLaney, and to other papers and discussions 

 of almost equal importance that had a hearing at this time. 



The confidence of the allied associations in the corps of officers 

 of the association was fully emphasized in the reelection of nearly 

 the entire board of officers and board of governors. 



It is thoroughly believable that the National Lumber Manufac- 

 turers' Association is fulfilling an important function in connection 

 with the lumber industry. 



Conditions Affecting the Lumber Industry 



No one who attended the annual meeting •of the National 

 Lumber Manufacturers' Association at Cincinnati this week 



could fail to realize that the 

 adverse condition affecting the 

 lumber industry was the one 

 subject that was first in the 

 minds of everj' prominent dele- 

 gate in attendance. There 

 seems to be a combination of 

 distressing conditions sur- 

 rounding the industry at the 

 present time, which, unless 

 remedied, means chaos to a 

 large share of the industry. A 

 good many decisions of the In- 

 terstate Commerce Commission 

 for years have been inimical 

 to the interests of the lumber 

 trade, and the more recent rul- 

 ings of the Commerce Court 

 have in nearly all cases been 

 against lumbermen. The long- 

 dragged-out alleged investiga- 

 tion of the Department of 

 Justice contending that a 

 "lumber trust" exists, has 

 been a serious handicap to the 

 trade, and while there is no 

 question that the outcome of 

 this investigation will clear the 

 industry of even a suspicion of 

 trust methods, it is having its 

 serious effect, notably by in- 

 spiring the yellow newsjiaper 

 and magazine press to con- 

 stantly repeated attacks on the 

 integrity of the trade. 



Timber values are showing 

 a constant accretion. Food supplies for both workmen and live 

 stock have reached almost a panic value stage, with the result 

 that the cost of production has advanced to such an extent that 

 the majority of lumber manufacturers are scarcely able to produce 

 a new dollar for an old one, and in many instances very substan- 

 tial losses are being sustained in lumber production. This is espe- 

 cially true on the Pacific coast. Cypress manufacturers are mak- 

 ing little money, and a good many northern producers have not 

 succeeded in developing any profit out of their business. 



Hardwoods are perhaps in better shape from a profit viewpoint 

 than any of the building woods, but still the profit in this line of 

 production is so inconsequential that the business is being carried 

 on with little factor of safety between cost and jirices possible 

 to be realized. 



While the volume of trade is generally improving and prices of 

 hardwoods are materially advancing, this situation is not reflected 

 in a marked degree in the building wood industry. It is hoped that 



