EVERETT G. GRIGGS, TACOMA, WASH, 

 PRESIDENT. 



R. H. VANSANT, ASHLAND, KY., 

 VICE-PRESIDENT. 



11. DUWN.MAN. NEW ORLEANS, LA., 

 VICE-PRESIDENT. 



industry furuishing more tonnage wbioh concerns the railroads and 

 population of the country than any other. 



The proper utilization of our trees can only be brought about by 

 national co-operation, because few communities where timber is growing 

 can utilize locally the entire product of the log. Transportation problems 

 confront us, and freight rates play tha most important part in the dis- 

 position of our product. Every day new problems concern us and nation- 

 ally we must meet them. 



I have asked the manager in his annual report to cover in detail the 

 operations of the past year, so that I will confine my report to generalities. 



In the work of the association, I had in mind the practical working out 

 of statistical information that would be concise and accurate and promptly 

 received by the membership while it was of value. The secretary, with 

 headquarters at St. Louis, has worked out some valuable statistics, which 

 will grow in value as comparisons can be made. To be of better service 

 it is only necessary for the membership to return responses promptly. 1 

 belie%-e we are on the road to securing data that will be of the utmost 

 value to the association and statistical information that will be authentic. 

 We hope to secure in time a businesslike inventory of our timber hold- 

 ings that will controvert the alarming assertions of the timber famine 

 bugaboos. 



With the now defunct reciprocity and its attendant waste in our own 

 log operations, the estimates of standing timber would be very easil.^' 

 modilied. T'nless we can find a market for the entire tree the amount of 

 timber cut to the acre will vary tremeudously and will nullify all esti- 

 mates of standing timber. The people must realize that as prices advance 

 timber holdings previously unavailable are opened up, and with higher 

 values less of the tree is wasted. The same devastation takes place with 

 timber that has taken place with every surplus nature has favored us. 

 Timber was cleared to make farms, farms sold to make cities, and water 

 has been going to waste for years and will until the population warrants 

 the investment necessary to harness it. 



During the past several years the efforts of a venal press and political 

 factions to establish in the eyes of the public a "lumber trust" seemed 

 paramount. It would take the genius of a divinity to bring i.his to pass, 

 and the aggravations of the lumber business do not breed this kind of an 

 organizer. 



You are all familiar with the correspondence which has been made pub- 

 lic through the press and through it all mu.st realize a hidden purpose to 

 harrass the industry. 



It is nothing less than criminal to allow the personalities of the tariff 

 issue and the senate squabbles to poison the minds of the people regard- 

 ing the manufacture and sale of lumber. I believe that political inter- 

 views from the President of the United States should be so censored that 

 no injustice could be done. If the attitude of the administration is such 

 that the lumber manufacturers are to be continually misrepresented, it is 

 apparent that we are negligent in not refuting these statements as often 

 as they appear. When the story is finally written of the tariff fight, the 

 reciprocity campaign and the free pulp for paper, we may understand the 

 attitude of politician and press. I believe we have a right to know the 

 cost to the government of this investigation and its results. 



No set of men are doing more for the development of our country than 

 the logger and lumberman. Pioneers they are and have been in the 

 front rank and on the firing line, facing financial crises with brain, brawn 

 .ind borrowed money ; developing the latent resources of the country and 

 striving to convert into marketable products everything of value that the 

 log contains. It takes something more than theory and conservation 

 propaganda to meet pay rolls and develop the country. Instead of being 

 despoilers of the. realm they are the builders of the country. Come 

 with me to any community where the lumber manufacturer and logger 



reside and I will show you men identified in every way with civic im- 

 provement and progressive development. 



Waste is the loss in etficiency which every manufacturer deplores, and 

 if, as someone says, the packers' secret is to save everything but the 

 squeal, it is surely our province to save even the bark. Transportation 

 and taxation are controlling factors in our operations and no man escapes 

 either. 



Disappointed, it would seem, in being unable to locate a lumber trust, 

 we are told that a most appalling and unfortunate condition threatens 

 the country in that our timber control is passing into the hands of three 

 interests — and two of these are railroads that have passed through re- 

 ceiverships and every other financial disturbance and are hungry for 

 freight. 



Some men invest in mines, some in real oslate. and some men in timber. 

 The risk of fire in timber investment, coupled with the outlay of taxes, 

 merits some return, and entices capital only in so far as it assures profit. 

 It requires a large investment to undertake permanent operations and the 

 prosperity of our country depends upon successful operations. 



I can not but feel that the men who occupy high positions in the 

 councils of our country should pause before they jump at the throat of 

 the lumber industry or any other, because of the encouragement in a lesser 

 degree of the socialistic agitators who are prompted in their tirades 

 against the world. The anarchistic doctrines now running riot are against 

 law and order and stand for revolution. Given free rein, their leaders 

 openly advocate a labor trust and preach sedition, disrespect to the flag 

 and the abolishment of the wage system. 



I do not wish at this time to give undue prominence to the Industrial 

 Workers of the World movement, but I believe that our forefathers have 

 sacrificed too much blood in establishing the great American republic to 

 allow sedition, riot and revolution to be preached throughout the land. 

 Must it ever take some frightful holocaust, some explosion like the Times, 

 some Titanic marine disaster, to turn the American people from paths 

 that lead but to loss of life and principles? Do we realize that there is 

 a spirit of unrest at home and abroad stirring up revolution? From At- 

 lantic to Pacific, from the Gulf to British Columbia, you will find men 

 inciting these very things. It may be the forerunner of returning prosper- 

 ity and will lose itself, as did Coxey's army, but those of us who have 

 come in contact with it and have any red blood in our veins must chafe at 

 the teachings and documents that are sown broadcast and recognize the 

 disrespect shown our national emblem. The tactics employed in the West 

 are the same as employed in the East, and we American citizens must 

 wake up to the necessity of stifling this dissension breeder. 



The lumber business has passed through a serious ordeal during the 

 last few years, with tariff issues, price difliculties, lessened demand and 

 severe curtailment. It is but natural to assume that these conditions 

 have affected both capital and labor. Both suffered alike, as they 

 always will. Where labor is such a large factor in the selling price of 

 lumber the reflection of a disastrous market is felt throughout the land. 

 Conversely the return of prosperity is similar in its effect. The broadened 

 market occasioned by renewed demands of railroads and industrial de- 

 velopment is reflected in the sawmill pay roll. Capital and labor are 

 inseparably linked in this development and are controlled by that in- 

 exorable commercial law of supply and demand. 



The preaching of new doctrines and isms to readjust the present day 

 ills may give political prominence to their advocates for a time and cause 

 honest labor to be misled temporarily, but until capital becomes so un- 

 mindful of its welfare as to divorce itself from prosperous labor conditions 

 there is little fear of the final outcome. 



When, the logger and lumberman are happy their labor is equaUy so. 

 It is a business where merit is rewarded, and justly so, as efficient labor 



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