HARDWOOD RECORD 



33 



tbings may Uappen betoi-p the train gets to the mill. I only lecently 

 asked a logging locomotive engineer why he was backing his empties 

 up over the road instead of pulling them, and he said that he "had been 

 having better luck that way." 



After one has succeeded in getting the logs to the mill, he must care- 

 fully watch their manufacture. The curing requires an amount of care 

 or the lumber will stain or warp. The manufacturer constantly faces 

 the two greatest known risks, — Are and water, the recent overflow in 

 the Mississippi valley has in many cases caused losses that will re- 

 •qulre years to regain. After all of these difficulties have been faced, 

 the lumber is ready for shipment and he feels that the troubles should 

 be over and no great hardships imposed in marketing his product. But 

 what is he to find then? Some gentlemen, who sit in city offices reach 

 there at nine in the morning and leave at four in the evening, riding 

 to and from their work in street cars or automobiles, inform him that 

 the-!/ should be the judges of how he should grade and market the product. 

 They not only desire to name the price at which he should sell it but 

 the grades that he shall make. He realizes that he must furnish such 

 character of grades as the consumer of lumber requires for the pur- 

 pose for which the lumber is intended, but this does not satisfy all the 

 wholesalers. They either want a grade that can be manipulated by 

 mixing, or demand a grade that will enable them to procure from the 

 consumer a higher market price by reason of the higher grade which they 

 are to furnish. If this demand is for the intention first expressed, the 

 methods are dishonest and should receive no support from any element 

 interested in the lumber business. If the second, the methods are harm- 

 ful to the consumers as well as the producers of lumber. What added 

 value can they give to the consumers by furnishing them a better grade 

 than actually required for the purpose for which it is intended. It is 

 a fact known to every one present that some wholesalers make different 

 representation of the grade to the buyer than they do to the manu- 

 facturer from whom they purchase the stock to fill the order. When 

 the shipment is received by the purchaser, the wholesaler figures that he 

 has two chances — first the purchaser will take a grade lower than that 

 represented in making the sale, or the shipper will stand such a reduc- 

 tion on the shipment as will permit him to make an allowance to his 

 customer, equal to the difference in value between that which he has pur- 

 chased and that sold. 



After going through or combatting the difficulties mentioned in the 

 production of lumber, the manufacturer is not in any humor to parley 

 with such methods. It was to combat all of these that our association 

 was formed. This organization recognizes the field of the legitimate deal- 

 er in lumber. My remarks are not intended for him. It has been 

 stated frequently that our organization had for its purpose the elimina- 

 tion of the dealer from the trade, I want to say emphatically that there 

 was no stich intent, but it was and is the purpose of this association 

 to eliminate the methods of the class of wholesaler that I have men- 

 tioned. It is true that the dealer and wholesaler have been classified as 

 middle-men and have placed upon them the burden of carrying the kind 

 of wholesalers mentioned. If they are not content to carry such an 

 element, they have the matter in their own hands and it is up to them 

 to solve the problem. Often the manufacturer prefers to market his lum- 

 ber through dealers and wholesalers but has been debarred from doing 

 so on account of losses sustained through methods mentioned. The man- 

 ufacturers insist that it is the duty of the dealers and wholesalers to 

 correct these abuses in the marketing of lumber and deal with the prob- 

 lems as they present themselves in 'handling lumber between the 

 producer and the consumer, aside from inspection ; which the manufac- 

 turers feel is a problem to be settled between the consumers and 

 themselves. It is admitted that frequently the manufacturer is in 

 error in shipping stock below the grade provided for in the order, or 

 poorly manufactured material. This organization does not countenance 

 such methods, but is using every effort to have its membership properly 

 manufacture and grade the product. 



There was a day when timber was so plentiful and cheap as to permit 

 wasteful methods in the marketing of lumber, but with the higher 

 prices of stumpage in this day it is not only impractical but unprofitable. 

 Such methods make it impossible for the consumer to successfully com- 

 bat wood substitution, which we are contending with. To my mind the 

 unbusiness-likc methods in the marketing of lumber have done more 

 to permit the substitution for wood than any other causes. It is just 

 as wasteful and as foolish to require a board to be clear on both sides 

 when one face is shown, as it is to insist that wall paper be as 

 elaborately finished on the reverse side as on the face. It is quite as 

 wasteful to require a clear cutting when a sound cutting answers the 

 purpose as well. This country is clamoring for preservation of its 

 forests. How can they be preserved if the manufacturer is compelled 

 to leave in the forest any part of the tree that can be utilized. 



Men without experience have been lured into the lumber manufacturing 

 business through fairy tales told of the wealth that comes to all lumber- 

 men. It has. until the last few years, been thought that all one had 

 to do was to buy a tract of timber, erect a sawmill and then sit back 

 and draw dividends. The truth of the matter is that the man who 

 can successfully operate a hardwood proposition in the South can hold 

 any job. even to that of running our government. It used to be thought 

 that the less our competitors knew of the manufacture and marketing 

 of his lumber the less difficulties we had. This has been proven abso- 

 lutely erroneous. Every dollar lost in the manufacture and marketing 



ot lumber hurts the entire industry. This association has done much 

 to educate the producer of lumber and what it has accomplished in this 

 regard is a matter of history. Work of this kind is more slow in times 

 of depression than in good times. Much was accomplished prior to the 

 recent depression, and for this reason the members of our organization 

 have gone through the last one in better shape than ever before in the 

 history of the industry. 



It has been said that Americans are extremists. I think this is true 

 in regard to the substitution for lumber. While substitution to a cer- 

 tain extent is necessar.v, as with the growth of this country our forests 

 would have soon been denuded, but instead of intelligent substitution the 

 tendency has been to eliminate the use of wood entirely. Some would not 

 only have us livi in concrete houses but we must sit in concrete chairs 

 and sleep in concrete beds. The tide is now beginning to turn and we are 

 through experience learning where lumber can and cannot be satis- 

 factorily substituted. The advertising campaign now proposed can be of 

 great benefit in solving this problem and should receive the hearty sup- 

 port of all lumbermen. 



It behooves every manufacturer to affiliate with the manufacturing 

 association dealing with the problems in the wood in which he is inter- 

 ested so that when we again come into our own we can intelligently 

 meet the demands made upon us. Let us make our manufacturing asso- 

 ciations sufficiently strong in numbers to successfully combat all con- 

 ditions detrimental to our business. 



Let the dealers work between the manufacturer and the consumer, 

 where the field is large and profitable and important as any, and in 

 doing this they will assist in obtaining the results so much desired in 

 the lumber industry. 



We will earnestly co-operate with associations of dealers who are en- 

 deavoring to solve the problem of correctly marketing lumber. 



Let the manufacturing associations use every effort to see that their 

 members properly manufacture and ship their lumber. Unless we do this, 

 we cannot ask or expect the support of the purchasers of our product. 



Let the National Association of Manufacturers deal with the problems 

 that affect no specific wood or woods, but of the lumber industry as a 

 whole. 1 



We have an industry that stands third in those of the nation. Let us 

 then handle it with an intelligence such a business demands. 



Charles S. Keith of Kansas City was then introduced, and read 

 an exhaustive paper on the subject of "The Trust Question as 

 Relating to the Lumber Industry. ' ' This was the most important 

 paper presented at the meeting, and was received with much 

 applause. On motion the paper was ordered printed in pamphlet 

 form for the purpose of putting it into general distribution, and 

 notably to members of the House and Senate of the United States. 



The Trust Question as Relating to the Lumber Industry 



When we look back over the histor.v of the lumber industry for the past 

 thirty years and compare conditions existing at the beginning of this 

 period with those existing in that industry today, and take into consider- 

 ation the fact that the public is not conversant with the causes for present 

 conditions, but knov.' onl.v their effects, it is not surprising that they should 

 reach the conclusion that the lumber industry is trust-controlled. Such 

 a conclusion, however, is very incorrect, and in order that present con- 

 ditions may be fully understood, it will be necessary to review the facts. 



During the entire period of industrial and social development in the 

 United States, from 1880 to 1910, there has been no reforestration, and 

 ever.v tree cut has diminished the available supply and, consequently, from 

 conditions where the forest was considered of little value, the remaining 

 timber, which is now measured and known, has grown to be of great value, 

 both commercially and economically. 



As shown during the ten-year period from 1900 to 1910, there was an 

 increase in population of 15.977.692, and a per capita consumption of 532 

 feet, board measure, so it would appear from this that the increased an- 

 nual consumption from this source, alone, in 1910 was 8,500 million feet. 

 The per capita consumption of 1910 shows an increase over that of 1900 

 of 72 feet, board measure, showing a further increase in annual consump- 

 tion by the population of 1900 of 5.471 million feet in 1910. 



INCREASED VALUE OS TIMBER LANDS 



During this period, by reason of increasing consumption and diminishing 

 supply of timber, the cost and value of timber lands have greatly in- 

 creased, according to James D. Lacey & Co.. timberland factors. 



REVIEW OF TIJIBER SITUATION 



There has never been an authentic and reliable estimate of the standing 

 timber of the United States. The correctness of the last report of Herbert 

 Knox Smith, commissioner of corporations, on the lumber industry, is being 

 ver.v largely questioned by well-informed lumbermen. 



A careful comparison of Mr. Smith's figures for yellow pine stumpage 

 in Louisiana with actual conditions shows that there is 19,744 million 

 feet less of yellow pine timber in Louisiana than he shows, and that the 

 amount shown in his report is 151.3553 per cent of the actual. Therefore, 

 if his report covering the total South is no nearer correct than for the 

 state of Louisiana, it is safe to conclude that, reduced to log scale, it shows 

 104,336 million feet more timber than there actually is. and hence there 

 is today only 203,164 million feet of yellow pine. 



It must be conceded that the earlier the reduction of the production of 



