24 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



uniiuiratms desire nf the membership that the 

 ;issociati<m ever shall he an association (if lum- 

 hermen. for lumhermen and hy lumbermen. 



As the year prngrcssed and an enormously in- 

 creased demand was noted from all sections of 

 the country for the inspection of this association 

 to he applied hy its inspectors, it became ap- 

 parent to tliose who had the work in cliarge 

 that a chanfie was necessary in the methods 

 in voijiie for haniJIinK the inspectors in the held 

 in oi"der tu inci-ease the efficiency of tlie de- 



i;i<\VAl;i 



'KLKV. MAMSTKK. MU'll. 

 IUKKCTOR. 



parlmenl in which lliey were employed and 

 that tlic members of the association might re- 

 ceive reasonably pmmpt service. 



nwing to the fact that the chief inspector was 

 necessarily absent from the office of the asso- 

 ciation much of the time in the prosecution 

 of his duties pertaining: to re-inspe<-tirm and 

 supervising the work nf inspectors, delays of a 

 serious nature were likely to occur iu the trans- 

 mission of directions from that office to the in 

 spectors at work in Ihe various sections of thi' 

 country. To obviate these delays and to place 

 the work on a tiioting of greatest efficiency. 

 Ihe IJiiard of .M:niagers. at a meeting held on 

 June 14 and 1o. unanimously decided to place 

 Ihe secretary in cliarge of the work of inspec- 

 tion so far as the assignment of employment 

 to the different inspectors was concerned. 'With- 

 out a desire to appropriate any personal credit. 

 it is (uily proper for uie to state that this new 

 arrangement lias produted results of the most 

 sa I isfactory nal ure. A check is now kept on 

 all salaried inspectors employed by the asso- 

 ciation whereby it is possible to determine from 

 the records in the secretary's office just where 

 and for whom each inspector is at work at all 

 limes, and what work he has assigned to him 

 several days in advance. As a result of this 

 system inspectors are no longer idle while mem- 

 bers are waiting for service. Chaotic cimdi- 

 tions have been replaced by system and effi- 

 cien'*y in service is ii-ade to keep step with the 

 'levcIoi)ment of the association. 



Much *tf my lime during the past year has 

 I bus It-'cn <levi>t(fi to bettering the conditions 

 under wbicli the actual work of inspection is 

 conducted. I believe, however, that efforts put 

 fnrtli in this direction have been of a ijrotitablc 

 nature to the association, as the increase in 

 the demands for national inspection shown by 

 the i-eport vf the chairman of tlie Inspection 

 Bureau Committee will amply demonstrate. 



II has a ISO been part of the work of the 

 secretary to invcstiL'ale and settle a number 

 of claims arising from re-inspedinn. 1 have 

 made it a point to handle these claims promptly 

 and if thev were of a nature to justify pay- 

 ment by this association such payment has been 

 made willioiit any unnecessary delay. i >n the 

 other band, if ii" liability rested against the 

 association, the claimanls liave been promptly 

 notified tliat their claims were denied. 



The establishment of a system of thorough- 

 ness ciuipled with pruiupt action in the affairs 

 of the inspection department cannot fail to 

 commend itself to all members who are brought 

 into contact with I bat feature of the work of 

 the association. U is not my purpuse to claim 

 that perfection in detail has' been attained, for 

 such is not the fact. Put a reasonable degree 

 of progress has b^en made in the proper direc- 

 tions which justifies the belief that still belter 

 conditions will nrovail in the near future. In 

 the selection of new insnectors extreme care 

 has been taken to admit <n]Iy those of umpies- 



tiiined integrity and greatest ability, and every 

 practical lumberman will appreciate the diffi- 

 culty of establishing and maintaining a corps 

 of i'nspei-tors of such a quality in the markets. 



There have been instances during the past 

 year wherein association members have not 

 hesitated to prevail upon inspectors of this 

 association to leave its service and enter into 

 their employment. Such action, while possibly 

 not irregular even from an associate stand- 

 point, is at times very embarrassing to the 

 service. The only suggestion I can offer to 

 insure the retention of inspectors in our serv- 

 ice when it is to the interest of the association 

 to so retain them, is to increase the compensa- 

 tion to a degree that will prohibit their em- 

 ployment hy individuals. I offer this sugges- 

 tion under "the belief that the strength of this 

 association is sufficient fn enable it to command 

 tile services of an inspector against the com- 

 petition of any individual. 



While much of my time has thus been occu- 

 Itied in the discharge of duties newly assigned to 

 the (iffice of the secretary. I have not been un- 

 mindful of the necessity existing for a con- 

 liniied increase in membership, and although the 

 important increase of the previous year has 

 not been equalled during the year just ended. 

 1 trust the following figures will he approved 

 by the membership. 



Since May. lf*(i(». HJM new firms have been 

 added to the membership roll. During the same 

 period a number of firms who have been identi- 

 lied with the work have retired from business 

 or sold out and we have dropped several names 

 as delinquent. Details are as follows : 



<;ai:i>m:u i. .inNi:s. nosTOX. dikectou. 



.Membership May, liUir. oO:^ 



Applications received since 177 



Applications rejected sine-' S 



Total accepted 169 



67li 

 Hesignation and withdrawals by reason 



of going out of business. . . '. .").s 



Dropped as delinquent L'U 



78 

 Association membership May 23. 1007.. oU4 



The manner in which a majority of our mem-, 

 bers have remitted dues and inspection fees 

 has supplied the treasury with sutficient funds 

 to discharge all indcbledness promptly. Details 

 ()f receipts and disbursements from my office are 

 as follows : 



ItKCEIPTS. 



P^rom membership dues .fll 5.175.00 



From inspection fees 2S. 148.95 



From inspection rules G91.17 



From cash deposits 450.00 



$44,465.12 



DISRUUSEMICXTS. 



Tieiuitted treasurer !};44. 279.81 



Cash anri checks on liand 185.31 



.H4.4G5.12 



Uesults obtained from the publication in 

 pamphlet form of the proceedings of the meet- 

 ing prompted the executive committee to sim- 

 ilar action on the Memphis convention. Sev- 

 eral thousand copies were distributed among 

 the membership and others interested in the 

 association work. 



A revised edition of the official hand-hook 

 was issued in November. lOOr,. and lias been 



of assistance iu acipiainting the trade at large 

 with the methods of the Inspection tJureau, 

 and as a considerable percentage of the delay 

 in inspection work can be traced to the fact 

 that all of our members are not familiar with 

 the system, it is perhaps proper that I urge a 

 careful study on the part of members of this 

 hand-book. 



At our ninth annual meeting, held last year 

 at Memphis, the committee, appointed hy the 

 president, on officers' reports recommended that 

 the emblem in use on the association letter- 

 heads and all printed matter coming from the 

 executive office he adopted hy our members for 

 use on their business stationery. 



.\bout twenty-five per cent of our members 

 have adopted this suggestion and employ the 

 cut on their checks as well as stationery. I 

 have a supply of the electrotypes of this design 

 on hand and should he pleased if the balance 

 of the members would adopt it. 



luiring this year the exe<-utive committee have 

 held eight meetings, and <m four occasions the 

 full Hoard of Directors have been called in con- 

 ference as follows ; 



Mav 4. iriOG. 



.Tune 14 and 15. 190G. 



Julv 10 and 17. 19n0. 



October 25 and 20. 1900. 



November 22. 1906. 



January 11. 1907. 



February 27, 1907. 



March 28. 1907. 



.\ll of these meetings except two were held 

 in the executive offices in Chicago, the excep- 

 tions being Board of Managers' meeting of May 

 4. 19n0, which was held at Memphis, and Board 

 of Managers' meeting of .lanuary 11, 1007. held 

 in Indianapolis, on which occasion we were the 

 guests of the Indiana Hardwood Dumbermeu's 

 Association at their annual meeting. 



Before entering the service of this asso<'iation 

 my occupation was such as to bring me into 

 close touch with many lines of business and 

 also with the men in charge and I became more 

 or less acquainted with the methods by which 

 such lines of business were conducted. I may 

 therefore be qualified to a certain extent to ex- 

 press expert opinion regarding business methods 

 and business men. It is a source of much satis- 

 faction to me to have this opportunity to tes- 

 tify to Ihe high quality of ability and the unself- 

 ish devotion shown by those gentlemen who 

 have bad in charge the destiny of this associa- 

 tion during my brief connection therewith. If 

 I possessed any doubts as to the ultimate at- 

 tainment of the objects toward which the efforts 

 of this membership have been directed, such 

 doubts have long since been dissipated by the 

 sincerity and enthusiasm which I have seen 

 brought into the work by these members. 



If this enthusiasm were contagious and if 

 all itiembers of this association shfuild become 

 inoculatf'd therewith, enormous gains would 

 be immediately shown in the affairs of the 

 association. 1 would not be understood, how- 



W. A. BONSACK, ST. LOUIS, DIUKCTOR. 



ever, as implying that this membership is lack- 

 ing in interest in associate aft'airs. because the 

 attendanie at this meeting is a sufficient con- 

 tradiction of any such implication. It is my 

 belief that the National Hardwood Lumber Asso- 

 ciation is not only growing stronger numeri- 

 cally hut that the" sentiment of unity is also 

 increasing in the membership, which cannot 

 fail to add materially to the strength of the 

 association. 



