HARDWOOD RECORD 



27 



rresident Kusse — You have heard the report 

 of the Transportation Committee. If there are 

 no objections it will be received and filed. 



We are now at the point of the program where 

 you get the pie and the cake. Mr. Currle, being 

 on the entertainment committee, has asked me 

 to let him speak before Mr. Palmer. Is Mr. 

 Currie present? [No response.] 



We will proceed with the regular order of 

 business and have the address by Karl Palmer 

 on "Associate Obligations." 



Earl Palmer's Address. 



In accepting the honor, so courteously extend- 

 ed by the Committee on Arrangements, to de- 

 liver an address before this magnificent assem- 

 blage of lumbermen, 1 greatly fear that I have 

 rushed in where another, wiser than I, would 

 have hesitated to enter. The only e.xcuse possi- 

 ble for me to urge in extenuation of my temer- 

 ity is the high esteem and honor in which I hold 

 the National Hardwood Lumber Association, on 

 account of which I have never hesitated to make 

 a sacrifice when it has appeared to me that the 

 interests of the association might be advanced in 

 any degree by so doing. 



The subject which 1 have selected as a basis 

 for my remarks is that of "Associate Obliga- 

 tions ;" or, to amplify the text : The reciprocal 

 obligations imposed by and arising from the 

 association or combination of etfort on the part 

 of many for the accomplishment of a common 

 purpose' which will result to the advantage 

 of all. 



The term obligation, in the sense in which it 

 is used, expresses a duty to be performed, a debt 

 to be paid, a contract to be carried into effect. 



Obligations may be divided into two general 

 classes — those which are compulsory, or which 

 are imposed by the state, society or environment, 

 and those which are voluntary or which are as- 

 sumed by our own volition. It is this latter 

 class of obligations, those which are voluntary 

 in their natuue, which I shall attempt to .dis- 

 cuss. 



Few, if any, obligations were imposed upon 

 man in his primal condition. Nature was iu a 

 prodigal mood when man first entered upon the 

 scene. The rigors of the glacial period had been 

 superseded by an almost universally tropical 

 climate, vegetation flourished mightily and the 

 forests and oceans teemed with animal life. Man 

 at that period was a highly developed animal, 

 but as yet his moral and intellectual faculties 

 lay dormant. The caves, excavated by natural 

 causes, supplied him with rude shelter ready at 

 hand, the fruitage of the forest was his for the 

 gathering, while the skins of animals, which fell 

 beneath his ponderous ax of stone, were quite 

 sufficient to furnish his wardrobe with such rai- 

 ment as his scanty necessities demanded. His 

 existence was individualistic. He relied only 

 upon the strength of his own arms and the fleet- 



GEO. W. STONEMAN, DEVALLS BLDFF, 

 AKK., DIRECTOR. 



ness of his own feet for subsistence and protec- 

 tion. Therefore, owing no debt to his fellowmen, 

 he acknowledged no obligations incumbent upon 

 himself to discharge. 



But, with the passage of time, came a change. 

 Man was no longer to occupy his cave in soli- 

 tude. He took to himself a mate, who was to 

 abide permanently with him, and who was to 

 rely on him, in part, for protection and subsist- 



ence. This was the dawning of responsibility, 

 the first awakening to a sense of obligation. 



.\gain, after a lapse of another period in the 

 existence of the nouns homo, a still greater 

 (bauge transpired. Whether from a desire for 

 greater protection, or from sheer loneliness or 

 from whatever other reason, we find these 

 primo-genital families gathering into communi- 

 ties. This new assembling called for the recog- 

 nition of a new set of obligations. Man had be- 

 gun his ascent by the help of man. A new 

 horizon was developed, comprehending other 

 men beyond the radius of the family circle. The 

 individual had been merged into the community. 

 And so. through a period of evolutionary devel- 

 opment, covering a thousand centuries, man as- 

 cended each step upward in the scale removing 

 him farther from his individualistic condition 

 and being attended by a correspondingly wider 

 circle of obligations, the recognition, acceptance 

 and discharge of which being first required be- 

 fore the next step could be taken. 



Today we are standing upon the apex of the 

 highest civilization that the world has ever pro- 

 duced and are surrounded by and subject to a 

 multiplicity of complex obligations which de- 

 mand recognition and upon the manner in which 

 they are discharged depends whether the human 

 race shall still continue its ascent, or whether 

 it shall begin to retrace its steps toward the 

 caves formerly occupied by its remote pro- 

 genitors. 



The obligations imposed by our present civil- 

 ization constitute the only cohesive force of suffl- 

 cient strength to hold in position the units of 

 society. If these obligations were universally 



A. DIGGINS. CADILLAC, 

 TOR. 



MICH., DIREC- 



to be ignored humanity -would drop with the 

 speed of a plummet to the former level of the 

 cave dwellers. 



This brief historical transcript of the ascent 

 of man from a condition but one degree above 

 the level of the animals by which he was sur- 

 rounded to his present state of mental and 

 moral development is typical of all human efforts 

 wlien a number of units are joined for the suc- 

 cessful accomplishment of a specific purpose : 

 beginning in lowly places, subject to unfavorable 

 conditions, yet accepting and discharging each 

 ■ obligation as it is imposed, thereby ultimately 

 eventuating into the palace of successful achieve- 

 ment. 



Voluntary obligations are those which arise 

 from our connection with any organization or 

 association composed of our fellowmen, whether 

 of a religious, fraternal or secular nature. We 

 may escape such obligations by simply refrain- 

 ing from entering into such a connection. But 

 if the connection be formed, the obligations im- 

 posed thereby are as binding in effect as are the 

 more generally recognized obligations imposed 

 by the state of society under which we exist. 

 These obligations are either expressed or im- 

 plied, and upon the manner of their discharge 

 depends the success or failure of the organiza- 

 tion or association by which they are imposed. 



Associate obligations are naturally divided 

 into three classes. Those due from the associa- 

 tion to its membership, those due from the in- 

 dividual members to the association and those 

 due from the individual members to each other. 



It is apparent that the primary obligation due 

 from an association to its membership is that of 

 successful accompli.shment of the object or ob- 

 jects constituting the raison d'etre, which supply 

 the moving cause for the existence of the organ- 

 ization. 



A proper and satisfactory discharge of this 

 obligation on the part of an association does not, 

 however, necessarily comprehend finality in ac- 

 complishment. A consistent, well sustained and 

 effective effort toward attaining the goal of 

 ultimate achievement operates as a competent 

 and satisfactory discharge of this primary obli- 

 gation. If to this be added progress of such a 



G. .1. LANDECIv, MILWAUKEE, DIRECTOR. 



nature as to place finality well within the grasp 

 of an association, it may be maintained, beyond 

 all successful refutation, that such an associa- 

 tion does not occupy the relationship of a debtor 

 to its members. 



The responsibility of an association does not 

 cease, however, with the approach of finality in 

 its original undertaking. Opportunity creates 

 obligation. As the horizon of opportunity ex- 

 pands with the progress of the association, there 

 comes a relative increase in the number of obli- 

 .gations imposed, and further progress depends 

 upon the manner in which these new obliga- 

 tions are met and disposed of. If all of these 

 obligations have been recognized, accepted and 

 satisfactorily discharged by an association, it 

 thereby places its members in the position of 

 debtors to itself. 



This brings us in orderly sequence to the con- 

 sideration of the second class of associate obli- 

 gations : those which are due from the individual 

 to the association of which he is a member. 



The first and most important obligation im- 

 posed upon the member of an association is to 

 possess faith in its sincerity and in its ability 

 to accomplish the purpose to which it stands 

 committecl. 



Of all the elements which go to make up that 

 complex and intangible force which is called 

 the human mind faith exercises the most com- 

 pelling influence in the affairs of this life. Faith 

 is strengthened by exercise, it is developed by 

 intelligent investigation of the object upon which 

 it is bestowed, provided that object be worthy, 

 and it is justified by a proper appreciation of 

 the fruits resulting from the operation of the 

 forces called into action by its object. 



To believe in victory discounts defeat. To be- 

 lieve in success renders failure improbable. To 

 believe in life robs death of its terrors. Faith 

 spans the gloomy confines of the grave and sets 

 beyond the Star of Hope to shine until the morn- 

 ing of the Resurrectiou. It is therefore an obli- 

 gation of pressing importance that we do not 

 deny to an association of whicli we may be mem- 

 bers this prime attribute to success in all of its 

 undertakings. 



Possessing faith, the next obligation imposed 

 upon the individual member of an association is 

 that of loyalty. Loyalty must ever be regarded 

 as constituting the keystone to the arch of asso- 

 ciated effort. Without the unswerving allegiance 

 of each of its supporters, no cause can achieve 

 complete success. .411 that is good in man in- 

 stinctively responds to the call of loyalty and as 

 readily shrinks from that which is disloyal. The 

 obligation of loyalty transcends the scope of 

 associate obligations. It properly belongs to 

 that of noblesse oWge. It Is an obligation Im- 

 posed by the primal rank of manhood and can 

 never be ignored without consequent dishonor. 



If it develop that a member can no longer 

 maintain a proper degree of loyalty toward an 

 association of which he is a component part it 

 were infinitely better that he immediately con- 

 clude his membership than to continue a con- 

 nection which has become, for him, dishonor- 

 able and which, if maintained, under such a con- 

 dition, might eventually develop a traitor at a 



