HARDWOOD RECORD 



33 



Wbereas. Thf opfuiug of the ranama caual, 

 the rapid development of our western states and 

 the promise^ of increased commercial relations 

 with the South American countries will tend 

 to aggravate such a condition in the near future 

 if not now wisely provided for ; and, 



Whereas, The great natural waterways of this 

 country, reaching more than forty states and 

 aggregating more than 38.000 miles will, if 

 properly improved and developed, serve not only 

 to relieve this congestion, but also be the means 

 of effective railroad rate regulation ; and. 



Whereas, The National Rivers and Harbors 

 Congress is now striving to bring about such a 

 change of policy as will lead to the systematic 

 and efficient development of these waterways : 

 therefore, be it 



Resolved. By the National Hardwood Lumber 

 Association asseniiiied in convention this 24th 

 day of May. UKIT, that we heartily commend 

 the timely and efficieut work of this association 

 and pledge it our aid in the crusade of publicity 

 now being carried on to bring about a whole- 

 some, comprehensive and systematic improve- 

 ment of these natural highways and that wo 

 join them in their plea for large and regular 

 appropriations on the part of the national gov- 

 ernment to the end that the immediate and 

 elBcient development of our worthy rivers and 

 harbors may be brought about. lie it further 



Resolved, That copies of these resolutions be 

 sent to the Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, president 

 of the United States; lo the Hon. ,7oseph B. 

 Uansdell, president of the National Rivers and 

 Harbors Congress and to every member of the 

 Senate and House of Representatives of Con- 

 gress. 



Mr. Nolan moved that the resolution as read 

 be adopted. Motion was seconded and agreed. 



President Itusse — The next in the order of 

 business is the report of the committee on offi- 

 cers' reports. 



Sara K. Barr. chairman of said committee, 

 presented the following: 



Report of Conunittee on Officers' Keports. 



Gentlemen : Yviur committee on officers' re- 

 ports have carefully considered the president's 

 address and the report of your secretary in de- 

 tail. These papers are well worthy the most 

 jjarticular attention of the membership and 

 your committee recommends them to every 

 member for careful consideration. In an asso- 

 ciation of this cliaracter such reports are prac- 

 tically the only means of giving to the members 

 a statement of the work accomplished and of 

 the developments contemplated. For this reason, 

 and in view of the (act that the officers have 

 given their time and labored hard for the wel- 

 fare of the organization, it is certainly incum- 

 bent upon every member of this association to 

 give these reports the proper consideration that 

 is due. 



We, the committee, recommend that the asso- 



W. O. KING, CHICAGO. 



ciation adopt the suggestion of the president in 

 regard to the suspension of the Buffalo resolu- 

 tion, and opening the way to a conservative 

 revision of the inspection rules of the associa- 

 tion at this meeting. 



We further recommend that the reports of the 

 secretary and treasurer be adopted as set forth. 

 S.i3i E. Babr, 

 George W. Stonemax, 

 D. F. Clark. 



Discussion on Suspension of Buffalo Agree- 

 ment. 



Mr. Palmer — I move the adoption of that re- 

 port. I believe, in the adoption of that report, 

 we have reached a crisis moment in our delibera- 

 tions, and not only a crisis moment in this 

 meeting, but, also, a moment of vital import- 

 ance in the history of this association. Upon 

 other occasions this association has been called 

 upon to pass similar action and the good judg- 

 ment and loyalty of the membership has always 

 been of sufficient caliber to enable us to pass 

 this danger point not only in safety but in 

 triumph. 



I am here today as the spokesman for an 

 absent constituency. I am representing the 

 sawmill men of this country, the men from 

 the foothills of the mountains of Tennessee 

 and Virginia, from Mississippi, the men of In- 

 diana and Ohio, and the men who are producing' 

 liardwood lumber in Michigan and Wisconsin. 

 To these men I made a public promise that I 

 would attend this meeting and here upon the 

 floor — not on the stage, gentlemen — upon the 

 floor would advocate the suspension of the Buf- 

 falo resolution and a reasonable revision of the 

 rules. I am here today to redeem that promise. 



F. W. MOWBRAY, CINCINNATI. 



In the past I have not been tardy in my de- 

 fence of the wholesaler, who, from his lofty 

 location in some multi-story building, has over- 

 looked the entire hardwood trade. But^ gentle- 

 men. I am here today to urge upon you the 

 necessity for considering the sawmill man. 



It is well sometimes to go back to the genesis 

 of things. I want to tell you that you will 

 lind in the sawmill man the beginning of all 

 that has to do with the lumber business, in- 

 cluding the city offices, the city yards and this 

 association as well. And for that reason, gen- 

 tlemen, the sawmill man enters as a factor in 

 this question. The demand for this revision is 

 not the growtli of a day. It has been the 

 growtli of many months. At the semi-annual 

 meeting of this association, held in Cincinnati 

 last summer, it was my privilege to introduce 

 a motion paving the way for a revision of the 

 rules at this meeting, but owing to the fact that 

 a majority of the members present had not yet 

 heard the rumbling that motion was lost. To- 

 day, gentlemen, that rumbling has become a 

 ground-swell. 



It is going to be hard to tell just what would 

 happen among our manufacturing members if 

 this resolution fails to pass — the resolution 

 to suspend the Buffalo resolution. I am not 

 here to make any personal threats. It don't 

 make any difference whether the Buffalo reso- 



lution is suspended or not. whether this asso- 

 ciation takes the right action or wrong action, 

 I am with this association always. [Applause.] 

 The primal reason for our apparent inconsist- 

 ency in saying that we would do a thing and 

 iben doing something slightly different from 

 that thing is due to the changed conditions 

 which exist in the manufacture of hardwood 

 lumber as between the present and what it was 



W. N. KELLEY. TRAVERSE CITY. MICH. 



at the Buffalo meeting. These conditions are 

 jn-onounced and are apparent to every one who 

 is thoroughly posted on the manufacture of 

 lumber. The price of lumber has advanced 

 since that time twenty-five, thirty or fifty per 

 cent ; the cost of production of lumber has ad- 

 vanced fully thirty per cent ; the cost of stump- 

 age has advanced one hundred per cent. But 

 another point, and the vital point, is that the 

 (luality of lumber is deteriorating and it is im- 

 Iiossible to produce from logs that can be se- 

 cured at the present time some of the grades 

 contemplated by our present rules. That is one 

 reason why we are consistent in our seeming 

 inconsistency in this matter. Another reason 

 is. there is an earnest desire on the part of 

 all true-hearted lumbermen to get down to a 

 universal basis of inspection. I have always 

 argued and will argue and am willing to con- 

 test the point with any gentleman at any time 

 and place that we have practically universal in- 

 spection, and that is National inspection. [Ap- 

 plause. J You can go into any market in this 

 whole country where lumber is consumed and 

 you can talk about National inspection and the 

 buyer will listen to you and listen understand- 

 ingl.v because he knows just exactly wihat it 

 means. It is a fair and stiuare inspection and 

 it is an Inspection that is as universal as Chris- 

 tianity, at least. 



Now, it has been argued and may possibly 

 be argued again, that in the suspension of the 

 Buffalo resolution we are breaking a contract. 

 But, gentlemen, let us see whether there is any 

 contract or not. Two of the principal elements 

 of a contract are parties and consideration. 

 You cannot have a contract without having at 

 least two parties, and no contract is valid unless 

 there is a consideration. Now, we are the 

 parties to this Buffalo contract, if you are going 

 to call it a contract'; We will admit' the na- 

 tional association is one party to that, but who 

 is the other party and with whom did we con- 

 tract? Where is the other party to the con- 

 tract'/ Then, again, what was the considera- 

 tion? Did anybody promise to pay this asso- 

 ciation anything to do anything or not to do 

 anything, if we passed the rules that were 

 adopted at the Buffalo meeting, and maintain 



