i8 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



National Veneer and Tanel Manufacturers' Association 



That husky, 18-months-old organizatiou, 

 the National Veneer & Panel Manufactur- 

 ers' Association, is giving promise of great 

 accomplishments and usefulness. It is fast 

 getting the demoralized and unprofitable 

 veneer business lined up into an industry 

 that shall be satisfactory and well worth 

 while to those engaged in it. 



On Thursda.v, June 20, at 10 a. m., this 

 association assembled in semiannual con- 

 vention in the green room of the Audi- 

 torium Annex, Chicago, with President D. 

 E. Kline in the chair and Secretary Defe- 

 baugh recording. The good work accom- 

 plished for the veneer makers at this meet- 

 ing is fully recorded in the following pages. 



On assembling President Kline addressed 

 the meeting as follows: 



Gentlemen, I have no intention of mak- 

 ing an address — just simply want to say 

 that the progress of the association in the 



D. E. KLINE. PRESIDENT. EOUISVILLE 

 VENEEK MILLS. LOUISVILLE, KY. 



past six months has not been as great as 

 it should be. There have been no with- 

 drawals and there have been some acquisi- 

 tions to our membership; but things, never- 

 theless, have not progressed as rapidly as we 

 had anticipated and hoped, rather to my 

 surprise. 



No new branch association has been start- 

 ed since our last meeting. At that time 

 there were several matters referred to the 

 president for attention, among them a com- 

 munication to be directed to the Chief For- 

 ester. A letter has been written and the 

 secretary has received a reply which he will 

 read later on. 



Another matter which arose at our last 

 meeting was in regard to the employment 

 of a working assistant to the secretary un- 

 der a salary. Such a person should devote 

 his entire time to the work. It is to be re- 

 gretted that the executive committee has 



never taken any action in that direction, for 

 I think the subject is worthy of consider- 

 able consideration. We would certainly 

 make more progress if we had someone plug- 

 ging for us all the time. 



One of the most important matters that 

 came up was regarding classification and 

 grading rules. Additional members of that 

 committee were appointed at that time. The 

 original committee consisted of Messrs. 

 Lord, Williams and Roberts, and to it were 

 added Messrs. Underwood, Thompson and 

 Pierpont on northern woods, and Messrs. 

 Anderson and Grofl'man on southern woods. 

 I believe that the committee has never got- 

 ten together, but I want to state that the 

 so-called Veneer Manufacturers' Club, of 

 which a number of our people are also mem- 

 bers, has taken up and canvassed the sub- 

 ject of classification of these woods very 

 thoroughly and has a report which it wishes 

 to submit; it would, of course, like to have 

 the association adopt that report as its offi- 

 cial classification and grading rules. The 

 report will be submitted in due course of 

 business. 



I think, gentlemen, that is all I have to 

 say just now. The secretary will kindly 

 offer his report. 



Secretary Defebaugh read his report in 

 the form of a studiously prepared paper, 

 as follows: 



Secretary's Report. 



Mr. Tresident and Gentlemen of the Associa 

 tioD : To those of you who have not kept in 

 close touch with the development of the veneer 

 industry it will be of more than passing interest 

 to have figures submitted to your attention in- 

 dicative of the vast strides that are being made 

 in this line. 



Up to 1!)05 there bad never been any statistics 

 better than guess-work covering the quantity of 

 logs cut into veneers- in this country and the 

 amount of the resultant product. Early in lOOtl 

 the director of the census collated this informa- 

 tion for the year 1905. He secured reports from 

 128 factories, which showed that 1S1,146,00U 

 feet of domestic logs were consumed in veneer 

 making during that year, and that the resultant 

 veneer product amounted to 1,108. .518, 000 squari' 

 feet. The figures just completed for the year 

 1906 involve a total of 315 factories and show- 

 that the consumption of logs for veneer purposes 

 during last year had risen to 326,567,000 feet, 

 and that the product had grown to 1,965, 948,0oii 

 superticial feet, an apparent increase in output 

 of approximately 857,430,000 feet. We can nat- 

 urally assume that the proportionate increase for 

 the year 1007 will be almost as great as in 19u6. 



Of the woods cut into veneers red gum was 

 nearly doubled in consumption in 1906 over 

 1905 ": yeJlow pine was nearly quadrupled ; white 

 oak more than doubled : maple showed an in 

 crease of about tw-enty per cent ; cottonwood was 

 nearly doubled ; yellow poplar show'ed a slight 

 falling off : basswood increased about twenty per 

 cent ; birch about ten per cent ; elm more than 

 doubled ; tupelo grew from a fraction less than 

 300.000 to more than S.000,000 feet ; red oak was 

 nearly doubled ; spruce from an unknown venee.* 

 quantity increased to nearly 6,500.000 feet ; beech 

 was quadrupled : ash more than doubled ; walnut 

 trebled : sycamore was as eight to one of its 

 1905 output. 



These figures unmistakably show one important 

 thing — that the veneer industr.y is growing more 

 rapidl.y than any other in the L^nited States. It 

 is not exceeded by even electrical development, 

 which is held up as an example of remarkable 

 increase as the years go by. The lesson to be 

 learned is that this industry, which is a great 

 commercial ptirsuit. is a new one well worth the 

 individual and joint protection of those engaged 

 therein. This protection lies iu ycur hands. You 

 all know that the results of the devotion of your 

 capital, time, experience and labors has not been 

 as profitable in the past as it should be. Up to 

 this time the veneer industry may be said to have 



been in an experimental stage. It is for you to 

 put it on a permanent and paying basis. This 

 you, and you only, who are able to figure cost 

 and the just profit to whicli you are entitled 

 can do. It is only through your efforts that 

 the desideratum can be attained, and this is the 

 object, as I see it, of the National Veneer & 

 Panel Manufacturers' Association. 



A report which you will consider today — the 

 recommendation of your inspection committee — 

 is a matter that should receive personal attention 

 and careful thought, so that the report adopted 

 on this subject will coyer the points up to date. 

 Rules should be prepared which will insure to 

 the veneer manufacturer the full value of his 

 log when sold to the consumer. This is one way 

 to get more money for your product. Those of 

 you who measure the logs as they go into the 

 inill and then keep a tally of the lumber shipped 

 know conclusively that the waste pile is the big- 

 best item of cost. It is so costly that it has 

 eliminated almost entirely from many a manufac- 

 turer his profit, because in figuring his price he 

 was satisfied to add 10 per cent instead of 30 

 per cent to the labor and timber cost before 

 he added his overhead expenses. The result is 

 that, after sitting down with some of the most 

 aggressive men in this organization, men who 

 have figured carefully and know exactly what 

 tbev are doing, we find they have made practi- 

 cally no money out of the business. For this rea- 

 son the valuation committee, in addition to the 

 work of the inspection committee, should be 

 ver.v careful to recommend prices for the last 

 half of this year which will really indicate the 



.1. A. UNDEltWOOD. FinST VICE PRESI- 

 DENT, UNDERWOOD VENEER CO., 

 WAUSAU, WIS. 



true value of your goods, covering the cost with 

 a fair added "profit. 



For several reasons, although the membership 

 of the association is not as great as it should be, 

 the benefits derived have far exceeded the ex- 

 pectations of the officers when this organization 

 was effected eighteen months ago. The bulletin 

 service seems to have attracted the interest of 

 the member and nonmember. and some very trite 

 personal talk has been heard by the secretary 

 from the manufacturers of this organization. 

 There are greater possibilities, however, on this 

 score and it will be possible to furnish bulletins 

 if you will do your share of the work, giving 

 consumption and the value of the various woodi 

 from month to month in the different sections. 

 This will provide the necessary information to 

 guide you as to the prices to be quoted for the 

 next thirty days. 



One manufacturer in a letter to the secretary 

 on this subject said : "We have made great 

 progress in our association and there is more In 

 store for us, but we have been too bashful In 

 our statistics committee in telling the trade 

 what our product is worth, and it is to be hoped 

 that at tomorrow's conference the exchange of 

 information will be so free and general that each 

 member present will go home with new ideas 

 as to values, and a good, stiff backbone to ask 

 the price and get it." 



We are to be favored today with several 

 papers on subjects in which you are no doubt In- 

 terested. We have, however, been unfortunate 



