14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



sumption of hardwoods in this industry runs a long way into the 

 millions of feet annually. 



A portion of the handle product of this country is produced by 

 an alliance of numerous factories under one general head — the so- 

 called "handle trust" — but there are a large number of independent 

 concerns. The prices of handles are largely controlled by this ' ' mo- 

 nopoly, " and there are a good many people in this trade who con- 

 tend that they are not at all in proportion to the price of lumber 

 and of labor. They also contend that the rules -for grading them 

 should be radically changed, since they are the same today as they 

 have been for the past quarter of a century, and when made were 

 based on a better and more plentiful supply of timber than it is pos- 

 sible to obtain now. 



For these reasons it is suggested by several manufacturers that 

 it would be wise to organize a Handle Manufacturers' Association, 

 with a view to securing a somewhat higher scale of prices, and also 

 to reorganize the grading and inspection system of handles. It is 

 suggested that a logical and just set of inspection rules could be 

 formulated through conference between handle makers and handle 

 buyers, the execution of these rules to be under the direct control of 

 the proposed organization. The good results obtained in other lines 

 of hardwood production by cooperative work are too well known to 

 need extended comment. Hardwood lumbermen have their associa- 

 tions, veneer and panel people have theirs, wagon stock makers have 

 theirs, and so it goes. 



The Harovs^ood Record will be very glad to cooperate with the 

 handle makers of the country in assisting them in the formation of 

 an association, if the majority of manufacturers in the various lines 

 involved deem it wise to form such an organization. 



Status oi the Veneer Business. 



From some sources of veneer production it is alleged that the 

 present demand is light and business quiet; that there is very 

 little new business offered and quite a proportion of the regular 

 trade seems to be loaded up with stock for some time to come. 

 Veneer timber is high and scarce and the supply is growing less 

 as time progresses. Logging is being done under increased diffi- 

 culties and with advancing cost. Timber that can be bought 

 today is not well located. 



Under these conditions is it wise for veneer manufacturers to 

 force stock upon their present customers or would it be wiser 

 to curtail their output as much as they can and thus avoid a pos- 

 sible demoralization of market prices? 



It certainly will not pay to cut up good logs at cost and replace 

 the stock at higher prices, which will be the result if prices 

 should go off to any appreciable extent, as it is a dead certainty 

 that the cost of logs will constantly increase rather than diminish. 



This matter should interest every member of the National 

 Veneer & Panel Manufacturers' Association and it is a logical 

 and just one for this organization to take up. Supply and de- 

 mand regulate prices just as much in the veneer and panel busi- 

 ness as in any other line of production and there is considerable 

 evidence today that the veneer maker's output is fully up with, 

 if not slightly in excess of the demand. 



Michigan Hardwood Meeting. 



The complete proceedings of the first annual meeting of the 

 Michigan Hardwood Manufacturers' Association will be found in 

 this issue of the Kecord. This meeting was one of special impor- 

 tance, not only to the hardwood interests of the Wolverine state, 

 but to the industry the country over. It was marked by legisla- 

 tion of great importance and witnessed the delivery of several 

 notable addresses. The minutes of the meeting are well worth 

 perusal by everyone interested in the hardwood trade. 



The most important legislation was the adoption of the new 

 inspection rules of the National Hardwood Lumber Association 

 adopted at its Atlantic City meeting, which will become effective 

 December 1 next. Of special moment were the addresses and val- 

 uable suggestions given by retiring president Wm. H. White, and 



the very competent secretary, Bruce Odell. From the inaugural 

 address of President Diggins it can safely be presaged that the 

 able head the Michigan hardwood people have selected to suc- 

 ceed Mr. White will conduct the new administration along equally 

 vigorous and forcrful lines, so that the organization will meet 

 with continued prosperity. 



Anyone interested in hardwood affairs cannot fail to congratu- 

 late this year-old association on the success it has already achieved. 

 Primarily it recognized the necessity of a readjustment of hard- 

 wood inspection rules to correspond with present conditions and 

 exigencies of the trade, and so ably and diplomatically did it pre- 

 sent its claims to the trade at large that it succeeded in gaining 

 the cooperation of both the Wisconsin and Indiana associations, 

 and jointly, against powerful opposition, succeeded in inducing 

 the National Hardwood Lumber Association to amend its rules to 

 correspond with Michigan 's ideas of just inspection measures. 

 Hereafter the Michigan contingent may be considered as a domi- 

 nant factor in national hardwood affairs. 



"Is There a Lumber Trust ?" 



Under the above title Smith's Magazine tor September, evidently 

 taking its cue from the assailment of the lumber industry in the 

 daily press, publishes an article by one S. C. Hutchins. The Kecord 

 is in receipt of a letter from Street & Smith, publishers of this 

 magazine, announcing that they have forwarded a copy of this 

 issue, and giving permission to quote from the article but request- 

 ing that it be not printed in its entirety. 



The Lord knows that no self-respecting lumber newspaper man 

 would want to print the article in full! It is one of the most fool- 

 ish and malicious slanders that has ever been promulgated on 

 this subject by the newspaper or magazine press, and contains 

 just enough truth to be particularly pernicious. Most of the state- 

 ments, however, are absolutely without foundation — witness the 

 following, which is one of the mildest of the paragraphs contained 

 in it: 



' ' Men who are in a position to speak by the book, and who 

 have made a study of the situation for years, declare that a 

 Lumber Trust exists, and that it dwarfs in magnitude and avarice 

 all other similar combinations. They assert with some show of 

 contempt for the obtuseness of the public, that during the past 

 twenty-tive years the lumber business of America, from the forest 

 to the factory, has been under the control of a central organiza- 

 tion, and in proof of both points demonstrate that in the course 

 of five years, the prices of a material which to a much greater 

 degree than any otjier enters into our domestic economy have 

 been enormously increased without the average man becoming 

 aware of the fact." 



Any man, be he even a neophite in the lumber business cannot 

 but realize how ridiculous are the statements promulgated above. 

 As the writer warms to his subject, he declares: 



"The influence of the mysterious central authority extends to 

 all branches of the business. The wholesaler is no less subject 

 to domination than the retail dealer. At different times one and 

 another firm of wholesale lumbermen has become possessed of 

 the idea that it could combat this control. In every such instance 

 the rebellious concern has been promptly brought to book, and in 

 short order reduced to submission or broken. The wholesaler who 

 attempts to shake off the shackles finds himself crippled by a most 

 effective boycott. His supplies are cut off and his customers for- 

 sake him. His credit is impaired by insidious rumors, and a hun- 

 dred petty devices are employed to vex his soul. He soon sues 

 for peace, and never again attempts to secure indepemlence. A 

 like condition prevails among the millmen. One and all bow to 

 the will of the trust. They were the last to come under its con- 

 trol, but they are now as completely dominated by it as any of 

 the other branches. There is now no competition among them." 



As a whole the article is the most vicious and mendacious attack 

 on a great and legitimate American industi'y that has ever been 

 published. 



