HARDWOOD oECORD 



25 



mill were Inllnw.Ml up ;ili il,.Hn thnmgli tlu' .mi- 

 tin- hardwood lidi. iiiilil tlif.v were fon-ed to 

 i|iilt the siuvmill game as a pretty lianl prupo 

 sition. With ifKard to the ti-ust laws we I'ol 

 lowed the laws on thi' basis iliat no restrietion 

 of trade should lie mainrained. no len-itory out- 

 lined for a eerlain elass of pi-oiiuet ion. We fol- 

 lowed the idea Ihat no ironclad aKi-eemeiits 

 should lie made ahms any lines. We worked 

 more on Ihe I'dueation of raemljers .ind we 

 didn't stop then' — we tried to edneate the trader 

 at large. The hard competitors wi' had al one 

 time were not in the association vrovk and we 

 spent a lot of luouey educating them up lo our 

 .ideas, and liually matle members of I hem. when 

 (hey came to see the results we were getting. 

 Von w'll find vou will have the same ela.ss of 

 w oi-k to do. V<»u must educate the industry 

 at larse. You must tell them the value of your 

 produi't based on raw material, cost of produc- 

 tion and labor and conditions in eons\miing 

 markets. When they learn thosi' thinss they 

 will gradually fall into the asswiations. .nid I 

 iliink your or.«anization will be larger on tin' 

 strength of educating the entire trade than if 

 conlined to the few tliat may be in it at lirst. 

 owiny to the fa<I Ihat otir association was a 

 youtii: one ill lliuj, w,. were laimlied al bv a 



I.KWIS IMISTi:U. -N.VSHVll.I.IO. TK.X.X.. SKC- 



Ki;iAI!V H. .M. A.. WHO AlJLIKKSSKll 



I'lll-: .MKETI.NC ON ASSOCIA- 



TKl.N W(II!K. 



good many peoide. wlio said we made prices and 

 then went riglit our and sold under the list. 

 Of course, that might have been so in some few 

 cases, but we grew rapidly and now cover an 

 extensive field in more ways than one. For 

 instance, we have found a market for hereto- 

 fore comparativel.v unknown woods : we liave 

 put a lot of people into the business of manu- 

 facturing dimension material from the offal 

 of Their mills which tliey formerly burned, not 

 realizing that there was any market for such 

 material, ^^'e have done considerable work in 

 coiiperalion with the Kiu'estry Bureau by aiding 

 them in compiling statistics on standing tim- 

 ber, lumlier output, etc. In this connection I 

 may say that the secri'tary's position is a con- 

 fifleutial one in many respects. When statistics 

 are being compiled the information received is 

 much more accurate than might he e.\pected, 

 ow'ing to' the fact that it never comes under 

 tlie inspection of ^anyone but himself — inside in- 

 formation is never given to an.v member regard- 

 ing shipment or production of another, and in 

 this way protection to all is assured and good 

 i-esuits obtained. 1 would repeat what Mr. 

 Jlct'ullouiih saiii regarding a clu-i[) organiza- 



tion, for. of I ISC. .ill these departments are 



expi'usive and must be coudueted along riglit 

 lines. 



We employ- a set of grading inspectors wlio 

 travel about not only reinspeetiug lumber on 

 ilemand liiit teaching local inspectors at plants 

 the proper way to handle their output : we ro 

 tail' iliese men from place to place so that 

 there is no danger of their being pre.tlldiced in 

 favor of any one locality. In organizing yon 

 will find that you cover a great deal of lerri 

 tory and manufacturers will not attend every 

 meeting, so it is a good idea to bold them often 

 and have them scattered over a wide range of 

 lountry. so that tlio.se in tliat section will be- 

 on hand when tlie meetings are held near them. 

 Never forget to educate the men in tlte business 

 who are not in tlie association. They will 

 eventually coiue with you. We have niadi' more 

 nieinbers by that kind of work than we would 

 by having a close association and keeping the 

 information which we compile a secret. .Most 

 iif uiir literature is for file inspection of any 

 one who cares to use it. I will be glad lo an 

 swer any quesiions nny of you genileiiieii wish 

 to put to me. 



K. H. Defeliauyli, who is one of the iiiie-t 

 (irominent workers along these lines, was iii- 

 troiluced. The handle people were inforineil 

 that as Mr. DefebaugFi organized an associa- 

 tion every ninety days he was more than or- 

 dinarily eomiietent to give iiistructiou and 

 ideas. 



-Mr. Iiefebaiigb ; I liesitate to say anything 

 on association work after the learned gentlemen 

 in tile lumlier trade, hut particularly because i 

 have said my set speech so often lo some 1 see 

 right in the house, that I am afraid I will be 

 repeating. There is one thing I might say in 

 reiiiird to associations in the wood package 

 1 fade. Willi one exception they have been in 

 existence from eight to twelv" yars. They have 

 never missed a meeting and they have aceoni 

 plislied something every year. The success has 

 varied with tlie amount of work done. There 

 has always been more or less interest. \Vr 

 always liave good meetings. Some do not bring 

 out as many as others, lint we have succeeded. 

 We started iu the early da.ys by trying to get 

 acquainted, and the first thing we put on the 

 program was "Kind out how much it costs to do 

 business, and then you are in a position to talk 

 values and get closer together." (3n the pro- 

 mam of the lirst meeting we had these addresses 

 on cost, and every meeting since we have had 

 something aljout cost, and I believe that it is a 

 good policy to keep that one sulj.ject before every 

 manufacturer in the business. I was very glad 

 to hear Mr. Doster and Mr. McCullough tell of 

 their work this morning, because I want to 

 bring out one point they mentioned. The handle 

 makets of the United States have had more or 

 less associations. They have succeeded at all 

 times. They have accomplished things and got 

 closer together. There are some in existence 

 today in a local way and they have succeeded. 

 But it is my thought and I believe you will 

 bear me ont — that if the handle manufacturers 

 had one man to look after their interests, ad- 

 .lust conditions, get information as to the manu- 

 facturing end of the business, give them ideas 

 as to sales, markets, stocks, possibilities of 

 prices, etc. — they would accomplisli as much as 

 has been aceomplislied in the lumber trade and 

 in the box trade, stave trade, cooperage lines, 

 etc. I am sure the interest of tlie old workers 

 — the men who have been connected with asso- 

 ciation work in the past — is evidenced by their 

 attendance here. As we have always noted in 

 box lines, they will always continue to believe 

 in the possibilities of organization ; so the 

 question then is if a special man is a good 

 thing to have in the Iiardwood trade, if lie 

 accomplishes things for the box ti-ade. why 

 can oiie not accomplish sometliing for the handle 



trade'.' We bail this (piestion up in two -^r 

 three lines in tlie box trade, and the first 

 ipiestion was how to raise tin' money. The 

 successful way has been on thi' lines suggested 

 h.\' Mr. Doster -an assessment of so much per 

 thousand output. The box makers have adopted 

 this system, and so have other lines. Some large 

 concerns pay .fl.lidt) a year and they are glad to. 

 pay it. Why'; Because they have taught men 

 wlio never figure cost how to get at a riglit 

 base for it. They have educated men tliat the 

 buyer is not the only man who tells the truth. 

 They come together often enough to discover 

 that their competitor make-; a good partner, 

 ami the ex<'liange of information makes it pos- 

 sible to get the prices they are entitled tn 

 In no case is there a price list. Iteciproeit.v is 

 generally put on the banner of these associa- 

 tions and as men get closer together and are 

 better friends tiley know what tliis work means 

 and appreciate and helii each other. The result 

 is tliey get better prices. One association re- 

 eoiints that the ^-ost on certain boxes is so 

 iiiiieh — giving all the details — and when this list 

 goes out we know Ihat out uf iiiiiet.^- men. sixty- 

 live will live lip to it. We know there are 

 ;ilwa.\s thirty live wiin may anil ina,\' not ask if. 

 but it does not niiilve an.i iliflereii,'i'. Tlie others 



iii-;.\!!V II. lur.siix. I'.iirnu! iiai;ii\\'ooii 



ItKI'OKll. Ti;.\ll IlKAItV SICCttlOTAItV. 



immediately send out theirs in accordance with 

 suggestions, and that association is ou its 

 eleventh year and is doing good. We had a 

 meeting onl.y a few weeks ago. and the same 

 old question of cost and waste came up agpin. 

 Kach man came with his own ideas of cost in 

 his pocket, and we fought for two da.vs to get 

 a little advance. The reason we fought, to get 

 it was because some of the manufacturers 

 thought it was not a good time. So we com- 

 promised. A year ago we had difficulty with 

 this same price list, when we tried to put it into 

 effect, although lumber liad gone up eighty per 

 cent, because they were a little backward and 

 afraid, but they were the happiest lot of fel- 

 lows in town after they had gone home, dis- 

 covered real values for themselves, and saw 

 where it was all right. It seems to me tiiere 

 are enough men here in the handle business to 

 start a movement that will employ a man who 

 will give all his time to their affairs. You 

 cannot do this in a day — it will take time. My 

 experience is you get letters from people who 

 say (hey would do anything they can for you, 

 but the next thing is to get their Johnny Han- 

 cock on an agreement to pay. so much to somi'- 

 thing whicli will be fcir the intert^sts of all 

 combined. 'i'liey seem to mean -ill riglit. but 



