HARDWOOD RECORD 



19 



Complete Official Report of the "Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Contention of the 



National Hardwood Lumber Association 



Held at Memphis, Tenn.. May 3 and 4, 1906 



OFFICERS AND NEW DIRECTORS FOR 1906-7 



OFFICERS DIRECTORS 



President, W. H. Russe, Memphis, Tenn. Earl Palmer, Paducah, Ky. 



First Vice President, O. O. Agler, Chicago, 111. C. H. Barnaby, Greencastle, Ind. 



Second Vice President, C. E. Lloyd, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa. C. F. Sweet, Grand Rapids, Mich. 



Third Vice President, H. C. Humphrey, Appleton, Wis. George E. Hibbard, St. Louis, Mo. 



Treasurer, J. Watt Graham, Cincinnati, O. O. E. Yeager, Buffalo, N. Y. 



Secretary, Frank F. Fish, Chicago, 111. G. J. Landeck, Milwaukee, Wis. 



The ninth annual meeting of the National Hardwood Lumber Association has gone into history as the largest gathering of hardwood 

 men ever assembled in this country. The roster of attendance had the signatures of 430 people, and a number ol persons failed to have their 

 names recorded. It is safe to say that there were nearly 500 people present at one or more of the sessions. 



Although the weather was very hot and the hotel accommodations inadequate for such a large crowd, the Memphis lumbermen did every- 

 thing in their power to make the stay of the visitors agreeable. They proved to be hosts par excellence, and were lavish in their attentions 

 attempting to see that every individual was made comfortable and happy. Both the banquet and the social entertainments given the visitors 

 were delightfully planned and executed. 



Each session of the convention was characterized by spirited debates, and while the prevailing interest was centered in the election of a 

 jiresident, other important business coming before the convention was dispatched with vim and vigor. Among the notable features of the con- 

 vention was the taking of an entirely new attitude on the subject of forestry, the association recognizing at once the valuable suggestions on 

 the subject brought out in the report of Chairman Wall of the Forestry Committee and fully endorsing his ideas on the right way to get after 

 reforestiy problems. 



The convention demonstrated its charity in a marked way by raising a substantial sum for the benefit of the San Francisco sufferers. 

 It elected to hold its next annual meeting at Atlantic City, N. J. 



Furthermore, it was decided to remove the association's headquarters from Indianapolis to Chicago. 



The full official stenographic report of the proceedings herewith follows; 



THURSDAY MOBmirG SESSION. 



The convention wns r.Tlled to onlcr by President 

 Earl Palmer, in the assembly room of the Gayoso 

 Hotel, at eleven o'clock. 



Mr. Barksdale : As president of the Lumber- 

 men's Club of Memphis I want to welcome you, 

 each and all, as gue,sts of this club and as 

 guests, also, of the citizens of Memphis. It is 

 my pleasure and privilege to introduce to you 

 our mayor, the Hon. James H. Malone, who will 

 now deliver an address of welcome. 



Address of Welcome. 



Mr. Malone : Tliere is no savel liere, but I gave 

 your honorable president a dollar to use in call- 

 ing the meeting to order. I have asked him to 

 return the dollar before I get through with my 

 speech. 



Mr. Cliairman. and gentlemen of the Na- 

 tional Hardwood Lmnber .Association, on be- 

 half of the city of Memphis and all its citizens, 

 I extend to you a most hearty and sincere wel- 

 come to our midst. We are glad to have you 

 with us today. We are always glad to have 

 with us visitors from a distance. We are more 

 than pleased when the great commercial in- 

 terests, not only of the surrounding states, but 

 throughout the United States of America, see 

 fit to turn their eyes from their homes and to 

 look, it may be, to the far South, and to have 

 a meeting among us and honor us with their 

 presence. We are glad to have you here today. 

 I had been a very common man until last 

 November. It was the first time in my life 

 that I was ever elected to a public oflice. Since 

 then I have been mayor of Memphis, and I have 

 been called upon to look into the faces of a 

 great many gentlemen in conventions which 

 have met in the city of Memphis. I asked my 

 honorable predecessor not long ago about wel- 

 coming these different conventions, and he said : 

 "Malone, cut it out." I Laughter.] But I have 

 not. I think it is an honor to myself and an 

 honor to the city of Memphis, to look into the 

 faces of these distinguished gentlemen here to- 

 day in this audience. It almost nonplusses me. 

 1 Applause.] I don't see any log run here today. 



[Applause and laughter.] It looks to me like 

 all firsts and seconds, all along the line. 

 [Applause.] And we are glad to have you 

 among us. 



Now, gentlemen, I am going to be very frank 

 with you. While we feel honored by your pres- 

 ence, we think it not inappropriate that the lum- 

 bermen and timbermen throughout the United 

 States should come to Memphis, inasmuch as it 

 is one of the first hardwood markets upon the 

 continent of America. [Applause.] When I 

 was a boy — and I am not old yet. although my 

 hair is a little gray — when we looked in our 

 old geographies, we saw something about timber 

 and lumber interests. We either saw the wood- 

 man cutting the tree or drawing the drag over 

 the snow or the felled trees being taken down to 

 the stream, and the geography spoke about the 

 magnificent timber forests which beautified this 

 country. Since then a stream of wealth flowed in 

 and the trees were felled and used to make beau- 

 tiful residences and public buildings ; not only 

 upon the continent of America, but also upon 

 the continent of Europe our beautiful woods 

 have adorned residences and buildings ; so much 

 that I cannot but think of my boyhood days 

 when I looked at the rude cuts of the forests 

 of America. Tliere were great wealth and great 

 duty and great possibilities in them, but they 

 have been almost denuded, except in the South- 

 ern States, where we have a great wealth of 

 forests. I trust the members of this association, 

 while they look to profit, will improve the op- 

 portunity, so far as they can to preserve the 

 forests, and the United States itself, and the 

 several states have instituted such proceedings 

 as will, as far as possible, renew the forests 

 of this great country. I therefore trust you 

 will lend your endeavors to this end and to 

 the preservation of the forests in our western 

 states, and especially in the mountain ranges 

 where reserves have been made. 



Now allow me to say one thing, dropping out 

 of the formal and going Into the Informal. As 

 I said, I am only a common lawyer and they 

 elected me. unhappily, mayor of the city of 

 Memphis. I was called over to my office a few 



days ago — now this ciunes down to yoti boys 

 personally — to look after some details with re- 

 spect to a certain lawsuit, and when I went, 

 there was a negro man named Florida, whom I 

 had known many years ; as I passed he seemed 

 to be dejected and melancholy ; whereupon I re- 

 called the fact that be had been a client of 

 mine, and this great city of Memphis, in ex- 

 tending its streets and boulevards, had deter- 

 mined that it would extend and widen the 

 boulevard in front of his humble shanty, and 

 I was his lawyer. Seeing him so dejected I 

 said, "What is the trouble. Florida? I am 

 mayor of the city of Memphis, and I am your 

 lawyer no longer. I understand the city of 

 Memphis has not only agreed to compensate 

 you in money and to give you a fair equivalent 

 for taking part of the frontage of your lot. but 

 they have also agreed to build a sidewalk in 

 front of your property." He said, "Yes, yes, 

 boss." I said, "Florida, that being so, I want 

 to be fair with you while I am mayor. Let us 

 look at it from the city's standpoint. You, 

 being a carpenter, can buy some material, fix up 

 your shanty, add to it and adorn it so that it 

 may be respectable upon this grand boulevard." 

 He said, "That's all right, boss, but that ain't 



the p'lnt — that ain't the p'int " I tried to 



be dignified, and said. "Florida, what is the 

 'pint'?" He said, "Why, the high price of lum- 

 ber — the high price of lumber, boss." [Laughter 

 and applause.] "Well." I said, "that is true, 

 Florida, but within one month now, they tell me 

 at the city hall, according to their agreement 

 with you, you will have your money." "Oh, 

 my God, boss," he said, "those timbermen from 

 all over the United States is going to meet at 

 the Gayoso Hotel, and they is going to have a 

 ban(iuet, and every time they have a banquet 

 they raise I be price of lumber." [Laughter and 

 applause.] 



Now come, boys, do the best you can for 

 Florida. You are going to have a great banquet 

 here ; a great meeting. I do hope and trust 

 that this meeting of this association may be 

 the greatest and grandest in Its history. Now, 

 one other word, nils Is a damp, humid at- 



