HARDWOOD RECORD 



33 



ence and business. He has been on the board 

 two years. There has been no meeting that he 

 has not attended, whether in Chicago, Boston 

 or elsewhere. Mr. Russe would not talse a posi- 

 tion of this Icind for the honor that is in it, 

 but he talfes it for the worlt. and he will do it 

 well. We want you to know him as well as 

 we know him. The better you know him the 

 better you will appreciate him, and if he is 

 elected president of this association (as I hope 

 he will be) you will come to know him better 

 than you know him now. Aside from the per- 

 sonal qualities of the candidate we offer, we 

 think Memphis is entitled to the presidency. 

 Memphis is something of a lumber center itself. 

 For two years the presidency was in Chicago : 

 one year in Indiana, two years in Paducah, 

 and four years in Cincinnati, which we think 

 is a fair proportion of the nine years. I hope 

 you will all vote for W. H. Kusse. 



S. L. Dodds : As a lumber producer of Jlissis- 

 slppi I would like to second the nomination of 

 Mr. Russe. 



Mr. Bennett : Mr. President, I have had a 

 sick man on my hands and I have not had time 

 to memorize my short speech, but if Mr. Sond- 

 heimer will keep quiet I will tell you something 

 about Mr. Moffett. 



Nine years ago the presidency of this asso- 

 ciation seemed to go begging, and for several 

 years thereafter, and in order to interest you 

 Mr. Vinnedge and others were at a loss what 

 to say or do to secure tl^e desired attendance. 

 Often we had to manufacture some plausible 

 reason to secure attendance. The press was 

 kind to us then and helped our cause along, 

 and we have gradually grown, slowly but sure- 

 ly, until now we are the largest hardwood lum- 

 ber brganization in the world. In the begin- 

 ning there was no competitive organization and 

 we had a clear field, but after a while some of 

 our friends thought we were getting along well 

 enough and that we were noticing some things 

 and were being noticed by other organizations 

 In other lines of trade, and thinking probably 

 our success might mean their downfall in their 

 business they organized a competitive associa- 

 tion. The results of this you all know. We 

 have increased in members until the 500 mark 

 has been reached, and, so far as I know, we are 

 at peace with all men and with only harmony 

 existing among ourselves and with the best of 

 feeling toward all organizations in our line. I 

 want to nominate a man for our leader who 

 will carry out this same policy, Mr. Thomas 

 J. Moffett of Ohio, for president of this organi- 

 zation. Mr. Moffett is a charter member, hav- 

 ing attended our first meeting in Chicago and 

 all other meetings since. He is up at Cincinnati 

 one of our best citizens, a man who stands 

 well at home, a worker among the busy peo- 

 ple, one who never neglects a trust and who 

 has ability born of experience and trained In 

 the school of activity in the executive line ; a 

 man who was asked to be mayor of our city 

 six months ago and refused the nomination. 

 I do not know' whether he is a Democrat or a 

 Republican. I do know he Is a manufacturer 

 of lumber in this country as well as in Havana, 

 Cuba, and a wholesale dealer as well ; a man 

 among men, who knows both sides of our mem- 

 bership and will respect them. This problem 

 is not new to him, and while he may not have 

 had experience on the Board of Directors, we 

 have not always gone there for a candidate, 

 nor is this essential. We didn't get Palmer 

 there. 



Mr. Sondheimer : Palmer was discovered. I 

 found him. [Laughter.] 



Mr. Bennett ; The men who discovered Pal- 

 mer were Jess Thompson and myself. In Chi- 

 cago. We are more than pleased to have such 

 a candidate as Mr. Moffett — a man who has 

 made no promises and has no affiliations with 

 anybody, and whose sole purpose will be the 

 building up of our association along the lines 

 of National inspection of hardwood lumber, and 

 the application of the same as legislated by 



this body. I sincerely trust you will give him 

 your unanimous support. 



J. J. Rumbarger : Mr. Chairman and Gentle- 

 men, Pennsylvania has no candidate for the 

 presidency, but I rise to second the nomination 

 of Mr. Moffett. I'ou all know him. He is not 

 an unknown quantity. He has been tried and 

 not found wanting. He is a good presiUing 

 ofllcer, a large manufacturer and a large dealer. 

 I hope you will pass your votes for him. 



I. F. Balsley : I have not attended every 

 meeting of the association. I have never heard 

 a member from Pittsburg ask anything of the 

 association. They have delegated me to come 

 to this convention and have asked me to use 

 my influence and do all I can to support Mr. 

 Moffett for the presidency of the association, 

 and I take pleasure in endorsing his nomina- 

 tion. 



Mr. McMillan : Gentlemen, I rise to second 

 the nomination of a man, and, when you can 

 say that of a fellow citizen, all other praise 

 is superficial. I think that this association has 

 its duty to perform in selecting from their midst 

 men for the places for which they are best 

 fitted. I care not for city or for individual. 

 I say. keep every man where he is best fitted 

 to promote the welfare of this association. As 

 I told a man coming down from Chicago, I 

 thought Chicago made an awful mistake when 

 it proposed the name of Mr. Russe. You, gen- 

 tlemen, are taking away from the floor the 

 most able debater you have and you are plac- 

 ing him in the chair, where he is tied. 



Mr. Sondheimer: Do you mean that? 



Mr. McMillan : No ; if it were you. sir, I 

 would stand here and nominate to get you 

 off the floor. [Laughter and applause.] Mr. 

 Moffett is a manufacturer of lumber, is eligible 

 for the office, and, gentlemen, all I have got to 

 say to you is to look him in the face and you 

 will see that my first application of "man" Is 

 there. I want to say to you, gentlemen, that 

 if I had my way I would never allow a good 

 member to be placed where he could not do 

 his work. Now if you will place Mr. Moffett 

 in the chair and he survives the year and any 

 of you would survive him, after be has passed 

 to the great unknown — if any of you should 

 pass by his grave you could stop and quote 

 Hobby Burns and say : 



"An honest man lies here at rest. 

 As here God with his image blest : 

 A friend of man, a friend of truth. 

 The friend of age, the guide of youth. 



"Few hearts like his with virtue warm, 

 Few heads with knowledge go to harm ; 

 If there's another world he lives in bliss. 

 If there's none other he made the best of this." 

 [Applause.] 



E. C. Colcord : As a member representing a 

 state adjoining the great State of Ohio, I beg 

 leave to second the nomination of Mr. Moffett 

 for president of this association. 



Mr. Stimson : Mr. I'resident and Gentlemen 

 of the Convention, We all recognize the merits 

 of Mr. Moffett. We know that he is a clean-cut 

 man. We know that he is capable of admin- 

 istering the office of president of this associa- 

 tion, and, gentlemen, there are hundreds of 

 others In this body of 500 who could administer 

 the office of president of the National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association and do it ably. I second 

 the nomination of a "man," and we don't want 

 this president in the future that Mr. McMillan 

 referred to. We want him now : we want him 

 here, and I second the nomination of W. H. 

 Russe. 



J. N. Scatcherd : Mr. President, it is with 

 some embarrassment that I stand up here before 

 this membership today, because only just a year 

 ago today you complimented us in Buffalo by 

 coming there as our guest. There you had a 

 man that you wanted to succeed himself, and 

 Buffalo helped you. Mr. Moffett Is all that you 

 say about him. Mr. Russe always makes good, 



and there is no better average quality of credit 

 liefore the banking world of this country today 

 than a lumberman's word, and you told us in 

 Buffalo that the next time you had an election 

 you would make Mr. Wall the president of this 

 association. And we liave come here demand- 

 ing ovu- rights. I never want to break faith. 

 I never want to be mistaken by a lot of men 

 as honest as you men. You made us the 

 promise, and we come here and ask you to 

 make M. M. Wall the president of this associa- 

 tion. Mr. Bennett always gets back of the win- 

 ner, but I want this to be done fairly and hon- 

 estly, and I hope Mr. Wall will receive the 

 lionor at your hands. 



Hugh McLean : I desire to second the nomi- 

 nation of Mr. Wall. 



Mr. Sondheimer : Mr. President and Gentle- 

 men of the Convention, After having listened to 

 the apologies of the gentleman who had not pre- 

 pared his speech in advance, after having list- 

 ened to the eulogies on the dead one [laughter 

 and applause], I desire to make a few remarks 

 in the way of seconding the nomination of Mr. 

 Russe. There is no occasion, taking into con- 

 sideration the lieat of this room and the bum 

 cigars that are being smoked [laughter], to 

 spend much time eulogizing the gentleman. It 

 is not particularly a question whether a man 

 is a man of family or not ; whether or not he 

 refused the nomination for mayor of a city al- 

 most unknown, neitlier is it necessary to fly into 

 an ensemble allegory, bringing tears to your 

 eyes. [Laughter and applause.] I simply want 

 to ask you what kind of a man we desire to 

 have as president of this association? [A ninu- 

 ber of voices — Moffett.] 



J. W. Thompson : Don't get nervous, Max. 



Mr. Sondheimer : When I get nervous I will 

 not call for water. We desire a man who is 

 not only a good business man but one who is 

 in touch with all the interests and conditions 

 of this association. We desire a man who is 

 used to association work. Every member of 

 this organization knows that there is no man 

 in the ui-gauization who has more closely fol- 

 lowed it from its very incipiency up to the 

 present day than the gentleman we advocate. 

 He knows all the Inside workings of the asso- 

 ciation ; he has fought against adverse criti- 

 cism and almost impossible conditions. He has 

 never wavered : nor has he been on the fence 

 one moment. He has been a National Associa- 

 tion man, and the question has never come up 

 as to whether it was possible for him to go 

 to the Manufacturers' Association. If you de- 

 sire to continue the prosperity of this associa- 

 tion you will make no mistake by choosing Russe 

 as your representative. Gentlemen, I thank you 

 very kindly for the vociferous applause, and I 

 say to you, in spite of the fact of my not hav- 

 ing had time to prepare my speech — I say to 

 you it is not necessary when you have such 

 a subject as Russe to talk on. You have noth- 

 ing to prove. Our case is already proven. Gen- 

 tlemen of the convention, I submit this man 

 to your recognition, and I am perfectly satis- 

 fied that when the result is made known you 

 will be able to address him as "Mr. Presi- 

 dent." [Applause.] 



Theodore Fathauer ; Gentlemen, on March 17 

 last the Chicago Hardwood Lumber Exchange 

 held its annual meeting. At that time Chicago 

 had a candidate in the field, the first vice presi- 

 dent, Mr. Agier. He was tendered the nomina- 

 tion, but for private reasons declined it. Inas- 

 much as Chicago is no inconsiderable market 

 for hardwood lumber, nor a small factor in 

 the National Hardwood Lumber Association, we 

 proposed that we should have a candidate. We 

 nominated Mr. Bill Russe of Memphis. In 

 doing so we looked over the field, and it was 

 our earnest and sincere intention to select the 

 best man for the office. Mr. Russe, as you all 

 know, has fought in the front ranks of the 

 association. He has attended its meetings. He 

 has served on the Executive Committee, and he 

 possesses the vigor and enthusiasm of youth. 



