HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



Meeting of National Veneer and Vanet Manufacturers' 



Association. 



A semi-annual meeting of tlie National 

 V'eneer & Panel Manufacturers' Association 

 was held at the Grand Hotel, Cincinnati, on 

 Wednesday. June 20, Those present were: 



E, W, Benjamin, Cadillac Veneer Co., 

 I'adillac, Mich, 



S. G. Boyd, C. C. Boyd &• Co.. Cincinnati. 

 Ohio. 



C. C. Boyd. C. C. Boyd & Co.. Cincinnati. O. 

 W. C. Calhoun. Frost's Veneer Seating Co.. 



Sheboygan. Wis. 

 M. C. Dow. Goshen Veneer Co., Goshen. Ind. 



E. H. Defebaugh, Barrel and Box, Louis- 

 ville, Ky. 



Lewis Doster. secretary Hardwood Mfg. 

 Assn., Chicago, 111, 



F. W. Eggers. F. Eggers Veneer Seating 

 • 'o.. Two Rivers. 'Wis. 



L. P. Groftmann. St. Louis Basket I'i Box 

 Co.. St. Louis. Mo. 



Henry II. Gibson, Hardwood Recoud, Chi- 

 cago, 111, 



D. E. Kline. Louis\"ille Veneer Mills. Louis- 

 ville, Ky. 



B. M. Lord. Chicago Veneer Co., Burnside. 

 Ky. 



H. M. McCracken. Kentucky Veneer Works. 

 Louisville. Ky. 



\\'. E. Moher. National Veneer Co.. Charles- 

 ton. W. Va. 



W. G. Munjan. Virginia Veneer Co.. Keezle- 

 town. Va. 



L. N. Phillips, Linwood Mfg. Co.. Linwood, 

 N. C. 



John N. Roberts. Roberts & Connor Veneer- 

 ing Co.. New Albany. Ind. 



F. A. Richardson, Michigan Veneer Co., Al- 

 pena, Mich, 



Z, T. Robinf.:n. robinson Veneer Works. 

 Owensboro, K\'. 



William Seiber. Central Veneer Co.. Central 

 City, W, Va. 



Charles J. F. Steiner. Baltimore Veneer 

 Panel Co.. Baltimore, Md. 



Kent Sheppard. Globe Veneer Co.. Balti- 

 more. Md. 



D. S. Thomas. North State V'eneer Co., 

 StatesvlUe. N. C. 



J. Crow Taylor. Louisville. Ky. 



J. A. Underwood. Underwood Veneer Co.. 

 Wausaii. Wis. 



W. S. Walker. Portsmouth Veneer cVfc Panel 

 Co.. Portsmouth. O. 



O. E. Williamson, Baltimore. Md. 



Nathan M. Willson. Pearl City Veneer Co.. 

 Jamestown. N. Y. 



The meeting was called to order at 10:30 

 a. m. by President D. E. Kline of Louisville. 

 Mr. Kline congratulated the association on 

 the progress it has made in its work. The 

 reading of the minutes of the Chicago meeting, 

 held early in the year, was dispensed with. 

 Mr. Kline gave the details of what transpired 

 at the Asheville meeting, held April 16. He 

 said that the producers of veneers in the 

 vicinity of Asheville had formed an orgaryza- 

 tion known as the Southeastern Veneer Asso- 

 ciation, with a membership of seventeen, and 

 that this association desired to become .affili- 

 ated with the national organization as a 

 southeastern branch under certain conditions, 

 which he named. These conditions provided 

 for some changes in grading, and the alter- 

 ing of base widths on one line of stock. 



On motion of Mr. Groffmann it was decided 

 to admit the members of the Southeastern 

 organiz.ation as members of the national order. 



On motion the chair was instructed to ap- 

 point a committee on the grading of thin 

 veneers, drawer "oottoms and glass backs, to 

 report at Ih? next session. The chair ap- 

 pointed as such committee: Messrs. Roberts. 



Benjamin. Shcppaid. Underwood and Groff- 

 mann. 



The sccretarj'-treasurei- submittcti a report 

 of the finances of the association, showing 

 total receipts of $243.81. and expenditures of 

 ?115.16. leaving a balance of $128.65. He stated 

 that there was a sum of $230 coming to the 

 association from dues. 



The secretary read a communication from 

 the, secretary of the American Forestry Asso- 

 ciation, soliciting a sustaining membership 

 from the Veneer & Pane! Association at a 

 cost of $25. On motion of Mr. Walker, the 

 secretary was instructed to purchase the 

 membership on behalf of the association. 



The president then introduced Lewis Doster, 

 slating that he was experienced in associa- 

 tion work, and that he had very kindly con- 

 sented to give the veneer people i.trcsent a 

 brief address on the subject of the methods 

 and achievements of the Hardwood Manufac- 

 tiu'ers' Association, of whicii he. is secretary. 

 Mr. Kline explained that the methods em- 

 IJlf)ycd l>y an association which had achieved 



II. !■:. Ki.i.M-:. ri;i:siiiKXT. i.nrisvii.i.E. ky. 



such eminent success in the handling of hard- 

 wood affairs should be not only interesting, 

 but of manifest advantage to the embryo as- 

 sociation of veneer makers. 



Mr. Doster addressed the meeting substan- 

 tially as follows: 



This is one of the tirst opportunities I have 

 ever had to discuss or explain the methods of 

 association work to others who are not ex- 

 actly hardwood producers, but are immedi- 

 ately interested in the development of the 

 industr.\'. and it is a pleasure to be able to 

 accept the kind invitation of your president. 



The necessity of having a hardwood manu- 

 facturers' association became manifest in 

 1902 and after the objective points were 

 decided upon it became a study to discover 

 the best methods to pursue in carrying out 

 the details, which included a careful study 

 of other successful associations in the lumber 

 line. Before the association was formed there 

 was quite a varietj' of opinion as to grades: 

 various retail and buying organizations" in the 

 different cities had adopted all kinds of grad- 

 ing rules impractical from a timber stand- 

 point, and which caused not only consterna- 

 tion, but a variety of opinion liPtween the 

 shipper and buyer. It was discovered that to 

 procure a legitimate basis for uniform prices 

 it w-as necessary to establish unifoi-m grading 

 rules for the inspection of the class of ma- 

 terial to be covered by the organization .and 

 lo protect the manufactui'ei-s against unfair 

 methods. 



In framing the organization il adopted for 

 its policy securing a full understanding of the 

 conditions surrounding the lumber market in 

 the territory covered by the organization, not 

 only to eshablish uniform grades, but to es- 

 tablish uniform customs and usages among 

 the manufacturers to develop economical pro- 

 duction, for the purpose of lengthening the 

 life of the forest, and to inaugurate a system 

 by which the welfare of the manufacturers 

 would always be maintained and defended in 

 case of necessity, by reason of any inimical 

 legislation from outside sources. 



To obviate any difficulties or to prevent any 

 dissensions it was decided that only producers 

 of lumber who operate sawmills and manu- 

 facture their product from timber lands were 

 eligible to membership, with the result tliat 

 it became a producers' organization. 



Owing to the fact that of a number of 

 different classes of wood, some are competi- 

 tive, the association adopted a rule by which 

 only those vitally interested in the manu- 

 facture of .certai'n classes of products can 

 \'Ote or legislate upon the grading or value 

 of the commodity. Every state interested in 

 the association — over seventeen in number — 

 is represented by a vice president and two 

 directors on the board of directoi-s; the vice 

 president acts as chafrman of the state dis- 

 tricts, and the directors are geographically 

 distributed to secure the best results in 

 organization work. Numerous committees are 

 appointed, covering in their entirety the dif- 

 ferent classes of woods, both as to values 

 and as to grades, and they work together for 

 the purpose of elimina.ting bad legislation. 

 These committees are composed of men of 

 high intelligence, who are not only thoroughly 

 familiar with the production of the raw 

 material, but have had vast experience in 

 marketing the stock to the people who con- 

 sume it. and knowing their wants, are able 

 to properly legislate for carrying on the trade 

 between tliemseh'es and the buyers. 



After months of study to inaugurate grading 

 rules and working them out to eliminate any 

 conflicting ones or any wliicli were not.in line 

 with market wants, they were placed in print 

 by thousands and distributed among not only 

 producers but consumei;s. They are written 

 in such an intelligent manner that the in- 

 spectors of lumber thoroughly understand how 

 to interpret the grading laws as laid down in 

 this book of rules. Wlhen such grading laws 

 became effective it was found that the in- 

 spectors of lumber, even those working for 

 one class of shippers, were not working in 

 proper accord, and it became necessary to 

 place a corps of inspectors at work upon the 

 mill men for the purpose of education at the 

 producing end and to establish uniformity. 

 It was found justifiable to start at the be- 

 ginning and endeavor to eliminate trouble at 

 destination by a thorough understanding of 

 how to ship a uniform grade from points of 

 production. 



Even with such work it was discovered that 

 the entii'e subject of "trouble at destination." 

 or in consuming markets, was riot eliminated, 

 and therefore a corps of inspectors who were 

 men working exactly on the same lines as 

 those at the mills, were employed for the 

 purpose of traveling from point to point 

 among the consuming markets to take care 

 of the producers' and consumers' complaints. 

 I might add that very often this corps of 

 inspectors changes — at stated intervals — the 

 ones working at the mills working in the 

 consuming markets, and vice versa. This 

 department of grading is one of the most 

 important parts of organization work in the 

 lumber line, where grading is the basis of 

 values, and it is .also the most expensive 

 department of our work. Inspectors employed 

 are high class men — above reproach as to 

 integrity and sobriety, and they work abso- 

 lutely impartially to obtain satisfactory re- 

 sults. 



It is well known that there are commercial 

 agencies established to supply to the shippers 

 of lumber financial reports of prospective 

 buyers, or of customers with whom shippers 

 deal, but at the same time, in the lumber 

 business there are conditions which often 

 necessitate more information than is con- 

 tained in tliese reports where the question of 

 moral turpitude is of equal or more im- 

 portance to the mill men than the financial 

 report. Questionable .complaints regarding 

 interpretation of the rules, terms of sale, 

 discounts, etc. are always confronting the 

 shipper and therefore we inaugurated a plan 

 of reports by which any member of the asso- 

 ciation can ask the st.anding of the buyer and 

 a thorough canvass is made of the member- 

 ship, which represents over 400 mills, and 

 replies are received in the secretary's otRce 



