HARDWOOD RECORD 



31 



well satisfied with trade conditions, and other 

 matters affecting the welfare of the hardwood 

 lumber business. Market values hare been 

 mending slowly. The railroads have evidently 

 l>een acting in a satisfactory manner, and the 

 only note of dissatisfaction has been over the 

 inability of the members to secure the services 

 of the National inspector when wanted. 



Regarding this latter, your secretary had 

 some correspondence with the secretary of the 

 National Hardwood LumlK'r Association earl.v 

 in the year and received assurances that he 

 would instruct the inspector to limit his ab- 

 sences from this market to ten days, if pos- 

 sible ; and when not able to do so. to leave his 

 address at his Minneapolis headquarters. In 

 spite of this, however, he has not always been 

 available when wanted. 



The membership of the association has re- 

 mained practically the same during the year. 

 A year ago we bad twenty-three members. We 

 now have twenty-one. The Minnesota Lumber 

 Company and the Hawkins Land & Lumber 



C. F. OSBODRXE. MINNEArOLIS, TREAS- 

 URER. 



Company dropped out, and no new members have 

 been added. AA'hether or not there are other 

 eligible hardwood dealers in this market is best 

 known to the members of the association, and 

 if there are the membership committee is un- 

 doubtedly willing to receive suggestions. 



At the last annual meeting a rough draft 

 of the new constitution and by-laws was read 

 and a committee consisting of W. C. Bailey, 

 C. F. Osborne and the secretary, was appointed 

 to finish and present the document at the next 

 meeting. It was revised and read at the meet- 

 ing of .January IS. adopted at the meeting of 

 March 6, and reconsidered, amended and finally 

 adopted at the meeting of March 27. 



At the meeting of October 4 the secretary 

 read a letter from the secretary of the Oregon 

 & Washington Lumber Manufacturers' Associa- 

 tion asking for support of this association for 

 the "odd lengths" movement. He was instructed 

 to inform the western secretary that our grad- 

 ing rules already officially recognize odd lengths 

 as standard. 



Whether or not the work of the association 

 has been satisfactory to the members during 

 the year is not for me to say. The evidence is 

 in favor of an affirmative answer. 



Treasurer's Report 

 Treasurer C. F. Osborne's report showed 

 the following receipts, disbursements and 



balance: 



Balance on hand December 1. 1008 $ .3.93 



Receipts 126.50 



Total $130.43 



Disbursements 103.50 



Balance on hand $ 26.93 



On motion the reports of the officers were 



accepted. 



Report of Board of Arbitration 



F. H. Lewis reported for the Board of Ar- 

 bitration that since the inspection of lumber 

 in the Northwest is in the hands of the 

 National Association, the board has nothing 

 to do with disputes over grades. He believed 

 the work of the inspector had been satisfac- 

 tory as a rule. He knew of only two eases 

 where a reinspeetion had been called for, 

 and in one of those the original inspection 

 of the inspector had been preferred by the 

 complainant. 



On suggestion of W. C. Bailey, the chair- 

 man of the board was asked to get the num- 

 ber of cars that had been inspected by the 

 National inspector and incorporate it in bis 

 report. 



N. C. Bennett, reporting for the member- 

 ship committee, said no new members seemed 

 available. 



Report of Forestry Committee 



D. F. Clark presented a good report for 

 the forestry committee. He said that the 

 question involved two things — the cutting of 

 the forests and replacing them by reforesta- 

 tion. The Forest Service had to contend 

 with two great destroyers — insects and fires 

 — and it has made great progress in combat- 

 ing both. He then referred to the rather 

 strong forestry laws enacted by the Minnesota 

 legislature, and particularly to the provision 

 that required railroads to take great care to 

 prevent fires from locomotives. He read from 

 the report of the Forestry Commission of 

 Minnesota showing the possibilities of refor- 

 estation, but stating that it was a work for 

 state and national government and not for 

 private individuals. He also read from the 

 figures of the Census Bureau and Forest 

 Service for 1908 showing the number of 

 mills reporting, the cut of lumber and its 

 value. These showed a decrease of 17 per 

 cent in cut and 2.3 per cent in value. In 

 spite of this, the lumbermen are getting less 

 for their lumber than two years ago. He 

 read part of the constitutional amendment 

 that will be presented to Minnesota voters 

 providing for 1/l.j of a mill tax for forestry. 

 Report of Waterways Committee 



F. A. Nolan for the waterways committee 

 said he had prepared no report, but wanted 

 to call attention to the fact that the National 

 Waterways Commission, after visiting Eu- 

 rope, had said that we had greater possibili- 

 ties in the Mississippi river than any Euro- 

 pean river. The main trouble was that the 

 railroads had gotten possession of the river 

 banks and had all the ground for wharves and 

 docks. 



W. C. Stanton asked what had been done 

 by Minneapolis and St. Paul about raising the 

 $250,000 asked by the government for a high 

 dam between the cities. Warren Seeley, sec- 



retary of the St. Paul Commercial Club, was 

 invited in and said that the commercial clubs 

 of the two cities had agreed to raise the 

 money. 



After some further discussion the subject 

 was dropped. 



A. E. Petterson, for the committee on ar- 

 rangements, reported that the evening enter- 

 tainment would consist of a dinner and talk 

 by prominent citizens. 



The secretary then read a communication 

 from the St. Paul Manufacturers & Jobbers' 

 Association asking for some expression on the 

 corporation income tax law, but on motion it 

 was decided to postpone action. 



The question of better service from the 

 national inspection system was then taken up, 

 and culminated in a motion by Mr. Clark that 

 the secretary write the secretary of the Na- 



D. F. CLARK. MINNEAPOLIS. CHAIRMAN 

 FORESTRY COMMITTEE. 



tional Association asking him to instruct his 

 inspectors to report their whereabouts to the 

 chairman of the Board of Arbitration of the 

 Northwestern Association. 



Election of Officers 



The president then appointed as a nomin- 

 ating committee W. C. Bailey, A. E. Peterson, 

 F. H. Lewis. After a brief recess the com- 

 mittee reported recommending the following: 



President, A. H. Barnard, Minneapolis. 



Vice-president, W. C. Stanton, St. Paul. 



Treasurer, C. F. Osborne, Minneapolis. 



Secretary, J. F. Hayden, Minneapolis. 



Board of arbitration: P. R. Hamilton, 

 chairman; G. S. Agnew, Chas. Oliver, A. E. 

 Peterson, F. A. Nolan. 



Membership committee: N. C. Bennett, 

 chairman ; F. M. Bartelme, H. Levine. 



On motion the secretary was instructed to 

 cast the ballot of the association for the 

 nominees, and they were declared elected. 



On motion the chair appointed as a com- 

 mittee to prepare resolutions on the death of 

 James E. Defebaugh, of the .A.merican Lum- 

 berman of Chicago: W. H. Sill, F. H. Lewis 

 and J. F. Hayden. 



