HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



an effort himself instead of looliing to the 

 organization as a 'collective body to accom- 

 plish all the results or benefits. He urged 

 rU to "be boosters and not knockers," a 

 slogan that appealed to the convention 

 jreatly. Second only to his individualistic 

 talk was his frank statement that veneer 

 jnd ipanel manufacturers do not know mar- 

 ket values and have not arrived at an actual 

 cost system for their business. Cost and 

 jost accounting were clearly up to the 

 manufacturers to determine and to follow. 

 His whole address was a plea for definite 

 ;ost >vstems. 



r B. KAYAKJMi. l.\DI.\NAroLIS. 

 PRESIDENT. 



President's Address 



This is tlie fifth annual meeting of the asso- 

 uiation and completes tour yeais of our associa- 

 tion work. The first tno years we enjoyed .vears 

 of comparative prosperity ; the next two years 

 we experienced very decided business depression, 

 and like the Scripture story o£ the lean and the 

 (at kine, the lean years have swallowed up the 

 tat yi'ars. When the association was started we 

 Lintuipated much greater results and much more 

 rapid progress than has been accomplished. The 

 work uf the association has devolved very largely 

 upon a few individuals, and while this is doubt- 

 less common to associations and enterprises oX 

 this character, the fact of its being common 

 makes it none the less unfortunate, and every 

 member of this association should thoroughly 

 understand that to accomplish the best results 

 and bring about all that we have reason to 

 expect in this association, we must have the 

 individual effort of every member. 



When two years ago I was asked to accept 

 the nomination for president, in view of the two 

 years that had passed and the fact that we had 

 not accomplished then as much as some of us 

 had hoped for, I felt that while there were other 

 men in the association that were better qualified 

 and who should have been honored with the 

 position, nevertheless it would not perhaps be 

 difficult to keep the work going and bring about 

 as great and as good results in the succeeding 

 year as has been attained the past. As I look 

 back at that time. I am reminded of the story 

 of a boy that proposed to go in' swimming in 

 November. His mother rather objected, saying 

 It was too cold. Later, however, she noticed he 

 had sand on his shoes, his hair was wet, and 

 said, "Well. son. where have you been?" "I 

 have been in swimming." "What! in November? 

 Was not the water too cold?" "No, it didn't 

 seem so to me. but a man came down and 

 watched me for a while, then took off his clothes 

 aijd jumped in. lie said. 'Great .Jehosaphat !' 

 and jumped right out again." 



It might have been well for me to follow the 

 example of the man who found the water too 

 cold for him. The Inspection and Credit Ex- 

 perience Bureau that was established I think has 



been found advantageous to a good many of our 

 members. We made one change nearly two years 

 ago in employing Mr. Young as assistant secre- 

 tary of the national association to cooperate with 

 us in our work and along the lines of the auxil- 

 iary organizations. Some changes have been 

 made, but 1 feel, gentlemen, that we have not 

 succeeded in getting the results that we were 

 entitled to. and that every member cif this asso- 

 ciation should make it his personal business to 

 boost the national association. Be a booster 

 and not a knocker. The main thing this associa- 

 tion, like every other association, is in existence 

 for, is better prices. This is not a philanthropic 

 enterprise or benevolent institution and unless 

 we get more uniform and generally better prices 

 for our product through the efforts of this asso- 

 ciation, the association is a failure, because that 

 is the main thing that it was established for. 



We have succeeded in introducing some uni- 

 form methods in some lines ; we have better 

 recognized grading rules and some points of 

 trade ethics have been agreed upon that are an 

 advantage to the veneer and panel trade, but 

 the paramount interest is price and better val- 

 ues : when we consider, gentlemen, that possibly 

 twenty panel men, twenty rotary cutters and 

 fifteen or twenty producers of quartered oak 

 could get together and practically control the 

 prices ; make the prices what they should be : 

 make such prices as would give commensurate 

 returns upon the brain and capital employed, it 

 seems utterly ridiculous for the present demor- 

 alized price "conditions to prevail. 



We occasionally see mention in some of the 

 trade papers about market prices of veneers and 

 panels. Now in many lines I want to say there 

 are nu market prices. When a man buying pan- 

 els buvs three-ply quarter-inch quartered oak 

 panels 'for $30 a .M. as a large manufacturer in 

 the East told me a short time ago he was doing. 



E. H. DKKEBAUGII. CHICAGO. SECRETARY. 



and another man wants $40 or $4.^; for the same 

 panels, will somebody tell me what the market 

 jirice of panels is? This manufacturer of fur- 

 niture, the consumer or user of those panels, 

 asked me what it costs to manufacture quarter- 

 inch three-ply panels. I said I did not know : 

 that I was not in the panel game. He said, "Do 

 vou think thev could be made for $30?" I said, 

 •■Not according to the figures of the best panel 

 men." He said. "We cannot make them for 

 that, but we are buying them for that, so we 

 are buying all we need of them." 



The same conditions prevail in quartered oak 

 and in rotarv cut stock. When birch door stock 

 is being sold" by very well informed manufactur- 

 ers, manufacturers wlio keep accurate account of 

 cost, at from $10 to $18. $18 for all styles, and 

 another manufacturer in the same district, hardly 

 as well equipped, offers the same stock at $10. 

 will somebody tell me what the market price is 

 iin that product? When 3/16-inch pin block 

 stock that some of our older and more expe- 

 rienced manufacturers want $17 to $17.50 for 

 with crossings in one. two and three pieces, no 

 guarantee of the percentage of one-piece stock, 

 and a consumer in Chicago buys all whole-piece 

 stock of the same thickness hard maple for 

 $13.50, delivered in Chicago, will somebody tell 

 what the market price on that stock is? When 

 small drawer bottoms are offered at recommended 

 prices of $16 in Grand Rapids and one of our 

 members sells the same stock for $10.50. deliv- 

 ered in Grand Rapids, will someone tell me what 

 the market price is? I maintain, gentlemen, 

 there is no market price on veneers and panels. 

 The man who talks market price feels that the 

 market price is whatever the buyer is willing to 

 pay for it, and the buver has demoralized the 



market. I believe that the principal cause of 

 this condition is the fact that comparatively few 

 of the manufacturers have a cost system that 

 gives them reliable and accurate figures on cost. 



A man goes into the market without abso- 

 lutely positive information of his cost ; he wants 

 the business : he wants the order : he wants a 

 ])rice for it, but he takes what the buyer is dis- 

 posed to give him. Now if that same man 

 figured his cost carefull.v. it is rea'Souable to 

 suppose that he would raise his price ; that he 

 would at least have a minimum. I think it is 

 reasonable to suppose that he would raise his 

 price : that he would not sell his product for 

 less than cost. 



While the association, as I say, has not ac- 

 complished all that we might have hoped for, 

 I see no reason why we should not get closer 

 together and make prices on every line. The 

 question of making prices brings up the ques- 

 tion of the Sherman act and the legal ethics 

 of the matter, but it certainly is no violation 

 of any law for any bunch of manufacturers to 

 get together and agree that they will not sell 

 their product for less than cost. The question 

 of what lias been accomplished and what we 

 hope for in this association reminds me of an- 

 other story of. a woman's expectations for her 

 son. She said : "When .Tohnny was a baby I 

 expected when he grew up that he would be- 

 come a minister, but when he got to be four 

 years old I decided that if . I could save him 

 from the gallows I would be doing all that 

 could be expected of one weak woman," and 

 while I hoped for and expected much greater 

 things for the association during the past two 

 years. I have felt very much for the past year 

 if we could keep the association alive and active 

 until this time of depression was over and until 

 business should be resumed, that about all would 

 be accomplished that could be reasonably ex- 

 pected. 'That time of improved business has 

 arrived. 



When talking with many 0/ the manufacturers 

 that are present in Chicago today. I have learned 

 that a good many have more business in hand 

 today than at any time during the past two 

 jears. jjnd this briiktS 1^ again to th^ most vital 

 point, which is. with this improved business and 

 increased demand we should insist on prices 

 that will give us reasonable returns. We need 

 larger profits : we need more accurate and care- 

 fuT figuring of costs to secure those profits, and 

 I think that the most vital and important con- 

 sideration for this association is the question of 

 costs. 



One objection that has been raised to the 

 adoption of a uniform cost system or cost sys- 

 tems for our different products has been that it 



YorXG. I.NDIANAPOLI.S. ASSISTANT 

 SECRETARY. 



is claimed that a difference in the method of 

 operation, difference in equipment and location 

 of different plants, would make it impossible to 

 use any uniform system ; and. while that ob- 

 jection " has some weight, there are so many 

 items of expense that are common to. every ro- 

 tary cutter, to every manufacturer of sliced and 

 quarter-sawed stock", and to every panel maker, 

 that I belleTe positively that it would be pos- 

 sible to adopt unifiinn cost systems sufficiently 

 general so that without any very serious change 

 they could be adapted and made applicable to 

 each and every plant represented in our Indus- 



