HARDWOOD RECORD 



37 



First. The undue and unnecessary publicity 

 required by Paragrapli 6. wliicb provides that 

 tile schedules shall be filed in the office of the 

 Commissioner of Internal Revenue and shall 

 constitute public records and be open to inspec- 

 tion as such. 



Second. The injustice of the government 

 compelling members of this association, as well 

 as others throughout the United States, to file 

 their schedules in two months' time, when it 

 has taken tlie government four months to pre- 

 pare its explanation of the law. 



Third. The inventory which it will be neces- 

 sary to make and which is required by the in- 

 structions from the Treasury Department will 

 cost more in money and loss of time and busi- 

 ness than the tax itself. 



This communication was handed to me and I 

 was requested to bring it before the convention. 

 I think it should be freely discussed, and no per- 

 son present should hesitate to express himself 

 fully. It seems to me that one of the chief 

 objections to the law is its inquisitorial nature^: 

 going into the details of private business, the 

 conditions of which vary greatly from year to 

 year, I don't know anything about the consti- 

 tutionality of the law. They seem to be able 

 to make laws to apply almost anywhere they 

 choose to put them. It seems to me that this 

 matter should be thoroughly discussed here, and 

 that such action should be taken as you maj- 

 think is necessary. 



In order to bring the matter before the con- 

 vention, I move you, Mr, Chairman, that it be 

 the sense of this convention that we are op- 

 posed to the corporation tax law, as enacted by 

 the last national Congress, and that we urge 

 its repeal. 



The motion was seconded. 



The President : Gentlemen, you have heard 

 the remarks made by Mr. Stimson. We would 

 like to have you express yourselves on this 

 proposition. 



Mr. EUedge : Mr. Chairman, while I am 

 merely here as a visitor, I want to say that it 

 ieems to me that there is one objection to 

 this corporation tax law that is not mentioned 

 in that letter. It is an objection which I, as 

 an individual citizen, have had to the law since 

 its inception, and that is the unfair way in 

 which it is made to apply — it is not made to 

 apply to partnership business. Partnerships are 

 one thing and corporations another, and the 

 lirm of Smith, Jones & Brown might be carry- 

 ing on a partnership business extensively, and 

 making large profits, and while they are enjoy- 

 ing the benefits of the protection of the govern- 

 ment, they are immune from any taxation under 

 this corporation law. 



The President : We are glad to have heard 

 from you. Mr. EUedge. 



.Tames H. Baird : Mr. Chairman, I would lilie 

 to ask Mr. Stimson if. in his talk with lumber- 

 men, he doesn't find that there is a misappre- 

 hension as to what it really calls for — if they 

 don't think that it calls tor a statement of 

 the assets and liabilities of their business? I 

 have talked with several of the lumbermen at 

 Memphis and they undoubtedly have that idea — 

 they supposed that they were to make a state- 

 ment of their assets and liabilities, and that this 

 was required by the law. That is not my un- 

 derstanding of the law. The letter read by 

 Mr. Stimson has been received down at Mem- 

 phis and has been quite extensively discussed. 

 Some considerable feeling has arisen over the 

 letter and telegrams were being sent to Wash- 

 ington by individuals and corporations down 

 there, and some action was contemplated by dif- 

 ferent organizations. I have just thought that 

 such a misapprehension was causing some men 

 considerable trouble. It does not seem to me 

 that any organization will be in any particularly 

 strong position in asking at the hands of Con- 

 gress that this clause be stricken out. because 

 any return for taxation is a part of the public 

 records, and to ask that it be not made so. is 

 simply, in effect, to ask that the dealings of a 

 certain portion of the public be kept secret from 

 the rest of the public, and it don't strike me 



that that would be a very strong position for 

 us to assume. Of course I need not add that I 

 am not in favor of the corporation tax. I think 

 of all the foolish, vicious and unnecessary pieces 

 of legislation 1 have ever seen, it takes the rag 

 off the bush. [Applause.] 



J. V. Stimson : The corporation has got to 

 file its inventory, Mr, Baird. 



Mr. Baird : I don't quite agree with you in 

 your view of the matter, or else I am mistaken. 



The President : Gentlemen, you have heard 

 Mr. Stimson's m(5tion, that this association go 

 on record as opposing the corporation tax law, 

 and urging its repeal. The motion has been 

 duly seconded. All those in favor of the motion 

 will signify the same by saying Aye: those op- 

 posed, No. The Ayes liave it and the motion is 

 carried. 



Now has anyone else anything under tlie ov*^ ' 

 of new business'? 



W. A. Guthrie : Mr. President, C. C. Mc- 

 Cann, chairman of the Trunk Line Association, 

 has issued a pamphlet setting forth reasons why 

 railroad rates should be advanced ten per cent. 

 Tills pamphlet has been distributed throughout 

 the country by the different railroads, showing 

 that they had some particular interest in do- 

 ing this. Now, in October last, there was a 

 mass meeting at Cincinnati of various shipping 

 interests and commercial clubs and persons in- 

 terested in freight rates, and at that meeting 

 resolutions of disapproval were adopted. 



The object of the Cincinnati meeting was to 

 educate people along a line opposite to that upon 

 which the railroads are seeking to educate them. 

 Now I was asked to bring this matter before 

 the convention, and they would like to have the 

 moral support of this association. Anyone who 

 takes the trouble to look into the matter will 

 find that the profits of the railroads are enor- 

 mous, in spite of the large amount of watered 

 stock that they have had to pay dividends upon. 

 The railroads argue that they are not making 

 profits, and in support of that argument they 

 point to a road like the Erie, for instance, whose 

 stock has been watered excessively, and refer 

 to the earnings on that watered stock. It is not 

 sufficient to pay the fixed charges and leave a 

 reasonable return for the stockholders. These 

 men who met in Cincinnati answer that by tak- 

 ing up the case of the B. & O., which is making 

 large profits aud paying ail their fixed charges 

 and all their improvements. 



Mr. President, I move you that this associa- 

 tion give to this Shippers' Publicity Bureau its 

 moral support and assistance in carrying out 

 the ideas advanced in the meeting at Cincinnati. 



The motion was seconded and prevailed. 



The President : Has anyone else anything to 

 bring up under the head of new business? 



G. O. Worland gave an interesting talk upon 

 the costs of producing lumber from the time 

 Ibe log is taken off the car until the product is 

 in the pile. He stated that the total cost was 

 ¥4. .SO per thousand. 



.7, Y, Stimson stated that he had found the 

 cost to be a little less than foi" dollars per 

 thousand, at Huntingburg, Ind. 



The President : If no one else has anything 

 to offer in the way of new business, we will 

 hear the report of the committee on nomina- 

 tions. 



Bedna Young read to the convention the re- 

 port of the Committee on Nominations, as fol- 

 lows : 



Election of Officers 



Your committee respectfully nominates for 

 the various offices of the association, for the en- 

 suing year, the following named members : 



For president, Ed Swain : for vice-president, 

 Yan B. Perrine : for secretary. C. H. Kramer : 

 for treasurer, James Buckley : for directors, 

 C. Maley, B. F. Swain. C. A. Wood, Samuel 

 Burkholder, .T. Y. Stimson, W. A. Guthrie, Geo. 

 Palmer, J. M. Pritchard and C. H. Barnaby. 



The President : Gentlemen, you have heard 

 the report of the Committee on NominatioDB. 

 What is your pleasure with reference to that 

 report? 



Mr. Riet : Mr. Chairman, I move you that 

 the report of the Committee on Nominations be 

 adopted, and that the gentlemen placed in nomi- 

 nation by the committee be elected by acclama- 

 tion and be declared the officers of the associa- 

 tion for the ensuing year. 



The motion was seconded. 



The President : Gentlemen, it has been moved 

 and seconded that the report of the Committee 

 on Nominations be adopted, and that the of- 

 ficers nominated be elected to serve for the en- 

 suing year. All those in favor of the motion 

 will signify the same by saying Aye ; contrary, 

 .\o. The Ayes have it, and the gentlemen nomi- 

 nated are declared elected to their respective 

 offices. 



And now, gentlemen, this will close my career 

 as president of this association. I want to re- 

 peat what I said in my opening remarks this af- 

 ternoon, that one of the most pleasant ex- 

 periences of my life has been my connection 

 with this association. There is nothing that I 

 would exchange for the friendships that I have 

 formed in this association. I think it is true, 

 that it has always been the purpose of this or- 

 ganization to make friends, and to try to spread 

 the harmonious feeling that should prevail 

 among lumbermen. We have enlarged upon the 

 social side of the organization, and I am proud 

 that I have the honor of being an official. And 

 now, gentlemen, that it is time for me to turn 

 the office over to my successor, I take great 

 pleasure in presenting to you your new presi- 

 dent, Mr. Ed Swain, who is known to you all. 

 [Applause.] 



President Swain : Fellow members of the In- 

 diana Hardwood Lumbermens' Association — It is 

 with a great deal of pleasure that I accept the 

 honor which you have conferred upon me today. 

 and I fully realize the magnitude of the task 

 before me, following, as I do, in the footsteps of 

 such efficient and capable predecessors. I ask 

 your earnest cooperation and support, that we 

 maintain the present high standard of our as- 

 sociation. I thank you. [Applause.] 



We will now hear from our new vice-president, 

 Yan Perrine. [Applause.] 



Van B. Perrine : Gentlemen — Although I 

 could not hear what Mr. Swain said. I heartily 

 subscribe to his remarks as an entirety. [Laugh- 

 ter and applause.] 



President Swain : We will now pass, gentle- 

 men, to the order of business, "The Good of the 

 Order." Has anyone anything to offer under 

 that head? If not, Mr. Stimson has something 

 that he desires to present at this time. 



In Memory of Departed Lumbermen 

 J. V. Stimson ; Mr. President, I have a pain- 

 ful duty to perform. The Grim Reaper has been 

 busy among the lumbermen during the last few 

 months, and I have been requested to note the 

 deaths of James E. Defebaugh, editor of the 

 .\merican Lumberman ; D. A. Sanders, of Sanders 

 & Egbert of Goshen ; John B. Ransom of Nash- 

 ville, Tenn.. and George W. Stoneman, who died 

 in St. Louis, I believe, day before yesterday. 



These were men with whom you were all ac- 

 quainted, and with whose merit and worth you 

 were all familiar. They were men who had ac- 

 complished a great deal in their lives, and it 

 is fitting that we recognize their departure at 

 this time, remembering their worthiness and the 

 works they have performed. It does not often 

 happen that so many of our friends have re- 

 sponded to the last call within such a short 

 i;me. Mr. Sanders, I believe, was approaching 

 the age of sixty-eight or seventy, and the other 

 men were all much younger and seemed to have 

 ytars of active life before them. But this is a 

 call to which we shall all, sooner or later, have 

 to respond, and this is an office which others 



