HARDWUOD RECORD 



29 



c. II. crtAWFOitn. roAi, guove, o.. tueas- 



tKEI! 



LEWIS IKJSTEI! 



nXCINNATI. 

 TARY 



SECRE- 



CRAXE. CIXCIXNATI, O.. MEMBER EXEC- 

 UTIVE BOARD 



recognized force and a 



recognized 



our association stands out 

 necessity. 



The Association. 



Our membership has increased in all three classes, namely,, pro- 

 ductive, wholesale and consuming. Our various departments have 

 been maintained and conducted with the same 

 Membership. dearee of energy and efficiency which has char- 

 acterized the work of the association since its 

 organization. The progress we have made during the past year has 

 been particularly gratifying and lias shown splendid results, making 

 necessary a number of changes. . . 



Our Main Office has been permanently e.stablished in Lincinnati, 

 a great hardwood lumber gateway, decided upon 

 Main Office, by the executive board as the logical center fot 

 both the producer and tlie buyer. 

 The establishment of a Jv'ew York Office became necessary to 

 handle Eastern conditions, which action has tended to broaden the 

 market for our various hardwoods in this large consuming territory. 

 It has o-iven confidence to shippers from distant producing sections 

 '' for with an office in that territory, they lee I 



Eastern Office, that tlieir interests will be properly protected. 

 The educational work instituted by this office has 

 in a large measure removed prejudice and opposition to our gradin,' 

 rules in that section among purcha.sers, who were either but slightly 

 familiar with our association and its methods, or had based their 

 conclusions upon misrepresentations. 



An innovation developed during the year, which has proven Miost 

 satisfactory, has been the inauguration of a Bulletin Service. 



The Corps of Inspectors has been maintained as in the past, 

 with the same unbiased and efficient service; and the educational 

 work at the mills is being continued. The Inspection Bureau is 

 the most important department in our organization, 

 and the cost of maintaining it consumes the larger 

 part of our income. 1 desire that particular atten- 

 tion be given to the matter of devising ways and 

 means wlierebv the expense of maintaining this department may be 

 more equitably adjusted, without in any way impairing the effi- 

 ciency of the service. 



The secretary 's rejiort will fully cover the work carried on by onr 

 association during the past year. 



It is my purpose to "present to you several matters of importance 

 which should come before this association. Chief among them is 

 the question of nnifotm inspection. The time and attention which 

 the association has given to this subject demands 

 that it have preference over all others. It is our 

 earnest and sincere desire to establish a universal 

 standard of grading for hardwoods, and it is to be 

 hoped that much will be accomplished at this meeting, and more in 

 the near future. It might be well to dwell briefly upon the asso- 

 ciation's past history along these lines. In 1902 the Hardwood 

 Manufacturers' Association of the United States was formed chiefly 

 for the purpose of standardizing the grading of hardwood lumber. 

 At that time the entire industry was in a more or less chaotic state. 

 The grading rules effective in most prominent hardwood centers 

 were usually of a character for local use only. The producer was 

 forced to grade differently for each market, thereby prevent- 

 ing an intelligent marketing of his product. After many months 



B-ureau of 

 Grades. 



Uniform 



Inspection. 



of investigation and consultation with consumers as to their 

 requirements, this association adopted standard 

 Manipulation, rules which we now have in effect. Since then 

 after due deliberation and careful study these 

 rules have been re-worded, changing only the language, so that we 

 come before you to-day with a book of rules which we believe 

 to be the fairest for the entire trade-, they cannot be misinterpreted, 

 thereby preventing as far as possible the manipulation of grades—a 

 practice quite common in the hardwood trade, and one which this 

 association discourages, and which would be discontinued to a large 

 extent if not altogether eliminated, by the adoption of a single 

 standard. The question of uniform inspection in the grading ot 

 hardwood lumber has come in for its share of attention during the 

 past few months, and the lumber press has given its space freely 

 and impartially to exponents of both sidss to the controversy, ihis 

 association has repeatedly placed itself upon record to the effect 

 that it is thoroughly in accord with the movement to bring about 

 one standard of grading, and has indeed made strenuous efforts m 

 this .livection. With this object in view numerous conferences 

 liave been held, our association acting always in 

 Conferences, good faith and under the impression that if all 

 parties interested could be gotten together in the 

 proper spirit, all desiring the same end, the situation could be 

 cleared up and a single standard agreed upon. But in every 

 instance these conferences have accomplished nothing, and 1 deem 

 it no more than proper to state here that such failures are in 

 no wise chargeable to this association. I may say, however, that as 

 a result of these conferences— or more correctly speaking, the lack 

 of results— it has been very clearly demonstrated to us that we 

 have been expending our energies in the wrong direction, ihe pro- 

 ducers who compose the largest element of this association are very 

 Inisy, devoting practically all of their time to the arduous duties ot 

 Dro'ducino- a commoditv' satisfactory to the purchasers, and they 

 have found that practical results can be obtained by conferring 

 with those who use the material. Why should not the producer 

 and consumer engage in conference? The consumer knows his 

 ' requirements and the producer desires to tulhll 

 Future them. By such co-operation mutually bene- 



Co-operation. ficial results must follow. It would be imprac- 

 tical to even contemplate a standard grading 

 rule to meet the sijecific requirements of every customer of hardwood 

 lumber but I see no reason why co-operation with the consumer 

 should not result in a standard of grading rules, to enable the 

 lumber manufacturer to more intelligently produce the article 

 which the consumer desires to purchase. The consumer wants 

 nothing which the producer cannot give him, and through co-opera- 

 tive methods the difl-erences, if any, can be easily overcome. No 

 honest man can successfully defend the existence of more than 

 nne standard of gradinp, nor can any reasonable man deny the 

 fact that the producer and consumer are the only parties concerned 

 in the making of grades. Why should this not be hrought about? 

 The time for action is notv, as too much has already been _ lost. 

 Further delay will work great harm to the industry. Practically 

 every line of consuming trade is organized, and 

 One Standard, and' let us join our forces with them to this end. 

 If there are individual interests outside of the 

 organizations, we shall be glad to meet with them also. It is to 



