26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Annual Chicago HardWood Lumber Exchange 



The Chicago Hardwood Lumber Exchange 

 convened for the fourteenth annual, at the 

 Hotel La S&lle, on Saturday, March 26. 

 Owing to a misunderstanding on the part of 

 the management of the hotel, the College 

 room, in which the luncheon and meeting 

 usually take place, was assigned to the 

 Woodmen of America, the similarity in 

 names probably being responsible. In fact 

 each meeting was frequently interrupted by 

 visitors from the other organization, who 

 had been misdirected by the hotel attend- 

 ants who had gotten the names confused. 



Following the usual pleasant luncheon, the 

 meeting was brought to order at about 1:30 

 by President Brown, who in a brief speech 

 reviewed the business and happenings of the 



annual reports. The first to respond was 

 Chairman J. L. Lane of the Entertainment 

 Committee, which consisted, besides himself, 

 of Clarence Wolfe and C. L. Cross. He had 

 no written report, but in a humorous way 

 told of the various functions which his com- 

 mittee had put over during the year. He 

 reported a decided increase in appetite with- 

 out any evidence of dyspepsia. The only 

 kicks reported were from J. S. Trainer, who 

 objected to the fact that ladies were not 

 admitted to the luncheon, and from W. C. 

 Schreiber, who is greatly in favor of having 

 two portions of soup served to each person 

 instead of the usual single order. Mr. Lane 

 recommend a continuance of the usual en- 

 tertainments. 



of work along the lines suggested at that time, 

 which still awaits development in the future. 



What the committee has to report at this 

 time, therefore, is an outline of what it may 

 be able to do under certain conditions, rather 

 than the submission of a record of the specific 

 accomplishment of any part of the work which 

 was assigned to it. 



The relationship of this exchange to other 

 associations is a question in which we ate all 

 very deeply interested, and one to which 1 have 

 given considerable thoaght. I'nder existing 

 economical conditions the individual has ceased 

 to be regarded as the elBcient unit in the finan- 

 cial, commercial or industrial field of effort. He 

 has been supplanted by combinations of many 

 individuals possessing a common interest along 

 given lines. The individual has lost his potency 

 for self-protection, for the accomplishment of 

 reforms, or for making his influence felt in any 

 extended field of effort. Combination is the 

 universal order of the day. It perhaps be- 

 speaks the progressive spirit that has always 

 been one of the characteristic features of Chi- 

 cago's commercial life, that the hardwood lum- 

 bermen of this city were among the first in the 

 trade to recognize and accept these changed 

 conditions. 



F. L. BROWN, PRESIDENT 



W. C. SCHREIBER. VICE-PRESIDENT 



F. B. Mc.MULLEN, SECRETARY 



past year. He stated that the administra- 

 tion, at the beginning of the year, adopted 

 the policy of merely supervising and out- 

 lining the work, the details of which were 

 taken care of by the seven committees 

 created for specific purposes. These commit- 

 tees were warmly commended by him for 

 the faithful and efficient manner in which 

 they had carried out his suggestions, and 

 were given full credit for what they had 

 accomplished. The speaker likened the 

 growth of the Hardwood Exchange to that 

 of a tree, comparing the advancement made 

 each year to the annual rings which are 

 shown at the end of a log. Some years, he 

 stated, show either a cessation of growth 

 or but a limited advancement, which com- 

 pare with the years in which cold weather 

 or mishaps of some sort cause a poor forma- 

 tion of the annual wood tissue of tree 

 growth. The general progress of the ex- 

 change, he stated, could be traced in much 

 the same way. 



Following these remarks, the chairman 

 called upon the various committees for their 



Chairman Schreiber of the Labor Commit- 

 tee was next in order. This committee con- 

 sisted of Chairman Schreiber, Theodore Fath- 

 auer, F. W. Black and W. M. Hopkins. The 

 report showed gratifying results for the 

 year. 



The report of the Trade Relations Com- 

 mittee followed. This committee is com- 

 posed of O. O. Agler, W. C. Schreiber, A. R. 

 Vinnedge and C. F. HoUe and has accom- 

 plished much for the good of the trade. The 

 report was as follows: 



Report of Trade Relations Committee 



When your president advised the chairman of 

 the trade committee of his appointment, he out- 

 lined in a brief general way his ideas of the 

 duties of the committee, which included the 

 relation of the exchange to the National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association and all fjuestions per- 

 taining to the betterment of the trade in general 

 as applied to our membership, including freight 

 rates, car service and river affairs. 



The question to which this committee has 

 given its most serious consideriition has been 

 the creation of a committee on complaints, as 

 submitted to this exchange in our report of 

 October 16, 1909, and I am impressed with the 

 l)clief that, like the parrot in the story, I talked 

 too much at that October meeting, and fear 

 that I may have raised hopes in the hearts of 

 this membership for the speedy accomplishment 



This exchange is one of the oldest hardwood 

 lumber organizations in this country, and it has 

 e%'er striven to advance the interests of its mem- 

 bers, to protect the reputation of Chicago as a 

 lumber market, and to forward the commercial 

 interests of the city at large. 



In order for any organization to be successful 

 in the work which it sets out to perform it 

 must possess for a nucleus a combination of 

 interests appealing directly to each one of its 

 component parts. If it fails to possess such a 

 nucleus it will lack the necessary elements of 

 cohesion, and will therefore rapidly disintegrate. 

 The more local these elements of interest, the 

 closer is drawn the membership, and, on the 

 other hand, the more general or diverse the ele- 

 ments of interest, the less they appeal to the 

 individual member. It is possible for a number 

 of combinations or organizations having Inter- 

 ests of a nature purely local for their nuclei 

 to combine for the accomplishment of certain 

 objects which arc too general to engage the 

 interest of any single organization, and at the 

 same time each combination may maintain Its 

 individual entity for the accomplishment of the 

 original objects which are local to its member- 

 ship. 



No better object lesson of the harmony which 

 may be evolved from the lesser combination 

 working to a given end through and by means 

 of a greater organization can be cited than that 

 of the relationship existing between this ex- 

 change and the National Hardwood Lumber 

 Association.. The latter organization has estab- 

 lished a system for the inspection of hardwood 

 lumber that has become universally accepted in 

 all markets, which, of course, includes that of 

 this city. It has developed an inspection bureau 

 by which competent inspectors are maintained 

 in all of the large consuming markets, also In 

 the lumber producing territory of this country. 



