44 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



NeWs Miscellany 



Lively Meeting Chicago Wholesale Lumber 

 Dealers' Association 

 Tbe regular meeting of the CUicago Wholesale 

 Himbfr Dealers' Association, which took place 

 at the La Salle Hotel on May 10, indicated the 

 spirit of enthusiasm and confidence in the asso- 

 ciation with which President Mickle has embued 

 the members. Various matters of interest to the 

 association as a body and to the Chicago lumber 

 nade in general, came up for discussion in the 

 regular business meeting, which was preceded 

 by a delightful luncheon. 



The roll call showed a total attendance of 

 27 out of a membership of 40, which was rather 

 below the average. In opening the regular busi- 

 ness. President Mickle announced the names of 

 the new appointees to the various committees, 

 who will take the places of resigning members. 

 G. J. Pope of the Trade Relations Committee gave 

 way to J. II. Hathway, who will act as chair- 

 man : J. A. Nourse resigned from the Membership 

 Committee, and Mark Porter will take his place 

 as chairman, W. L. Serrell succeeding Mr. Porter. 

 Mr. Hathway has given up his place on the Rail- 

 road Committee, and will be replaced by Ernest 

 Dalby. Francis J. Pike will substitute J. A. 

 Nourse on the Amalgamation Committee. 



The business of unusual importance before 

 the meeting was the reports of Chairman Hath- 

 way of the Trade Relations Committee and of 

 E. A. Thornton of the special committee to con- 

 sider amalgamation with the other Chicago lum- 

 ber organizations. The principal theme of Chair- 

 man Hathway's talk was the inspection of car 

 material, a topic which brought out extensive 

 discussion in which the faith of the association 

 in its inspection system and inspector was clear- 

 ly demonstrated. Inspection rules along these 

 lines have .always been extremely vague, but 

 there is a motion on foot with a view to deli- 

 nite specifications. 



The report of Chairman Thornton was em- 

 bodied in a set of resolutions adopted by the 

 Joint committee of the three Chicago associa- 

 tions in their recent conference, in which a rough 

 draft of the proposed proceedings in the direc- 

 tion of amalgamation was outlined. Among the 

 suggestions most urgently recommended in this 

 paper were that the original charter of the Chi- 

 cago Lumber E'xchange, which was granted by 

 a special act of the state legislature in Illinois, 

 May, 1869, be amended by a new organization 

 in the event that such an organization eventually 

 materializes ; the second important suggestion 

 was that the name should not be the same as 

 that under which any of the present bodies are 

 organized. 



The most strenuous objection came along the 

 lines of inspection, and threatened loss of iden- 

 tity of the various associations. The whole- 

 salers have an inspection system in connection 

 with all yellow pine transactions through which 

 they can guarantee impartial and satisfactory 

 inspection to both shipper and consumer, and 

 they employ an inspector who has made en- 

 viable record, and in whom all customers and 

 all association members have implicit confidence. 

 They are naturally a little bit jealous of any 

 possibility of losing the services of this most 

 etecient branch of their organization, and heated 

 arguments along this line were directed at Chair- 

 iran Thornton from all quarters. 



Another argument against affiliation, advanced 

 by one of the members, was that any amalgama- 

 tion with the pine yard interests would lose to 

 the inspection service the confidence of the mill 

 men, which it has always enjoyed. 



On the other hand it was brought out that 

 trith one organization incorporated under the 

 ■;hartcr of 1869, the members would always 

 r.ave recourse to court action in the event of 

 any disputes with customers, either buying or 

 eelling, as the original charter granted to the 



uld Chicago exchange certain police powers which 

 could not now be secured under any condition. 

 I''. 15. McMuUen, the Chicago Hardwood Exchange 

 delegate on the joint committee, made the point 

 that the added strength which would surely 

 accrue from amalgamation into an association 

 representing three tu four hundred lumbermen 

 ot Chicago, would more than offset any incon- 

 venience or disarrangement of existing condi- 

 tions, and further stated that it appeared to him 

 that the yellow pine people could adopt existing 

 yellow pine inspection rules and have the Yel- 

 low Pine -Manufacturers" Association license their 

 inspector to pass upon all shipments through the 

 Chicago market. In this way the wholesalers 

 v.'ould not lose the identity of the inspection 

 system, the main advantage of which lies in the 

 fact that a confident and impartial inspector is 

 employed, and that this inspector, being em- 

 ployed by middle men whose interests do not 

 lean to either party in the transaction, will have 

 no reason for favoring either the shipper or the 

 consumer. 



President Mickle suggested, as a solution of 

 the difficulty, that instead of amalgamating iu 

 the way suggested, the three associations should 

 maintain exact present identity, and an inde- 

 pendent organization or club of Chicago lumber- 

 men, open to any man in tbe lumber business in 

 this city, be organized. This association should 

 lake up only such questions as would affect 

 the lumber business in its entirety and not along 

 any specific branch. This seems the most logical 

 suggestion put before the meeting. 



After a thorough discussion of the subject of 

 amalgamation it was moved that the report of 

 the committee, as submitted, should be accepted 

 by the association, and the committee should be 

 instructed to proceed with its investigation along 

 the same lines which it has been working on here- 

 tofore, and should make a report, at the next 

 meeting, of any further developments. This com- 

 pleted the business of the day, and was followed 

 b}' adjournment. 



New Orleans Lumhermen's Club Meets 



The second regular meeting and dinner of the 

 Lumbermen's Club of Xew Orleans took place at 

 the Old Hickory Restaurant, New Orleans, Tues- 

 day evening. May 10. President George E. Wat- 

 son presided, and Secretary L. Palmer was also 

 at his post. The membership was well repre- 

 sented. 



After disposing of the unusually well prepared 

 menu,* the business of the meeting was taken 

 up. The report of the committee on member- 

 ship, in the absence of Chairman Boyd, was 

 presented by Secretary Palmer, who also gave 

 an account as to the result of notifications sent 

 to concerns elected at the last meeting, by vari- 

 ous members without formal application. Out 

 of twenty-six, seventeen signified their desire to 

 enter the club ; six replied that they did not care 

 to join and three had not been heard from. In 

 connection with this report the following appli- 

 cations for membership were made and all were 

 duly declared elected : 



George T. Wayne, Standard Export Lumbal- 

 Company. 



.1. M. Swetman, Swetman & Worley. 



L. D. Crosby. Brookhaven, Miss., Crosby & 

 Bonds Lumt)er Company. 



J. T. Conley, Hazelhurst, Miss., with Hazel- 

 liurst Lumber Company. 



W. p. Haynes. Lumberton, Miss., with Hinton 

 Bros. Lumber Company. 



W. H. Opdenwcyer and O. M. George, Opden- 

 weyer-George Lumber Company. 



J. W. Williams, Bowie Lumber Company. 



P. H. Lewis, Jeanerette Lumber & .Shingle 

 Company. 



A. C. Johns, Whitecastle Lumber & Shingle 

 Company, Whitecastle, La. 



Ed. E. Carriere, A. LeMore & Co. 



D. B. Alexander, New Orleans. 



R. M. Adam, with Phil I. Adam. 



Frederick II. Waltz, New Orleans Lumber 

 Trade Journal. 



James A. Kirby, Southern Lumberman. 



For the Transportation Committee, Chairman 

 I'rank B. O'Leary announced that he had chosen 

 C. W. Robinson and E. W. McKay to serve with 

 him on this committee. He advised that no 

 action had been taken at the meeting which the 

 committee had held in regard to the settlement 

 of claims and railroad weights, as they were in 

 some measure dependent on the action taken at 

 the Freight Claims Conference in Chicago, which 

 Mr. McKay attended, and the results of which 

 were not yet at liand. He presented a com- 

 munication from E. D. Williams, suggesting that 

 legislation be secured in the state legislature 

 granting tbe right of eminent domain to short 

 line or logging railroads and asking for the 

 views of the club on the bill outlined in the cor- 

 respondence. A similar bill has been prepared 

 by W. B. Wadley of the Alexandria Lumber 

 Company, Alexandria, La., representing the yel- 

 low pine manufacturers of northern and western 

 Louisiana. Considerable discussion followed the 

 reading of this letter, especially in regard to the 

 effect such legislation might have in subjecting 

 logging railroads to the jurisdiction of the State 

 Railroad Commission, and it was stated that 

 such obligations might more than offset the ad- 

 vantages to be derived. It was brought out that 

 the yellow pine people had gone into the legal 

 aspects of the matter very thoroughly and it 

 was finally decided tliat ilr. O'Leary should com- 

 municate with Mr. Wadley in connection with a 

 meeting of his people to be held shortly at New 

 Orleans or Alexandria, with a view to co-op- 

 erating with them, reporting to the next meet- 

 ing of the club. Chairman TuUy of the Arbitra- 

 tion Committee stated that he had no report to 

 offer, but announced that he had named L. W. 

 Gilbert and E. C. Rehl as co-workers on his 

 committee. 



Mr. Freeland brought up the questioa of public 

 belt service in New Orleans, and suggested that 

 some vigorous action be taken to secure a bet- 

 terment of conditions on the river front, ex- 

 plaining the loss which various members were 

 suffering by the inadequate service. It was 

 stated that the matter was under investigation 

 by the Transportation Committee of the Board 

 of Trade, and on motion the chairman of the 

 Transportation Committee was requested to con- 

 fer with the Board of Trade with a view to 

 prompt action in the matter, and It was re- 

 quested that members furnish specific instances 

 of complaint for use in this connection. 



The president then read an amendment to the 

 by-laws of the club as follows : "Members who 

 live more than sixty miles from New Orleans 

 shall be required to pay dues only when present 

 at meetings." It was pointed out that under 

 the rules the reading of the amendment was con- 

 sidered as a notice of the amendment, and that 

 this would come up for action at the next 

 meeting. 



Meeting Memphis Lumbermen's Club 



At the last meeting of the Memphis Lumber- 

 men's Club, held Saturday, May 14, the ques- 

 tion of having delegates attend the freight gath- 

 ering held at Chicago, May 17, was disctissed 

 with enthusiasm. It was finally decided to have 

 two representative of the club at that gather- 

 ing. 



James S. Davant, commissioner of the Mem- 

 phis Freight Bureau, delivered an address on 

 the rate question, stating that the shippers of 

 the country ought to get together and take 

 positive action in the matter. He asserted that 

 the railroads were trying to get their rates ad- 

 vanced before the Interstate Commerce Court 

 had been established, because after that an ad- 

 vance could not be put into effect within less 

 than four months after giving notice to the 

 commission, if any shipper objected to the ad- 

 vance. The Chicago meeting resulted in the per- 



