HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



to teachers and students of state agricultural colleges, and to per- 

 sons in the service of the government and all others interested in the 

 study of forestry. 



The bill is entirely a worthy one and it is hoped it will have the 

 hearty support of the two houses of Congress. 



Questions before National Association 

 of Manufacturers 



The report of the National Association of Manufacturers, which 

 met for its fifteenth annual convention at the Waldorf-Astoria, New 

 York, May 16, 17 and 18, contains many features brought before 

 that body of vital interest to the entire manufacturing and shipping 

 element of the country. Effort was made to have each topic han- 

 dled by a committee especially suited to submit a complete and 

 authoritative report on the particular matter in hand. 



Of great interest to manufacturing concerns employing labor 

 in any capacity of great liability to accident or death, is the report 

 of -the committee on industrial indemnity insurance, insurance against 

 accidents, sickness, etc., in which is embodied a discussion of methods 

 for safety appliances and prevention of accidents. 



In the course of the investigations of this committee, thousands 

 of communications were addressed to employers throughout the coun- 

 try and a very fair percentage of answers received. Compilation 

 of these replies shows that almost eighty per cent of the manu- 

 facturing concerns represented have no systematic provisions for thi- 

 relief of injured employes, and but twenty per cent have any system 

 worthy of the name. That there is dissatisfaction with the present 

 employers ' liability insurance is shown by the fact that ninety per 

 cent of the replies received were antagonistic to the existing legisla- 

 tion, and sixty-seven per cent favored the fstablishment of voluntary 

 mutual insurance among the members of the association. 



The report of the committee discussed in detail plans for the 

 adoption of a suitable set of liability laws, and an extensive investi- 

 gation has conclu.sively proved that, of the two systems of employers' 

 liability now in actual application abroad, the English and the 

 German systems, the latter is far more satisfactory to all parties 

 concerned. 



In all probability any legislation in this country along these lines 

 will be drafted more or less in accordance with the German system, 

 which provides for obligatory indemnity and obligatory insurance. 

 The German law requires that any injured person shall have prompt 

 medical attention in addition to indemnity up to sixty-six per cent 

 of the regular wage, the object of this pro\'ision being to aid in 

 prompt recovery. Another feature is the obligation of employers' 

 associations to bear the burdens of indemnity collectively, except for 

 the first thirteen weeks, during which time the victims are taken care 

 of by funds contributed by employers and employes. The German 

 system embodies other features which render it altogether a just 

 and satisfactory method of settling the constantly recurring claims 

 for injury and death, and which merit incorporation in any new 

 legislation in this country. 



In applying the German ideas to the conditions existing in this 

 country, the manufacturers should, to as great an extent as is 

 feasible or possible under those conditions, provide for a system of 

 compensating for accident or death through the medium of private 

 enterprise. When the liability of the employer and the compensa- 

 tion of the employe are once fixed, the accident insurance companies 

 will be in position to take up the matters as to premiums and admin- 

 istration in a way satisfactory to all parties. 



The report of the committee on forests and waterways advanced 

 more or less radical ideas germane to freshets and river navigation, 

 and declared that not until the frightful annual waste from forest 

 fires is checked and the destruction by Hoods guarded against, will 

 the flow of the rivers of this country be controlled and the enormous 

 volume of Hood water that now runs waste be held back in natural 

 or artificial reservoirs. The statement is true as far as it goes, but 

 allows the inference of facts not strictly so by not covering all 

 phases of the question. 



The apparent inertia of the masses on the question of conservation 

 was attributed to the fact that the problem involves many compli- 

 cations and, in order to interest the people as a whole, must be 

 greatly simplified. It was evidently the belief of the committee that 

 the future welfare of the country depends on safeguarding the indus- 

 tries depending upon wood and timber supplies, the prevention of 

 the destruction of agricultural land by deposits of silt from over- 

 flowing rivers, the checking of annual freshets, and safeguarding the 

 river cities. If, as the report recommended, cooperation and harmony 

 could exist between the many forces working along the lines of national 

 conservation, vast strides toward the ultimate solution of the problem 

 could undoubtedly be made. The various interests involved should 

 realize that what is good for one section of the country will in a 

 broad nay benefit every other section, and only by the elimination 

 of sectional jealousy will the ultimate aim of the conservationists be 

 realized. 



In conclusion the report urged upon every member of this associa- 

 tion the importance of promoting in every state, through state 

 legislation, a system of taxation under which timber shall be treated 

 as a growing crop until it reaches maturity and relieved from taxa- 

 tion during the intervening period ; while the trees are growing the 

 value of the land only should be taxed, without the value of the 

 growing trees being included ss a part of the taxable value of the 

 land. A state system of forest fire protection should also be inaugu- 

 rated that will provide an efficient safeguard against forest fires, 

 under fire wardens, with adequate provision for securing the needed 

 force for fighting fires in the forests as effectively as municipal fire 

 departments are now able to cope with conflagrations in cities. 



Editorial Notes 



"Cut" the cut! It is better to do a little business at a profit than 

 a big business at a loss. 



» * *r 



It is reported that nuptials have been celebrated between Mr. Stal- 

 wart Hardwood West and Miss Effete Hardwood East. May it be a 



happy marriage! 



* * * 



As the Eecokd goes to press the annual meeting of the National 

 Hardwood Lumber Association is in progress at Louisville. FuU 

 details of the proceedings of necessity will not be printed in this 

 paper until its issue of June 25. 



* * * 



A let-up in production is one of the things that will materially 

 assist in the net profits of the lumber business for some months to 

 come because of the inexorable law of supply and demand which 

 must at all times be considered. 



* « # 



Hardwood lumbermen should recall that there are no lumber require- 

 ments in tils floors, metal sheeting, metal ceilings, steel doors, steel 

 freight and passenger cars, steel filing cabinets, steel desks and an 

 infinity of other things that formerly were made out of wood, and 

 which show the trend of manufacturing use at the present time. 



* * * 



A good many lumbermen who scout the idea of a timber famine 

 win wake one of these days and find that they have given away their 

 patrimony in manufacturing their timber into lumber too soon. The 

 mature portion of the hardwood growth of the country is pretty well 

 exhausted, and the average forest of today will earn more money in 

 growth than it will when cut into lumber. 



* * * 



The j'ellow pine people have achieved the reputation of being the 

 lobsters of the entire lumber manufacturing trade. They know the 

 market is cverstoeked and that keeping up the present enormous 

 output is leaving them little or no profit on their magnificent timber, 

 and still very few of them are restricting their cut. Curtailment to 

 most of them seems to apply to their neighbors, but not to them- 

 selves. It is hoped that the hardwood trade will not take any busi- 

 ness lessons from the yellow pine producers. 



