26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



GARDXEU 1. JONES. DIKECTOIi. BOSTON, 

 MASK. 



EDWARD BUCKLEY. DIRECTOi:. MANISTEE. 

 MICH. 



FRED \V. MOWBRAY, DIRECTOR. CINCIN- 

 NATI, O. 



ciation and by the absence of any spirit of 

 jealousy among tlie diversified interests repre- 

 sented therein. 



It is the aim of this association to draw all 

 hardwood lumbermen into as close a corporation 

 as the law.s of the land will permit, to Ihe end 

 that they, the lumbermen, may reap as large a 

 reward as possible from their investments, and 

 from their efforts intelligently and honestly 

 directed : to secure for the lumbermen as a whole 

 that degree of profit which legitimately belongs 

 to any line of business properly conducted. 

 ESirther than this the National Hardwood Lum- 

 ber Association has not gone. The degree of 

 altruism possessed by this membership has not 

 been sufficient to carry the work of the associa- 

 tion into any foreign field of effort. It has been 

 and is an association of lumbermen, by lumber- 

 men, for lumbermen : and as such it willingly as- 

 sumes the responsibilities and burdens properly 

 belonging to that line of trade, at the same time 

 insisting that the rights of its members be fully 

 respected by all. 



While the foundation of any organization must 

 be footed upon broad and abstract principles, it 

 must also posse^-s some concrete object the attain- 

 ment of which ;s paramount to every other pur- 

 pose in ord<^r to give a definite excuse for its 

 existence. The more local and vital this second- 

 ary object may be to the interests of its mem- 

 bers the greater will be the force of cohesion 

 developed within the organization. Therefore. 

 as a secondary object of the National Hardwood 

 Lumber AssociaLion, we have its avowed purpose 

 to establish, maintain and apply a uniform sys- 

 tem for the inspection and measurement of hard- 

 wood lumber. 



Nothing can come closer or be of more vital 

 importance to those engaged in the hardwood 

 lumber trade, than the manner in which the 

 commodity produced and distributed l>y them is 

 graded for value and measured for quantity. 



It is unnecessary for me to recall the condi- 

 tions prevailing in the various hardwood markets 

 with regard to inspection prior to the organiza- 

 tion of this association. Suffice to state, that 

 there was absolutely no prevailing standard by 

 which the grade of hardwood lumber could 

 definitely be determined. These conditions not 

 only bred honest differences of opinion between 

 honest men. but they also afforded a fertile field 

 for the exploitation of dishonest methods. 



To remove these conditions and to establish, 

 maintain and apply a standard of inspection for 

 hardwood lumber that would make their recur- 

 rence impossible, was the task assumed by this 

 association. How well it has discharged this vol- 

 untary obligation is best evidenced by a com- 

 parison of the conditions existing today with 

 those to which reference has already been made. 



To deny that these changes in conditions are 

 due to the operation of the forces set in "motion 

 by the National Hardwood Lumber Association, 

 would be as ridiculous as to maintain that no 

 changes in conditions had been effected, and as 

 unreasonable as would be an attempt to contro- 

 vert the relationship existing between cause and 

 effect. 



Within the past two years a clamor has gone 

 up from certain quarters for a uniform system 

 for the inspection of hardwood lumber : and it 

 will, no doubt, come as a shock to these eleventh- 

 hour reformers to learn that the-re is just such a 

 system in full operation in this country, not only 

 theoretically but fully equipped with proper ma- 



chinery for practical administralion in every 

 hardwood market, and that the system is uni- 

 versally recognized, respected and accepted under 

 the name of National Inspection. The influence 

 of National Inspection dominates every transac- 

 tion iu hardwood lumber in this country today, 

 regardless of whether or not it is expressly ac- 

 cepted as the governing standard. 



To claim that all hardwood lumbermen at this 

 time expressly accept National Inspection as the 

 basis for their transactions would be quite as 

 absurd as would be the assertion that all men 

 accept the Christian plan for the final redemp- 

 tion of mankind. There are men who still pre- 

 fer to be damned rather than accept a scheme of 

 salvation that did not originate with themselves : 

 and a like spirit of perverseuess deters some lum- 

 bermen from openly participating in the direct 

 benefits conferred by this association. These 

 exceptions, however, do not in any sense contro- 

 vert the claim made by me of universality for 

 the system of inspection that was inaugurated 

 and is being maintained by this association. 



If there be those who are sincerely concerned 

 about universal inspection, let them earnestly 

 investigate the existing order of things and bring 

 their support to the only force that has stead- 

 fastly. c<»nsistently and successfull.v sought to es- 

 tablish such a system of inspection upon lines 

 eminently fair to the producer and the consumer 

 of lumber, which force is developed by the Na- 

 tional Hardwood Lumber Association. 



Two duties yet remain for this association to 

 discharge in this connection. One is to main- 

 tain, without flinching, its existing standard of 

 inspection, and the other is to increase the ef- 

 ficiency of its inspection department, to the end 

 that prompt, efficient and uniform service may 

 be rendered by that department to any and all 

 members of the association whenever and 

 wherever the demand for National inspection 

 may arise. 



It is possible that not all of this membership 

 appreciate the magnitude of the task assumed 

 by this association for the administration of its 

 inspection upon the lines now covered by the 

 work. No other lumber association of any kind 

 has ever attempted to do for its members what 

 this association is doing. At the present time it 

 has in its employ, upon salary, thirty five in- 

 spectors. These inspectors are widely distributed 

 in all the principal markets of the country, and 

 during the past year have issued the bonded 

 certificate of the association upon 113,786.454 

 feet of lumber. These inspectors are subject at 

 all times to the call of any member of the asso- 

 ciation who may require their services. They 

 represent each member of the association just 

 as completely and just as effectively as if they 

 were privately employed by him. Every effort 

 is made to obtain high-class men for these po- 

 sitions, and any failure on the part of an in- 

 spector to promptly discharge the responsibilities 

 due from him to the association, or to any mem- 

 ber thereof, results in instant dismissal from 

 the service. 



This membership, without doubt, appreciates 

 the difficulty of maintaining a corps of inspectors 

 as large as the one supported by this association 

 without now and then taking on a man who is 

 unfitted for the work in hand. Unfortunately, 

 the element of fitness or unfitness can only be 

 determined from actual trial. It is desirable, 

 therefore, that this membership exercise the 

 same degree of patience with the work of the 



inspectors of this association that they are com- 

 pelled to extend to men directly employed by 

 them. In all transactions depending upon the 

 agency of our fellow men the personal factor 

 of the equation cannot reasonably or fairly be 

 ignored. 



A prolific source of misunderstanding between 

 the inspection department and members is the 

 failure on the part of the latter to acquaint 

 themselves with the rules laid down for the 

 administration of the insppction of this asso- 

 ciation. To insure fair and uniform treatment 

 to every member of the association in matters 

 relative to inspection it is absolutely necessary 

 that the work be systematically conducted, and 

 to this end certain rules have been adopted which 

 set forth in specific terms just what procedure 

 is required from members who desire National 

 inspection. These rules are printed in the hand- 

 book and the book of rules of the association, 

 and merit careful perusal on the part of every 

 member. 



Another source of friction between some of 

 the members and the inspection department is 

 due to a misconception on the part of those 

 members as to the nature of the obligation 

 which this association essays to discharge 

 Through the mediumship of its "inspection depart- 

 ment. All that this association guarantees to 

 its membership in this connection is protection 

 from unfair and dishonest aggression. To exceed 

 this function in the temporary interests of some 

 member would result in the complete nullifi- 

 cation of the influence of this organization to 

 accomplish its main purpose, and in that event 

 the end would be worse than the beginning. In 

 many instances the offices of this association are 

 not demanded until the inspection of a shipment 

 of lumber has gone wrong at destination, and in 

 some cases members have expected the associa- 

 tion inspectors to confirm the inspection of the 

 lumber as invoiced without regard to its actual 

 quality, and failure to comply with such ex- 

 pectation has brought down condemnation upon 

 the head of the inspector, and upon the inspec- 

 tion department as well, from the irate and dis- 

 appointed member. It should be understood by 

 this membership that all this association can do 

 is to prevent its members from getting the worst 

 of a deal, and that it is not in a position to give 

 any member the best of a transaction if the 

 actual quality of the lumber concerned therein 

 does not bear out the member's contention. 



While the inspection department of this asso- 

 ciation has been very careful at all times not 

 to disturb any inspector in the employ of a mem- 

 ber, I regret to announce that our members have 

 not at all times had so high a regard for the 

 ethics of the situation when the shoe was on the 

 other foot. 



There have, been frequent occasions in which 

 the services of inspectors of great vahie have 

 been lost to this association by reason of the 

 fact that members thereof have had a keen de- 

 sire to possess theniselves individually of those 

 services, and have been able to overbid the asso- 

 ciation in what they evidently regarded as an 

 open market for inspectors. Under this condi- 

 tion, owing to the limitations placed upon the 

 resources at the command of the inspection de- 

 partment, the association generally loses out. 

 There are two solutions to the problem presented 

 by this condition. One is for the members to be 

 niore regardful of the interests of the associa- 

 tion and to permit its inspectors to remain un- 



