HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



JOHN L. ALCOCK, DIRECTOR, BALTIMORE, 

 MD. 



A II. BARXAUIi, DIRKCTUI!, MINNEAPOLIS, 

 MI XX. 



G. E. HIBBARD, DIRECTOR, ST. LOUIS, MO. 



In addition to this bal- 

 ance should be added the 

 fund of $1,000. carried 

 by the secretary and on 

 deposit at the Monroe Na- 

 tional Bank, Chicago, as 

 certified in attached letter. 1,000.00 



The boolis show outstand- 

 ing accounts for inspec- 

 tion fees and expense.s of 

 ?-4,374.39 : for member- 

 s h i p dues, $4. .35.5. 25 ; 

 total 8,729.64 



Bringing total resources in 

 cash and good outstand- 

 ing accounts to $11,023.59 



CA.SH Depo.sit Fcxd. 



Received from George D. 



Burgess, former treasurer..$3. 228.92 



Deposits from inspectors 

 from June 11, 1909, to 

 June 1, 1910 650.00 



Total $ 3,878.92 



Disbursements. 

 Refunds to inspectors re- 

 signed or discharged 2,825.00 



Balance in cash deposit 



fund, June 1, 1910 $ 1,053.92 



Talking as a basis for estimates the financial 

 ratings printed in the recognized authorities, the 

 combined net worth of the present membersliip 

 of this association can conservatively be placed 

 at from $75,000,000 to $100,000,000, and while 

 accurate figures of the annual volume of busi- 

 ness transacted by this membership a'ro not ob- 

 tainable, it Is a known fact that many of the 

 members' annual sales exceed $1,000,000, and 

 as an approximate estimate a total of $250,000,- 

 000 to $300,000,000 annually would appear rea- 

 sonable. 



Occasionally requests reach us for price lists 

 of hardwood lumber. In the belief that the law 

 of supply and demand should at all times regu- 

 late values, the National Hardwood Lumber As- 

 sociation have never made any effort to collect 

 or distribute information pertaining to prices. 

 Such data, unless accurate, is misleading, and 

 more of a hindrance than a help, and with so 

 large a membership, distributed throughout 

 thirty-fwo states, figures that would be of 

 actual value would be extremely difficult, if not 

 altogether impossible, to secure. 



In response to a letter sent the memliership on 

 March 24, a large number of replies w^ere re- 

 ceived, in which the opinion was expressed that 

 tile National Hardwood Lumber Association were 

 to be congratulated on the results of the past 

 year's work in the way of tangible benefits to 

 every member. The spirit manifested in these 

 letters of a determination on the part of the 

 membership to accomplish still greater things is, 

 beyond question, prophetic of future develop- 

 ment and growth. This membership is an or- 

 ganized force. It has developed a spirit. In 

 combination these two are irresistible. As for 

 the first, there are 682 members of this associa- 

 tion. Nearly all of these are firms or corpora- 

 tions, so that perhaps two thousand hardwood 

 Inmliermen are represented. We hope to increase 

 the membership during the coming year, but a 



force of the present size, working harmoniously, 

 has unlimited opportunity for substantial acom- 

 plishments. 



Is it not fair to assume that the spirit de- 

 veloped, which has accomplished so much, will 

 be more effective than ever during the coming 

 year'? Our future success depends, in large 

 measure, upon the efficiency of the officers and 

 directors, and if past experience is a criterion, 

 there is every reason to look forward to large 

 accomplishments in the near future. The stand- 

 ing of this association depends upon the standing 

 of those who compose it. Your help, as indi- 

 viduals, to maintain and increase the present 

 standard is necessary. 



In closing this report, I desire to express 

 my thanks to those members who have 

 at all times been willing to make personal sacri- 

 fice in the interests of the association, and with 

 an earnest request for a continuance of your loyal 

 support, this report is respectfully submitted. 

 Frank F. Fish^ Secretary-Treasurer. 



Upon motion, the convention was adjourned 

 until 2 o'clock p. m. 



SECOND SESSION, JUNE 9 



The afternoon session was called to order 

 by the president at 2:15 p. m. 



President Agler : Gentlemen, I desire to make 

 this statement : That the resolution adopted 

 this morning, with reference to the sessions be- 

 ing executive, does not bar our guests from at- 

 tendance at the sessions. They have been in- 

 vited here, and we want them to know that we 

 are glad to have them. One other point with 

 reference to the report made by the secretary- 

 treasurer. Pursuant to a resolution adopted at 

 the Detroit meeting, the accounts of tlie secre- 

 tary-treasurer were audited by a firm of account- 

 ants in Chicago, Marwick, Mitchell & Co, The 

 report is on the table now, and if any member 

 is interested in the contents of the report, he is 

 at liberty to see it. The report confirms, to a 

 penny, the report made by the secretary-treas- 

 urer. The first matter on the program for this 

 afternoon is the report of the Committee on 

 Forestry. The chairman of the committee, Mr. 

 M. M. Wall of Buffalo, is unavoidably detained, 

 and the report will be read by Mr. J. V. Stim- 

 son. [Applause. 1 



Keport of Committee on Forestry 



To the Officers and Membors of the National 

 • Hardwood Lumber Association — Your Committee 

 on Forestry begs leave to respectfully report : 



The annual report made by your committee 

 during the past several years has contained an 

 intelligent survey of the existing conditions, 

 and it has been our desire during the past year 

 to closely watch developments and to note the 

 attitude of the national government, as well as 

 those of the various states, together with the 

 action of the individual lumbermen, toward 

 this all Important question. 



Among the nations of the world the United 

 States has, for the past fifty years, been noted 

 as a country of deplorable waste, and, as we 

 know, the hardwood lumber industry has keenly 

 felt this lack of economy. We telieve that our 

 association has had much to do with the present 

 recognition on the part of the chief executive 

 of our nation and of Congress, as to the crying 

 need for the enforcement of such regulations as 

 will effectively bring about a real conservation 

 of the natural and national resources of this 

 country. 



We deem of first Importance a rational tax 

 exemption law, patterned after the timber regu- 

 lations of our neighbor, Canada, which will en- 

 courage the preservation of our forests and not 

 force, as at presont, an immediate cut, under 

 penalty of expensive taxes. If laws were enacted 

 which would make the American taxes only nom- 

 inal, as in Canada, until the timtwr is cut and 

 manufactured into luml)er, then judgment and 

 sagacity could be exercised in Ihe amount and 

 sections tq be cut each vear, so that the supply 

 could be intelligently regulated with the demand 

 and reforestation could be greatly encouraged. 



At the present rate of consumption in the 

 United States of over fifty billion feet of lumber 

 per annum, it requires no prophet to foresee a 

 complete exhaustion of the visible supply, unless 

 a superhunnn effort is exerted bv the national 

 and state legislatures, together with coiiperatlon 

 on the part of all men interested in lumber, to 

 safeguard the standing timber and adopt effective 

 measures for reforestation. 



Available statistics show that from three to 

 five thousand sawmill men. who are yearly saw- 

 ing out their hardwood stumpage, do not unow 

 which way to turn for future operation. Final 

 exhaustion of hardwood timber in the United 

 States would constitute an incalculable commer- 

 cial loss and be far more reprehensible than the 

 extermination of the .\merican bison. 



Finally, the establishment of forest patrol by 

 the government, for the national forests, and by 

 several of the states and many large concerns, la 

 becoming wonderfully helpful in preventing forest 

 fires. The annual average expense of this work 

 has been about four cents per acre, including 

 patrolling, clearing out old trails, making new 

 trails, and actually fighting fires. 



In southern California, where the forest cover 

 of the mountains is of tremendous value in con- 

 serving the water to be used for irrigation, busi- 

 ness men and bankers combined with the fruit 

 growers, who were directly interested, and con- 

 tributed a large sum of money, which they of- 

 fered to the Forest Service on condition that 

 the government give an equal sum, the whole to 

 be spent by the Forest Service for fire protection 

 work on the San Bernardino National Forest Re- 

 serve. The offer was promptly accepted, and a 

 plan was adopted dividing the forest region Into 

 sections, which wore separated by Are breaks or 

 lanes, from fort.v-five to forty-eight feet in width. 



From these lanes the brush and timber were 

 removed to the roots, so that if a fire started It 

 would be confined by the breaks to a compara- 

 tively small area, even if not dlscovered^prompt- 

 ly. Trails were constructed to give ready access 

 to the most important parts of the reserve and 

 a patrol was formed to watch for the first thread 

 of smoke from a starting fire. The result has 

 been that niuce the bef/iniiinf/ of the icork in 

 1906 not a single fire of any magnitude has de- 



