so 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



these things art' direct experiences which have 

 come to us, and we have only been in the veneer 

 business a comparatively short time. 



There is yet another class of buyers who are 

 quite necessary to the trade, but at the same 

 time one of the most difficult problems which the 

 veneer manufacturers have to contend with. I 

 refer to the commission men and jobbers. Nat- 

 urally the commission man's main effort is to 

 make sales and to obtain his commission by any 

 means he sees lit — his existence depending ou his 

 commissions. Pie will consequently make sales 

 at anv hazard, all his eflorls being to please and 

 stand" in with the buyer, very often to the disad- 

 vantage of the manufacturer. In a great many 

 cases he will secure tentative orders from the 

 buyer and then manipulale these options among 

 the manufacturers, often making the manufac- 

 turer believe that he is getting the best price ob- 

 tainable, and then is probably agreeing to deliver 

 the goods at less price than his competitors would 

 take for the order. The commission man suc- 

 ceeds in making the sale, breaking the market 

 price for the stock, thereby sending the manu- 

 facturers tumbling over themselves to cut prices 

 to secure the next order. Frequently the com- 

 mission man will visit the manufacturers with a 

 tale of woe that .Jones and Brown are quoting 

 stock at a less price than any manufacturer can 

 profitably produce th.' stock. The result often 

 is that tbe manufacturer may authorize this com- 

 mission man to place his goods at that price, or 

 a little lower, which he quotes Jones and Brown 

 are quoting and possibly gives extra dating to 

 secure the business. The commission man will 

 often make representations to the buyer as to the 

 grade of goods and will take orders for a class 

 of stock that can not be produced by the manu- 

 facturer. He will then represent to the manu- 

 facturer that the buyer is not particular as to 

 the grade or (luality. and even though the price 

 is low the manufacturer will obtain better results 

 than if he had sold to the buyer who paid the 

 market price and required actually the grade of 

 stock he was buying. I do not believe there is 

 anything so disastrous to the manufacturer as to 

 make a connection or fall info the hands of an 

 unscrupulous commission man. as it is not only 

 disastrous to that one manufacturer but to the 

 producers of veneers in general. 



I firmly believe it is just as necessary, if not 

 more so, to report to the members of this associa- 

 tion the misleading tactics of the unfair com- 

 mission man as it is the unfair methods of 

 the deceptive buyer. Fortunately for the veneer 

 manufacturer there are but few of the class of 

 commission men I have referred to, and the re- 

 liable and good commission men suffer in conse- 

 quence of the unfair man's tactics. All of the 

 class of buyers whom I have discussed are. I am 

 glad to say, in a minority, and they all can be 

 forced to abandon their unfair tactics by the 

 close and harmonious action of the members of 

 this association. 



I have been advised that frequently some of 

 the veneer manufacturers don't reply to the re- 

 quest of the secretary for information as to the 

 credit and inspection habits of certain buyers, 

 feeling that they might be giving to their com- 

 petitors information which would be harmful to 

 their interests or probably because they do not 

 at the moment realize the importance of this in- 

 formation and do not take time to answer these 

 requests. I hope that in the future every mem- 

 ber will, upon each recjuest, give to the secretaiy 

 full and complete information, as only in this 

 manner can this plan be carried to success. 



After a thorough discussion of this sub- 

 ject, in which many of the members took 

 part, the question box was openec). One of 

 the most important features brought out in 

 this discussion was the need of education in 

 the veneer trade, and on motion it was decided 

 that the president shouhl appoint a committee 

 of three to compile clata and submit to the 

 members a system of cost accounting that will 

 bring about closer cooperation among the 

 trade and make the business of veneer manu- 

 facture a more profitable and satisfactory 

 undertaking. 



A committee of three was appointed to 

 revise the present code of ethics, making any 

 changes necessary to make it applicable to the 

 veneer business. 



Upon motion the meeting then adjourned. 



There were present : 



F. A. Uichardson, Michigan Veneer Co., Alpena, 

 Mich. 



E. '\'. Knight, New Albany Veneering Co., New 

 Albany, Ind. 



W. S. Walker, Portsmouth Veneer & Panel Co., 

 Portsmouth. Ohio. 



D. E. Kline, Louisville Veneer Mills, Louisville, 

 Ky. 



E. W. Benjamin, Cadillac Veneer Co., Cadillac, 

 Mich, 



F. W. Eggers. F. Eggers Veneer Seating Co., 

 Two Rivers, Wis. 



M. C. Dow, Sr., Goshen Veneer Co., Goshen, 

 Ind. 



L. P. Grotfmann, St. Louis Basket & Box Co., 

 St. Louis, JIo. 



O. G. Steiner, Schoenlau-Steiner T. T. & Veneer 

 Co., St. Louis, Mo. 



W. C. Calhoun, Frost's Veneer Seating Co., 

 Sheboygan, Wis. 



C. W. Johnson, St. Louis Basket & Box Co., 

 St. Louis, Mo. 



Wm. Schoenlau. Schoenlau-Steiner T. T. & Ve- 

 neer Co., St. Louis. Mo. 



W. I). Reeves. Reeves Limiber Co., Helena, Ark, 



Alexander Lendrum, Penrod Walnut & Veneer 

 ''o., Kansas City, Mo. 



R. L. Jurden. Penrod Walnut & Veneer Co., 

 Kansas City, Mo. 



E. V. O'Daniels, Parma Manufacturing Co.. 

 Parma. JIo. 



II. Romunder. Ruena \'ista A'eneer Co.. Mislia- 

 waka, Ind. 



II. I'. Daly. Buena Vista Veneer Co., Misha- 

 waka, Ind. 



11. M. McCracken. Kentucky Veneer Works, 

 Louisville, Ky. 



It. I'. Davton, Wisconsin Veneer Co., Rhinelan- 

 der. Wis. 



C. T. Jarrell, B. C. Jarrell & Co., Ilnmlioldt. 

 Tenn. 



P. B. Raymond, Adams & Raymond Veneer Co.. 

 Indianapolis. Ind. 



C. W. Talge, Evansville Veneer Co.. Evansville. 

 Ind. 



Burdis Anderson, Great Lakes Veneer Co., -Mu- 

 nising, Mich, 



W. B. Morgan, Anderson-Tully Co.. Memphis, 

 Tenn. 



W. G. Bass. National Veneer & Lumber Co., 

 Indianapolis. Ind. 



F. E. Hoffman, Hoffman Brothers Co.. Ft. 

 Wayne. Ind. 



,l". D. Maris, Indianapolis Sawed Veneer Co., 

 Indianapolis, Ind. 



('. II. Barnaby. Greencastle, Ind. 



R. A. Smith, Indiana Veneer & Lumber Co., 

 Indianapolis. Ind. 



Mr. Tillman, Tillman-Shannon Veneer Co., 

 Trimble, Tenn. 



C. O. Ferguson, "Veneers," Indianapolis, Ind. 



Geo. R. I<"ord. Hardwood Record, Chicago. HI. 



W. R. Anderson, "Packages," Milwaukee. Wis. 



E. H. Defebaugh, Barrel and Box, Chicago, III. 



II. S. Young, Indianapolis, Ind. 



VENEER NOTES 



The entire output of the Robinson Lumber 

 Veneer & Box Company of New Orleans, La,, 

 is consumed in the Orange Belt section for 

 the manufacture of fruit packages. This con- 

 cern has a large daily output and operates 

 up-to-date mills. It reports that the outlook 

 for next season 's orange crop is even better 



than this year's, which was considered a 



record breaker. 



* * * 



An English lumber paper contains an in- 

 teresting item in regard to the erection of 

 a veneer plant at Okeanskaj^a, fifteen miles 

 from Vladivostock, Russia. This plant will 

 be devoted to the manufacture of three-ply 

 veneer and match sticks, also veneer for fur- 

 niture making will be cut from native orna- 

 mental woods. The match sticks will be 

 cuts from aspen, of which there are con- 

 siderable quantities available. Most of the 

 output, it is expected, will be marketed in 

 Europe and Great Britain will be one of the 

 largest buyers of this material. The factory 

 is a model of its kind, fitted with up-to-date 

 machinery and arranged on lines' similar to 

 like factories on the Baltic. 

 « * # 



The Puget Sound Veneer Works of Tacoma 

 has been incorporated with $.5,000 capital 

 stock bv Fred Rossow, Ida M. Rossow and 



David Hill. 



# # * 



Announcement was made in a local paper 

 recently that the Clougher syndicate of Lon- 

 don, backed entirely b.y English capital, has 

 obtained a large tract of land about three 

 miles from Schnectady, N. Y., and will be- 

 gin at once the erection of its first plant in 

 the United States. The factory will be de- 

 voted to the manufacture of hardwood 

 veneers for use in cabinet work and for 

 high-class interior finish. A department 

 will also be operated for the manufacture of 

 gun stocks, tool handles and bobbins, which 

 are used in large quantities in cotton and 

 woolen mills. It is said the syndicate will 

 invest at least $.50,000 in Schnectady. It 

 now owns large tracts of land in South 

 America and Mexico, and operates several big 

 factories in Great Britain. The mahogany 

 and other precious woods are shipped direct 



from the tropical holdings to the factories. 

 « * « 



A new concern to engage in the manufac- 

 ture of veneer has been organized at Dver, 

 Tenn. It is capitalized at $20,000 and will 

 operate under the style of the Tillman- 

 Shannon Veneer Company. 



Utilization of HardWoods 



ARTICLE XLIll 

 PYROGRAPHY 



A fact strongly impressed upon the visitor 

 to a factory turning out artists' woodenware 

 is that there has been no reduction in the 

 output of wooden articles for pyrographic 

 purposes. This comparatively simple method 

 of artistic designing received such an im- 

 petus in recent years, with the introduction 

 of the modern alcohol and gas-heating appar- 

 ratus and platinum points, as to assume the 

 nature of a fad. That the industry has been 

 in existence almost half a century was pointed 

 out by one of the partners of the Chicago 

 firm of art goods manufacturers, Thayer & 

 Chandler, through whose kindness the visit 

 was made. This gentleman stated that, on a 

 visit to Heidelberg, Germany, twelve years 

 ago he visited the old shop of a German 

 manufacturer of pyrographic supplies, and 

 was told that the business had been carried 

 on in that establishment since 1876. 



While pyrography has long been practiced 

 in most of the European countries, the indus- 

 try has in no place attained the proportions 

 which it enjoys in this country, where it has 



become a source of consumption for a large 

 amount of hardwood yearly. According to 

 this manufacturer, there is no apparent reason 

 to suppose that there will not always be as 

 extensive a market for pyrographic goods as 

 exists at the present time. 



Contrary to the usual conditions governing 

 the remanufacture of hardwood, only one spe- 

 cies of wood has been so far considered ac- 

 ceptable for this purpose — clear, white, north- 

 ern basswood. Experiments have been made 

 repeatedly with other woods, but in no case 

 have suitable qualities been discovered, south- 

 ern basswood even falling under the ban. It 

 is a well-known fact that the southern growth, 

 known as linn, has not the white color or the 

 close, even grain, of its northern prototype, 

 and the same can be said of the other woods 

 that have been tried out. As a consequence 

 the be.st stock turned out by Michigan and 

 Wisconsin mills is called for, and orders are 

 de!i\ered regtilarly in the rough. Wide stock 

 is usually sought, as no joints are permissible 

 in this line of manufacture. 



