Lumber Manufacturers Vote to Reconstitute and Strengthen the National Lumber Manufactu rers Association

Chicago, Dec. 8.-At a three-day session which ended here this afternoon, directors of the National Lumber NIanufacturers Association and other representative lumber manufacturers enthusiastically decided upon the imrriediate reconstitution of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association as a federation of the regional associations of manufacturers. Fourteen associations, including several yet to be organized, although now existing in the shape of Lumber Code Authority administrative agencies, will be gathered together into the most comprehensive and, it is predicted, the most effective organization the American lumber industry has ever had.

The mee,tings, which parti'cipated in the reorganization of the National Association, included during three days a general meeting of the directors and others on Thursday; a meeting of specially designated regional association representatives the same day; an open meeting of the Board of Directors on Friday; a further meeting Friday evening and Saturday morning of the representatives of the regional association; an evening conference to ,consider governmental policies in relation to the forest produ.cts industries; and, finally, an executive meeting of the Board of Directors on Saturday.

There was also a meeting of the Timber Engineering Company in connection with trade promotion.

At all of these meetings the all engrossing subject of the strengthening and extension of the National organization was discussed from many angles and with complete unanimity as to the main objective.

The New Setup

The directors voted to make the financial basis of the renewed federation a fee of llc a th,ousand feet of lumber production, to be levied and colle,cted through the regional associations. The by-laws were amended to provide for a board of 40 directors assigned, (except for directors at large) to the various member associations according approximately to their relative rank in lumber production, with the West Coast Lumbermen's Association and the Southern Pine Association being given maxinum representation with six members each, the Western Pine Association five members, and one each for the small groups.

The return of the Southern Pine Association to the National federation was definitely announ,ced and assurances were received from representatives of the other principal regional groups, whether at the moment organized or not, that they will eventually, and probably soon, enter the National Association. The directors adopted a resolution in which the associations were urged to determine their membership in the National at their,coming annual meetings or, at any rate, by the time of the next annual meeting of the National Association, probably in the spring.

The report made by Arthur T. Upson, who is in charge of the national trade promotion work, was a powerful contributing factor to the enthusiastic accord of the meetings in renewed support of the National Association and the American Forest Products Industries. Some of the lumbermen in the meeting declared that they had never really had an appreciation before of the magnitude and efficiency of the National's work in the fields of research, trade promotion proper, governmental relations, building code work, and public information. It was ,commonlj' commented that if all of the thoughtful lumber manufacturers of the country could hear Mr. IJpson's presentation there would be an immediate response in sympathetic and vigorous membership which would amount to a renaissance of association organization and activity. Mr. Upson was invited by the regional representatives to appear at all of their approaching annual meetings to deliver essentially the same report he made to the group meetings here.

Wilson Comptods Report

The open meeting of the directors on Friday was devoted largely to the annual report of Wilson Compton, Secretary and Manager of the N. L. M. A., under the caption "Looking Ahead in the Lumber Industry". In his address Mr. Compton set out the present {-rarnework of the national organization of lumber manufacturers; including the National Lumber Manufacturers Association. American Forest Producis Industries, the Luhte.'Code Authority and the Timber Engineering Company. It was pointed out that the N.L.M.A. had since 1932lost the regional membership of the West Coast Lumbermen's Association, the Southern Pine Association and the Hardwood Manufacturers Institute, while the five other existing regional associations had ,continued their membership in the National except for a short period by the Northern Hemlock & Hardwood Manufacturers Association. This breach in the support of the Ass'ociation had been filled to a considerable extent by individual memberships which gave representation to the regional territories. It was evident for a tine that a large number in the industry expected, "although so far as I know none of them desired that the N. L. M. A. would be discontinued. This obviously would have been the result had not a substantial number of manufacturers in each of the principal regions responded to the opportunity to support the National work as individual members or subscribers, pending such improvement in industry conditions as would permit the resumption of organized regional affiliation." There was also the fact that during the period 1932-34, inclusive, the number of con,cerns particularly supporting the National trade extension work had declined from 185 to about 60.

The present direct supporting membership of the National Association was stated by Mr. Compton to be approximately 500 companies, and if the regional associations formerly belonging to the National were to return the number of individual representations would be increased to 1000.

Important Role of N. L. M. A.

Mr. Compton pointed out that had there been no National Asso,ciation in 1933 there would have been no national ,code for the lumber and timber products industries, no central Code Authority, and instead thereof, a score of separate codes among the competitive divisions of the industry without authoritative correlation, unification or control. It seemed that there was little difierence of opinion with respect of the necessity of continuing active national industry representation in such matters as national legislation, government policies, lumber economics and statistics, taxation, tarifi, transportation, foreign markets and federal policies, "or in such industry protective a'ctivities as building codes, government lumber purchases and specifications and industry publicity and public information; or in such industry promotion as participation in the Federal Housing activities, retail cooperation and publication from time to time of engineering and other basi'c technical information on the specification and use of lumber and timber products."

It was explained that the N. L. M. A. is excl'usively an industry agency of timber owners and manufacturers of lumber and related products and is the parent institution of the national group. American Forest Produ,cts Industries is a specialized agency for cooperative work with related timber produ,cts industries and an agency for the condu,ct at the expense of interested groups or persons of specific promotion and research projects. A. F. P. I. owns the Timber Engineering Company which is specifically charged with the development of the metal connector system and other construction systems. The Lumber Code Authority was created by the N' L. M. A. and is a separate Delaware corporation whi'ch handles the administration of the lumber and timber produ'cts code.

Regarding finances, it was stated that the National Association had undertaken no financial obligation which it could not pay, and the essential National industry work on the present scale and with the present set-up can be financed. The practical question however, is whether it can be financed in a manner whi'ch will insure to the industry the 'obvious benefits of inter-regional cooperation in the furtherance of common interest.

It was explained that dependence could not be placed upon the Lumber Code Authority as a permanent national organizalion in lieu of the National Association; particularly, as under the law as it stands the Code Authority-a quasi-governmental body-may expire on June 16 and in any event is limited to code administration. Full reconstitution of the National Association as a federation of regional associations was urged. The importance of a National Association not allied with government was stressed in the enumeration of 24 phases of the problems of the industry in relation to the government.

Twenty-four National Problems

These 24 problems which demand effrcient national spokesmanship and negotiation were stated as follows:

1. The future of the National Industrial Recoverv Act (Con'tinued on Page 19) fnstead of a wish, we give you this prescription for a prosperous 1935, in the form of YOUR NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION.