National Lumber Manufacturers' Association Directors Meeting

'Ihe mid-summer meeting of the Boar'd of Directors of the National Lumber Manu-facturers'Association was held at the Palace Hotel. San Francisco. on lulv ?4.25 and, 26. , On the afternoon of July 24, the 'National Lumber Manufacturers' Inter-Insurance Exchange Advisory Committee, convened for a business session.

Ohe meeting on July 25, was presided over by Piesident John W. Blodgett, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mr. Blodgett opened the meeting by giving a short summary of the Standardization movement. He stated the Standardization was sort of a defensive movement on the part of the lumrber in'dtrstry and reiterated the words o'f Secretary of Commerce Hoover at their Washington ,meeting in which he stated that manufacturers should put their house in order before Congress stepped in. Mr. Blodgett cited as an example, the anthracite coal industry, which is threatened with government regulation, as a result of the special inquiry being made by the Federal Com,mission headed by John Hays Hammond. He also cited the conditions existing in the New York market as an example of the necessity of a standardization of sizes, stating that an examination revealed seven different thicknesses of boards selling as inch lumber. Mr. Blodgett also referred to the necessity of a reforestation program in order that the timber resources of the country could be conserved.

Wilson Compton, secretary of the association, of Washington, D. C., gave.an interesting outline of the standardization movement and that work had been accomplished by the organization and the various committees. He said that the stand,ardization movement had been under way for the past five years, at first only in the expdrimen'tal stage, and only participated in to a small extent by the lumber industry. He then referred to the progre,ss that hadr been accomplished since their Washington meeting, which had been called at the invitation of Secretary Hoover, which work culminated in a report proposed by the Central Committee on Lumber Standards and which was presented to the ,meeting for their approval. He spoke on this report, w,hich was designated American Lumber Standards, in detail and discussed the Grade Simplification of the Select and Common grade,s of lum,ber; Stan,dard Form of Specification for softwood lumber grades; Size Standardization; and the Certification of Quality and Quantity. Mr. Compton said that the specific things to be decided at the m.eeting were: the standardization of sizes, grades, and the nomenclature of the grading rules.

At the conclusion of Mr. Compton's address, Mr. Blodgett palled on the various lumber association represe'n'tatives to ascertain what progress had been made and a consideration of the report took up the balance of the morning. The direc'tors of the various associptions, stated that they were strongly in favor of the basic and fundamental rules as specified in the report and were anxious to establish a general standard plan. However, there was some variance among the larger associations on certain details in the report and in order that these matters could be straightene'd out, President Blodgett appointed a joint committee of four, representing the Southern Pine Association, West Coast Lumbermen's Association, Western Fine Association, and California White and Sugar Pine Association, to discuss these matters. As some of the directors wanted to refer the report to their associations for further discirssion at meetings that will be held at early tlates, no defi"nite action was taken by the commlttee on the adoption of the report.

Judge James A. Emery, General Counsel, National Association of Manufacturers addressed the afternoon meeting on Immigration. Judge Emery's able address dealt with immigration from an economic standpoint and'he stated that'the proposed restriction to 2 per cent based on the census of 1890 would be detrimental to the best interests of American industry.

On Wednesday evening, the visiting lumbermen were the guests of the California Redwood and the California White,and Sugar Pine Associations at an excellent dinner and entertainment at Taits-on-the-Beach. The entertainment was in the able hands of Theodore Lerch, of the Albion Lumber Company, and everybody pronounced it a "knock-out."

The session on July 26 was called to order by President Blodgett, who spoke on the activities of the association and the work that was being accomplished along the lines of purblicity. engineering, cooperation with the retail dealers, and building codes. Secr.etary Compton then addressed the meeting on the financial condition of the National Lumtber Manufacturers' Association. National Lumber Manufacturers' Inter-Insurance Exchange, and the National Lumber Manufacturers' Credit Association. The last address of the morning meeting was by Edgar P. Allen, director of publicity for the association, who spoke on 'the work that has been accomplished by the publicity department and also referred to the advertising program as outlined for the year 1923-1924.

The afternoon session was opened by an address by D. F. Holtman, National Lumber Manufacturers' Association, Washington, D. C., who spoke on Recent Scientific and Engineering Developments affecting the Uses of Lumber. L. Kraemer, National Lumber Manufacturers' Association, Washington, D. C., spoke on the progress in Building Codes affecting Lumber Construction. H. B. Clark, manager of the National Lumber Manufacturers' Inter-Insurance Exchange gave an interesting discussion on the Methods of Contucling Statistical Eichanges by Lumber Manufacturer Associations. Other toplcs that were discussed briefly during the balance of the afternoon session were: Forestry Legislation; Pending and Prospective F'ederal and State Legislation; Developments in Federal Taxa'tion; Constitution Anniversary Association National Transportation Institute; and Activities of the Committee on Seasonal Operations in Construction. Resolutions on'the deith of John E. Rhodes, secretary-manager of the Southern P'ine Association, who died at New Orleans on June 2, were passed by the meeting.

A party of forty, cons.isting of the visiting lu.mbermen and their families, left on Thursday evening for Scotia.to inspect the redwood plant of the Pacific Lumber Company. On Friday, plans were also made to visit the Hammond Lumber Company at Eureka. On Friday evening the party left for Fort Bragg to look ovelthe redwood operations of the Union Lumber Company on Saturday, and also 1o inspect their forest nursery and reforestation work. The Redwood Party planned to return to San Francisco, on Sunday morning, July D.

Of the thirty-six directors of the Association, twentynine attended this meeting.

All of the thirteen regional associations were represent' ed and the meetings were attende'd 'by a large majority of the registrations.

The arrangements of the meetings were in charge of (Continued on Page 51)

IT WAS A WISB FORTY-NINER

who, in building the first flume in the Sierras, for the first gold camp, chose REDWOOD; for that flume is standing today, as firm and sound as the day it was built.

Tell this story to your customers when they say they want lumber that will withstand wet, rot, white ants, worms and fungus growths.

Take them around to the nearest tannery and show them the REDWOOD tanning vats. Ask the tanner what he thinks of the endurance of REDWOOD.

Hunt up the oldest roof in town and you will find it made of REDWOOD shingles. Then, if the customer is still in doubt, go to a dairyman and ask what kind of lumber is used for silos.

REDWOOD stands alone in this kind of structure.

Tell your customers such facts when they ask the question-