First 60 Years of the National Hardwood Lumber Assn.

By M. B. Pendleton Secretory-Monoger

The National Hardwood Lumber Association has entered it 60th year of service to the hardwood trade. During the years since its organization in 1898 the association has steadily grown in size and prestige. Today 42 firms have maintained an uninterrupted period of membership for 5O years or more; 362 firms have been members for 3O or-more successive years. With a total of more than 1600 members, it lays claim to being the largest group in the hardwood producing industry and its rules governing standard grading and its Sales Code of fair dealing are highly regarded wherever hardwoods are bought or sold.

When the association was organized, there was great need for decencv and order in the hardwood lumber trade. Now, over a half-century later, the members can look back at the progress made and, standing on the foundation laid by those devoted men who g'ave so generously of their time, thought and effort, the new generation of lumbermen can dedicate themselves to the preservation of their heritage and to greater progress in the future. What has been learned both from the mistakes and the achievements of the past is of no avail unless it is applied to the new problems which the future will bring forth.

' The corner-stone of the association is found in Article III of its Constitution, "to promote the welfare and to protect the interests of the hardwood trade: to establish, maintain and apply a uniform system for the inspection and measurement of hardwood lumber."

On this stone has been erected the structure of grading standards and business ethics known as "Rules for the Measurement and Inspection of Hardwood Lumber, Cypress, Veneers and Thin Lumber and the Sales Code of the National Hardwood Lumber Association." It is the universally known and accepted text-book of the hardwood trade; it is found in the pocket or the desk of every hardwood lumber inspector, sales manager, salesman and principal, as well as the purchasing agents and inspectors of their customers; it has been printed in two languages, English and French, and it is known and respected by hardwood buyers abroad, wherever hardwoods produced in the United States, Canada, the Philippine Islands, Cuba and tropical America are bought and sold. Over 20,000 copies of the Rules Book are distributed each year throughout this continent and the world.

First Steps in Organizing

In the early part of the year 1898, a disposition was evinced by the lumbermen to bring about better conditions in the hardwood trade. This disposition was evidenced by many discussions of the situation, both personal and through correspondence, between leading manufacturers and wholesalers in the Central and Southern states, having for its purpose the establishment of uniform rules for the inspection and measurement of hardwood lumber.

Growing out of these discussions a decision was reached that it would be advisable to call a convention of the hardwood lumbermen who were interested in the solution of the problems presented by the situation.

Accordingly, a committee was appointed by the Chicago Hardwood Lumber Exchange to issue a general invitation to the members of the trade to assem'ble in Chicago on April 8, 1898.

This call was sent out on March 11, and in response thereto, representatives from 37 firms met in the rooms of the Chicago lfardwood Lumber Exchange on the day appointed.

A temporary organization was effected with the president of the Chicago Exchange as chairman. After a brief statement from the chair as to the purposes of the meeting, an adjournment to more commodious rooms in the Great Northern Hotel was taken.

A committee was appointed on permanent organization. This committee presented its report at the afternoon session, recommending that a permanent organization be effected at once; that the purpose o'f the organization should be to establish a system of uniform inspection for hardwood lumber and that the name of the organization should be the National Hardwood Lumber Association.

With the report, the committee submitted provisional articles of agreement, providing for the government of the proposed organization.

The report was unanimously adopted by the meeting; and immediatelv thereafter. officers and directors were elected and the Nitional Hardwood Lumber Association became an established fact.

Immediately upon taking the chair, William A. Bennett of Cincinnati, the newly elected president of the infant organization, appointed a committee to draft rules for inspectlon.

The motion for the appointment of this committee provided that it should consist of three representatives from each market represented at the meeting. As nine markets were represented, the committee consisted of. 27 members which came within ten of exhausting the attendance at the meeting.

The committee submitted its report on the following day, which was adopted. The meeting then adjourned to reassemble at the first annual meeting of the association to be held in St. Louis on May 5, 1898.

First Annual Meeting

This latter meeting assembled at the place and on the date previously designated, at which 59 firms and nine markets were represented.

The entire time of the meeting was occupied by discussions of ways and means to make the work of the new organization effective and in amending and adjusting the rules of inspection that had been prepared at the initial meeting.

Such are the bare statements of the outstanding facts connected with the organization of the National Hardwood Lumber Association. They suffice to tell the story of what really happened; but they fail utterly in presenting even in a slight degree, the interest and the excitement characterizing those meetings.

The participants in those meetings sincerely believed in the merits of the undertaking, and the results of that undertaking have fully justified their belief.

Judged by later standards, the first rules were crude, incomplete and indefinite, but they were a beginning; and experience in their application led to clarifications and refinements.

Inspection Bureau Created

In the early days of the association, the problem of working out satisfactory rules for the inspection of hardwood lumber was regarded as being of paramount importance, but the membership was not unmindful of the necessity for the establishment of some form of associate machinery for the proper application of those rules. Accordingly, in igOt, an Inspection Bureau was created, consisting of 9 members of the association, appointed by the president.

While this Inspection Bureau operated under the auspices of the association, it was, in a sense, extra-associate in nature, and did not depend upon the association for financial support, nor was the association directly obligated by, or responsible for its actions.

Its operations were carried on entirely independent of the authority controlling the association; it employed as the first surveyor-general, Maurice Wall of Buffalo. who. in

-turn, appointed inspectors in the various markets to ap-

'.ply the inspection rules of the association.

The income to cover the operating expenses of the Inspection Bureau was derived from a system of fees received for inspections. With the exception of hickory and walnut lumber, the fee for inspection was fifty cents per thousand

, feet, of which the inspector who performed the work re- ceived forty-three cents, the surveyor-general five cents and

The association assumed no liability whatever for the correct application of its rules.

The rules governing the operation of the Inspection Bureau provided for reinspection by the surveyor-general of lumber, the original inspection of which was questioned by 'either seller or buyer; and if an error in the original inspection was determined, the party suffering therefrom settled directly with the inspector who made the original inspec- tected by a cash deposit of $25 made by each inspector with the association, and further, by a bond in the amoqnt of

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r i;- r r cure the faithful performance of the duties attaching to the work of insoection.

,, This rather complicated system of inspection worked in a '' fairly satisfactory manner; but it was regarded by the memli bership of the association as being only of a provisional nature, serving to fill the gap exisiing between the period of no system at all and that period when a regular inspection service would be established.

The greatest objection to the system rested in the fact that the inspectors administering National inspection were not the agents of the association and therefore were not directly respo.nsible to the.association for the quality of i l their work. Abuses of confidence also sprang up in the op- eraticin of the system.

Frequently, inspectors in the employ of members were l: deputized to apply National inspection and to issue cerHf. tificates upon lumber sold by their employers, which prac- tice was entirely destructive of the judicial element with which the association desired to invest the work performed h under its auspices.

It, therefore, became apparent to those who were in charge of the destiny of the association that the system de- mancled radical revision and that the only practical method for handling the situation was to replace the provisional with a regular service, making the inspection department an integral part of the association, administering the affairs of that department by means of salaried em- ' ployees, and then as an association, standing squarely up to all guarantees expressed and implied, that pertained to National inspection.

New Inspection System Established

Owing to the lack of funds with which to carry out this program, there was much delay before the new system was completely established. At the annual meeting in 1904, a resolution was adopted to the effect that the surveyor- general and inspectors in the larger markets be placed on salaries. Today the association employs over a hundred inspectors in fifty districts in the United States and Canada. wood lumber are efrected between parties widely separated in location with the same degree of assurdnce regarding grade and quantity as would be possible if the transaction occurred upon the yard where the lumber is located.

The demand for National inspection has at all time kept pace with the development and extension of the service, and i: those extensions have occurred only in response to demands for increased service.

A shipment of hardwood lumber covered by a National certifica?e issued at point of origin, passes fiom hand to hand without question as to grade and quantity. This system of inspection developed and extended by NHLA has come to be regarded as an indispensable factor in the hardwood trade, as without it there would be nothing to prevent a return of the chaotic conditions prevailing in the trade prior to the advent of the association 60 years ago.

During the 60-year history of the association, it has been served by six secretaries. When the organization was founded in 1898, Allen R. Vinnedge, a hardwood wholesaler of Chicago, accepted the position of secretary in an honorary capacity and kept the books and records until 1904. By that time the organization had grown to a point where it required the employment of a full time secretary.

In 1904, Charles D. Strode, editor of the Hardwood Record and author of note, accepted the responsibility of secretary temporarily until a suitable man could be found for permanent employment.

In 1905 Frank F. Fish was elected as secretary-treasurer of the fast-growin g organization, and he continued in office from year to year until his sudden death in 1930. He was succeeded by Louis S. Beale, who had served for several years as assistant secretary under Mr. Fish. When Mr. Beale resigned in 1934 to enter business on his own account, he was succeeded by John W. McClure, who served until 1951. Upon his retirement, Mr. McClure was voted the title of President Emeritus bv the Board. Toseoh L. Muller was elected Secretary-Mattage. in 1951 -and ^served until his resignation, January I, 1957.

School Establ shed in 1948

To fill a growing demand for men skilled in grading hardwoods, the association established a permanent school in Memphis, Tenn., in 1948 under a committee headed by Harry D. Gaines of St. Louis, Mo. Two terms of five months each are held, during which intensive work in hardwood grading, measuring, tallying and corollary subjects are taught.

To date, nearly a thousand men have completed the course and have been readily absorbed into the trade, great- ly enriching the industry in its knowledge and use of the basic rules on which it operates.

Between annual conventions, leaders of rival Rules factions worked out their strategy and planned their campaigns. Feelings flared at the conventions and often rose to white heat. At times the situation seemed hopeless and no reconciliation of conflicting forces seemed remotely possible.

But forces were working beneath the surface of which the actors in the scene were not conscious. Fellowship and acquaintance wore away the sharp edges of suspicion. Leaders on both sides began to respect and admire their opponents. Prejudices disappeared in the solvent of friendship.

During the years common sense prevailed and barriers vanished. Men grew wiser with added years and experience. Almost a generation passed while this process was bringing to fruition the grading standards as they are known today.

When the system of National inspection was first inau

Wnen tne 1\atlonal lnspectlon nrst lnaugui: rated. it was an innovation in the hardwood trade and was regarded with some distrust. As the years passed by, confidence was established in the abilitv of the National Hardwood Lumber Association to redeem all of its obligations arising from the administration of its inspection service; and the certificates issued bv the association are now accepted at face value whereveithey are presented. This state.'ment not only applies to domestic markets, but to foreign markets as rvell.

By the use of National inspection, transactions in hard-

At a Chicago convention in 1931, the last basic change was made which smoothed out inconsistencies and overlapping of grades growing out of compromises and expediences which had crept into the rules during the controversial period. The proposals adopted in 1931 were developed fro'm years of research consisting of actual tests at the sawmills, and experience in the actual work of the association's inspection staff.

Since 1931 the grading rules have attained that element of stability and universal acceptance which was the long sought objective of the leaders who had guided the destiny of the organization.

A structure of such enduring character must be based on

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