St. Paul daily globe., 1893-03-04
LUMBER MUST GO Up.
mississippi Valley Saw Hill
Men Have Decided Upon
an AdVa9 zee.
They Have Also Elected OIL
GERS OF Their Association
for a Year.
Last Night the Aldermen
We're as Tame as So Many
Pet Cats.
7. S. Diekey Sues the City,
BicycliStS Assert Their
Claims.

Mississippi valley lumbeImen have
decided that they must have more
money for their product. They voted
yesterday 10 ask more.
The annual meeting of the Mississippi
Valley Lumbermen's association was
called to order yesterday morning in
the West hotel. The association should
have met Tuesday. but the members
were all buried in the snow that day.
Only a small number was present yes
terday morning. After the usual tenn
porary committees had beeu~-uamed
the association took Il recess until
afternoon. Shortly after , O'Clock
about thirty men, representing nearly
SlC0.OC0.0lO, sat down tO lunch in the Ia
dies ordinary. After lunch business
WAS discussed over the table. PreSi-
dent Is. +. Nelson read his annual re-
port first of ALL The association is
comparatively young, and its early
struggles furnished a subject for much
of President Nelson's paper. OF the
condition OF trade he said:
Prices are firm. stocks are below the
requirement and enough Of uniformity
prevails in the lists sent out by the
manufacturers ali over the Northwest to
have rid the market largely OF the cut
destructive of profits. The carefully
complied figures covering the pro-
ductlon of white pine in approximately
the territory covered by this association
the Mississippi valley to its east and
west limitS-shOw that a little more
than 5OJ,UOO.OJO feet more of the lumber
was made by the mills in 1892 than in
the preceding year. While the stock on
hand at tn end of the saving season
was only l23,0O0,U00 feet more than on
the same date year preceding. In
other words, our sales for 1892 exceeded
those for 1891 by fully 375.0UO,0O0 feet.
Figures for all of the white pine pro-
ducing Michigan. Minnesota
and WiScOnSln-show that there was
fully 1,OJ0,000, ,OG0 feet more white pine
lumber made i'll 1892 than in 1891, and
that the production, aggregating only
little less Than 5000, 600 feet, was
| nearly $40, ,OOO, 900 feet more lumber than
had ever before been made in the same
time. But in the face of this abnormal
ly large increase in the production of
lumber there was actually fully 100000
900 less lumber in sight at the end Of
the saving season than IL year ago. Or,
to put 1t more explicitly, the sales for
1892 exceeded the sales of 1891 by the
enormous amount of 1,200O00, 600.
L
large increase in the amount of lum-
Der made has been entirely west OF
Lake Michigan and new evidence is
given that the Saginaw valley, the
Huron shore. Muskegon. Manistee,
LudingtOn and other points which for
so many years contributed added guam
titles of lumber to swell the grand total
from year 10 year have passed their
zenith and are now from year TO year
contributing less and less to meet the
ever increasing demand for the best
lumber for all purposes that is made
white pine. The figures disclose fur
ther that the center OF acti Eity has
shifted to the section in which we are
operating. The hope and expectation
Of the consumer of white pine east, as
well as west, lies in our ability to sup
ply the current demand.
In conclusion. President Nelson
pointed out tnat nothing has been done
towards preparing an exhibit of white
pine at the worlds fair.
Secretary }. Newton Mind reported
that the legal proceedings begun
against the association q year ago had
undoubtedly kept many out of the asso-
citation. Ut the eighty-tour firms repre-
sented in the ASSOCIATION, seyenty-One
responded to the 50 assessment 10 pay
for that litigation, which resulted in
favor of the association. He also called
attention to the fact that the Winona
system of grades, the only one i'm force,
had been formulated before tile asS0cia-
tIOn organized, and he suggested that 1t
be referred To a committee for revision.
According to the treasurer'S report,
the association received S2,625 in 1892,
spent $2, 454. 50 and HOW has a balance
Sl94.2S. Officers were elected as fol-
lows:
President, w. H. Laird. WIncna:
vice presidents, 5. L. Mcknight, of
Eau Claire, and William Irvine. of
Chippewa Falls; treasurer, r. l.. Nc
COrmick, Hayward, Wis; secretary, J.
Newton Mind, of Minneapolis; direct
ors, B. +. Nelson. Minneapolis: f.
Weyerhauser, Rock Island; c. l.. Cole
man, La Crosse; A. l.. Ulrich, Rice
Lake, Wis; G. s. Shaw. Cloquet; w. j.
Young, Clinton, To-; q. Ii. Atwood,
Saltwater.
Discussion Of the condition of trade.
sort Of an experience" meeting, fol-
lowed. Letters from members who
could not attend were read at the same
time. Every speaker reported stocks
low and demand lively. Prospects for
the coming season seem of the best. So
much snow has fallen that the log cut
will fall off from fifteen to twenty-five
per cent in nearly all sections. The
conditions of the outlook favored an ad-
vance in prices.
). Z. Mcknight, OF Eau Claire, moved
that prices Oh No. grade inch boards,
and on all grades above, be advanced 81
thousand feet. and that on all grades
below No. l the advance be 80 cents.
Evidently remembering the antitrust
laws and the litigation of the past, Il. L.
Mccormick. of Hayward, Wis, repre-
senting the Weyerhauser syndicate,
suggested that instead of a mandate
resolution, the motion be put in the
form of a lit is the sense
of this meeting" resolution form. His
suggestion was acted upon. The mo-
ton for an advance in prices was then
made to include an advance of 80 cents
on No. dimension lumber, and adopt
ed. The board of directors will revise
the price list In accordance with this
desire, and issue it to the trade as soon
as possible. The new price list will
take effect March Is.
President Nelson announced the fol-
lowing committee on inspection of
grades:
Wisconsin Valley district. Walter
Alexander, of Wausau. and John K.
Davis; Minneapolis district, W. 5. Hill,
of Minneapolis: Winona and La Crosse
district, w. S. Hayes. of WinOna; Mid
die Mississippi district. Artemus Lamb,
Of Clinton, Ia; North Wisconsin dis
trict, A. L. Ulrich. of Rice Lake, Wis;
Duluth district, - Barber, of Duluth.
This committee will meet in Eau
Claire March Is and go over the grades.
The Winona system, or standard. of
grades has been adopted by the associa-
ton.