Evening star., 1935-12-14
GRADE MARKING
HELP TO LUMBER
Southern Pine Demands
Shown by H. c. Berckes
Greatly Increased.

Greatly increased demand for Off
cially grade-marked Southern pine
lumber for both private and govern
mental construction is reported by
H. c. Berckes, secretary manager
Southern Pine Association, which is
credited with being the first organiza-
tion of lumber manufacturers in the
world to institute grade-marking by
its aff1liated mills as an official aSso-
citation undertaking. Mr.. Berckes was
at the Washington Office of the asso-
citation the past week.
Virtually all Federal construction
agencies, Mr.. Berckes said, and nu-
merous State and municipal agencies
now include in their specifications for
all lumber purchases the requirement
that it shall be officially grade
marked under association supervi-
sion, or in lieu thereof shall be ac-
companied by an official association
certificate of inspection. Federal
Specification MM-L-751, which ap-
plies to all lumber purchases for Fed
eral agencies, contains this require
ment and large contracting firms, in
dustrial and other private consumers
in great numbers also are insisting
upon grade marking lumber for their
construction purposes.
In Popular Favor
"The exceptional increase in de-
nnand for grade-marked Southern
pine and the growth of grade-marking
in popular favor" said Mr.. Berckes,
has given rise to some abuses on the
part of certain few unScrupulouS
operators, so that our association has
deemed it wise to take steps to
strengthen the position of its sub
scribers who are legally authorized to
trademark their lumber and also to
insure full protection for consumers
against any loopholes for evasion of
official grade e-marking requirements or
actual fraudulent operations.
"Our associations program of
grade marking was developed with
the idea of distinguishing the care
fully supervised product of our sub
scribers from that of other manufac-
turers and to protect lumber speciflers
and consumers and assure them of
y
they order and pay for. In all of
the Standardization conferences held
under the auspices of the United
States Commerce Department, it was
recognized that grade-marking would
afford no protection to the public
unless the grading and marking be
done under supervision of some rec
ognized authoritative body, hence the
trade associations for the different
species that maintain official stand
ards grading rules and inspection
service have supervision over the
grade-marking of affiliated mills.
Users Must Qualify
Merely becoming subscriber to
the association does not automatical-
ly entitle manufacturer to the privi-
lege Of officially grade-marking. Sub
scribers are assigned the right to
use the copyrighted Southern Pine
Association trademark only when
their operations, manufacture and
grading conform to all of the stand
ards and rules of the association, in |
Guiding an efficiency of 95 per cent |
or better in grading on the part of |
the mill graders with respect to all |
items shipped When a subscriber |
reaches this degree of efficiency a |
special grade and Species-marked
license is issued, which constitutes |
the formal authority of the subscriber |
to officially trademark his product. |
This licensing agreement, among
other things, provides:
81. That the official trademark |
may be used only upon lumber of
standard size and grade;
q. That only lumber produced by
the mill or mills of the subscriber
which have been specifically licensed |
to trademark may be so marked;
'3. That the marking is to be |
done only at the mill where the lum-
Der is graded;
"a. That the subscriber must main |
tain the standards of grading and |
manufacturing which entitle him to
use the official mark, or else the |
license may be revoked; and
"5. That the grade-marking privi-
lege may be withdrawn if the sub
scriber deliberately mismarks the
species or grade of any of its products,
or uses. or permits to be used, the
grade-marking stamps in an un-
authorized manner"
Mr.. Berckes stated that few in
stances of improper use of the asso-
cations official grade e-mark by mills,
not authorized to use it have been
reported recently, and that these
cases now are in the hands of the
associations attorneys for such pro-
cedure as may be necessary.