HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



normal amount of stock and selling it ten or 

 fifteen per cent cheaper than they should, 

 besides causing men in and out of the as- 

 sociation to point their fingers at these good 

 old praying members for doing something 

 they knew right down in their hearts they 

 shouldn 't do. 



Every industry, starting with Judge Gary 

 and the steel corporations, has endeavored 

 to get together and talk it over and try to 

 realize that there, is just so much business, 

 with capacity for twice as much as there is 

 to be had; and most manufacturers have 

 had the good sense to sit down and look out 

 the window and figure out the future, but 

 have not gone out to buy trade. Sad to 

 say, the same does not hold good with some 

 of our friends in the veneer trade. The fact 

 is that if they were a little younger we 

 would feel like taking them over the knee 

 and using a skillet or a piece of heavy thin 

 lumber on them! 



Of course, if these people want to follow 

 out the old Bible quotation and lose their 

 factories, let 'em go ahead; but in the end 

 it will be seen that a lot of other people in 

 the thin lumber business had sense enough to 

 take care of the assets they tad accumulated 

 and not throw them away just in order to 

 run their old veneer plants! 



INVESTIGATE. 



In these days when trade is dull it is so 

 easy to be guided by the buyer that some 

 of our strong-necked friends have been led 

 into the grievous error of swallowing all 

 the confidential talks of the buyers. They 

 have been satisfied that what is said was the 

 truth — that "John Smith had cut the price 

 of quartered veneer," and that the lumber 

 manufacturers were cutting the price, too; 

 but he lied. 



Now, what's the use of being a lobstet? 

 Be a man or a mouse or a long-tailed rat, 

 but don't go to town and walk into the 

 furniture manufacturer's plant, and 'fess up 

 that you haven't got an order to your name 

 — that the plant has shut down and no tell- 

 ing when it *ill start up again — and you 

 have a note to pay nest month, and must 

 have an order at any old price to get the 

 money to take it up, etc., etc. 



Now, what can you erpect? Do you sup- 

 pose these purchasing agents are hired just 

 to look pretty and wear red neckties, or 

 are they there to buy stock just as cheap as 

 they can get it? Why should a manufacturer 

 in fairly good circumetanees, with plenty of 

 good timber within easy reach, and a well- 

 equipped plant, lose his head just because 

 trade is dull with him? If he would com- 

 pare notes with other manufacturers in any 

 line of trade, in any part of the country, 

 he would find that the volume of business is 

 not over fifty per cent what it was this time 

 last year. That being the case, why not 

 be satisfied with the fifty per cent from 

 regular customers, and not go around with 

 head bowed down, or knuckle to a buyer in 

 order to force him to take something at 



cost or less? It's a long, hard pull to get 

 prices up where they belong and if you are 

 responsible for helping break these prices at 

 this time it may take you until 1920 to get 

 them back again. 



Therefore, when you are looking for trade 

 and find Mr. Buyer has something awfully 

 good offered him, let him buy it from the 

 manufacturer who wants him to take body, 

 soul and breeches at cost or less — or make 

 him show you, but don't let him put his 

 finger over the date on the bill in hand! 



Investigate — don't imagine that prices have 

 been demoralized when you make your own 

 quotation. 



Large Veneer Plant Changes Hands. 

 The Blair Veneer C:ompauy of North Troy, 

 Vt., purchased at public auction, April 9, the 

 entire property of the Veneer Box & Panel 

 Company of Greenville, Me., consisting of a 

 two-story mill, 350x100 feet, completely fitted 

 with new machinery and appliances through- 

 out; also a twelve-room boarding house and 

 large scow on Moosehead Lake, with 700- 

 000 feet of logs. 



This property is situated on the south shore 

 of Moosehead Lake, in a fine hardwood ter- 

 ritory, mostly birch. The mill was built new 

 in 1906, fitted with the latest and most up-to- 

 date machinery, and operated for the manu- 

 facture of veneer panels and box shooks for 

 one year, when it was closed, and finally went 

 into the hands of a trustee. 



This is the largest and best equipped ve- 

 neer mill in New England, and it is the 

 intention of the new owners, who are experi- 

 enced veneer men, and who have similar mills 

 at North Troy and Montgomery, Vt., to start 

 this plant in the near future for the manu- 

 facture of built-up stock and boxes as be- 

 fore. The present management will insure 

 a successful operation of the business. 



Notwithstanding the very unsettled state 

 of the financial conditions of the country 

 the Blair Veneer Company has been running 

 its mills full time all winter and spring, and 

 expects to run the old plant continually, as 

 well as start up the new one just purchased. 



News Notes. 



Lay & Valcon are building a veneer manu- 

 facturing plant at Portsmouth, Va., which 

 is rapily nearing completion. The company 

 will commence operations with the manufac- 

 ture of butter-trays, berry-baskets and vege- 

 table-crates; later it expects to produce finer 

 material, such as mahogany and walnut ve- 

 neers for the furniture trade. 



The National Veneer Products Company, 

 with plant at East Mishawaka, Ind., will in 

 future manufacture its " Indestructo " trunks 

 in newer, larger quarters. There is a good 

 demand for these veneer trunks, which, though 

 light, are very strong and attractive in ap- 

 pearance. 



W. A. Beitner of Traverse City, Mich., is 

 anxious to remove his plant to a southern 

 location. The Chamber of Commerce of Beau- 

 mont, Tex., is trying to induce Mr. Beitner 

 to remove to that city. The Michigan plant 

 employs about two hundred people, and turns 



out chair stock, plates, butter-dishes and 

 other similar products. 



The Eadford Veneer Works at Radford, 

 Va,. have resumed operations, and are opti- 

 mistic as to future trade. 



The Standard Table Company has been or- 

 ganized at Avoca, la., and has bought the 

 plant of the Jamestown Veneer Door Com- 

 pany at that point. The company will at 

 once begin the manufacture of dining-room 

 furniture. J. H. Erew is president. 



The Birchwood veneer plant, Birchwood, 

 Wis., has resumed operations, as has the saw- 

 mill connected with it. Superintendent White 

 says the concern will employ fifty to sixty 

 men the rest of the year. 



The Diamond Match Company's veneering 

 plant at Chico, C'al., has commenced opera- 

 tions. Orange slats are being manufactured, 

 but only a few employees will be engaged 

 until after the directors' annual meeting in 

 May. 



Burdis Anderson, secretary and treasurer 

 of the Great Lakes Veneer Company, manu- 

 facturer of rotary cut veneers and thin lum- 

 ber at Munising, Mich., has been in New 

 York recently, attending a hearing before 

 the Official Classification Committee, as a rep- 

 resentative of the National Veneer and Panel 

 Manufacturers' Association, of which he is 

 president. Mr. Anderson hopes he has been 

 successful in securing satisfactory adjustment 

 of some railroad matters which have been 

 pending between this committee and his asso- 

 ciation for some time. 



The Burnsville Veneer Mills, Burnsville, 

 W. Va., which were destroyed by fire a 

 month ago, are being rebuilt at fast as pos- 

 sible, and it is expected that they will be 

 ready for operation again in sixty days. D. 

 H. Gowing, president and manager of the 

 concern, will remain in Burnsville until the 

 mill is completed. The plant will be larger 

 than the old one; the mill proper will be 

 96x120 feet, three stories; cutting room, 

 24x96, one story; machinery room, 32x96, 

 one story; boiler room, 42x28; engine room, 

 20x30. The sawmill was the only part of the 

 old plant that was not burned. Mr. Gowing 

 also has a plant at Syracuse, N. Y., where 

 he has his main office. 



The Inter-State Veneer Company is a new 

 concern at Richmond, Va., which manufactures 

 inside trim for cars, houses, etc. 



B. W. Lord of the Chicago Veneer Com- 

 pany, Burnside, Ky., attended the hearing 

 given members of the Veneer and Panel 

 Manufacturers' Association, by the Otficial 

 Classification Committee, in New York re- 

 cently. His company reports business im- 

 proving, and that it is' receiving a number 

 of good orders. About 2,000,000 feet of 

 choice logs have been gotten in of late, and 

 the mill is running fuU time. 



The Edgar Veneer & Box Company, Edgar, 

 Wis., has been incorporated with a capital 

 stock of $15,000. The incorporators are: A. 

 W. Puchner, M. N. Schill and Peter Pesteen. 

 A plant will be erected by the company at 

 Edgar this summer. 



