HARDWOOD RECORD 



of the cost of the details in manufacturing: 

 handles. They borrow some price lists, copy 

 them and send them widespread over the 

 country with beautiful typewritten letters, 

 neither knowing nor seeming to care whether 

 thev have the ability, capacity or experience 

 to fill the orders after they are received, quot- 

 ing prices in most instances not according to 

 the cost of manufacture but principally to meet 

 the idea of some smart purchasing agent or 

 buyer of some jobbing house, and as a result 

 of a business conducted in that manner they 

 reap at the end of Ave or ten years a rich 

 hanest of experience. Some confiding banker 

 owns their plant, and some more enterprising 

 manufacturer that has some knowledge of his 

 business ultimately purchases from the banker 

 at a small cost all that remains of that par- 

 ticular company. The whole course of the 

 handle business since 1SS6 is like one of those 

 trails the emigrants used to make across the 

 Rocky Mountains, strewn with wreckage on 

 ever>' side. 



An Interesting Letter. 



The following letter from M. R. Grace, 

 president of the newly organized Rex Handle 

 Company of Memphis, was read: 



Memphis, Tenn., May 19, 190S. 



President Handle Manufacturers' Assn.: 

 Owing to una\oidable conditions, it will be 

 impossible for me to attend your meeting at 

 the Louisville Hotel on the 20th which I had 

 anticipated with much pleasure, because I 

 knew that I would meet a great many of my 

 old friends as w-ll .1- mike some new ac- 

 quaintances, all 1 I" Ki- '']" uuests of the I. F. 

 Force and th' . I ' II mdle Company, I 



am sure that 1 i i ., im part of it will 



be well look'il a i i 11 1 .'. l; he my great loss. 



However, it i., •.■ui ui iii;> power to be there 

 and I take this meiliod of sending my regrets 

 through you to the association. 



Mr. Gibson m a recent letter requested 

 me to write something on the hickory sup- 

 ply, etc. I am not much of a letter writer 

 and owing to the condition of my former com- 

 pany's business affairs for several months, I 

 have permitted myself to get rusty in the 

 handle trade. Therefore, there is not much 

 that I could say that would add anything to 

 what you gentlemen already know from years 

 of experience. 



However, I do not think that the timber 

 problem is as much to be alarm'<i at as tlie 

 present condition of the mail, "■■■ -f 



course the hickory is being ii>. 

 idly, still there is a territor> i 



to be gone over and the laial 

 cut off two years ago, in a - ; 1 1 



stances will come back into use again. Tliis 

 has been my experience. 



I remember thirty years ago while I was 

 working for Mr. Woolworth at Bowling 

 Green. Ky.. we had to shut down several 

 summers on account of not having timber, 

 and to my knowledge and of course to yours, 

 that factory has been running at a greater 

 capacity in the last twenty years than it ever 

 did before, whieii is an evidence that it only 

 takes a:. Ml 1:1 !■■ u' t the timber. The great 

 dane> 1 ii, ; I m the handle business to- 



day"!.- • ':-n. 



Thi.i. !'■' ii iiv people making handles 



for th' ; !■ ■ a niand and consumption. 



While tin i iii,-nin|.tion of handles has in- 

 creased Hi til' la-i t. II years, very materially, 

 it has in't iiaii i.-cd equal to the capacity 

 for nianuia./iuiHit; and the great trouble has 

 been, there luu e su many people gone into the 

 manufacture of handles that do not under- 

 stand the manufacturing business or the trade 

 outside of a very small territory. In this 

 way our timber has been destroyed and our 

 market as well; while this is a free country 

 and everybody has a perfect right to go into 

 any line of business that they see proper and 

 fit. still it generally proves fatal to them- 

 selves as well as to the general line of busi- 

 ness from the fact that they make handles 

 and owing to financial conditions they are 

 forced to put them on the market and sell 

 them at the customers' prices. 



If there could be some arrangement made 

 whereby all the factories would agree to oper- 

 ate only a certain per cent of their business 

 each week or each month until the demand 

 for handles was increased, which would be a 

 very important step: also if there could be 

 formed some kind of a pool or syndicate to 

 purchase the surplus stock of low grade 

 handles that are now in the hands of the 

 manufacturers that will be turned loose on 

 the trade at a destructive price, it would be 

 very easy to form a syndicate of this kind to 

 purchase all those handles and dispose of 

 them from this syndicate for the account of 

 the factory who had them. By doing this 

 and reducing the output of each manufac- 

 turer I think we could force the condition of 

 the handle business into better shape. 



The question of grading handles is a very 

 important one and in connection with the 

 advaneed idea of the scarcity of hickory tim- 

 ber it would operate very successful, that is 

 I would suggest to cut out the Excelsior grade 



entirely. Have Extras, No. I's, 2's and A's, 

 and the present Excelsior handles would go 

 into the Extra quality. There is no man that 

 can dispute the fact that a handle with a 

 little tip of red on it on the eye or the hand 

 is not as good as the handle that is all white. 

 In many instances they are far better. 



Now then, all the handles that would be 

 below an Excelsior down to a break of S 

 inches of white between red woods would go 

 into a No. 1 and all defective handles of the 

 quality of No. I's. such as light streaks, etc., 

 would go into a No. 2. and all handles from 

 S inches of white wood down to all red would 

 go into No. 2. thus leaving the defective heavy 

 streaked handles, small knots for the A qual- 

 ity, in other words, any serviceable handle. I 

 believe that this would assist us very mate- 

 rially in flllmg orders. It would stop the 

 accumulation of low grade handles and it 

 would certainly increase the price of our Ex- 

 tras by the Excelsior not being permitted. 

 Of course, to do that every manufacturer 

 must be strictly honest and honorable as to 

 his agreement and to carry out the rules for 

 grading in not "cutting his customer's 

 throat" by putting in a higher grade than he 

 should. I consider that to give a customer 

 a higher grade than he is entitled to is one 

 of the biggest price-cutting methods that 

 there is in the handle business today (or 

 ever has been). 



I merely give you these items as my per- 

 sonal views, and I trust you will have the 

 secretar.v read this letter to the association, 

 and wishing you gentlemen much success and 

 again regretting that I can not be with you, 

 but I am ready to act with you now since I 

 have just started my new company. As yet 

 we have not sent out a price list or a letter 

 to anyone, but we are running every day, 

 making some handles for stock. 

 Very truly yours, 

 The Rex Handle Company, 

 M. R. Grace, General Manager. 



The Grading Question. 



P. 'W. Peters then presented the following 

 very instructive paper: 



Mr. President and Manufacturers of Hickory 

 Handles: The subject which I have before 

 me is one of the most vital in connection with 

 tlie success of manufacture and sale of hick- 

 ory handles. If \i;iu grade your timber, blanks 

 and turned hnr". - ■■ "■-■■ Tiyoper way, you can 

 grade your u- should be. estab- 



lish a reputai our goods stand- 



ard and cr. , ; lor same. Every 



successful ni I me time started 



in business "a i n. and by close at- 



tention to ii - !! it his goods were 



properly gra^l. h . ised his capacity 



from time tn la ' I as become a fac- 



tor in the haiall in uk. 1- mi the country. In 

 order to accomplish tins, the first thing to do 

 is to see that your goods have the proper 

 shapes for the markets in which you sell 

 them, they must be well manufactured, well 

 finished and most of all -weW graded. It you go 

 to a jobber to sell and he asks you, "Are your 

 goods standard and graded equal to those of 

 the large and established manufacturers?" if 

 you say "yes" and they do not prove that way 

 then you have trouble on your hands, and 



you : Miii. ;:■ .1 1.1 settle on whatever terms 



this .1' ' 11 aialie. and our experience is 

 that 1 11: eat you very gently. On 



the c'l' I, i: "U say your goods are not 



gra<i' 't I lull .1- ~.;ime of the larger manu- 



facturers, they will say, "I am afraid they 

 will not answer our trade, but if you can 

 make me a satisfactory discount I will give 

 you a trial order." Tou can see very plainly 

 at what a disadvantage any manufacturer is 

 who is not grading his goods up to standard 

 or who is not manufacturing first-class goods. 



This is only one of the evils of such goods 

 being plnfpd on the market, the most danger- 

 ous nf all is the demoralization of the mar- 

 kets ' aiade handles being placed 

 thei . .1 .;.s you in an unpopular 

 posi; second it puts goods on 

 the II II not sell at prevailing 

 prie. - ■ curse of all. it makes 

 manui , 1 1 ust their competitors, 

 caus. - . , ting of prices and no one 

 kno-na^ I it.m may be reached. If 

 I wef a I - I I lilt in the handle business 

 again ..u .1 .-mall .a.ale. the first thing I would 

 do would lie to plaee* my goods on the market 

 as being of standard grade, then the most im- 

 portant part of the battle would be won. 

 Small iivimilaetinrrs are apt to be too anxious 

 to srl' •' •■■ ;■',,....; ^o much so that in many 

 inst !■ Ill- use them as tools to try 

 anil '■ ir competitors "to time," 



"^^■, i- our handles as we did 



thirtv-ti\e anil iiaiy years ago. it would be 

 necessary fur us to advance prices twenty-five 

 per cent at once, or all of us would be obliged 

 to close out our business, or our creditors 

 would close it for us. Thirty-five years ago 

 we did not know the value of hickory, neither 

 did we know how to grade our handles, at 



that time we were just beginning to learn 

 the handle business. Now we have this thirty- 

 five years' experience before us to profit by 

 and should we not take advantage of it by 

 not gomg on the markets as we did in the 

 sixties and seventies and have to learn it all 

 over again? 



In conclusion let each and even.' one of us 

 today say, and mean what we sav, that we 

 will all try and have uniform grading so the 

 jobber cannot say, "Smith's handles are 

 graded higher than Jones' and we can buv 

 Smith's handles for the same price as Jones'." 

 On the other hand let them say, "Smith's and 

 Jones' handles are graded the same and I see 

 no difference in the prices," then the handle 

 business will be the same as other wood com- 

 modities, while at the present time there is no 

 line so badly demoralized as to prices, lists 

 and organization. Some months ago the handle 

 association issued a standard list for 190S, how- 

 many manufacturers are selling from this list, 

 how many are selling f. o. b. factory? Some 

 are selling at seventy-five per cent, some at 

 seventy-five and ten, while others are making 

 eighty per cent this same list, others are sell- 

 ing from the 1906 list. In some instances we 

 find some selling from the 1904 list. How can 

 handle men be recognized by the trade while 

 in such an unorganized condition? Gentle- 

 men, it all lays with you whether we improve 

 not, if every manufacturer 

 ould stand firm and put 

 wheel we can make a 

 will all go to pieces. 



The Niceties of Handle Manufacture. 

 R. F. Arnett of Hartwell Bros., then read a 

 very interesting paper, which is herewith re- 

 produced: 



The Nicetii ^ . • 11 • • \i • a • ■, , ai- 

 termingled \\ if 



production: 1 11 



but extend .. 



duct, but Ian II lie 



applied with amlmrity tn aii.\ nnurs.- nf the 

 business unless you make it synonymous to 

 hard work, unceasing efforts and continual 

 worry. 



My first introduction to handle making was 

 watching my father hew down a hickory bil- 

 let to a handle shape, then draw it down with 

 a knife. This process, I have since learned. 

 was the only way of making handles in olden 

 times, and I am quite sure that the quality of 

 material required in those crude forms was 

 equal to that used tor handles today, but the 

 advance made in workmanship and ease of 

 production are truly worthy of our wonderful 

 era. 



A tew years ago. when I was offered a po- 

 sition with my present firm. I was astonislied 

 and marveled at the extent of the handle in- 

 dustry, but when you consider the world-wide 

 demand tor millions and millions of handles 

 annually, you are not surprised at the exten- 

 sive production. 



In all stages of manufacture, I have noted 

 the keen competition. It begins in the woods 

 — the fight tor timber; it continues in the pro- 

 duction^the endeavor to secure the most ef- 

 ficient employees; and finally into the market- 

 ing of handles — the efforts to control the 

 trade. I dislike to say that competition goes 

 farther than that, but I have known instances 

 of one manufacturer trying to discredit an- 

 other in the eyes of the buyer. There are 

 niceties to be had in- handle manufacture that 

 do not now exist, and they could be acquired 

 in harmonious, fair and honest competition in 

 production and sales. It is not a nicety tor 

 one manufacturer to have a tract of timber 

 land bargained for, and then to have some one 

 step in and bid an exorbitant mice for it. 

 Neither is it a nieitx m imaa: uni. tlie 

 employees of anothm n- 1 ■ a ,, a i jIus 

 of their business; lan 1 aist 



about close a big enaa ni aaa nan lame 

 buyer, and then havi a . ..aiin ii i; a p ,1 and 

 cut prices. Yet these things are going on in 

 the rank of handle manufacturers today. An 

 intact organization of this association "should 

 remedy this. 



The Systematic Couksb op Business. 

 System! The term is becoming a watch- 

 word with the American business world. Every 

 concern of known up to date business methods 

 has adopted a system of canying on their 

 business that gains for them the most efH- 

 cient results. A tew days ago. I looked into 

 the workings of a large mail-order house. 

 Can you imagine one concern makins- fi'J.OOO 

 separate shipments in a «in<^i.. .in- ....1 .iieh 

 package being hainlliii nf 



from 



cles. 

 •arious 



