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Opportunity and Success 



Some business men are prune to believe tlml only those with large 

 capital can succeed today. It is not uncommon to hear it said that 

 only the man who can go down South and put up a couple of hundred 

 thousand dollars for timber can make much money out of the sawmill 

 business, and that to be a wholesaler and succeed to a marked extent 

 requires eonsideralile more capital than the average man possesses. 



It is undoubtedly true that large aggregations of capital, properly 

 directed, will result in handsome earnings being made. But proper 

 direction is not always available, and getting good executives often 

 is a harder task than summoning the necessary financial resources. 

 In the last analysis, ' ' Big Business, ' ' spelled by the magazine writers 

 with capital letters, is not capable of striking terror to the little 

 fellow, unless he is small in intellect and courage as well as in rating. 

 Everybody in the hardwood business can call to mind at least one 

 striking example of a man who Has made a conspicuous success with- 

 out having a particularly large investment of money and without hav- 

 ing done an enormous volume of business. He has demonstrated, if 

 a demonstration were required, that careful study of manufacturing 

 methods, skill in organization, and study of sales and consuming con- 

 ditions will bring success, no matter whether the business affected be 

 a tiny one tucked back somewhere out of sight or an enormous enter- 

 prise involving millions and standing out in tlie most prominent posi- 

 tion under the sun. 



Elbert Hubbard 's saying about the world making a track to the 

 home of the master mouse-trap maker is hardly correct, for he would 

 have to have a sales and s^dvertising department to make good, and 

 would have to run copy in "The Mouse-Trap Dealers Magazine'' to 

 get the necessary attention focused on his product; yet there is a 

 large portion of truth in the suggestion contained in the aphorism 

 that quality is back of success, and that those who have learned 

 where to find quality usuall.y go back for more. 



The lumberman referred to has a sawmill located in a section of the 

 country famous for the quality of its w'hite oak. But most of the 

 oak has been cut out, and most of the mills that once flourished have 

 moved away. The hardwood manufacturing industry, as a whole, has 

 moved a number of degrees of latitude south, and is a great many 

 miles nearer the equator than when the center of the trade was near 

 the mill to which attention has been called. But that mill has not 

 moved, and there is no indication that it will do so in the near future. 

 Ask its owner about the timber question and he will smile and say, 

 "Oh, I always manage to get enough logs to keep going." 



The truth of the business is that everybody in that part of the 

 country knows the sawmill man, likes him, and calls him by his first 

 name. Because he puts on a linen collar and a ' ' biled ' ' shirt, drives 

 an automobile, and rides up to the city occasionally, does not mean 

 that he has shut the farmers and others who own timber out of his 

 circle of friends, or permitted them to shut him out. He can strik(; 

 hands and talk crops with any of them, and has a sincere and cordial 

 interest in all their doings. Thus, when a log-buyer from another 

 place comes around and inquires about timber, the answer usually is, 

 "Oh, I just guess I'll save those logs for Charley." 



And the farmer knows, too, that he is going to get a fair price for 

 them, and that there will be no jockeying around for the purpose of 

 taking advantage of the other man or the seller. The price will be 

 just what they are worth, and it vrill be paid, cash in hand, as soon 

 as they are delivered. The people who have been selling logs to this 

 mill have always done business with its owner, in person, and have 

 always" been well treated, and they expect to continue to deal with 

 him as long as they have any trees to sell. 



As the sawmill operator admits that the big problem is to get good 

 logs, plenty of them and at the right price, the hold which this manu- 

 facturer has established on the people who supply him guarantees 

 the success of that department of the business, at any rate. 



Inside the mill there is a feeling of unswerving loyalty to the head 

 of the house that comes from a knowledge that everybody in the busi- 

 ness, from the sawyer to the youngest off-bearer at the veneer saw, is 

 going to get all that is coming to him, and that labor is going to be 



—34— 



rewarded. The same superintendent, the same yard foreman and the 

 same sawyers are working in that mill that were serving it a dozen 

 years ago. Death is about the only severer of those business ties. 

 Those who have remained have earned more money as time has passed, 

 and have gotten it in their pay envelopes. It has not been neces- 

 sary, fortunately, to adopt a piece-work system to ibsure every man 

 doing his duty ; for the ' ' personal equation " is so well taken care of, 

 and esprit de corps is so actual a force in the plant, •that a mechan- 

 ical method of computing the results of the efforts -of each employe 

 is unnecessary. '.L. 



The art of building up an organization and then holding it together 

 at top speed and maximum efficiency has not been mastered by many 

 men. The mill which has been described is alone in its community, 

 and perhaps has an easier problem than the plant whicli has several 

 competitors bidding for the services of its best men; but even under ■ 

 conditions of sharp competition it is not likely that many of these 

 veterans, who have been trained in the school of loyalty under an 

 employer who has made it a pleasure to work for him, would leave. 



The owner of the plant has a lot of ideas on the subject of cutting 

 lumber so as to make it the best lumber possible, and these have been 

 transmitted to everybody on the place. His mill has not a great ca- 

 pacity, so that he has seen the necessity of holding the quality up to 

 the highest possible point. Thus the lumber that goes on his yard is 

 manufactured just right, and is a proper offering for a disiriminating 

 customer. 



This manufacturer is said to have been one of the first in the coun-' 

 try to sort his hunber according to widths; in other words, to regard 

 dimensions as something more than arbitrary divisions, but as con- 

 \eniences for customers. He figured that if there were a furniture 

 factory which wanted to buy only ten-inch lumber, he ought to be in 

 a position to sell it a carload of just that variety; or if a chair man 

 wanted to get strips of one size only, instead of running the entire 

 range of widths provided in the usual classification, it would be 

 worth while to have them ready to sell, and not have to dig them out 

 of a pile. 



Consequently his lumber is divided into more divisions as to width 

 than that of nearly anybody else in the business; this, too, be it noted, 

 in spite of his relatively small production. This means considerable 

 difficulties about accumulating sufficient stock of each kind, but, by 

 watching his customers' needs — upon which the entire scheme of piling 

 is founded — he is able to adjust his operations and have something ' 

 ready to offer to his trade all the time. 



In his mill is a veneer saw whjch he uses for manufacturing quar- 

 tered oak veneers out of choice logs which he secures. And here 

 again, by a combination of care in purchasing, excellence of manu- 

 facture and attention to details of handling, he has an output that 

 is really sought by consumers of veneer. He is able to go, in turn, 

 to those who are seeking supremacy in the manufacture of panels 

 and get a price for his stuff that is away above the market, because 

 the panel man realizes that, with that kind of stock for his faces, 

 lie need not worry about competition when he goes to sell to the high- 

 grade furniture builder. 



This "scientific manager," who is scientific simply because he 

 applies ideas which are familiar to everybody and are recognized as 

 sound, and who deserves the title of manager because he has his finger 

 on every department of his business, really studies his customers and 

 their needs. He visits factories where his lumber is used ; sees exactly 

 what happens to it, and follows it from the car to the finishing-room. 

 He knows what the requirements of his trade are, and when lie goes 

 back to his mill he is in a position to furnish exactly what his cus- 

 tomers can use to the best advantage. Isn't this a contrast with 

 lumbermen who don't even know what their product is used for, and 

 couldn 't tell whether the consumer is buying a better or a worse grade 

 than he ought to have? 



' ' But how are you going to study your consumer 's need if he won 't 

 let you into his factory?" is the retort that may be provided. 



