November 10, 1916 



The Lumberman s Round Table 



Attention to the Stock List 



Some hardwood men find that it pays to send out to prospective 

 buyers lists of the stock whicli they have ou hand, and others do 

 not apparently profit a great deal from the operation of this plan, 

 judging from the lack of regularity with which they use it. 



The difference in the results is often to be explained in the 

 way in which the list is gotten up. The lumberman who puts into 

 it everytliing that he thinks will interest the buyer, and who 

 makes it easy for the latter to interpret his statemen, will proba- 

 bly hear from his sales efforts along this line; while the concern 

 which gets out a list which is confined simply to a statement of 

 kinds, grades and thicknesses of wood, and lets it go at that, is not 

 likely to be kept busy entering orders as a result. 



In the first place, if there are any special features about cer- 

 tain items, such as lengths or widths, age, etc., these should be 

 noted. Eailroad rates from the mill to leading markets should also 

 be indicated, and if prices are to be quoted the delivered prices 

 f. 0. b. those points should be set down. The idea is to enable the 

 buyer to get at the facts with a minimum of figuring. 



Another thing is to get out the stock list with some degree of 

 regularity. It takes a certain amount of time and trouble to go 

 over the yard and see just what is on hand, and this often results 

 in delay; but if you can get customers in the habit of looking for 

 your list, and getting a complete showing of your stock before 

 them at a given time every month, you can be pretty sure of get- 

 ting attention for it. 



One other point that needs emphasizing is based on an apparent 

 hesitation to list stock which is held elsewhere than at the mill or 

 principal yard. It often happens that the location of a certain lot 

 of lumber is especially favorable to a movement to a particular 

 customer, and if it were listed a sale would surely result. Conse- 

 quently it is a good plan to show the exact location of every item, 

 because this will helji rather than hurt. 



The Motor Car and the Log Buyer 



Although some people, including those who operate mills in the 

 South, have an idea that ' ' Indiana oak, ' ' like the famous dodo bird, 

 is extinct, cold figures prove that a good many hundred million feet 

 of oak and other hardwoods are stUl produced in the Hoosier state, 

 in spite of the fact that tlie assertion that Indiana timber was all 

 gone was familiar as long ago as twenty years. 



The truth of the matter is, of course, that while the stumpage 

 that is available is much less than formerly, there is still enough 

 timber to supply the mills which are continuing to operate. The 

 principal difference between conditions now and some years ago is the 

 reduction in the number of small mills. The little fellows, not having 

 the organization to go far afield for their timber, have dropped out of 

 the business, but the more important concerns appear to be able to 

 log their mills just about as successfully as tliey ever did. . 



The interesting part of it, too, is that the size and quality of the 

 logs have not gone down a great deal. Perhaps tlie average is not so 

 high as heretofore, but a surprisingly large number of fine trees, as 

 good as any ever produced in the heyday of lumber manufacturing 

 in Indiana, are still to be felled, so that the characteristics of Indiana 

 hardwoods are not in much danger of disappearance. 



The proposition of logging a mill in a state like Indiana is simply 

 one of going further and hauling the logs a longer distance. Lots of 

 timber are smaller and less accessible, and that in turn means that 

 the cost of delivering them at tlie mill is greater than heretofore. But 

 it is fair to assume that the increased value of hardwood lumber 

 more than offsets the larger expense involved in procuring logs. 



In this connection it is interesting to learn tliat the automobile 

 is playing an important part in the work of supplying Indiana millmen 

 with logs. One manufacturer said recently that his investment in a 

 Ford runabout for his log buyer had been a good one, and that the 

 latter was now covering a great deal more territory, and getting back 

 off the beaten paths in such a way as to uncover a good deal more 



— 26d— 



material. Each mill is thus going farther from its base to get its logs,, 

 but with the aid of motor cars and better roads and improved rail- 

 way facilities the problem is being met with little difficulty. 



All of which would seem to indicate that those who are making and 

 marketing Indiana hardwoods will be able to supply their trade for a 

 good many years to come. 



High-Grade Residence Trim 



People who can afford it are beginning to realize the great ad- 

 vantage of using wood freely in the interior of their residences. 

 The ordinary house, especially the kind which is "built to sell," 

 has comparatively little woodwork, and that of inferior quality j 

 for it is a strange fact that many people who would not accept 

 imitation mahogany furniture are quite pleased with interior trim 

 of that variety. 



But a growing knowledge and appreciation of good woodwork 

 is in evidence, and one may now find some extremely handsome 

 interiors, which show that owners who have the price are not stint- 

 ing when it comes to the proper embellishment of their homes. For 

 there is nothing else that can approach the rich, warm, intimate 

 atmosphere of a room paneled with a fine wood. 



A Record correspondent was recently in a home on the North 

 Shore in Chicago which was splendid from this standpoint. The 

 outer door was of finely figured oak, and the great halls were 

 trimmed in the same material. The big living room, probably 

 20x30 feet, had paneling of Circassian walnut, finished a dark 

 brown. The music-room on the upper floor was trimmed in ma- 

 hogany, to match the fine piano which it contained. Incidentally, 

 ilKistrating the influence of interior trim on cabinet work, the 

 talking-machine which stood in the hall was of oak, to accord with 

 the material of tliat part of the house. 



This residence has been in use for a couple of years, and it is one 

 of the best proofs of the advantage of fine hardwoods for interior 

 trim to say that the paneling probably looks better now than it did 

 at first; for good wood wears well and holds its looks for genera- 

 tions — something which cannot be said for most other materials. 



The New Purchasing Agent 



Until a comparatively short time ago the purchasing agent for 

 a big woodworking factory in the Middle West was known to the 

 salesmen who waited upon him as "Old Frozen Face." He was 

 the original human iceberg, and if he had ever cracked a smile in 

 tlie presence of a lumberman, it was not down in the little book. 

 His idea was to scare the people who tried to sell him so badly 

 that they would not dare to ask him the regular price. 



The man who sits in the office now is his exact opposite. He 

 is courteous, even genial; treats salesmen as if they were human 

 beings, and when he can't buy he tells them so in such a way that 

 they manage to feel good about it. In short, he's a regular fellow. 



It doesn 't appear that his firm is getting any the worst of it 

 because he is decent to the men who are after his business. On the 

 other hand, the chances are that his methods constitute a definite 

 asset; for while, under the old regime, a salesman wouk^ have been 

 overjoyed to slip Old Frozen Face a few choice lemons, he now 

 delights to "tip off" the new purchasing agent to market changes 

 and other information which he thinks will be of service. That 

 means that the buyer is able to protect his house, and to act with 

 a better knowledge of conditions than his predecessor ever had. 



Purchasing agents as a whole have waked up to the fact that 

 the best plan is to know as much about the other man's business as 

 he does, if possible; and the way to accomplish this is to take the 

 part of his friend rather than his enemy. Such a plan, inci- 

 dentally, strengthens mightily the position of the salesman who 

 really can make constructive suggestions, and whose solicitation 

 is not a cut-and-dried, stereotoyped affair. He will always find the 

 "Welcome" sign out at the office of the purchasing agent of the 



new school. 



I 



