January 25, 1917 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



ness, wages, royalties, crown fees, number of meiTln departments 

 of factories, per capital output, by-products, costs, machines, piling 

 yards, log drives, stands of timber per acre, and many more. The 

 call for photographs is very complete and the subjects are varied. 



The commission is going to Europe to find markets for Amer- 

 ican lumber. It will investigate the European lumber supply in 

 order to ascertain what competition must be met. It will, there- 

 fore, be necessary to find out how much and what kinds of lumber 

 the European mills can furnish, and its cost f. o. b. Two or 

 three questions of each operator will bring those facts out, without 

 photographs of operations and without asking about crown fees 

 and labor unions. Transportation rates must be known, in order 

 to determine cost of lumber delivered in markets where American 

 lumber will likewise be for sale. Freight rates can be figured 

 from published railroad schedules, and it will not be necessary 

 to ask a question on that subject of a man in Europe. 



All of the questions in the list which relate to economic and 

 social matters are answered in published census reports which 

 all civilized countries issue from time to time, and it is not neces- 

 sary to load up the commissioners with that superfluous labor. 

 Lighten their loads and they can move faster, and by direct ad- 

 vances reach the crux of the matter under investigation. 



The preparation of a good list of questions for somebody else 

 to answer is a fine art which few have mastered. Great is the 

 temptation to keep adding and adding, and few there be that 

 can resist it. That accounts for the inflated schedules which are 

 so often sent out to puzzle, plague, and provoke. The lesson of 

 Quintillian, the Spanish grammarian, has not been sufficiently 

 learned: "Put in only what cannot be left out." 



An agent who worked on the Bureau of Corporations' timber 

 investigation a few years ago once remarked: 



"I pick out here and there the sensible questions and ask them 

 first so that I will have the real information before the scrap 

 comes. Then I begin on the fool questions and keep on until the 

 man gets mad and puts a stop to it." 



That is the point. Most business men will cheerfully answer 

 a few pointed and important questions; but they will not go much 

 beyond that. The experienced and successful collector of informa- 

 tion is the man who asks few questions, but sees to it that these 

 few are to the point. It is probably more difficult to get volu- 

 minous lists of questions answered in Europe than in this country. 

 There a strange language is spoken; the investigator is looked upon 

 with suspicion; and business matters are considered as business 

 secret. Eor that reason it is to be hoped that the lists of ques- 

 tions which have been given to the press will be thoroughly 

 revised before the commissioners take them abroad. Every ques- 

 tion in the nature of a "wild goose chase" should be left out — 

 it leads too far afield. 



Where the Automobile Hurts 



POSSIBLY THE AUTOMOBILE HAS NOT SHOULDEEED its 

 full responsibility for dullness in the lumber market'. Some peo- 

 ple imagine that the auto has increased the demand for lumber; and 

 the thousands of garages which have come into existence where none 

 were seen a few years ago, furnish proof that the demand for lumber 

 has been increased along that particular line. It is no less true that 

 many millions of feet of hickory, ash, poplar, and other fine woods 

 are demanded yearly for the bodies, wheels, and frames of automo- 

 biles. These demands are new. They place lumber where none was 

 used a few years ago. But there is another and quite a serious side 

 to the question. 



A considerable part of the money that is spent in the purchase of 

 automobiles might more profitably be spent in buying lumber for 

 building new barns and repairing old; in new farm buildings, includ- 

 ing residences; in new roofs and porches where the old have been 

 hurt by decay; in new posts and planks for fences about farms and 

 pickets for garden and yard fences. 



Many purchasers of automobiles are financially able to own the cars 

 without neglecting the improvement of their farms and other prop- 

 erty; but many others are not able to do so. Automobiles are becom- 



ing nearly as common in the country as in the town. It is a luxury 

 that appeals powerfully to country people, and it is natural that it 

 should. It quickens communication between rural neighborhoods and 

 brings people together easily and frequently. It is abolishing the iso- 

 lation and loneliness which formerly placed a discount on country life. 

 There is no question that the automobile is filling an important place 

 in the affairs of the rural population. Yet it is doing harm as weU as 

 good. The machine is too often bought by people who cannot afford 

 it and who do not need it, and to such people the possession of a 

 motor vehicle is an injury, a sort of dissipation which soon begins 

 to show results in the appearance of neglect about the premises. 

 Perhaps the barn needs a new roof or the residence a coat of paint; 

 but the ready cash has gone into an automobile, and the needed im- 

 provements must wait. 



Some time ago a silo salesman traveling in Minnesota said that 

 farmers are buying cars and putting off the building of silos. That is 

 a wrong condition. The farmer who can afford both a car and a silo 

 should have both, if he wants them; but if he can afford one only, he 

 should choose the sUo because that is part of his business. A West 

 Virginia village of 1.50 houses, for example, is about to witness the 

 foreclosure of eighteen mortgages on residences, and the mortgages 

 were given to raise money to buy automobOes. That is even worse 

 business than the Minnesota farmers' choice of cars instead of silos. 

 The harm is done by people who do not need antes and cannot afford 

 them. The condition is widespread, and may be considered general 

 throughout the country. It is less serious in wealthy communities 

 where the people are able to buy what they want. 



Lumbermen are directly interested in this matter, because they are 

 losing sales wherever farmers and villagers are spending money on 

 autos which ought to be spent in erecting new buildings or in im- 

 proving the old. Manufacturers of paints are probably losing in the 

 same way as lumbermen are, because the cash laid aside to paint the 

 buildings is diverted and spent for an auto which is not badly needed, 

 or not needed at aU. Photographers in towns and villages say that 

 the auto has ruined their business. 



There is no way of figuring exactly how many sales the lumbermen 

 miss because people who need the lumber buy automobiles instead ; but 

 the aggregate is enormous and doubtless it accounts for some of the 

 poor business that has plagued lumbermen of late years. The 

 farmer of moderate means will sooner or later learn that a new 

 silo is more profitable than an automobile. 



The Dimension Association 



AN ASSOCIATION OF HARDWOOD DIMENSION manufac- 

 turers was consummated at Memphis last week under very 

 promising circumstances. This organization starts with a member- 

 ship of approximately thirty-five large producers of dimension 

 stock, in good standing. The men behind it are earnes.t in their 

 desire to put dimension stock on a more modern basis both as 

 to manufacturing methods and as to merchandising possibilities. 

 They desire, and there is no reason why their hopes should 

 not be realized, to create a standard in quality of manufacture 

 and handling and to promulgate educational features which 

 will make possible a more general appreciation among the wood- 

 workers of what properly manufactured and properly cared for 

 dimension stock will mean tc them. No manufacturer of dimension, 

 unless he considers himself a good many years in advance of the 

 rest of the industry, can afford to consider that he can get along 

 without participation. On the other hand, he should be willing to 

 accept a partial share of the responsibility of effecting whatever 

 advancement is possible in the industry. It appears that the long 

 agitated dimension association as it was finally launched starts on 

 the right premises and with the promise of accomplishing real good 

 both to the producer and the consumer. It deserves your support 

 if you are making hardwood dimension stock. 



If these busy days won't yield time enough for you to attend 

 your conventions, that is just another reason why you should read 

 the published reports. Even in type the sentiments give a strong 

 inspiration towards better and more profitable merchandising. 



