January 25, 1917 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



General Association Work 



The next speaker on the program was George E. Watson, sec- 

 retary of the Southern Cypress Manufacturers' Association, of 

 New Orleans, La. 



Mr. Watson emphasized the fact that the problems in one industry 

 are usually radically different from those in another industry. 

 Hence the experiences of one association can not be taken as indi- 

 cative of proper methods in another. Mr. Watson deplored the gen- 

 eral tendency to let well enough alone, which he characterized as 

 letting bad enough alone, and said that radical action — the blazing 

 of a trail rather than following the beaten path — is essential to 

 progress in modern association work. He emphasized the hope that 

 the oak manufacturers would be able to solve the problem presented 

 in all association work, that of conserving the benefits for the mem- 

 bers thereby minimizing the benefits to those anxious to get under 

 the other man 's umbrella, but not willing to help carry it. He em- 

 phasized the belief that the oak manufacturers should be broad 

 enough to look upon this problem in a big way until a practical 

 solution was presented. 



Mr. Watson sounded a note of modern progress in association 

 work with the statement that the tendency is stronger every j-ear 

 towards marketing activity, that the specialized association designed 

 purely to handle manufacturing and grading problems cannot keep 

 step with modern requirements. He said that the question of grading 

 rules is becoming less and less a question of manufacture, and more 

 a question of sales, that grades must be designed in these days to 

 help merchandize the product rather than to help the manufacturer 

 slip some of his lumber into improper use. He said: 



'■"The time is coming when all grading rules will be prepared with 

 this idea in mind, and if the question of grades will be a part of your 

 association work I sincerely hope you will let this idea control your 

 action with the full knowledge that the price will follow the grade. ' ' 

 He emphasized the need for and tremendous value of research work 

 in connection with all advertising. He said: 



' ' You must not take it for granted that everyone knows about oak, 

 for that is not true. You must constantly preach to the public those 

 things which are of such common knowledge themselves that it will 

 seem like foolish advertising. You must be honest in avoiding the 

 sale of oak for those uses for which some other wood is better." In 

 citing his axiom that egotism and optimism are so closely akin 

 that you cannot have tke former without also having the latter, Mr. 

 Watson said that if the members could be made to believe right at 

 the start that they have the greatest wood on earth, and that they 

 will have the most effective association on earth, that will have been 

 accomplished which has taken other organizations many years to 

 perform. 



John M. Pritchard, secretary of the Gum Lumber Manufacturers' 

 Association, followed with an address on the benefits of lumber 

 associations. 



Mr. Pritchard asked the questions: "How can we get the best re- 

 sults if we have no accurate information as to what actual condi- 

 tions of supply and demand are? How can we have this informa- 

 tion unless the members honestly co-operate with the association 

 in its compilation?" 



He reviewed the tremendous strides that have been made in the 

 broadening of the market for gum and said that the success is to a 

 very large degree based upon intelligent information as to what lum- 

 ber is on hand and the prevailing prices. Regarding advertising 

 Mr. Pritchard said: 



"We frequently hear the remark that oak doesn't need advertis- 

 ing; that everyone knows of it. Perhaps this is so. Likewise every- 

 body knows about coca cola and Pullman car service. Will these 

 same gentlemen tell us why the managers of these large organiza- 

 tions are so foolish as to continue to make large appropriations for 

 this advertising? If you will compare the present demand for oak 

 with the present demand for any of the advertised woods, you will 

 discover conditions which you should thoroughly analyze. ' ' 



Mr. Pritchard closed by emphasizing the need for delivering the 

 goods in conjunction with any advertising campaign and suggested 



as a means of developing demand for No. 1 and No. 2 common oak, 

 a campaign for oak flooring instigated either by the association or 

 in conjunction with the oak flooring association. 



At the conclusion of the reading of his paper, Mr. Pritchard 

 said that, since preparing his address, he had learned, as illustrating 

 the value of association work, that the oak flooring manufacturers' 

 association had succeeded in increasing its sales during the past 

 year, through the conduct of an aggressive advertising campaign, 

 thirty-two per cent over the year before. 



Value of a Sales Report 



H. B. Weiss, president of the gum association, read an able 

 paper on the benefits derived from actual sales reports. 



Eeferring to sales reports issued by the gum association, Mr. Weiss 

 said he had seen a spread in price on the same item of as much as 

 $12 a thousand. He expressed himself as doubtful that there exists 

 another business in which such inexcusable difference in selling fig- 

 ures can exist. He said: 



"If a man selling an item at $25 a thousand is making a profit 

 over and above his cost, the man selling at $37 should be getting 

 disgustingly rich. But I do not think that there are many lumber 

 firms approaching that degree of wealth." 



Referring to the suggestion that some people in reporting might 

 he inclined to add a dollar or two to the actual figures, Mr. Weiss 

 said that there can be no gain and that the results might be serious. 

 This tendency to believe such practices exist might come from the 

 discovery that one 's neighbor is selling at from 10 to 25 per cent 

 higher price on the same item, thus creating a condition of mind 

 that might lead one to wonder if the neighbor is actually stating 

 true facts. Mr. Weiss expressed himself, however, as believing that 

 the suggestions of figures being thus misrepresented indicated that 

 those making such suggestions are apt to be behind the procession 

 rather than that those showing the high marks are indulging in mis- 

 representation. 



He asked the members if, should they be interested in cotton, 

 they would sell at seventeen cents when market reports clearly 

 stated that a certain grade was bringing twenty cents. "Or," he 

 said, "if wheat were selling at two dollars, wouldn't you think your 

 broker crazy if he wanted to sell some for you at $1.50. There is not 

 much difference fundamentally in selling cotton or wheat or selling 

 lumber. Sales below competitors' prices when those figures are 

 ascertainable are unconscious admissions of inferiority of service 

 or goods, or of inability to realize on effort." 



Mr. Weiss in further analyzing sales reports said that the average 

 price received is shown. He urged though that the oak manufactur- 

 ers be not content to sell at just average price, that the true func- 

 tion of the reports can be served only if each strives to go beyond 

 the average price class and attain the top. 



Value of Stock Reports 



The last paper of the day was then presented by James E. Stark. 



Mr. Stark said that without stock reports the question of selling 

 price resolves itself into a guessing contest as to whether your com- 

 petitor will offer to sell the stock for less money than you are ask- 

 ing. The natural result would be your offering your lumber at such 

 prices as will get the business. The competitor then who loses the 

 order will make a further cut on the cost on the next quotation, and 

 so on until prices are reduced to a basis under the cost of production. 



Mr. Stark emphasized that the duplication and multiplication of 

 stock lists often gives a false impression to the consumer as to the 

 stocks available and that this would be overcome by complete stock 

 reports. The further advantage is that these listings give to the mill 

 intelligent information as to the desirability of cutting this or that 

 thickness in certain items. He expressed the belief that the stock 

 list now in preparation by the association will develop surprises for 

 all manufacturers. 



Mr. Stark here quoted from the report of Chairman Hurley of the 

 Federal Trade Commission indicating that the federal government 

 is more sympathetic toward business organizations than it was for- 

 merly, and that it is willing to give more latitude in the matter of 



