38 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



bonate of soda were used, the results showing that the sodium bicar- 

 bonate has the tendency to lessen the liability of wood to ignite, but 

 the decrease is so slight as to have no ]iractical significance. 

 COST OF THE TREATMENT 



The report says that tlio cost ol applying an effective bicarbonate 

 solution by hand method is from twenty to twenty-five cents per 

 thousand feet. If the boards were dipped by means of an endless 

 chain in a lank containing the solution, the cost of the apparatus 

 will be about five hundred doltos, at a total cost of about five to 

 ten cents per thousand. 



The conclusion reached by the authors of the pamphlet are tliat 

 freshly cut lumber, when stacked in the yard to dry, should be 



stacked in open piles, that sap stain can be more effectively pre- 

 vented by dijipiiig the boards in a solution of sodium bicarbonate, but 

 that such solution, while giving fairly good results, leaves much to 

 be desired. The strength of the solution should be determined by 

 the severity of the conditions under which the boards are to sea- 

 son, but in general it requires from five to ten per cent. 



The best results of preventing sap stain were secured from mer- 

 curic chloride solutions, but on account of their poisonous nature, 

 they are not recommended for general use. 



On the whole the results of the experiments indicate that a success- 

 ful panacea for sap stain has not yet been reached, and that there is 

 room for more experiments along these lines. 



\asroiiaiA^.i\v^^A>v)-s ^!^k;:-o/i«-!^.^!i.v;i;?»a ^^^^ 



Working With the Consumer 



Editor's Note 



The following paper on "IIow Manufacturers and Consumers Can Work Together to Their Mutual Advantage' 

 was delivered by "G. D. Grain, Jr., of Louisville, Ky., at the annual meeting of the National Veneer & Panel 

 Manufacturers' Association, held at Chicago last week. While the paper deals spocilically with the proper attitude 

 that veneer and panel manufacturers should hold with the oonsuiuing trade, it is applicable iu many details to the 

 hardwood lumiier trade, and to many other lines of production. 



It is one of the axioms of busiuess that a sale correctly made is 

 advantageous both to the seller and the buyer. The manufacturer 

 who sells to the wholesaler, the wholesaler who in turn distributes to 

 the retailer, and the retailer from whom the consumer buys, share 

 in the benefit, and in the truest sense all contribute something to the 

 value of the article of goods which they handle. 



If this were not true, the entire system of modern business would be 

 founded upon a falsehood, and the consumer would be justified in 

 confining his purchases to the manufacturer, and ordering exclusively 

 by mail, so as to eliminate the middleman entirely. 



The old dictum, ' ' Let the buyer beware, ' ' has been forgotten along 

 mth the Latin from which it sprang. The buj'er must have confi- 

 dence in the seller before the latter can develop his full possibilities, 

 and the goods must be right before the producer can assure himself 

 of a fair and permanent profit. One swallow does not make a sum- 

 mer, and one sale does not create a business. 



We are therefore justified in assuming that manufacturers and con- 

 stmiers of any meritorious product can work together to their joint 

 advantage; that their interests are to a large degree mutual, and 

 that there is a common ground upon which they may meet. This 

 applies to the veneer and panel business as well as to any other. 



The man who is running a veneer mill or a panel plant wants to 

 sell his goods under conditions favorable to an increasing consump- 

 tion and a fair profit. The user of those goods desires first of all 

 that they be satisfactory, both in quality and price, and that they 

 give him and his customers good service. If the matter of price 

 has become the chief consideration from his point, as the correspond- 

 ence files of some of you might indicate, it is not so much his fault 

 as because he has not been properly approached. 



If competition is based solely on price, it is to be expected that 

 the consumer will look at your quotations before he examines your 

 samples, and that the latter will get only casual iuspection. Rightly 

 considered, it is as much to the interest of the consumer as it is to 

 you that a fair price be paid for veneers and panels, because only 

 by so doing can he assure himself of one hundred per cent service. 



If to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before is 

 to perform a public service, and is a duty well done, then the manu- 

 facturer of veneers and panels is one of the most valuable members 

 of society. He takes a surface of beautiful quartered oak or mahog- 

 any, and by the application of his art spreads it out over many more 

 surfaces of equal area, making not two blades grow where one had 

 been, but, to carry out the figure, creating a whole meadow of grass 

 in place of the lonely original blade. That this service is worth while, 

 and that its performance deserves the best brains and the highest 

 ability that America is producing is, I think, attested by the fact that 

 you gentlemen are gathered here today. 



The furniture manufacturer, the maker of musical instruments, the 



producer of interior finish, and all the other consumers of veneers or 

 built-up stock, have long realized that they have been utilizing a 

 product which has assisted them to a large extent in keeping the 

 quality up and the price down. In spite of the fact that timber is 

 not as plentiful as it used to be, and that occasionally it is necessary 

 to invade the wilds of Tennessee in order to get a really high-grade 

 Indiana white oak log, I believe I am justified in saying that the 

 furniture manufacturer and the ultimate consumer are paying little 

 more for their incomparable figured quartered oak than they were 

 fifteen years ago. That this has been accomplished through your 

 efforts, and that the man of average means is able to bring into his 

 home furniture as beautiful as that created for kings, is an achieve- 

 ment of which I think you may rightfully be proud. 



Performing so important an economic function as you arc, then, 

 and with the knowledge that you have a right to ask the hire which 

 is due the laborer in whatever vineyard, it is reasonable that you 

 should consider ways and means for improving conditions in your 

 trade, and making the business as profitable to those in it as other 

 lines requiring an equal amount of money, experience and ability 

 contribute to their exponents. 



First of all, confidence is an essential in making progress. You 

 never heard of a general who captured a city by beating a retreat, 

 nor of a Cuban war hero who marched down instead of up San Juan 

 hill. Confidence in your goods, iu your competitors and in your cus- 

 tomers must precede real prosperity and enduring success. I am not 

 in a position to assert that this feeling is lacking, yet a recent expe- 

 rience has convinced me that there are at least a few members of 

 the trade who could now and then employ to advantage Sherlock 

 Holmes and his chief lieutenant. Dr. Watson, in finding out just 

 who quoted that low price on panels, and whether or not the sawed 

 quartered oak provided for in the specifications is going to be in 

 evidence when the goods are delivered at the factory of the purchaser. 



Col. Roosevelt, a former president, now our esteemed coutemporary, 

 is given credit for having originated the phrase, "Walk softly and 

 carry a big stick." It has occurred to me that there must be a 

 mistake about the popular impression in this regard, and that it 

 was some panel manufacturer, who found that a consumer was getting 

 stock at prices fifteen per cent under the proper figure, who felt the 

 need of putting a club where it would do the most good. 



As a matter of fact, there is room for uniformity in methods 

 which would make for a better understanding among producers and 

 would open the way for creative work among consumers. Until the 

 millman turning out veneers, and the factory man laying panels, 

 feel that the other fellow is playing the game fair, it is hardly to 

 be expected that the consumer can be made to believe that he should 

 shoulder any of the burden or contribute anything to the general 

 cause of venoorod goods. 



