30 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



tunity of saving right at baud. 



It is said that only two things are certain, death ami taxes, but it 

 seems logical to add interest to that list. The sales policy which 

 does not contemplate moving stock when it is properly conditioned, 

 treats interest with disdain, and interest is the successful man's 

 most tried and true friend. If lumber ready to market is worth $50 

 today, in six months it should be worth $51.50, and if sold for less 

 we can not figure the difference as anything but a sales cost. The 

 lumber was ready, the market was somewhere and it was a sales prob- 

 lem to find it. Failing in this the accruing interest becomes a sales 

 cost. Therefore, it seems quite evident that the maintenance of 

 well-balanced stocks, properly seasoned but not excessively old, is a 

 sales problem that involves a very definite ratio of changing snles 

 costs. 



.lust as in the marketing of any retail line of merchandise we must 

 have clearing sales occasionally and thus keep our stocks clean and 

 well-balanced. The sacrifice in values of these occasional lots is made 

 up by the absence of odds and ends that confuse the sales problems 

 and hamper the activities of the operating department. 



Deterioration that can be prevented is a sales cost. To make sure 

 that all pOes partly loaded out are recovered, that lay-outs "are prop- 

 erly classified and restacked, that accurate records are kept of these 

 lay-outs and that these odd items are disposed of properly, really 

 should be problems for the sales manager to work out. 



Grading rules will serve to standardize the work of an inspection 

 force and define a clear agreement of sale to the customer, but at 

 every mill a vast amount of waste material, special items, etc., accu- 

 mulates and this under proper sales methods can be made to show a 

 good profit instead of a loss. It takes time, thought an(i money to 

 develop these special markets, but the returns justify the trouble and 

 expense. 



The inspection of lumber, if properly done by a well instructed, 

 well paid and enthusiastic force, is a sales cost that justifies the out- 

 lay and saves many dollars and much complication in adjustments. 

 The sales policy is a winner which provides tor a corps of higli class 

 inspectors and then schools them in all /' y, details of relationship with 



the customer which will serve to satisfy him. Is it not the height of 

 folly to save a few dollars monthly by hiring incompetent and. 

 uneducated inspectors who pass in final judgment on the values of 

 hundreds of dollars' worth of our commodity daily? It often hap- 

 pens that an error in judgment which includes in a car four or five 

 line boards that for some special reason are particularly objectionable 

 to the customer, will oiien a controversy that ends in the loss of a 

 valuable customer. It i>ays to buy the right kind of judgment for this 

 job. 



This brings us down to a point in sales cost, the consideration of 

 . which is responsible for most of our gray hairs and furrowed brows — 

 credit. Credit is the measure of our confidence in the integrity of 

 our'5C),istoniers and of course it is the most potent problem that con- 

 fronts us. A sales loss is a sales cost, and nine-tenths of the losses 

 in our business could be avoided by a firm credit stand. We must 

 study our ledgers, puueh up the slow accounts, and if they continue 

 slow, ruthlessly weed them out. If a man's banker will not loan him 

 money to finance his business, it is a good precedent for us to follow 

 and he should not be allowed to prevail on us for excessive credit 

 favors. If more of us would have the nerve to keep our lumber when 

 we can. not trade it for real money, one big item of the ordinary 

 manufacturer's selling cost would be minimized considerably. 



This sales managers' association, occupying an absolutely unique 

 position in the scope of its purposes, is the very best possible proof 

 that there has recently been a decided change of heart among pro- 

 ducers. The sales problem is to be scientifically dissected, analyzed 

 and rebuilt in a good many otherwise perfect organizations, and this 

 association's meetings will be the forum where results will be com- 

 pared. Let us all be frank, one with the other, discuss our problems,, 

 take and give advice honestly, and show that we all believe in the 

 new slogan which has recently been flung to the breeze — -"Co-opera- 

 tion, not competition, is the life of trade." Thus will positive good 

 result from our efforts and the one weak link in the chain of lumber 

 merchandising be eliminated in the passing of the board peddler 

 and the advent of the scientific, certain and intelligent lumber 

 specialist. 



Utilization of Hardwoods 



.VKTICLE FIFTY-SIX 

 AEROPLANES 



It is a safe statement to assert that no other industry in all 

 history has advanced as rapidly as the manufacture of aeroplanes. 

 The art of air locomotion is of course as yet in its infancy, but it has 

 cut its eye teeth, and is beginning to show signs of what a big 

 husky boy it will be almost before Father Time is aware of it. The 

 aeroplane has reached a stage in its development where it can no 

 longer be regarded as a toy, but as a real commercial asset of the 



near future. One can hardly realize, in recalling the altitude of 

 11,070 feet attained by Beachey during the Chicago aviation meet last 

 summer, that it was scarcely three years previous when the height 

 record of about sixty-seven feet was considered marvelous. No less 

 than $4,000,000 was appropriated by the French government in last 

 month's budget for the establishment of aeroplane corps at every 

 military depot in the country, and this expenditure came merely as an 



T\Vf» TYPES OF AEnOIT.ANKS. SIlnWINC WdOIiWdliK ISFI) IN •IMI^lIt CoNsriilCllc iN 



