HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



Ihat those who are managing to keep their stoi'ks of this wood mov- 

 ing are tho wise chaps who have been piling every width, from 

 6" to 9" especially, separately. They have been in a positiou to 

 supply a specialty which saves the consumer a good deal of expense 

 in cutting up. Incidentally, the consumer appreciates getting just 

 what he wants the way he wants it, and is willing to pay a bit 

 more than otherwise. 



* * * 



Some lumbermen seem to believe that the business was created 

 just as it is by the powers above, and that it is near-sacrilege to 

 change its form in any way. When suggestions for improvements in 

 methods are made, or innovations are put forward, their most likely 

 reply is, "Yes, but that's another business." Adding to or taking 

 from present methods is thus made to seem like marring what is 

 already a perfect proposition. 



It is this attitude, largely, that explains why many lumbermen 

 have never tried to cut up dimension stock; why they refuse to dress 

 their lumber for those who want to buy it that way; and why they 

 would never kiln-dry their stock even if they knew their business 

 would show a gain through the investment in a dry kiln. Their idea 

 is that the Lord intended the sawmill man to saw lumber and let 

 other fellows do the manufacturing, dr3ring and dressing; and con- 

 sequently they feel that their duty is done when they have sawed the 

 lumber out of the log and pushed it to one side far enough to be out 

 of the way. 



That is an interesting line of reasoning; but the question is, does 

 it conform to the demands of present-day business? Successful con- 

 cerns are those which stay in the old rut just long enough, and no 

 longer; and it must be remembered that the only difference between 

 a groove and a grave, as somebody expressed it, is in the depth. 



\ :;it»t)ay^'v;Btr;it:>i!iatTOi^^^ \i TOTOTO;;wiVi)STO!!WTOiM»igwsi-TO^^ it;si ny. ' ;i ^ 



A group of successful hardwood men was recently gathered 

 around a dinner table, smoking the cigars which had followed 

 the meal, and incidentally talking shop. One of them finally 

 asked, in a tentative sort of way and in order to start some of 

 the others talking, "What is it, anyway, that brings success in 

 business?" 



"Just what do you mean by success?" inquired one of those 

 at the table, a thin-faced, nervous chap, who looked as though 

 he had the energy of a 60 horsepower roadster. 



"Well," replied the first speaker, "I don't mean merely average 

 success, the kind that is attained by following the beaten path 

 all one's life; but unusual' results, secured in a comparatively 

 short time. ' ' 



"There's just one answer to that," said a veteran of the 

 trade, emerging from behind a cloud of smoke. "My experience 

 has shown that the man who succeeds must be willing to take a 

 chance on the turn of a card, as it were; to plunge in boi-rowing 

 and investments; to be willing to sink or swim with developments. 

 I don 't mean necessarily to risk everything, but to risk a great 

 deal in a single venture. Most lumbermen, like most other people, 

 shy off from the big chances, and practically everybody in the 

 business can say to himself, 'If I had only done thus and so when 

 I had the opportunity, I would be a rich man today.' 



"My biggest successes have been made by being willing to 

 risk something. Business itself is a speculation, you know; and 

 we must be willing to trust to unknown factors to turn out 

 favorably. Setting in your pile and losing means a financial 

 smashup, sometimes, but as I see it there is no way to avoid 

 that if you mean to win the kind of unusual success I am talking 

 about." 



"I don't believe I agree altogether with what our friend has 

 said," spoko up a small, wiry chap from the far side of the table. 

 "Of course, a man must occasionally hazard more than he wants 

 to in buying a piece of timber, contracting for the cut of a large 

 mill, and the like. If the timber proves to be of poor quality, 

 or the logging of the tract involves mere trouble and expense 

 than has been figured, you lose heavily; or if the market turns 

 against you after the stock you have bought is being manu- 

 factured, there is no possible way out of a loss except by holding 

 it and trusting to a swing of the pendulum in the other direction. 

 But I believe in playing safe for the most part." 



"That sounds pretty good to me," said another lumberman, 

 who was young in ths business but was credited with having 

 won success in no small measure. "Play it safe as long as you 

 can, and then go out and get it when conditions look right. Of 

 course, you may mistake the market and things may break 

 wrone; but you've got to have the lumber to do the business. 

 My theory is that the only way to win in a big way is to have 

 the stock when people want it. You can't make a lot of money 



on a small turnover these days. That might have been done a 

 long time ago, when sudden rises were more numerous and 

 fluctuations greater. We have now reached a point where changes 

 are more gradual and that means the margin of profit is smaller. 

 In order to make a lot of money you must do a lot of business 

 and have a lot of lumber. 



"That means, to me, being a manufacturer and jobber combined. 

 Selling the lumber and then trying to buy it is no longer the 

 paying policy, in my judgment. You've got to have the cards, 

 as the poker players say, when you begin to bet. I found that 

 not being able to take advantage of business offered us, through 

 having insufficient stocks, was our first and worst handicap. Since 

 then I have been a big buyer as well as a big manufacturer of 

 lumber, according to my means, and the further I go the bigger 

 stocks I will endeavor to carry. They may depreciate in value, 

 but in any event I will be able to take care of all the business 

 I can get hold of." 



A veteran of the trade, who has several sawmills scattered over 

 the hardwood belt, had been puffing reflectively at his perfecto 

 during the comments of the other lumbermen. He cleared his 

 throat at this juncture and added some of his own views to the 

 symposium that was rapidly being developed. 



"My friend over there has the right idea," he said, "but he 

 didn't qualify it at the one point where I would lay particular 

 emphasis. That is in connection with holding lumber too long. 

 Some of the worst mistakes I have ever made have been due to 

 trying to beat the market and get a higher price than was being 

 offered. In that way I accumulated topheavy stocks of certain 

 kinds of lumber and when the price slumped I was finally forced to 

 close out at a big reduction in values. I not only lost the difference 

 between what I could have sold it for and what I actually got, 

 but I also sufl'ered considerable depreciation in the lumber. In 

 spite of all that can be done in the way of proper piling and 

 covering of lumber, it will get black and will show the effects 

 of age if it is left in the pile too long. The stick-marks will 

 show and the general appearance of the lumber will be bad, 

 resulting in a smaller price being paid for it. 



"My policy now is to avoid getting long on any one item. 

 I endeavor to trim my stock constantly to keep it well balanced, 

 so that a sudden change in the market will not find me out of 

 line with conditions. This ability to keep your stocks in good 

 shape is likely to be one of the best safeguards of a business, 

 and the cardinal principle of success that I would lay down is, 

 'Always sell your lumber when it is ripe.' " 



At this point everybody turned instinctively, it seemed, to one 

 man who had not yet spoken. He was approaching middle age 

 and had no claims to being a tremendous success. Yet he had 

 a fine, attractive business, the kind that everybody envies. He 

 had only one mill and didn't do much buying on the outside. 



