30 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



He could not be regarded as a "phenom" in the money-making 

 line, and yet he was a splendid type of the successful lumberman. 



"What do you think of the success proposition?" someone 

 asked him. 



He smiled before he answered, and then he said: 



"I find it pretty hard to define what success is. Some people 

 who are regarded as successes may seem to have done little to 

 others, and it is likewise true that the more a man does the more 

 he expects to accomplish in order to reach the pinnacle labeled 

 Success. However, from my moderate accumulation of experience 

 in the business, it seems to me that the greatest feature needed 

 to insure good results is to keep in touch with one's customers. 



"This means, first, doing a great deal of selling yourself; 

 second, watching credits as closely as possible, as can easily 

 be done if .the owner of the business knows his customers and 

 discriminates in choosing them; and, third, giving the customer 

 what is wanted in the matter of grade. Some customers want 

 lumber at a price without insisting on a strict interpretation of 

 the rules; others need lumber that has to pass a rigid inspection 

 and will pay accordingly. Few salesmen are able to note the 

 facts in this direction properly all the time, with the result that 

 the lumber company makes mistakes, customers are displeased and 

 business is lost. 



"I make the rounds of my customers regularly, get to know 



them and their business, and find it comparatively easy to adapt 

 myself to their requirements, the result being that I sell to firms 

 which are good pay, get just what they want and pay good-to- 

 escellent prices for their lumber. If I have made a success, it is 

 because 1 have looked out for this point." 



"Gentlemen," exclaimed the leader of the discussion, who 

 had started the talk by asking the question, "I am forced to the 

 conclusion that a successful lumberman has to come pretty near 

 to being a genius, judging from what we have been saying. 

 He must know how to buy timber and lumber, how much stock 

 to carry, how and when to sell, how to handle his men and his 

 customers, w^hen to take a chance and when to sit steady in the 

 boat. He must be a great executive, a real financier and have 

 intuition enough to tell him when he is treading on dangerous 

 ground. He must be able to get a good price, but not too good, 

 because his product is graded accordingly; he must know how 

 to sell poor lumber and make his customers like it; how to 

 manufacture and how to yard; how to choose customers and 

 how to avoid bad credits; in other words, he must be a manu- 

 facturer, a banker and a wizard of sales, all rolled into one." 



"That being the case," said the unofficial chairman of the 

 meeting, pushing back his chair and raising his glass, "I propose 

 a toast — in ApoUinaris, of course — to the man of the hour, the 

 successful hardwood lumberman ! " G. D. C, Jr. 



"H ysog'asEB>:s>5t:«>:goi>:;^oxMi':«>5tyic«^^ 



Definition of Carload 



Regarding the above caption the Lumber Law Review says that 

 practically every lumberman has at some time or another received 

 orders calling for "one car of lumber" and after the shipment 

 had gone forward, received notice that the car had been rejected 

 on the ground that it was overloaded. As a general rule an adjust- 

 ment is made with the customer without litigation, and during the 

 ucgotiations the lumberman revolves in his mind the question of 

 "when is a carjoad not a carolad?" 



A case was recently reviewed by the Supreme court of North 

 Carolina in which a definition is given of "a carload." The 

 subject matter was not lumber, but practically the same reasoning 

 and rules wr-uld apply in either case. The Elba Manufacturing 

 Company, defendant, purchased from J. G. Layton, plaintiff, at 

 the price of fifty-seven and one-half cents (57>4e) per bushel, three 

 carloads of cottonseed to be shipped by rail f. o. b. from Dunn, N. 

 C, ])l;iintiff's home and place of business, to Maxtou, N. C, where 

 defendant's '•nil is located. Two of the carloads were accepted 

 and paid for by defendant, and the dispute arises as to the third 

 car. Each ol the nrst two cars carried 59,008 pounds of seed, in 

 round numbers, while the third car was loaded at Dunn, with 78,800 

 pounds. At Fayetteville, N. C, while the last car was en route to 

 Maxton, 29,000 pounds of seed were taken from it and placed in 

 another car. This lot, on arrival at Maxton, was accepted by de- 

 fendant. The other car which contained the remainder of the seed, 

 the defendant refused to accept on the ground that the car had 

 been purposely overloaded in order that plaintiff might get the 

 benefit of the contract price for more seed than the defendant had 

 agreed to buy.. And, by the way, the price of seed had declined in 

 the meantime. The defendant offered to pay for the 29,000 pounds 

 of seed at the contract price, which plaintiff refused to accept. 

 There was evidence that a carload of cottonseed, as understood 

 in railroad and business circles, ranged all the way from 20,000 

 pounds to 7.5,000, or even 90,000 pounds. Plaintiff testified that he 

 had shipped a number of cars of seed containing 80,000 pounds 

 and some 90,000 pounds. It was testified that the rated capacity 

 of the last car, No. 40018, in which the 78,800 pounds of seed were 

 shipped, was G0,000 pounds, but that the maximum quantity allowed 

 by the railroad company's rules, to be transported in it, was meas- 

 ured by its capacity, or 60,000 pounds plus ten per cent thereof, or 

 60,000 pounds in all. There was other evidence as to the rules 



and custom in loading cars with reference to what is considered a 

 carload, and all of the evidence was submitted to the jury with an 

 instruction to find what was an ordinary and reasonable carload, 

 according to the usage and customs and understanding of rail- 

 road companies and shippers. 



A verdict was rendered for the plaintiff and the defendant ap- 

 pealed to the Supreme court of North Carolina. The learned North 

 Carolina justice referred to a federal case under the style of Bul- 

 lock versus Finley in which the court applied the rule with refer- 

 ence to this very term "carload." 



The court quoted the federal decision, which was as follows: 

 "If nothing was agreed as to the quantity to make a carload 

 then the usual and established custom as to quantity in that busi- 

 ness and trade at the time and place of the contract, would fix the 

 quantity meant by a "carload/" between the parties; and if no 

 such usage or custom is shown, then what a car of usual capaeitj' 

 used in carrying such freight, could carry, would fix the quantity 

 intended by the party. In ascertaining what was meant and un- 

 derstood as to quantity, you must consider all the circumstances 

 connected with the transaction between the parties disclosed in 

 the evidence." 



Forest Work in Pennsylvania 



The Pennsylvania Department of Forestry has issued its tenth 

 annual announcement of the work done by the Forest Academy at 

 Alont Alto, in that state. The academy is a school founded for the 

 purpose of educating foresters who would be competent to take charge 

 of the state's wooded lands and administer them. The state owns 

 more than a million acres of such lands. Some were in wretched con- 

 dition when title passed to the commonwealth. They had been logged 

 and burned until their present value was practically nothing, and 

 their prospective value was problematical. That was ten yeara ago. 

 Trained men could not be found to take charge of the work, and the 

 state founded a school to train men. It was equipped with apparatus 

 and appliances, and competent foresters were secured as instructors. 



Fifty-three men have been graduated and fifty-one are in the state, 

 in either public or private forestry work, one is dead, and one is in 

 the United States Forest Service. Pennsylvania has used good judg- 

 ment and has obtained results. 



