34. 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



had more timber on his own farm than he knew what to do with. 

 Strange as it may seem, hand-sawed lumber came here from Europe 

 many years after sawmills, operated by water power, were working 

 near the Atlanitc coast. Such are some of the strange freaks of 

 trade. 



Cabinet wood, principally mahogany, was an occasional import two 

 centuries ago, and it has been coming ever since. Two principal 

 sources and kinds of timber imports at the present time are mahogany 

 from tropical America and tropical Africa, and various woods from 

 Canada. The latter are the same kind of timbers that grow in the 

 United States, for Canada has no tree species of importance that does 

 not occur also south of the international boundary. Such lumber 

 comes into the United States simply because it is convenient to 

 markets that want it — not because it is better than lumber cut this 

 side of the line. The increase of lumber and log imports has shown 

 a gradual and fairly steady increase for more than forty years. The 

 following table gives the figures by five-year periods from 1870 to 

 1S0O, and annually after the latter year. The record is a fairly 

 accurate barometer of trade conditions during the period of compila- 

 tion. For instance, a serious decrease is seen following the troubles 

 of 1907 and again in 1908: 



Imports of Fokest Products. 

 Year — Value. Year — Value. 



1870 .$ 670,131 1900 $ 5.961.456 



1875 1,895,535 1901 6,950,123 



1880 2,884,579 1902 7,587,901 



1885 3,587,651 1903 8,294,963 



1890 4,254,789 1904 8,429,218 



1891 5,280,264 1905 7,880,746 



1892 5,626,143 1906 8,931,114 



1893 6,705,798 1907 11,471,595 



1894 6,010,492 1908 12,500,487 



1895 7,374,205 1909 11,455,143 



1S96 8.439,1.56 1910 15.176,506 



1807 8,519,928 1911 14,475,198 



1808 6,434,091 1912 14,271,416 



1899 5,849,912 



Wholly manufactured products, such as furniture, are not included 

 in the above statistics. It is supposed to be material intended for 

 further manufacture, though some of it is doubtless used in the rough, 

 just as it comes in. A comparison of imports and exports for certain 

 years indicates that exports are increasing at a higher rate than im- 

 ports. For example, in 1897 the exports were four times greater than 

 the imports, while ten years later, 1907, the exports were seven times 

 greater than the imports for that year. 



i BBH^^Hai<K:<iWi^JTO>)l*5t:>'.'>!/i'^^^ 



The Trade JournaVs Importance 



it call not be said that the trade journals of the country have ever 

 displayed undue egotism in suggesting to their readers the important 

 part which they have played in the development of commerce and 

 industry throughout the country. The growth of the modern trade 

 journal has been gradual, just as has the modern business idea, and 

 the publications ' effect upon business has for this I'eason been more 

 or less of an unseen factor. It will not be denied, however, by the 

 student of business affairs that the modern American trade journal 

 as a class has done a great deal to assist American industrial and 

 commercial enterprises to their present high plane of development. 



The eighth annual convention of the Federation of Trade Press 

 Associations held at New York in September was replete with valu- 

 able papers of all kinds, most of them, however, having bearing 

 directly upon the publishers ' side. There were several which should 

 be read with equal interest by the business man of the country who 

 is merely a subscriber to, or advertiser, in some trade and technical 

 publications. One of these talks is entitled "The New Force in 

 Business," and was read by E. E. Shuman of the Shuman-Booth 

 Company, advertising service agent of Chicago. His talk had such 

 a direct bearing upon the relations of the modern trade paper to the 

 business world that it is herein summarized in the hope that it will 

 bring some of the readers of Hardwood Eecobd to a realization of 

 the great benefit to be derived from a closer relation between mem- 

 bers of the trade which this publication represents and the various 

 high-class journals endeavoring to advance the cause of the lumber 

 business. 



Mr. Shuman says that as periodical visitors to the desks, to the 

 minds and hearts of the captains of trade and industry of the country 

 the trade and technical journals yield a power far greater than that 

 of the political press or of the pulpit, or of any other publicity force 

 that now exists in this or any other country, because of the fact that 

 the readers of the high-class trade journals are not made up of the 

 idle and thoughtless multitude, but of the great five per cent of the 

 population of the country which controls the labor and markets the 

 product of the other ninety-five per cent. They are men who have 

 built and are building America 's industrial and commercial greatness, 

 and according to the speaker the instruction and ideas given by the 

 modern trade press have done more to put America in the forefront 

 of the industrial and commercial nations of the earth than any 

 other one influence. 



As part proof of this statement I\Ir. Shuman suggests that it is 

 necessary only to compare the primitive, wasteful, inefficient methods 

 of store management and display, accounting methods and store 



equipment of fifteen years ago with the advanced methods which so 

 largely prevail today. To give an index of the power of the technical 

 journals it is necessary only to study the equipment and methods 

 jirevailing in manufacturing plants of today as compared with those 

 of only a few j'ears ago. 



Of course, the force of a journal is directly proportionate to the 

 intelligence and unselfishness with which each journal builds for 

 others, while it is building for itself. In both the avenues of trade 

 and of industry the various periodicals give each subscriber the 

 benefit of the latest thought, the latest development of machinery 

 or method which the most powerful organizations of the country have 

 been able to devise. Under the old system of things the various 

 short cuts and efficiency jilans were held in monopoly by but a few 

 of the largest manufacturers or merchants, but through the medium 

 . of the trade press these items have been given country-wide circula- 

 tion and all are now enjoying the benefits. The result is in a broad 

 way that the cost of production has been held down and hence ulti- 

 mate cost of the article has not increased as greatly as it might have. 



Mr. Shuman further states that the time has gone by wlien the 

 trade press was the hanger-on in any trade or industry. Tlic trade 

 press on the other hand is now rather the leader which sails the 

 seas of the various industries not as something towed be: .nd but as 

 the very engines that impel the industries themselves. 



One of the most pertinent suggestions made in Mr. Shuman 's talk, 

 had to do with a question which has commanded the attention of the 

 lumber press for some little time. He maintained that it is the duty 

 of journals in any line of trade or industry to guide and inform the 

 daily newspapers in centers important to the various trades or crafts, 

 and the great national weekly and monthly magazines as well, so that 

 there may be a marked decrease in the misinformation about trade 

 and technical affairs which is so characteristic of the public press 

 of the period. These efforts if persistently and intelligently followed 

 up will ultimately, according to the speaker, win the public to the 

 side of the industry it is defending, and thus give new force to tliat 

 particular branch of business. 



The talk contained some sane advice relative to the charges for 

 advertising space. Mr. Shuman 's remarks on this subject coincide 

 very closely with the ideas of the majority of the trade press pub- 

 lishers, and also with the ideas of most of the progressive adver- 

 tisers of the day. Mr. Shuman says: 



"Your rate is your own estimate of your worth, a measure of 

 your faith in yourself, your own dollar and cent estimate of your 

 own right to live," 



