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The National Veneer and Panel Manufacturers ' Association held 

 its semi-annual meeting at the Auditorium Hotel, Chicago, on June 10 

 and 11, there being an attendance of over fifty. Four new members 

 were enrolled. 



After the roll call by the secretary, President Jarrell delivered his 

 address, which follows, in part : 



President's Address 



We come here twice each year to help each other, and I want to say 

 frankly that if you do not derive some benefit from your attendance at 

 these meetings, it certainly is your own fault, and the same can be said 

 o£ all of our meetings in the past. 



We have discussed costs until some of you may think the subject has 

 been exhausted and perhaps you are a little threadbare on it, but what 

 subject is, or could be more vital to your industry than the knowledge of 

 what your goods" cost to be manufactured? If this is not vital to you, 

 what are you in the business for anyway? I dare say that a very large 

 per cent of those present today had no cost system in vogue, but manu- 

 factured their goods in a haphazard way without any special method of 

 figuring cost or arriving at a fair selling price for their goods, based on 

 actual cost, until after they became members of this association and heard, 

 on this floor, various discussions of cost methods and plans suggested for 

 carrying out those methods. Your committee did not think our members 

 were all ready for diplomas, and, therefore, has 

 arranged for an address on the subject, "The 

 Cost Problem — From a Different Angle," which 

 I trust will cause some manufactui-ers to see 

 there are Items of cost which have not in the 

 past been given proper consideration. 



I am glad to note so many of our members 

 are carrying advertising in the various trade 

 papers. This is as it should be, not only from 

 a standpoint of publicity, but because of the 

 helping hand that is always extended to veneer 

 and panel manufacturers, both collectively and 

 individually, by our good friends, the publishers, 

 editors and reporters of the trade periodicals. I 

 do not mean to intimate, however, that this is 

 philanthropy in any sense of the word, as I 

 dare say each of you receive ample returns for 

 every advertisement you run in these papers. 



Tliere is too much waste in the. majority of 

 veneer plants and this is caused, to a large ex- 

 tent, by the lack of standard sizes. While it is 

 true, it probably would be a hard matter to cause 

 furniture manutaeturei-s to agree that it would 

 be feasible for standard sizes to be made, yet 

 I am sure this could bo worked out to the sat- 

 isfaction of all parties and w^ould enable veneer 

 and panel manufacturers to work up their stock 

 to a better advantage and would really reduce, 

 to a considerable extent, the cogt of manufac- 

 ture. Special odd sizes would be required tor 

 certain purposes, and W'hen required, should be 

 furnished, but at a price relatively higher than 

 if standard sizes were taken. 



You doubtless have noticed considerable agitation among the box manu- 

 facturers recently relative lo a standardization of sizes, and the thing that 

 seemed to be impossible a short time ago will certainly be put in etfect 

 soon. What would you think of door and sash manufacturers if they did 

 not have standai'd sizes for their goods? How much extra waste would 

 he theirs if each manufacturer maintained sizes and specifications evolved 

 from his own brain and without respect to the ideas of his competitors? 

 I will iully agree that tbe time has not been ripe before for standardization 

 of sizes, as there were cheap woods in abundance, but conditions have 

 now changed and there are no cheap woods. If you doubt the trutliful- 

 ness of this statement, compare the prices of stumpage of some of the 

 so-called cheap woods of today with those that were effective a few years 

 ago. 



General business conditions during tlie past six months have been 

 eicellent, the demand for goods in all lines has been above normal, con- 

 sequently, when demanded, fair prices for veneers and panels have been 

 secured. Factories, as a rule, have been kept busy and there is no special 

 indication that the same general conditions should not continue. Crops 

 have progressed far enough to practically assure another bumper yield, 

 '80, while there has been a perceptible tightening in the money market, 

 which under less favorable crop conditions might prove to be serious, will 

 probably not Interfere with trade conditions. 



Since our last meeting many of our plants were compelled to cease 

 operations tor a considerable time, on account of floods. This caused a 

 heavy shortage of output during that time because of the enforced shut- 



—20— 



B. C. JAURELL, HUMBOLT. TENiV., 



PRESIDENT N.vnONAL VENEER & PANEL 



MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION. 



downs, and a greater activity in the industry has been noted than would 

 have been experienced under normal conditions. 



I wish to call your especial attention to the good work that has been 

 done by the clubs and to ask you to continue giving the club work your 

 support. Every member of the association sbould also be a member of 

 one of the clubs and every club member should support the association. 

 Each is vital to the success of the other and to the industry as a whole. 



There is a great temptation with all of us to combine pleasure with 

 business when we come to Chicago and at times we feel like stealing away 

 from our meetings, thinkijig our absence will not be noticed or will not 

 affect the meeting in any way. If any of you think that way, I wish to 

 disabuse your mind of that fallacy and to ask you to attend all of our 

 sessions. Be here when the roll is called and remain until adjournment. 

 If that shopping must be done, stay over another day. We ask you to 

 give only two days in each six months to the work of the association. 



Secretary E. H. Defebaugh urged activity among the members with 

 a view to increasing the membership, stating that by co-operative 

 action better methods of manufacture and a more satisfactory profit 

 would be assured. 



The speaker commented on the advisability of joining the southern 

 traific bureau with headquarters at St. Louis. He said that the effi- 

 ciency of that bureau has been demonstrated, and inasmuch as the 

 annual cost is only twenty-five dollars, it 

 appears to be good policy for the association 

 to become a member. This bureau would also 

 be able to handle and collect freight claims, 

 and the possibilities are that it vpould be able 

 to easily collect enough to cover the amount 

 of the dues. The speaker then commented on 

 the status of the case of the fiber versus the 

 wooden box. 



The secretary's report was followed by 

 that of the treasurer, which showed that the 

 financial affairs of the association are in good 

 shape. 



Harmon W. Marsh of ludianapolis, Ind., 

 then read an interesting paper entitled "The 

 Publicity Side of Veneer and Panel Manufac- 

 ture. " He divided merchandising ideas into 

 three divisions, namely, personal solicitation,, 

 mail solicitation and trade paper publicity. 

 He granted that personal solicitation is, of 

 course, the strongest, and then analyzed the 

 problem of profitable solicitation through the 

 mails in the form of personal letters, circular 

 letters and booklets. His contention was 

 that the personal letter is the only etficient 

 medium in most cases. He then analyzed the 

 psychology of letter-writing and methods of display on form cards, 

 particularly emphasizing the necessity for brevity and the bringing 

 out of the strong points distinctly 



The speaker confined the rest of his paper to an analysis of the pos- 

 sibilities of profitable trade paper advertising, going into details as to 

 the prol^able character of copy, and the way of making up the ads. 

 He particularly deplored the tendency to merely run a standing card 

 without change, comparing this style of advertising as contrasted to 

 larger advertising enabling good displaj' with depositing money in a 

 trust company at three per cent and investing it in a profitable enter- 

 prise at a great many times three per cent. He alleged that the main 

 irlea in advertising is not to attempt to make the customer consider 

 the advertiser personally, but rather to consider his product. Hence, 

 that product should be played up strong in copy. In concluding he 

 treated with the difficulty of securing live copy in trade papers and 

 analyzed the relation of the reputable trade paper and the trade it 

 represents. 



T). E. Kline of the Louisville Veneer Jlills, Louisville, Ky., then 

 read a paper entitled "The Cost Problem from Another Angle," which 

 is here reproduced in part: 



