HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



would best serve their needs, if they had It 

 in their factory ; advertise voiir soods by per- 

 sistently calling their attention lo I he fact that 

 you are a quality manufacturer and have veneer 

 for sale. Advertise your wares to the young 

 and old customer as do the big mail order houses 

 who are busy when the rest of us are playing 

 the Micawber act and waiting for something to 

 turn up. 



There is good old horse sense, however, in 

 applying these aggressive sales methods and it 

 means no more or less than intelligently quot- 

 ing a price. "The bugaboo of the other fellow" 

 retards trade and influences lower prices, and 

 it is time in the history of this association when 

 men who sit shoulder to shoulder in this meet- 

 ing today and in the conferences held these two 

 days should never exist. 



If this association has done any one thing 

 for the membership more than another it is in 

 forming friendships that will never die and as 

 friendship is the basis of all compensation after 

 all, why should we not inject it in our every- 

 day business life so thoroughly that when a buyer 

 ambitiously undertakes to make good in his 

 position by trying to work both ends against 

 the middle, the integrity of doing the right 

 thing at the right time should be emphasized 

 in every business transaction. 



The problem that enters into all present mat- 

 ters as well as the general good of the indus- 

 try is one that should have careful considera- 

 tion and thorough discussion at this meeting. 

 The influence of fraternity should be made to 

 permeate every individual connected with our 

 industry ; the National Association should, as 

 it has in times past, be the head and front 



E. U. DEFEBAUGH. CHICAGO, SECRETARY. 



of all organized effort. It should be responsible 

 for further co-operation between individuals and 

 that will come about from attendants at this 

 meeting, provided each one of you has said 

 right down in his heart, "I have come here 

 to put my shoulder to the wheel in any way 

 possible to advance the interests of this associa- 

 tion, for by it and through it better informa- 

 tion may be obtained as to how to get the 

 most out of the log and how to explain if the 

 trial balance for 1911 does not show a good 

 round profit for 1910 business." 



These meetings should ring with the oratory 

 of the fellow who has found it beneficial to 

 attend, and while the individual who comes here 

 because there is a screw loose some place in 

 his business machinery which has shut down 

 the earning power and made it necessary to 

 doctor up the method of doing business. It 

 should elicit that confidence that would mean 

 talking right out in meeting so that when the 

 adjournment is called for, it will be with regret 

 and each man will go home with a feeling that 

 he has profited by the investment of money 

 and time in coming here. The golden opportu- 

 nity of opening up a new set of books for 1911 

 and taking advantage of the lessons of 1910 

 so that the cost, purchase, manufacture and sales 

 of your goods will be on better lines than ever 

 before. 



1 am sorry to say that veneer logs, like its 

 competitor, hardwood lumber, has not shown 

 that strength of character tiiat prevailed ear- 

 lier in the year, because we have all been meas- 

 uring with a 1907 yard stick and when for 

 some reason or other the big business machine 

 happens to get out of order, we start in to 

 force things, and when you get to putting the 

 camel through the eye of the needle, you have 

 some job on your hands. 



So, then, let us sum up what we have ahead 

 of us. A probable advance of freight rates ; 

 advanced cost of living ; advanced cost of manu- 

 facture is a reality : the ghost of idle wheels 

 from overproduction; the bugbear of Wall street 

 turning the cut off on all purchases for indus- 

 trial and railroad companies for the suflident 

 reason that they insist on legislation favorable 

 to their interests whether it seems best to the 

 people of the United States or not. 



The other side of the ledger shows that the 

 banking conditions of this country are In bet- 

 ter shape than they have been for a long time ; 

 the manufacturers of veneer and panels have 

 a better idea as to what an intelligent price 

 should be: the consuming factories have less 

 stocks on hand of lumber and veneers than any 

 time in their history. The fact that a gooil 

 crop always makes business active would lead 

 us to think that because the railroads have al- 

 lowed tlieir equipment and rolling stock to 

 depreciate, if a spurt of business were to come 

 on us, we would have a car shortage on our 

 hands in a minute. Thus in balancing the 

 ledger the real fact remains that optimism is 

 the ring and pessimism is the hole. 



The report of the treasurer showed that 

 the credit balance of the association was 

 somewhat diminished, although there was 

 no apparent financial stringency. Mr. Defe- 

 baugh appealed to the members to meet 

 their payments more promptly so that he 

 would be able to settle the expenses of the 

 association for the coming year without em- 

 barrassment. 



President Raymond appointed temporary 

 committees to act during the convention as 

 follows: 



Nominating Committee — F. A. Eiehard- 

 son, C, T. Jarrell, M. C. Dow. 



Constitution and By-Laws — S. B. Ander- 

 son, F. B. O'Daniel, W. M. Thompson. 



Auditing Committee — L. P. Groffman, E. 

 A. Gorham, J. A. Setter. 



Eesblutions Committee — J. M. Penrod, 

 Haines Egbert, R. C. Dayton. 



Arbitration and Grievance Committee — 

 D. E. Kline, 0. C. Lemplve, E. W. Benjamin. 



Membership Committee — M. C. Dow, E. C. 

 Dayton, W. M. Perry. 



Classification and Grading Committee — 

 J. D. Marias, J. T. Edwards, N. M. Willson. 



Burdis Anderson was then called upon to 

 read a paper on "Costs and Cost Account- 

 ing in the Manufacturing of Eotary Cut 

 Veneer," which was as follows: 



Cost and Cost Accounting 



When I retired from the ofilce of president 

 a year ago I shared the hope of some of you 

 that we all would be relieved indefinitely of 

 the ordeal of my speeches. 



But our secretary wrote me a few days ago 

 that all of the more capable and desirable 

 speakers had declined the honor and that it 

 was, therefore, up to me ; that no refusal would 

 be accepted, and that I positively must open the 

 discussion of "Costs and Cost Accounting" at 

 this meeting. 



I have no disposition to shirk any obligation 

 to the association ; but, unless some of our re- 

 tiring and modest, or disiuterested and luke- 

 warm members get to the front and cnnsent to 

 fulfill their obvious duties in association work. 

 I fear that my epitaph, eventually, will be like 

 that which Lord Brougham wrote upon himself : 



"Here, reader, turn your weeping eyes. 

 My fate a useful moral teaches ; 



The hole in which my body lies. 



Would not contain one-half my speeches." 



An accurate knowledge of costs is the key- 

 stone, without which no successful and per- 

 manent manufacturiug business can be estab- 

 lished ; and the perplexing problems that con- 

 front every effort to ascertain the exact cost 

 of producing each of the multitudinous sizes, 

 in all of the ditferent grades and the many 

 thicknesses demanded in commercial veneers, 

 make the consideration of cost accounting pe- 

 culiarly and especially Interesting to the veneer 

 manufacturer. . ^,^, ^, ^ 



It is a tact worthy of constant repetition that 

 theoretical figures do not establish a safe basis 

 upou which to found and operate any commer- 



cial enterprise; and It is equally and unques- 

 tionably true that many unfovtunate veneer 

 enterprises have been enthusiastically promoted 

 upon the showing of purely theoretical figures, 

 made in all sincerity, but without suflicient 

 practical knowledge to forecast and fully appre- 

 ciate many of the dlfliculties to be encountered. 



It has been well said by one of our eloquent 

 members that "An embryo veneer manufacturer, 

 with a pencil an inch long, may figure himself 

 rich in fifteen minutes, but when he gets down 

 to actual business and really begins to cut wood, 

 he will find the results very dill'erent from what 

 he anticipated." 



Comparing a theoretical veneer proposition 

 with the cold facts and figures derived from 

 accurate records of the best results obtainable 

 in the actual process of manufacturing veneers, 

 compels us to conclude that any manufacturer 

 who bases his veneer operations upon theoret- 

 ical figuring is likely soon to find himself In 

 a position similar to that of the man who sat 

 in the great American game with three acea 

 and a pair of kings. When the table had been 

 cleared and Ihe pot had disappeared he walked 

 up to a hazy realization of the fact that there 

 were also four little deuces In the* deck, and 

 that the time required to bring him to thla 

 beneficent stale of impoverished enlightenment 

 win be in exact proportion to the size of his 

 "pile." 



The careful consideration of costs Is, there- 

 fore, essential to our ultimate success and the 



II. S. YOUNG, IMJlANAI'ill.lS, ASSISTANT 

 SECRETARY. 



subject of cost accounting Is of paramount Im- 

 portance to every manufacturer of veneers. 



Costs and cost accounting have received the 

 active attention of this association since It 

 started, but added interest and impetus were given 

 to their consideration at the annual meeting two 

 years ago, when papers were read l)y Mr. Eg- 

 gers on "Cost Accounting for a Panel Mill, ' 

 and by Mr. Dayton on "The Costs of Log Run 

 Rotary Cut Veneers." 



The cost figures given by Mr. Dayton at that 

 time aroused a storm of protest from some 

 quarters, were endorsed as approximately correct 

 by others, and induced many incredulous manu- 

 facturers to study veneer costs more closely than 

 ever before. 



The discussions started by Mr. Dayton s paper 

 have had a wide inUuence upon the veneer in- 

 dustry, and have greatly aided in the active, 

 intelligent investigation of costs and cost ac- 

 counting systems. 



Figuring upon a total factory and miscella- 

 neous exi)ense of $73 per day per machine, a 

 log cost of $20 per 1.000 feet, and the average 

 day's cut of logs into each thickness and the 

 percentage of waste that his personal rec- 

 ords and experience had shown to lie approxi- 

 mately correct. Mr. Dayton arrived at the fol- 

 lowing costs per 1,000 feet for single-ply, rotary- 

 cut stock : 



1-28" $ 3.12 



1.04" 3.52 



1-20" 3.87 



■/." 13-31 



1-16" 4-71 



1.4" 8.00 



3-16" 10.26 



