14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



in accordance with inspection customs that have been prevalent for 

 several years. There is nothing drastic about them; they are so 

 nearly alike that by no possible chance is there $5 difference in the 

 money value of a carload of lumber inspected under either one. 



• • • 



In reading the observations of the trade press on the subject of 

 inspection rules the utterances of the New York Lumber Trade 

 Journal on this subject should be taken with a good deal of dis- 

 cretion and forbearance. It must needs be recalled that the "man- 

 aging director" of this local New York newspaper is also the secre- 

 tary of the local lumber association, for which service he receives 

 $3,600 per annum and sundry gratuities for which his hand is always 

 outstretched. For $6 he would defend the character of Judas Iscariot. 

 I am ashamed to tell what he once agreed to do for $600. And 

 for $3,600! — but, no— the Hardwood Eecobd would be debarred the 



use of the mails! 



• » • 



During the last few days I am receiving a lot of inquiries from 

 prominent manufacturers and jobbers asking for lists of foreign 

 buyers of hardwoods, and for a good deal of other information per- 

 taining to the export trade. These communications indicate that 

 during this little period of dullness a good many people who have 

 hitherto worked exclusively in the domestic business have in mind 

 branching out into the export trade. I would call the special atten- 

 tion of such manufacturers to the cartoon in this issue of the Record. 

 It tells the story in a nut-shell. Even in the best of times there is 

 no "pot of gold" at the foot of the rainbow in the export trade. 

 In all the history of the American lumber industry I defy anyone 

 to point to a single individual or firm which has ever acquired a 

 fortune by selling hardwood lumber in Great Britain or on the 

 Continent. In good times there has been a living and a little profit 

 in the business, but in every instance where a dull period has over- 

 taken the domestic hardwood trade and amateurs have broken into 

 the export Une, it has meant loss and often ruin to themselves as well 

 as to the people who have been educated in this line of business, and 

 has meant demoralization of the trade abroad as well. The aggregate 

 of consumption of American hardwoods across the Atlantic is com- 

 paratively small, and a consignment of even a few hundred thousand 

 feet often smashes the market. The well established and legitimate 

 foreign wood broker will not encourage new elements in the trade 

 at this time. Business conditions abroad are not very much better 

 than they are on this side, and I wish to hang out a warning signal 

 that this is surely not the time for amateurs to break into the 

 export trade. 



« K * 



Apparently the President's message of December 3 was issued 

 just at the "psychical moment." Affairs commenced to look up 

 instanter after the printing of the document. The President takes 

 no backward step in his recommendations to Congress; at the same 

 time every line of the message is marked by conservatism and good 

 sense. When this embryo panic struck the country a few weeks ago 

 a lot of people were prone to lay the disaster at the door of the 

 President. Peter Dunne called the turn most admirably in one of his 

 Dooley articles a month ago, when the philosopher of Archer avenue 

 observed to Mr. Hennessey: "They're layin' all this trouble of thim 

 New York financiers to Tiddy Eoosevelt ; they say he t 'rew thim off 

 the roof. He did nothin' of the sort — he jist give thim a swift kick 

 as they was f allin ' off ! " 



* * • 



In brief, the advice of the President, incorporated in his message, 

 is that people stop hoarding money and deposit it in sound banks. 

 He favors greater elasticity in our currency system. He recommends 

 the establishment of postal savings banks. He recommends a revision 

 of the tariff, but commends delaying this movement for another year. 

 Ho recommends that the duty be removed from wood pulp and all 

 forest products, to protect our own forests. He believes in govern- 

 ment control of railroads doing interstate business. He recommends 

 additional legislation to control the trusts. He recommends com- 

 pulsory arbitration of disputes between capital and labor. He recom- 

 mends the extension of the eight-hour law, and regulation of the labor 

 of women and children. He makes a strong plea for the furtherance 



of plans looking to an elaborate system of inland waterways. He 

 commends the extension of irrigation in the arid regions and the 

 preservation of the nation's forests and grazing lands. He believes 

 the government sLoukl control the coal, oil and gas fields. He recom- 

 mends self-government for Alaska, and that the army and navy be 

 strengthened and the pay increased. 



Eepublicans and Democrats alike will very largely join in com- 

 mending the recommendations which the President has placed before 



Congress. 



* * * - 



There occasionally falls under my notice a bit of English that I 

 would like to have all my friends read. Here is a little "salesmen's 

 creed" that was written by Edwin Osgood Grover and would be a 

 mighty good thing for every hardwood salesman to paste in his hat: 



I believe in the goods I am selling, in the firm I am working for, 



and in my ability to get "results." I believe that honest goods can 



be sold to bonest men by lionest methods. I believe in working not 



waiting, in laughing not weeping, in boosting not knocking, and in 



the pleasure of selling goods. I believe that a man gets what be. 



goes after, that one ordei- today is worth two orders tomorrow 



and tliat no man is down-and-out until he has lost faith In himself. 



I believe in today and the work I am doing, in tomorrow and the 



work I hope to do and in the sure reward which the future holds. 



1 believe in courtesy, in kindness, in generosity, in good cheer, in 



friendship and honest competition. I believe there ta an order 



somewhere for every man ready to take one. I believe I'm ready 



— right now. 



» * ■« 



Ernest W. Heath of Chicago makes some wise observations con- 

 cerning traveling men, which are particularly pertinent to lumber 

 salesmen. He says that traveling representatives of houses high up 

 in commercial circles are very generally regarded by merchants in 

 smaller cities and towns as oracles, and their views on all important 

 subjects are listened to with avidity and frequently accepted as 

 being practically law and gospel. Views expressed by these repre- 

 sentatives are also naturally taken to be the views of the houses they 

 represent, and this being so, it is important that the true opinions of 

 principals regarding business conditions should be clearly stated to 

 representatives, that they may be correctly reflected by these 

 emissaries. 



The traveling salesman could do more good for his house and the 

 business of the country today, by talking the approaching renaissance 

 of normal business conditions than by telling hard-luck stories about 

 the paucity of his sales. It is undeniable that the senseless wave of 

 fear which swept over the country like a plague was ephemeral in its 

 character and has about died a natural death. The country's re- 

 sources and material wealth never have been as great as they are 

 today. Just so fast as money is coming out of hiding is business 

 resuming its normal condition. We certainly have no long period 

 of depression ahead of us. The country is too big, too enterprising, 

 too prosperous for that. Every lumberman should preach to his sales- 

 men the policy of ' ' Keep smiling and talk optimism. ' ' 

 * * * 



The period of association meetings is at hand, and I wish to 

 urge upon every hardwood man the importance of attending such 

 conferences as deal directly with his line of production. The value 

 of association work is too well known to need a panegyric at the 

 hands of the Hardwood Record, for by it are gained the two most 

 desirable elements in business — the respect of the public and the 

 confidence of competitors. Even if the times are a little hard 

 and the future slightly uncertain, it is worth every man's while 

 to participate in association work. 



Within a few days, as noted in these columns, is to be held the 

 annual meeting of the National Veneer and Panel Manufacturers' 

 Association at Chicago; and in mid-January the meetings of the 

 Wisconsin Hardwood Manufacturers at Eau Claire, and the Indiana 

 Hardwood Lumbermen 's Association at Indianapolis. During next 

 month will also be held, at times not yet announced, an important 

 meeting of the Michigan Hardwood Manufacturers' Association at 

 Saginaw, and the big annual gathering of the Hardwood Manu- 

 facturers' Association of the United States. 



Don't miss your association meetings. They are worth every 

 hour and every dollar you spend in attending them. 



H.H.G. 



