July 10, 1921 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



By E. E. Parsonage* 



I sincerely hope I will not leave tlie impression with this Con- 

 veutiou that I am an "Extremist.'' I once heard of two men, one 

 an extreme Optimist who could see a light where there wasn't one, 

 and his friend, a Pessimist, was the follow who blew out that light. 



Let us first face the fact that of the 822,000,000 acres of virgin 

 forest in this country only approximately 13.3,000,000 remain for 

 our use and the use of posterity. The timber remaining is fast being 

 consumed at a rate of 25 per cent each year in excess of the growth. 



As a rough estimate there are essentially 2215 billion board feet 

 of merchantable standing, timber, less than three-fourths of which 

 is virgin stumpage. Essentially one-half of the timber left in this 

 country is in the three Pacific Coast states. A very pertinent esti- 

 mate made by the Forestry Department is that practically only 

 one-fifth of the timber left in the country is hardwood — only about 

 460 billion board feet. 



The most comprehensive national and state legislation that will 

 insure a program for reforestation in this country, therefore comes 

 in the nature of a deathbed repentance. 



Only yesterday we laughed at the prediction that the White Pine 

 of the North would soon be gone. Over night it departed. Where is 

 our Basswood, Cottonwood and Yellow Poplar? 



Tomorrow, gentlemen, Hard Maple and Hickory will be gone. 



The much despised Gum has come into general use. Why? Only 

 from necessity and as a substitute. 



What will you substitute for Gum wheu that wood is cut out? 

 There is none. We are nearing the end of our resources. 



I am vitally interested in a national and state reforestation pro- 

 gram that will reforest our waste lands. But my plea today is in 

 Conservation, and utilizing to the limit our present lumber supply. 



This calls for exhaustive study of the needs of the wood using 

 industries, a standardizing of the dimensions they use, and finally 

 a tabulation of the composite requirements to the end that the 

 sawyer will be able to get the last foot of merchantable material 

 out of each log. 



Conservation should be the shibboleth in every hardwood mill in 

 this country. 



The manufacturer using wood stock has such a limited knowledge 

 of forest problems that it is little wonder waste in manufacture 

 exists as it does today, and it is high time the hardwood lumber 

 indiistries and the wood using industries awaken to the seriousness 

 of the situation. 



Dimension Stock 



The two words "Dimension Stock" do not find favor with many 

 hardwood operators. However, I believe it is the answer to logical 

 conservation plans, and possibly, gentlemen, the answer in connec- 

 tion with the profits in the future. 



Heretofore very few hard i^ine mills have ever cut for grade. 

 Conditions have now changed, and a pine mill superintendent or 

 sawyer who can cut pine to grade is able to largely set his own 

 salary. 



Coming back to our hardwood problems, it can be rather tritely 

 stated that the curse of the hardwood saw mill is low grade material. 

 Again, how are you to make a profit on Xo. 2, No. 3 and cull logs? 

 In the interests of conservation alone these logs should not be left 

 in the woods. The answer, to my mind, is "Dimension Stock." 



I know a typical case of grief that will illustrate how to lose 

 money and your religion at the same time in connection with dimen- 

 sion stock. 



A large hardwood operator took an order for six cars of small 



• President Association of Wood Using Industries, Moline, III. Address 

 was delivered before twenty-fourth annual meeting National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association, Phlldaelphia, Pa., June 9, 1021. 



squares from a handle manufacturer. One of the best posted 

 handle men in the country saw this material at destination and told 

 me there was not a square in the six cars. There were all sorts of 

 shapes, oblongs and "boblongs, " as he put it, etc. The net result 

 was that the handle manufacturer was sick, and the saw mill owner 

 was also ill, except with a different disease. 



Education at both ends of the line and close personal contact 

 will make such a situation impossible. 



Why not send your salesman or yard or mill inspector on an 

 educational trip — order them to spend more time in the factory of 

 a prospective customer-^to learn his real needs, and to spend less 

 time possibly on the purchasing agent. 



An order for a car of hardwood lumber that saves a factory money 

 in working it into their ]u-oduct will result in more business than 

 twelve cars picked up haphazard. 



I will venture the opinion that you need more constructive sales 

 effort and less of the moth-eaten methods whereby the purchasing 

 agent does both the selling and the buying, by habitually telling the 

 salesman what he will give him for 10,000 feet of this or that lum- 

 ber that you have listed with your salesmen. 



Get Nearer the Customer 



The saw mill operator must get closer to the factory man which 

 produces furniture, wagons or ax handles. The needs of your cus- 

 tomers should be learned by intimate contact. Tou haven't enough 

 regular customers. Why? 



Suppose you have a customer who buys from you an occasional 

 car of 1st and 2nd Oak, 4/4" or 8/4", 6" to 12" in width— has your 

 salesman ever gone into that man's factory to learn that they could 

 use a lot of short lengths and even 3" widths, or has your salesman 

 shown that factory superintendent that he can save him money by 

 cutting up some No. 2 Common of which you have a yard full? 



Suppose your salesman tells this superintendent you will rip this 

 8/4" No. 2 Common and ship only the pieces that will saw into mul- 

 tiples of the common dimensions used by this particular factory. 

 Has your salesman shown him the big saving in freight on waste? 



How many of you have such a salesman? 



Our sales organizations must wake up to the fact that they cannot 

 any longer accept the pick of orders offered to them. Real con- 

 structive salesmanship based upon service to the customer and profit 

 to the saw mill must be of first importance. 



Problem of the Ixjwer Grades 



YOUR PROBLEM is how to cut No. 2, No. 3 and small logs at a 

 profit. Let us for a minute forget present abnormal conditions. 



A flitch cut from a No. 3 log properly handled should bring a 

 profit in dimension stock. A bolter, or a small Dixie, will handle to 

 advantage bolts from tops or small trees that have heretofore been 

 left in the woods or cut unprofitably. 



The hardwood industry is facing the absolute necessity of con- 

 serving every foot of usable stock it is possible to get out of the 

 tree. 



Now, as to the consumer of forest products, or rather the fabri- 

 cator, the preliminary work necessary to bring about profitable hard- 

 wood saw mill operations must take into consideration closer con- 

 nection between the saw mill and tlie wood user. 



The wood using industries must educate their people through their 

 associations and reach the individual wood using factory — educate 

 them in the use of dimension stock. 



The cost of transportation is an ever increasing burden to the 

 manufacturer of wood stock, and those manufacturers must be 

 educated to use and pay the price for clear stock cut out of low 

 grade material. The facts can be shown by practical demonstration. 



As an illustration, a furniture manufacturer is now buying dresser 



