14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



October m. 1021 



It's Ledger Cleaning Time 



THE ABOVE IS THE HEADING OF A MESSAGE addressed 

 by J. W. McChire, president of the National Wliolosalo Lum- 

 ber Dealers' Association, to its membership, in which, while Mr. 

 McClure makes a very logical plea for increased su])port of the 

 association, he enunciates the fact which is so obviously a principle 

 of good business that it deserves the attention of every man in 

 the industry. 



Among other things, Mr. McClure says: 



"Has the storm left any wreckage on your ledger? The asso- 

 ciation will help you to salvage the debris. Are there some weak 

 ones or slow ones drifting towards the rocks? Let the association 

 save your interest in the cargo before it is too late. Do you really 

 KNOW how the names in your ledger have pulled through? Per- 

 haps some of the smaller ones are safe and strong while some of 

 the big ones may have had poor pilots. New and up-to-date reports 

 from the association will tell the true story. Clean up your ledger 

 NOW and prepare for the coming of 1922, which promises to bring 

 fair weather and good business." 



Probably at no time in the business history of the country have 

 there been so radical and so many changes in the personnel and 

 standing of the myriads of corporations in existence today. It was 

 a long reach from the depths to the peak and from the peak to the 

 depths. These violent reactions reversed the financial status of 

 many a business institution. It is not safe to approach the period 

 of prosperity and make plans for the less disheartening future 

 without having positive knowledge of the exact status of the 

 ledger. Every effort should be made to wipe the books clean and, 

 if this can not be consummated, to at least find out precisely where 

 one stands. 



Our Foreign Trade Bases Are Sound 



"pRESENT CONDITIONS ARE ABNORMAL and, when they 

 1 have passed, American exporters will be found prosecuting 

 trade campaigns effectively in all the countries of the world," is 

 the statement made by Dr. Julius Klein, director of the Bureau of 

 Foreign and Domestic Commerce of the U. S., for the purpose of 

 reassuring the American business man who has been treated to 

 pessimistic reports about American foreign trade until he has 

 begun to believe that the country's foreign commerce is virtually 

 dead. Dr. Klein says that "transient manifestations are mistaken 

 for evidences of lasting injury to our foreign trade" and what is 

 needed is a discriminating appraisal of facts — the ability to disre- 

 gard superficial appearances and penetrate to the real underlying 

 bases of the situation." 



Dr. Klein is convinced that those bases of our oversea commerce 

 are sound and substantial. He believes that the tendency toward 

 unwarranted depression may be attributed largely to "the thou- 

 sands of opportunistic adventurers who appeared on all sides during 

 the war boom and drifted into foreign trade as just one more field 

 for chance enterprise." Such men, hastening to take advantage 



of the disorganization that attended the war, entered foreign mar- 

 kets with no object save that of immediate and excessive profits. 

 Many of them were devoid of foresight, taking slight pains to build 

 for the future or to establish secure relations with foreign buyers. 

 As an inevitable consequence of the post-war reaction, business of 

 this adventitious character has been very severely affected. 



But, Dr. Klein insists, this fact should by no means be taken as 

 indicating any inherent weakness in American foreign-trade ambi- 

 tions, and should not occasion any slackening in our efforts to 

 develop and maintain a great volume of sales to the markets 

 overseas. 



The fear of German competition appears to be one of the dom- 

 inating influences in^the minds of persons who have been voicing 

 apprehensions of disaster. They have visions of German merchan- 

 dise flooding foreign markets and being eagerly welcomed at 

 prices with which American manufacturers, with their high pro- 

 duction costs and appreciated currency, will not be .able to compete. 

 But Government experts who have investigated this troublesome 

 problem in all its phases consider the Geruian commercial 

 "menace" as a specter whose capacity for harm has been dis- 

 tinctly exaggerated. Dr. Klein emphasizes the fact that it takes 

 more than price cutting to win and hold an export market per- 

 manently. Quality, delivery terms, and credit arrangements are 

 three vitally important factors, and these must be taken into 

 account in analyzing vague reports concerning German success. A 

 marked deterioration in German goods is reported by foreign rep- 

 resentatives of the Department of Commerce. Tens of thousands 

 of Germany's skilled artisans were killed or incapacitated in the 

 war. Some of the German industries have been experiencing 

 serious shortages of raw materials; and in this connection it is 

 worthy of note that the German necessity of purchasing foreign raw 

 materials for certain industries tends to offset the supposed advan- 

 tage of the depreciated mark exchange, when the resulting manu- 

 factured goods are offered in foreign markets. It should be borne 

 in mind, moreover, that American exporters are incomparably better 

 prepared to meet German competition now than they were before 

 the war — having the benefit of seven years of practical experience ' 

 and of success. 



As examples of foreign markets where conditions are relativelj' 

 favorable for Americans to-day. Dr. Klein mentions Cuba, which 

 takes more than one-third of our exports to Latin America, and 

 China, where "trade continues to flourish." The Far East, he 

 says, presents a more hopeful picture of reviving trade prospects 

 than other oversea markets. 



Considering all the circumstances surrounding foreign-trade 

 prospects, officials of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com- 

 merce believe that a note of reassurance and encouragement should 

 be sounded. The elements prerequisite to a permanent, substantial 

 trade are the exercise of care and judgment, a determination to 

 please the foreign oustomer, and the possession of such recent, 

 authoritative data as it is the purpose of the Bureau to supply. 



Table of 



REVIEW AND OUTLOOK: 



GenerzJ Market Conditions. 13 



It's Ledger Cleaning Time.... 14 



Our Foreign Trade Bases Are Sound 14 



SPECIAL ARTICLES: 



Important Changes in U. S. Revenue Bill 15-16 



Woodusers* Association Ends Fruitful Year 17 & 20 



Southerners Testify to Rate Strangulation 19-20 



Proposing a Workable Sales Tax 21-23 



NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL CAPITAL: 



Sweeping Attack Made on Eddy's "New Competition" 18 



CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS: 



Miscellaneous 26-29 



Canadian Dark Horse Wins Memphis Golf Tournament Z7 



Contents 



HARDWOOD NEWS 30-33 



HARDWOOD MARKET , 33-54 



CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS 56-58 



ADVERTISERS* DIRECTORY 55 



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Entered as second-class matter May 26, 1902, at the postoffice at Chicago. 



