January 25, 1919 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



writer is able to record them and leave out his own leading ques- 

 tions, were: 



"Our business has been good. Generally speaking we have not 

 been able to get all the goods we needed, notwithstanding the fact 

 that we adopted the policy of ordering similar goods from several 

 manufacturers. If it occasionally happened that these lines all 

 came in at the same time we temporarily had an excess of very 

 similar goods, but that condition did not happen frequently enough 

 to cause us any embarra.ssment. With the readjustments that are 

 now certain to take place in the home life of the people, it is incon- 

 ceivable that business will be other than brisk. When I speak of 

 readjustments I have reference to the re-establishment of old 

 homes as well as the making of new ones. During the war many 

 homes were broken up, and the goods were either sold or put in 

 storage. The men either went to war or into munition plants, and 

 many of the women went to work. These people had a good deal 

 of boarding house life, and will get back to home life as soon as 

 possible. The average Canadian, you will find in most cases thinks 

 more of his home life than any other people. You have, no doubt, 

 noticed in your travels that with scarcely an exception, the com- 

 mercial man in Ontario packs his bag and baggage every Friday 

 night and goes home, there to remain until Monday morning. Well, 

 those people who sold their goods will get more to replace them, and 

 those who put their goods in storage wiU in many instances want 

 some new things. They may buy only one new piece or it may be a 

 complete suite, according to their desires and how much money they 

 have saved from their munitions wages. Speaking of suites in a ■ 

 comparative way, I may say that we have sold scarcely any for 

 two years, and when it comes to the complete outfit for a home we 

 have a sort of a celebration every time a sale of that kind occurs. 



"So we look for some big business. Why, there are not only the 

 homes of munitions workers to be refitted, but think of all those 

 soldiers and their wives that are coming back from England. No 

 doubt the wives have been making money while their men were 

 fighting. The wives' savings may amount to more than those of 

 the husband, but the pay coming to soldiers will be no insignicant 

 sum. Then, too, there will be many deferred marriages taking place, 

 and by deferred marriages I have in mind not only the soldiers that 

 are coming back to their old sweethearts, but also those men, and 

 women, who have postponed the wedding day because of the uncer- 

 tainty of war and the attending consequences. In consideration of 

 these facts we base our conclusion that business will boom." 



Manufacturers advanced like opinions, yet so far as their stocks 

 of raw materials are concerned they say that they will not replenish 

 them any more rapidly than is necessary. They feel that there will 

 be considerable reaction in the prices of lumber, finishing materials 

 and all other supplies, and they have no desire to be too heavily 

 loaded with high-priced raw materials. They admit that those from 

 whom they buy goods may have some stock on hand that must be 

 sold at the prices that have been prevailing, but they argue that 

 there are sure to be lower price days coming, and they would rather 

 be a little embarrassed by having too little stock on hand than 

 by buying goods at a higher price than their competitors. So, as 

 the saying goes, "buying from hand to mouth" seems to be the 

 policy they will adopt for a few months. 



Business in the building trades has been at a low ebb during the 

 war, and is now expected to take on renewed activity. Both public 

 works and private business construction, put off on account of war 

 conditions, are now being taken up. In Toronto one sees the mag- 

 nificent (and much needed) Union station with the external appear- 

 ance of being nearly completed, but the contract for the interior 

 wood work had not been let up to the close of the war. In the 

 same city, it is rumored, two large department stores, each to a 

 very large value, are to be erected in the near future. The land 

 for these buildings was acquired before the war, and plans were 

 well under way when it became necessary to hold up the work on 

 account of the material situation. It is further said that the 

 T. Eaton Company plans to commence soon to build its "Mail 

 Order Building, ' ' which will cost several million dollars. 



That the builders and contractors are taking cognizance of the 

 problems of the reconstruction period is evidenced from the organi- 

 zation of the Association of Canadian Building and Construction 

 Industries. This association was formed at a conference of the 

 builders and contractors held at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, 

 November 26-28. It was the consensus of opinion expressed by those 

 in attendance that days of much activity were at hand. 



So from the several industries interested in the use of lumber one 

 finds the unanimous belief that the wheels of their industries, 

 instead of slowing down, now that the demand for war goods is 

 vanishing, will, in the demand for peace goods, move even more 

 swiftly. — B. A. 



To Return Railroads to Owners 



The directory of the National Lumber Manufacturers' Associa- 

 tion has put itself on record as in favor of the return of the rail- 

 roads to private ownership. At a recent meeting of the board the 

 directors declared themselves ready to support any adequate meas- 

 ure which may be placed before congress looking to the return of 

 the railroads to their former owners under proper safeguards. In 

 the discussion it developed that manufacturers generally through- 

 out all sections of the country were much in favor of a speedy 

 settlement of the problem of rail transportation, and that most of 

 them believe that government control or ownership is not desir- 

 able at this time. ' 



The board endorsed the appeal of the government authorities that 

 public construction work be started immediately in all sections of 

 the country, in order that positions may be found for the returning 

 soldiers and sailors. The association has undertaken to partici- 

 pate in the work of the new division' of construction development 

 which has been created in the department of labor for the purpose 

 of interesting the nation in public works and private construction. 

 The idea for a survey of business conditions which will be made by 

 the department with a view to learning how labor and capital may 

 be profitably employed during the critical period when factories 

 are being made over for peace production, and markets are being 

 canvassed for future outputs, met with the special approval of 

 the board. 



Meaning of Standardizations in Wagons 



Dealers have heard so much about standardization of farm 

 wagons, some may have reached the conclusion that radical changes 

 were taking place, and that standardization meant to them that 

 there would be only a few styles of wagons and all built in exactly 

 the same manner. Such, however, is not the case. Farm wagon 

 standardization has eliminated unnecessary types and sizes, but 

 only so far as these were so near some other type and size as to 

 make their purpose or use practically identical. Farm wagon 

 standardization brings all types of vehicles to one standard width 

 of track, fifty-six inches center to center of tires on ground, or 

 what is more generally knovim as "automobile track." 



It provides for one width of box, thirty-eight inches between 

 bolsters, and for two combinations of wheels, forty to forty-four 

 inches and forty-four to forty-eight inches high, with an assortment 

 of suitable widths of tires. All other changes are of a minor char- 

 acter and do not alter to any great extent what have previously 

 been constructed. 



Details of construction, the individuality of the manufacturer 

 and his own ideas as to the proper method of building wagons for 

 strength and wear have the same latitude as heretofore. 



The adoption of a standard width of track should work no hard- 

 ships anywhere, because automobiles are running over every road 

 that farm wagons travel, in proportion of at least two to one. 

 Usage will prove that the standard width box will fulfill all require- ' 

 ments of the old width box and in every way be as convenient. 



Two heights of wheels, giving both a low and a high wheel selec- 

 tion, meet the requirements as satisfactorily as an unlimited variety. 

 The new heights are only one or two inches over or under tkt 

 height wheels that have been used. 



