HARDWOOD RECORD 



^ 



THE LOG BUYER'S OBSESSION 



• ■ Tue trouble with most log buyers I bave known,'' declared a 

 hardwood manufacturer," is that they are obsessed with the idea 

 that their worth to the concern employing them is determined by 

 the quantity of logs which they buy. In other words, they are con- 

 stantly striving to get footage, without regard to much else. The 

 result is that the log man not infrequently purchases timber which 

 the owner of the mill would have turned down. Poor judgment, you 

 may call it; yes, but poor judgment induced by the overwhelming 

 desire to make a showing in feet. ' ' 



If it is true that the log buyer is obsessed with this idea, the only 

 way to get rid of it is to make it perfectly plain that his compen- 

 sation is to be fixed not with reference to the quantity of logs 

 purchased, but altogether with reference to the desirability of the logs 

 secured and the profitableness of those logs when put through the 

 mill. Of course, it is hard to tell in advance whether an apparently 

 sound log will cut up into good lumber; but, in general, if the buyer 

 looked first to the q^iestion of ultimate profits, fewer lots of second- 

 rite logs would be picked up at firstrale prices. ^ 



The trouble is, to be entirely frank, that the millman hires the 

 log buyer to get material with which to keep his plant in operation, 

 and finds fault if he doesn't do it. With this situation confronting 

 him, it is quite natural for him to lapse into the error of putting 

 quantity before quality. 



THEORY VERSUS PRACTICE 



One of the best known hardwood salesmen in the East gets most 

 of his business, according to his friends, on account of his ability 

 as a conversationalist and his knowledge of furniture design. He 

 calls on a manufacturer, makes himself interesting, gives him a few 

 ideas about s'yles he has picked up from reading or observation, and 

 incidentally pureiiades him to accept a carload or two of lumber. 



This method has its advantages, especially from the standpoint of 

 those who believe iu "service," and in giving something other than 



t)ie goods in return for the business of the customer. But, on the 

 other baud, it exposes the solicitation of the salesman of this type 

 to attack from the man who gets down to brass tacks, quotes prices 

 that look better than the other fellow 's, and simply convinces the 

 buyer that he should have the order. 



"Give me first and foremost," said a lumberman, "the man who 

 knows hardwoods, who can walk through a factory and see just what 

 the consumer wants. The only way to please a customer is to sell 

 him lumber he can use to advantage; and the theorist, who has had 

 no practical experience at the business end of a rule, is badly handi 

 capped in selling the stock of the hardwood lumber-yard." 



DO THE INSPECTORS KNOW THE RULES? 



The statement was recently made at a gathering of lumbermen that 

 most inspectors, in the yards of sawmill men and jobbers, are not 

 technically informed as to the grading rules. This sounded like a 

 case of stretching the long bow at first, but the speaker went on to 

 explain that he had tested tiie matter out. 



' ' I w ent into the yard the other day, ' ' he said, ' ' and asked the 

 insjicctor how he had graded a board he had just turned over. 



" ' It 's a No. 1 common, ' he said. , 



" 'Why?' I .isked him. ' 



• ' ' Why, I can just look at it and see that it is, ' he said. 



' ' I found most of the other men the same way. They had a 

 rough, rule of thumb idea as to grades, but when pinned down for 

 a reason, tbey could not analyze the proposition and tell exactly why 

 a given board was No. 1 common instead of a first and second 

 or a No. 2. 



"After that I gave orders that the inspectors study the rules, 

 stating that any one who failed to show proper knowledge would 

 be fired. In a little while you could see them getting down and 

 marking off the boards to figure cuttings, and studying the lumber 

 from the technical standpoint. Such knowledge is absolutely neces- 

 sary, and it is surprising to find how many men who are regarded 

 as good inspectors are without it. ' ' 



' TOW!J4B5TOti^?«:>5w:o!i.:Jit:'i^>avyii^^ ■ :'ii;^ttsi;g ?iss) f 



The W^hite Mans Burden 



Domingo L. Diaz, one of the forest rangers in the Philippine 

 Forest Service, has taken up the ' ' white man 's burden ' ' of which 

 Kipling speaks, and is overseeing a large number of the unfortu- 

 nate "twilight people," "half devil and half child." 



In the United States the forest rangers deal with all sorts of 

 wild animals from weasels to grizzly bears, destroying those that are 

 harmful, protecting those that are beneficial; but the forest rangers 

 in the United States have no wild people to look after. 



It is diflferent in the Philippines. The hardest part of the ranger's 

 work there is often connected with the people who live in the woods. 

 Mr. Diaz's work is along that line. He is responsible for the well- 

 being of a thousand or more negritos scattered like rabbits through 

 the woods. Centuries of warfare and cruelly under Spanish rule kept 

 these people savage. They considered every man 's hand against 

 them, and they were against every niau. The Spaniard's civilization, 

 such as it 'va.s, never reached them, and the Americans, when they 

 came into po.ssession, took up that part of the "white man's bur- 

 den," and they are trying to carry the burden with ju.stice and 

 humanity. 



The following extracts are from a recent report by Ranger Diaz 

 who finds himself in charge of scattered bands of these wild men: 



"No form of local government has over been enjoyed by these 

 people and without sonic such form of organization it would be 

 impossible for them to be protected against the injustices of the 

 surrounding people and against their own vices and defects. These 

 conditions did not please the Secretary of the Interior and the 

 Director of Forestry, for after the last visit of the first and the 

 frequent visits by the latter, iboth being acquainted with the existing 

 conditions among negritos, they asked me to take the necessary steps 

 in the formation of a plan of government for these negritos. 



' ' The oflScers of the Bataau forest were pleased to write a plan 

 of government for them, under the recommendation of the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior, which is being followed and no doubt will 

 change the aspect of the deplorable situation of the tribe, opening 

 to them a new era of moral and material progress. 



' ' The form of government is essentialy paternal, and the man in 

 charge of the negritos assumes many of the duties and powers of 

 a government council. The principal object is to help the negritos 

 in the establishment of a local government and to make them a 

 self supporting people. To carry out this work it has been considered 

 best to first establish two schools where will be taught elementary 

 agriculture, weaving and other convenient industrial work which 

 will serve as a fountain of resource for them although special at- 

 tention will be given to instruction in practical agriculture. 



"It is planned to build the school house in the center of a twenty- 

 tive-acre tract of land which will serve as a nursery for plants which 

 will be distributed to all the neighboring negxitos and at the same 

 time will be a garden where the students may do their planting, and 

 grow such products as will be needed in feeding the students at 

 school. In addition to this large garden, every family will be allowed 

 to occupy and cultivate eight acres and with similar areas of other 

 families will form the jurisdiction of a permanent settlement. 



"A negrito with his family can clean and cultivate several acres 

 of land and being planted with permanent crops such as coffee, 

 pineapple, cacao, bananas or kapoe in combination with rice and 

 corn, ordinary crops of a farm, their lands will become improved 

 and the desire to seek a new home will Se reduced to a minimum. 



If the Philippine Bureau of Forestry can carry- out the policy out- 

 lined the results in twenty years will amount to more than was 

 done for the bushmen in three hundred years under Spanish rule. 



