"I see by the papers," said the veteran veneer iii.ni, us In- 

 slid back in his chair, planted his crossed feet on top of the table 

 opposite him and thrust out his stogie at a dangerous angle, 

 ' ' that a new veneer mill is to be started in the Ohio valley, and 

 will be equipped with four saws. I know of a concern further 

 south which has beguh the manufacture of sawed veneers, and 

 has put in two or three saws. A company which had the mis- 

 fortune to lose its mill by fire some time ago apparently has not 

 profited by its opportunity, for it is going back in with four 

 saws to be kept going on oak veneers. And a company which 

 is manufacturing lumber in Arkansas has been attracted by the 

 apparently easy money in veneer manufacture and has been look- 

 ing around for one or two second-hand saws with which to man- 

 ufacture thin stock." 



"That is very interesting," remarked his visitor, "but rather 

 pointless. What's the answer?" 



"Just this," said the veneer man, taking his feet down from 

 the table and his stogie from his mouth with a single motion. 

 "We are getting too many saws for the veneer market to take 

 care of. I happen to have equipment for making any kind of 

 stock the consumer may want. We'll give him sawed stock if he 

 wants it, slice-cut if he prefers that, or rotary veneers if they 

 will serve his purpose. Consequently I don't believe I am pre- 

 judiced one way or the other on the subject. But I am con- 

 vinced that some of us are going to find it rather hard to sell 

 sawed veneers at a profit before very long. 



"Good sliced stock has always constituted the bulk of the 

 business in figured oak veneers. It has with us, and I suppose 

 with other members of the trade as well. There are a certain 

 number of consumers who appreciate the fact that sawed veneers 

 can't be beat, and that the material is much more likely to be 

 sound and to remain without defect during the entire period of 

 its use than sliced stock, the fibers of which may have been 

 ruptured in cutting, and which consequently may not give per- 

 fect satisfaction. But the difference in quality is so slight that 

 only the top-notchers are willing to pay the considerable difference 

 in price which is entailed by the increased cost of manufacturing 

 sawed stock. 



"With the market thus limited, and with those already in 

 the field never having had any difficulty supplying the demand, 

 it is a question as to how enough business is to be created to 

 keep all these new saws busy. ' ' 



' ' Changing the subject, ' ' interposed his visitor, ' ' have you 

 ever found much of a demand for gum veneers for erossbanding 

 purposes?' ' 



"We make some gum stock for that purpose," replied the ve- 

 neer man, "but frankly I do not believe that gum can be suc- 

 cessfully substituted for poplar in this connection. In the first 

 place, gum is not so easy to handle as poplar, and the chances 

 of trouble are not desirable, even though with proper handling 

 gum crossbanding will give satisfaction. But poplar is so easy 

 to work with and is so thoroughly dependable that there is little 

 question as to which is the more desirable. 



"I have always had a leaning toward poplar, and while I 

 know that it has been displaced in a good many industries in 

 favor of gum, cypress and other cheaper woods, it has always 

 been a question of price rather than quality. At least that is 

 my view of the matter. But in the veneer business the difference 

 in cost between poplar and gum crossbanding is so slight, amount- 

 ing to between $1 and $2 a thousand, that it hardly pays to 

 risk the experiment of using an iudifferent substitute in order 

 to save this relatively small amount. ' ' 



"What are you getting ready to do out there?" inquired the 

 caller, noting preparations for construction work in the yard of 

 the veneer plant. 



"We're going to build a new steaming vat," said the veteran 

 manufacturer. "Our old one is getting leaky, and we need a 



—28— 



big^'iT capacity, anyhow, so we an going to jiut in a new tank. 

 We have been considering cutting out wood and substituting con- 

 crete. Wood is all right, because it's cheap and answers the 

 purpose, but it makes repairs necessary and doesn't last as long 

 as one would like. With concrete, however, you build but once. 

 Where have I heard that phrase before? If I can work out plans 

 which will not require too much of an outlay, I think I shall 

 use cement instead of wood." 



"By the way," interposed the other, slyly, "I believe you 

 are heartily in favor of wood office furniture instead of steel t" 



"Oh, certainly," replied the veneer man. "It's not only a 

 question of self-interest, but wood is handsomer, lasts just as 

 well, looks a whole lot better and protects the contents from fire 

 just as efficiently as most of these tin boxes they 're putting 

 out. ' ' 



"Very good, sir," was the retort; "but don't you think it is 

 rather inconsistent to boost the use of your own product ill 

 office equipment and then give the boot to the product of some 

 other lumberman when it comes to building a steaming vat?" 



"Inconsistency your grandmother!" was the somewhat heated 

 reply. "My buying a few dollars' worth of lumber isn't going 

 to help the business very much, while patronizing the cement 

 trade to the extent of a few barrels won't enable them to pay 

 many dividends. I figure it's up to me to get the best for my 

 individual work, without regard to its possible effect on the 

 trade at large. That may be a selfish view to take of it, but we 

 must necessarily look at business propositions from that angle." 



Seeing that it was politic to direct the conversation along 

 other lines, the caller asked what the manufacturer had heard 

 about the use of veneers for wall-paper. 



"The idea is an excellent one," he replied, "and I have seen 

 some beautiful results secured in this way. The material used 

 in this class of work is little more than paper, some of it being 

 cut 120 to the inch. It is laid over a base of composition or 

 other material, and takes an excellent finish. Most of the wall- 

 paper dealers carry lines of paneling, so-called, for use by those 

 who want to get the effect of a wood finish without going to the 

 expense of ha,ving the entire interior trim of the real article. 

 By the use of a cheap base of the kind I mentioned, covered with 

 a thin face veneer, one is able to get a very attractive interior 

 at a most reasonable price. However, the idea has not been in 

 use long enough for final results to be stated. I don't really 

 know whether the novelty can be said to have become a staple 

 as yet or not, but I have heard of some veneer houses, especially 

 those cutting mahogany on a large scale, having sold a good deal 

 of stock to wall paper manufacturers for use in this way. 



"And that reminds me," he continued, with a ghost of a smile, 

 "of a unique suggestion which was made in one of the trade 

 journals. I thought at first the writer of the article must be 

 'kidding' his readers, but as far as I was able to determine the 

 suggestion was made in all seriousness. It was that in order to 

 eliminate the troubles of the finishing-room, and to determine 

 whether defects appearing later were due to the veneer or the 

 varnish, the veneers be finished before they were laid! If one 

 were disposed to treat such an idea with any degree of serious- 

 ness, of course, it would be proper to ask what he meant by the 

 term veneers: What thickness, for example, between a fourth 

 and one one-hundred-twentieth of an inch? Certainly no one 

 would attempt to finish a sheet of veneer cut in the latter dimen- 

 sion, and even with thicker stock it is quite evident that the re- 

 sult of finishing it would be to make it draw up into a regular 

 gutter. Without wishing to call anybody names, I must say that 

 it certainly took a good brand of dope to produce an idea of 

 that kind." 



Just then the mill clerk came in a with a batch of cost sheets 

 showing the day's operations. 



"I believe that the veneer interests, including the panel men," 



