HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



imported but while there are useful wootis in the Philippines, no 

 species of mahogany grows on the islands and it would seem that if 

 manufacturers desire a substitute it would be just as feasible to 

 utilize some of our^native woods such as birch and gum, and stain 

 them to imitate tlie genuine mahogany. This would result in a con- 

 siderable saving over the utilization of the so-called Philippine ma- 

 hogany. The reputable merchants in this line of business naturally, 

 being merchants, sell what people want to buy; but it can be safely 

 said that sales of so-called substitute mahogany arc never made with- 

 out the buyer being told all that the seller knows about these woods. 

 The buyers should protect themselves against the substitution of other 

 woods, however, and give their orders to reputable conceins or insist 

 upon samples being submitted so that they will know what they are 

 to get. By pursuing this course disappointment to themselves will 

 be prevented and a certain protection to the lejjitiiuate mahogany 

 trade will be afforded. 



Value of Exact Information 



KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, and also mone.v. There never was 

 a time when there was closer connection between exact in- 

 formation and financial gain than there is now. 



The industrial development of Germany within the past fifty 

 years furnishes proof on a large scale that scientific education 

 pays. Nobody guesses in Germany. No business man there ex- 

 periments with his capital and his time. Ho hires an educated 

 specialist to do the experiment- 



Yours 



ing. It is done in the laboratory, 

 not in the factory. Every test 

 is made, every trial is carried 

 through, every theory is sub- 

 jected to the most searching ex- 

 amination by men who are ex- 

 perts in those particular lines, 

 but only on a small scale, and 

 at as little expense as is con- 

 sistent with thoroughness, until 

 certainty is reached. Then the 

 manufacturer begins with com- 

 plete knowledge of what he can 

 do, and he takes no risks. Suc- 

 cess is certain. 



That is in Germany. The 



profitable work shops, from 



center to circumference of that 



country, afford proof of the wisdom of that method. Manufacturers 

 become rich by utilizing what iu America would be thrown away as 

 waste, and all because experts have shown how to do it. 



Most lines of manufacture in America are a long way from that 

 degree of perfection. Too many take chances on a guess. That 

 rule is not universal, but it prevails. Some of the largest oil 

 companies and manufacturers of steel follow the German method, 

 and know what they can do before they attempt to do it; and 

 there are many others who employ thoroughly trained experts to 

 test every process before it is undertaken on a large scale; but 

 too many do not do so. 



The lumber business, taken for the whole country, and iu all 

 departments from forest to factory, is probably in as much need 

 of scientific investigation as any other great business in the land. 

 One needs only to read the proceedings of lumber association meet- 

 ings to be convinced that exact information is woefully lacking in 

 many departments. Take a late convention of loggers, for ex- 

 ample. One of the speakers had carried on investigations which 

 showed that many logging operations are run without any definite 

 information as to cost of the various steps in the process. Each 

 follows a system of his own, which often is no s.vstem at all. 



Another department which, according to reports of investigators, 

 is based mostly on guesswork in many instances, is lumber camp 

 economics, chief of which is the feeding and housing of the men 

 and horses. Waste, inefl[iciency, and generally poor management 

 could often be avoided by following the advice of an expert whose 



special business it is to work out the various problems. The chief 

 value of such service is due to the fact that details can be studied 

 which would bo out of the question for a general superintendent 

 who has scores of other things to look after. 



Another expensive guess, connected with milling operations, 

 concerns the piling of lumber in the yard. This is only a detail, 

 but it is worth looking into. Too often almost anything goes. 

 The lumber piles may be so close together that free circulation of 

 air between them is hindered; the boards in the pile may be placed 

 jam up, edge to edge, so that air has no vertical movement; the 

 sticks may be too wide, thus unnecessarily covering much surface 

 and thereby delaying the drying; and other things are wrongly 

 done or left undone. Too many things are consigned to chance, 

 where a due amount of precise information would eliminate ex- 

 pense and other undesirable results. 



These are only instances of savings that might be secured, and 

 where better work would result from better information. There 

 are many others. In fact, they exist, or may be expected, every- 

 where along the road from the forest to and through the factory. 

 Some men think they know so much that the advice of a spe- 

 cialist is ignored. They are like a certain Pennsylvania oil oper- 

 ator who boasted that no expert could tell him anything. "The 

 drill is my expert," was his favorite answer. "When it finds 

 oil, I know the oil is there, and not till then." He drilled an 

 $8,000 hole at a guess, struck it dry, pulled his tools, and aban- 

 doned his lease. A geologist 



:UNSOLtCITED TESTIMONIAL.: 



Established 1838 



SclbalJob Zr. OTiUiamsi ^ ^on 



NEW YORK 

 Eleventh Ave., Cor. 25th Street 



January 2nd, 1914. 

 Hardwood Record. 



537 South Dearborn Street, 

 Chicago, III. 

 Dear Sirs: — We have your letter of 3Cth ult. We are 

 well pleased with HARDWOOD RECORD and sign with 

 pleasure our renewal for the year 1914. 



Reciprocating your kind wishes for the New Year, we 



'ery truly, 



. T. WILLIAMS & SONS. 

 By Thomas William 



measured the dip of the region's 

 strata, and figured that the drill 

 had stopped within thirty feet 

 of the oil sand. Acting on this 

 expert's advice, another com- 

 pany put down a drill in the 

 old hole and by boring twenty- 

 two feet further struck a gusher. 

 That was an extreme case, 

 perhaps, and was somewhat un- 

 usual; but it is an illustration 

 of expensive guessing where pre- 

 cise information was within 

 reach. Too many try experi- 

 ments which never take them 

 anywhere. They begin at a 

 guess, and end in failure. Lum- 

 bermen ought to get away from 

 the guessing game as speedily as possible; quit making expensive 

 experiments; and get in the habit of trying out on a small scale be- 

 fore risking too much on a venture. Many have turned their backs 

 upon the old way, let it be said to the credit of their business in- 

 sight; but many go on guessing and experimenting on a scale en- 

 tirely too large — go on feeding their camp men too much or too 

 little; doing the same with their horses; logging at haphazard; 

 piling lumber badly ; roasting or case-hardening in kilns ; and wasting 

 valuable resources without knowing it. The advice of a specialist 

 is often the best-paying investment that can be made. 



Edison's Doubtful Prophecy 



,N MATTERS CONNECTED WITH ELECTRICITY no one 

 questions that Thomas A. Edison is high authority; but when 

 the matter under discussion is wooden furniture, the value of his 

 opinion as an expert is doubtful. He was recently quoted as say- 

 ing that an absolute law is operating to substitute steel for wood 

 in the making of furniture. He proceeds to explain that this law 

 is the increasing cost of wood, and soon all furniture will be made 

 of steel, since the steel required for a given piece of furniture 

 costs only one-fifth as much as the wood will cost for the same 

 piece. The next generation, he says, w^ill not know what wooden 

 furniture is. 



It is easy to pick flaws with his conclusions, because they are 

 not founded on facts. Unless steel shall be much cheaper in the 

 next generation than it now is, or wood very mui'h more e.\pen- 



o 



