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Hardwood Record — ^Veneer & Panel Section 



November 25, 1921 



Plywood Makers Reject Use of "Built-Up" 



Recommendation of Vigilance Committee of Advertising Clubs of World 

 Objected to on Grounds of Economy and Practicality 



None of a number of the leaders of the veneer and plywood 

 industry, with whom Hardwood Record has communicated, is dis- 

 posed to endorse the recommendation of the Vigilance Committee 

 of the Advertising Clubs of the World that the terms "Veneered" 

 and "Plywood" be abandoned and the word "Built-up" be 

 adopted as a definition for these products. It is very likely that at 

 the annual meetings of the National Veneer & Panel Manufacturers' 

 Association and the Plywood Manufacturers' Association, both of 

 which will be held in Chicago in December, resolutions will be 

 adopted asking the Vigilance Committee to recede from this posi- 

 tion and endorse the definitions as they are now established. 



In a revised report of the definitions adopted by the Vigilance 

 Committee at Cleveland November 8, it is stated that, "The term. 

 "Built-up" shall be used to replace the term "Veneered' heretofore 

 used,"" but it is presumed that the committee of the advertising 

 clubs intends that the use of the term plywood is also to be aban- 

 doned, as they do not affirm that term in their recommendations. 

 The statements which have been made to Hardwood Record by 

 various leaders of the industry apply chiefly to the word plywood. 

 little being said about veneer. These men point that plywood is 

 fully as accurate as built-up and should be much more expressive 

 even to the layman, because of its having been already established. 

 They hold that to substitute built-up at this late day would be en- 

 tirely impractical for the very important reason that the term ply- 

 wood was adopted by the Plywood Manufacturers" Association as 

 the official word to use in their nation-wide advertising campaign, 

 and already thousands of dollars have been spent by the members 

 of the association individually in advertising their product as ply- 

 wood. This advertising, with the use of the word plywood has 

 been going on for some six months, and naturally the term has 

 become much better known than ever before. E. G. Knight, presi- 

 dent of the New Albany Veneering Company and chairman of the 

 publicity committee of the Plywood Manufacturers" .Association, 

 expressed the opinion, which he said was concurred in by many 

 other plywood manufacturers with whom he has talked, that ply- 

 wood more aptly describes the product which they manufacture 

 than any other term could. "'While it is true that plywood is 

 simply the completed process of the building up of different plies," 

 Mr. Knight said, "yet when completed the stock is really plywood, 

 and I am, without having full information on the discussion which 

 must have taken place at Cleveland, somewhat at a loss to under- 

 stand just why the term 'Built-up* should be preferable to the term 

 "Plywood." He ventured the opinion that the term built-up will 

 not meet with very general approval among plywood manufac- 

 turers. 



Adopted for Layman's Good 

 it is known that the Vigilance Committee adopted the term \vith 

 the idea that built-up is a better term to use in transactions between 

 retail furniture dealers and the layman buyer because it will give 

 a clearer idea to the lay mind of what glued up sheets of wood are 

 than plywood will. 



This belief, however, as said, is not concurred in by the plywood 

 manufacturers, who think that the use of built-up would only cause 

 confusion, and would do no practical good anywhere. J. T. Home, 

 president of the J. T. Home Veneer Company, Tuscaloosa, Ala., 

 and president of the National Veneer & Panel Manufacturers' Asso- 

 ciation, believes that plywood is the correct term to use and stated 

 that the matter can be formally considered at the annual meeting 

 of his association when it meets on December I 3 and 1 4. A. E. 

 Gorham, head of the Gorham Brothers Company, Mount Pleasant, 

 Mich., and a former president of the National Veneer & Panel 

 Manufacturers' Association, said that the substitution of built-up 



for plywood should be vigorously opposed by the industry. "This 

 action is entirely wrong from the standpoint of economy, and in my 

 opinion built-up wood does not mean anwhere near as much as 

 the word plywood,"" said Mr. Gorham. ""Built-up wood can consist 

 of any kind of construction for that matter, but plywood means 

 several plies of wood."" The change would be uneconomical, he 

 said, because of the fact that the plywood manufacturers, after 

 having decided officially to use the term plywood in their publicity, 

 changed their letter heads and other advertising where it used the 

 word built-up or veneer, to plywood. A heavy expense would 

 naturally be involved in changing back, and this he held was not 

 justified. 



Similar Opinions Expressed 

 Similar opinions are expressed by F. A. Marshall of Rhinelander, 

 Wis., secretary and treasurer of the Wisconsin Veneer Company 

 and president of the Wisconsin Plywood Club, and H. E. Kline of 

 Louisville, Ky., vice-president of the Louisville Veneer Mills. Mr. 

 Marshall said: ""We would, of course, much prefer to have the 

 Vigilance Committee of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the 

 World adopt the word 'Plywood* instead of 'Built-up' to describe 

 the plywood furniture. We believe that it would be much more to 

 the advantage of the furniture manufacturers producing plywood 

 furniture to use this term than the term built-up, for undoubtedly 

 the term plywood will be much better understood among the con- 

 suming trade after the advertising campaign gets under way than 

 the term built-up. I do not believe that it will affect the plywood 

 producers very much either way, for the furniture manufacturer 

 who is the customer of the plywood producer, will understand 

 thoroughly what plywood is and that the terms are practically 

 synonymous, but it might save a good deal of explaining on the 

 part of the furniture salesman if this plywood advertising cam- 

 paign results in buyers demanding "plywood" furniture."" 



B. M. Minigus, secretary of the Pickrel Veneer Company. New 

 Albany, Ind., holds to the same opinion as those quoted above 

 and said that he did not think it would ""be good business to dis- 

 turb the name plywood." 



N. M. Willson. secretary and treasurer of the Pearl City Veneer 

 Company. Jamestown, New York, said that he failed to see where 

 there is any great difference in the terms plywood or built-up, or 

 that one would be more plain than the other to those not familiar 

 with either term. 



M. Wulpi, commissioner of the Central Bureau of Dining Table 

 Manufacturers, said that he had laid av^fay the suggestion of the 

 Vigilance Committee for the purpose of bringing it up for discus- 

 sion at the meeting of the National Council of Furniture Associa- 

 tion in New York City on December 6 and 7. 



A similar statement was made by J. A. Conrey, president of the 

 Conrey-Davis Mfg. Company of Shelbyville, Ind., who is a member 

 of the Council and chairman of the lumber committee of that body. 

 Definitions as Revised 

 The following are the corrected definitions worked out by the 

 Vigilance Committee at their Cleveland meeting and recommended 

 to the furniture and other industries concerned: (The original 

 draft of the definitions was published in Hardwood Record No- 

 vember 1 0.) 



Standards Suggested, and to Be Recommended for Adoption by 

 Furniture Trade, at Conference of Furniture Trade Repre- 

 sentatives with National Vigilance Committee and Better 

 Business Commissions and Bureaus, Held at Statler 

 Hotel, Cleveland, Ohio, on November 8, 1921 

 (A.A) "'Solid Throughout"" : The term "Solid Throughout" shall 

 [('ijHtimn 'I 0(1 page 46) 



