26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



March 25, 1922 



of gold in pictures of silver. But the words, remember, must be 

 fitly spoken. That is, the psychological time for saying them must 

 be considered. Again, the executive who is a skillful engineer 

 of his own efforts must avoid the wasting or flittering away of his 

 own time. 



A man who has arisen step by step to be the owner of a very 

 large lumber yard, recently made use of the expression that, "He 

 never would have climbed three rungs on the ladder, had he per- 

 mitted thoughtless and selfish people to 'vamp' his time." He 

 declares that he is perfectly willing, and always has been, to give 

 ample time to those who have real business to transact with him, 

 and out of business hours he enjoys social intercourse with his 

 friends. But under no circumstances has he ever thought it wise 

 to allow A, B, C, and D, or Tom, Dick and Harry to come in and 

 camp in the midst of a valuable period of the day until they got 

 good and ready to leave. 



He has acquired the art of gracefully rising to terminate an 

 over-long interview; of shaking hands in a manner to indicate 

 that this is his busy day; and of using a tone of voice which car- 

 ries unusual finality with it when he says, "I will think this 

 matter over and let you know later," or "Kindly submit your 

 proposition in writing that I may take its exact terms up with 

 my associates." 



All of this leads us to the conclusion that the human engineer, 

 or the executive, must first be in perfect control of himself and his 

 own powers. He must know just what his Goal is and be ready to 

 travel persistently toward it. 



The human engineer who is successful in getting along with 

 other people must understand people. You and I will be surprised 

 to learn that others — all those about us are surprisingly like us. 

 As someone has reminded us, we are all born, go through infancy 

 and childhood, love, work, hope, suffer disappointment, marry, live 

 our lives, and our children's over again, buckle down to a serious 

 business task, and then die. 



We differ mainly in two things. One is our depth of under- 

 standing, and the other, the amount of our will power. The man 

 who understands and is possessed of a firm determination to carry 

 on resultfully, is the one who is ready to employ diplomacy and 

 tact with his fellow workers. Tact is taking advantage of circum- 

 stances whatever they are so as to make the other person feel 

 comfortable. 



The human engineer will get along with his employees when 

 he is firm, cheerful, and kind, and does not intentionally or unin- 

 tentionally antagonize and irritate. There are many executives 

 who are really exceedingly capable who lack this tact. Perhaps 

 they are a bit over-pompous or patronizing in manner, or sufiB- 

 ciently absorbed by important details as to be considered snobbish. 

 A straight, business-like atmosphere and a disposition to be fair 

 at all times will win friends — and friends mean Good Will. 



Diplomacy is that conduct which calls forth the best of which 

 the other person is capable. Many a worker has it in him to do 

 and to be much more than he is actually producing. But interest, 

 inspiration, and incentive — the THREE MAGIC I'S will bring 

 forth the best, prevent industrial troubles, and produce that close 

 articulation of organization so necessary in all true progress. In 

 fact, someone has said very wisely that, "The greatest barometer 

 of civilization is the ability of people to co-operate." 



Think about this as an Executive, as a Leader of men, as a 

 Human Engineer. First control thyself — then thou wilt find it 

 easy to control those who are associated with you. We will grant 

 the responsibility of the engineer who has in his keeping the lives 

 of a trainload of people. Let us realize also the responsibility and 

 the opportunity of those who are human engineers. 



Even as the service of hard, sound wood is not to be measured 

 by cells and fibres, and the polish which the surface will take; 

 neither is the human engineer to be measured by weight or height 

 or mere social graces. It is the understanding of head and heart, 

 and the willingness of mind and soul which count! 



Ben S. Woodhead, President 



Wholesalers Choose Woodhead as Leader 



rienty of evi- 

 dence that the 

 American Wholesale 

 Lumber Association 

 has made good was 

 visible at the sec- 

 ond annual meeting 

 and merchandising 

 conference, held at 

 the Congress Hotel, 

 Chicago, March 9 

 and 10. The attend- 

 ance was large and 

 the enthusiasm of 

 the members at a 

 high pitch. A pro- 

 gram of originalitj' 

 and great merit, 

 h.aving for its head- 

 liner Congressman 

 Joseph W. Fordney, 

 chairman of the 

 House Ways and 

 Means Committee, 

 kept things hum- 

 ming throughout the 

 two days of the convention. J. Howard Burton of J. H. Burton & 

 Co., New York City, for two years president of the organization, 

 and L. B. Putman, directing manager, each was able to report a 

 successful stewardship. Particularly did the officers take pride 

 in the success of the plan for compulsory arbitration of disputes, 

 which was originated by the association and has been the keynote 

 of its endeavors. The membership adopted a resolution thanking 

 tlic officers for guiding the A. W. L. A. so successfully through the 

 two years of its formative period. 



At the close of the convention Ben. S. Woodhead of the Beau- 

 mont Lumber Company, Beaumont, Tex., was elected president to 

 succeed Mr. Burton. George M. Stevens of Stevens-Eaton Com- 

 pany, New York, and Lewis Schwagcr of the Garland-Hall Lumber 

 Company, Seattle, were elected first and second vice-presidents 

 respectively. 



The following regional vice-presidents were elected: 

 Northeastern Bcgion — J. H. Burton, J. H. Burton & Co., New 

 York. Southeastern Eegion — W. L. Shepherd, W. L. Shepherd & 

 Co., Montgomery, Ala. North Central Region— Dwight Hinckley, 

 Dwight Hinckley Lumber Company, Cincinnati, 0. Southwestern 

 Region — G. E. Gloor, Gloor-Ortmann Lumber Company, St. Louis. 

 Northwestern Region — John Saari, Saari-Roblin Lumber Company, 

 Portland, Ore. 



The directors elected to represent the various regions are as 

 follows: 



Northeastern Region — Turner W. Isaacs, Ryland & Brooks Lum- 

 ber Company, Baltimore, O. ; B. L. Tim, Hirsch Lumber Company, 

 New York; R. B. Rayner, Bayner & Parker, Philadelphia. 



Southeastern Region — R. B. McLeod, McLeod Lumber Company, 

 Hattiesburg, Miss.; Charles B. Carothers, Charles B. Carothers, Inc., 

 Memphis; Jay Smith, Jay Smith Lumljor Companv, Birmingham, 

 Ala. 



North Central Region— M. G. Truman, Marsh & Truman Lumber 

 Company, Chicago; Max Myer.s, Nicola, Stone & Myers Company, 

 Cleveland, C; L. Germain, Jr., the Germain Company, Pittsburgh. 

 Southwestern Region — S. M. Masters, Waggencr Store Company, 

 St. Louis; Luther Creason, Creason-Grayson Lumber Company, 

 Kansas City; L. V. Graham, Chicago Lumber Company of Wash- 

 ington, Kansas City. 



Northwestern Region- Bert B. West, Bert B. West Lumber Com- 

 pany, Spokane, Wash.; Fred S. Palmer, Fred S. Palmer Lumber 

 Company, San Francisco; J. G. Wallace, WallaccBallord Lumber 

 Company, Minneapolis. 



