20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



September 25, 1917 



been reduced by $1 i;er 1000 on two-inch stock and 50 cents on l-ineh 

 stock from September 10 until October 10. After that, it is pro- 

 posed, there shall be a monthly adjustment of the cantonment 

 material price based on the commercial market prices during the 



preceding 30 days as recorded on the lumber exchanges, each adjust- 

 ment to cover a month from the tenth to the tenth. This proposi- 

 tion has been laid before the lumber committee. It involves a 

 discount of 50 cents per 1000 from the market prices referred to. 



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The Lumberman s Round Table 



"Vacating" as a Fine Art 



A well-known member of the trade, who has been an active and 

 aggressive business man for a great many years, recently took his 

 first vacation. 



He admitted that it was the hardest work he ever did. 



His liver had been out of order, and his doctor, besides prescribing 

 various pharmaceuticals, included instructions to go fishing for a few 

 weeks. He decided, for the sake of his liver, to obey. 



The first part of the vacation was almost intolerable to this worker, 

 long schooled to the rub of the harness. He kept thinking about 

 business, instead of about fishing. Finally, though, the fish began to 

 bite, and the lumberman took more interest in their appetites. Later 

 on the lumber market seemed a thing of remote importance, and the 

 state of the weather got to be first on the list. By the time his vaca- 

 tion was»over, he forgot that he had a liver, and had accumulated a 

 bunch of fish stories that would shame the late Sir Isaak. 



He is all the better lumberman now for forgetting the lumber 

 business for a while; and, what is more to the point, he wiU remain 

 a lumberman a lot longer than if he had persisted in his old plan of 

 trying to take a vacation "on the job." It can't be done. 



Government Specifications 



A feature of government business which has represented an ob- 

 stacle to concerns which might otherwise have bid for it has been the 

 severe specifications which have usually been put forward. In many 

 cases demands have been made which no lumberman felt that he 

 could comply with literally, and because he feared that inspection 

 would be severe and rigid, and would demand aljsolute compliance 

 with the specifications, he hesitated to make an offer. This has lim- 

 ited the market of the government, and at the same time has deprived 

 manufacturers of an opportunity to dispose of material which was 

 really needed. 



As a matter of fact, government inspectors are not as a rule un- 

 reasonably severe. The character of the work to be done, of course, 

 has a good deal to do with it, as well as the personality of the indi- 

 vidual handling the inspection. For this reason it is a big advantage 

 to have conferred personally with those interested in the purchase 

 of the material, in order that the conditions may be thoroughly under- 

 stood, just as the salesman would always make a point of finding out 

 all that he could about the purijose for which any maimfacturer pro- 

 posed to buy lumber. 



A concern in another line, which has been selling millions of pounds 

 of its product to a government department, suffered rejections of a 

 large quantity of material untU its representative got on the job 

 and by common sense methods showed that the rejections were un- 

 necessary. After that everything went through all right. 



Another feature is that specifications in government proposals are 

 often taken bodUy from rule books, manufacturers' catalogs, etc. 

 There was seen recently a proposal for a special kind of machinery, 

 in which technical descriptive matter to the amount of several hun- 

 dred words appeared. One concern which was prepared to quote on 

 the product spent some time looking up catalogs of competitors, finally 

 locating the description, and thus getting a line on the product which 

 the writer of the specification had in mind. This is mentioned merely 

 to show that the buyer representing the government must have some 

 basis to work on, and that he will not necessarily judge the product 

 so severely as the terms of the proposals suggest. 



This doesn 't mean that it would pay to try to ' ' put one over ' ' on 

 your Uncle Samuel, but simply that common sense, in most cases, 

 would govern. 



Take Care of the Old Customer 



Most members of the hardwood trade are worrying more about 

 producing than selling at present. They are not finding it especially 

 diflScult to locate buyers who are ready and willing to accept delivery 

 of aljout all tlie lumber they can make in staple grades and dimen- 

 sions. 



Under the circumstances, there is a distinct temptation to take the 

 business which looks most attractive from the standpoint of profits, 

 and to make the most money possible on every block of stock. Cer- 

 tain old customers may have contracts taken at lower figures, and this 

 business, from the doUars-and-cents angle, may not be so inviting 

 as some of more recent date. Aside from the ethics involved, it is 

 the best of good business to take care of the old customer first, to 

 give him all he has coming to him, regardless of the price at which it 

 was booked, and to show him that being an ohl customer means some- 

 thing to the concern which is handling his trade. 



That is the only way to develop old customers, anyhow. The buyer 

 who finds that he gets service only when business is scarce, and that 

 when prices are soaring the lumberman has the most trouble making 

 deliveries on his order, usually Vjcgins looking aroxmd for some place 

 else to buy. 



It has often been contended that a good buying source is just as 

 valuable as a good soiling connection, and this is admitted nowhere 

 more freely than by buyers themselves. They know how difficult 

 it is to lind tlie ideal combination of perfect manufacturing methods, 

 high-grade business methods, and attention to the details of service. 

 When they find the house which is delivering the goods and delivering 

 them right, and making a price which is just as good as anybody 

 would want, in reason, they stop riglit there and quit worrying. 



A buyer who has been purchasing several million loet of hardwoods 

 a year for one of the big consumers of the Middle West said recently 

 that he is doing business at present with fewer lumbermen than at 

 any other tinie during his twenty-five years' coiuiection with his com- 

 pany. 



' ' I have tried a lot of them, ' ' he explained, ' ' and I have picked 

 the winners. I know who can and will make the sort of lumber 

 my people can use, and who will treat us right in the matter of price. 

 The manufacturers who have played the game on the stjuare, and have 

 given us service, are the ones who are getting the lion 's share of 

 our business today; and they don't need to solicit it very hard, 

 either. ' ' 



So, while the selling is good, don't forget that the regular customer, 

 who can be counted on for a car or so when things are dull, is en- 

 titled to just as much consideration now as then. 



The man who adds a ripsaw table to his mill with a view to 

 getting out a little dimension stock should considei- the possibil- 

 ities of the modern power feed table and his chances to do more 

 work for less money with it as compared to the hand feed saw. 



Locating a planing mill is a problem which many concerns fail 

 to solve jjroperly. A great many think anywhere will do. A retail 

 yard and mill should be as near the center of its trade as possible, 

 taking into due consideration the problem of getting stock to and 

 away from it and having room to pile rough lumber and store 

 finished work. To say that it is a problem under the many condi- 

 tions which exist in many jilaces is drawing it mild, and in view 

 of this fact it is no wonder so many planing mill plants are badly 

 located for their business. 



