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HARDWOOD RECORD 



Jiinuary 10, 1918 



Helena is the center of probaV)!}- the richest farming country of tlu> 

 Unitc'il States, and there arc large cotton anj rice i)hintation8 opcr- 

 atei! by Inniliernien within a few miles of the city. In fact, there are 

 so many things that can be said about Helena, that we can only mention 

 a few of them in this issue. 



A Contract Is a Conthact 



I was talking with a wholesaler the other day and he remarked that 

 it did seem funny that some of the best northern mills of whom lie 

 had bought lumber for a good many years fell down on their contracts 

 last year and were inclined to sell lumber, already sold, at new prices 

 to a new customer and let the other fellow go. He said that "I know- 

 as well as anybody that they sold my lumber to somebody else, and 

 also know that I could jmll them in court and make them pay the 

 difference between what it was sold to me before the advance of 

 prices. But what's the use? A man who sells something and the 

 price goes up, there is no reason why he should try to get out from 

 under the contract, although prices have gone up so fast fend a lot 

 of people were stuck with contracts for from $5 to $10 a thousand 

 lower than the lumber was sold for at any time in the past si.\ 

 months. A little consideration by both parties probably will adjust 

 these matters and we believe would be benefited by that adjustment. 

 Rut when a man just flatly sits down on a contract, it is all wrong." 



I was talking with a consumer the other day and he said: "What 

 is the matter with that fellow down in Mississippi?" 



"Why, he is a good man. Always fills his contracts." 



"Well, he just ducked and fell down on some stuff he soM us. 

 He gave as a reason the fact that he is furnishing government stuff, 

 because of his own solicitation, not because he was so patriotic, ami 

 because he could get more money for the stuff than at the price at 

 which he sold us. Of course, I presume if I forced tlie matter he 

 would probably ship the stock, but that don't do me any good. I 

 bought the material for a certain use and I am a good purchaser. 

 Neither the car shortage nor Unele Sam's demand are sufficient rea- 

 son for a man 's falling down or not filling the orders which he 

 accepted. ' ' 



The scarcity of logs has created a shortage on oak flitches. The 

 facts are that the veneer mills cutting this stock are having a great 

 deal of trouble in getting figured gum as well. 



Wlien you can sell firsts and seconds beech at $4.5, it 's going some. 

 Whether the. top is going to be reached on a lot of woods, I don't 

 know, but it does look like Mr. Supply and Mr. Demand are cer- 

 tainly making aristocrats out of a lot of woods that were in the 

 " company " class. 



I wouldn 't be surprised one of these days to learn that mahogany 

 will not be imported because of the shortage of ship room from Cutinn 

 and South American countries. 



By -Wat Freight in Store for Us 

 There is a good deal of speculation nowadays as to whether the 

 aristocrats in America who have been living on flowery beds of ease, 

 parlor cars, Pullmans, etc., will travel as much as heretofore. It is 

 the general consensus of opinion that the government has already 

 promised the traveling public that it would take a lot of trains off 

 in order to utilize the engines for freight, and it has already taken 

 several off of the eastern roads. That is, parlor cars and observation 

 cars. Believe me, there will be less traveling by some folks if they 

 have to ride in a day coach across the country. I see where there 

 will be another hardship on the business men who really have to 

 travel, and the culmination probably will be that a permit will be 

 necessary in order to travel at all. It may inaugurate a new system 

 of going back to the old days of doing business by mail, but with 

 the telegraph and telephone and other present added facilities it 

 wouldn't be so much of a hardship, but it will be something of a 

 new institution which we will feel all the time. 

 Averages in Price 

 I have noticed some real salesmen because they bat like Ty Cobli, 

 and the reason I put them in a class of their own is they are ever- 

 lastingly selling their stock for a dollar or two more than the mar- 

 ket. It means two things. First that the salesman knows what 

 the market is and takes advantage of conditions in order to make his 



averages big. In fact, I have one man in mind who 1 know will pay his 

 salary out of his "overages." Some salesman isn't he? It is bound 

 to do your heart good when you discover a chap of that kind. 



I hoard a good joke on a bunch of fellows the other day. 1 don't 

 ilare tell it. It is so good, it would make everybody in the trade laugh. 

 It happened because certain men in the trade who subscribe to Hard 

 WOOD Record don't read it. I would hate to tell you what this cost 

 them, and while I love them just like a lot of chaps in the business, it 

 dill my heart good and made me think of the time when I was young 

 and was tolil to do certain things, and then didn 'f . It cost them 

 a lot of money, because they didn't look in the Recokd for real stuff 

 off the bat. 



I know- there are a lot of bu.sy men. Men who maybe can't read 

 everything that is in all the papers, but it is easy to pick out some- 

 one in your office to go over the papers and check them for something 

 that will interest you. Bye and bye you will be reading everything 

 that is printed even if you have to take the papers home for Sunday. 

 I tell you, fellows, in the lumber business you aren 't reading your 

 papers closely enough. There are a lot of chances coming your way 

 and there wUl be a lot of fellows who will do business at your expense 

 because they are up-to-date and can smell an advance of price, and 

 you are so busy trying to get in your logs and keep your crew together 

 that you overlook the importance of reading the Hardwood Recori> 

 when it comes to vonr desk. " E. H. D. 



Appeal to Spruce Lumbermen 



What is expected of loggers and millmen in the Northwest by the 

 production division of the government 's aircraft board during 

 1918 is outlined in a statement and apjjeal by Col. Brice P. Bisque, 

 head of the spruce production work, now being sent out to members 

 of the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen, which has 25,000 

 members in the Northwest. 



The statement warns lumbermen not to pay heed to the "nonsense 

 and malign whispering" of spies and traitors who spread the propa- 

 ganda in the spruce production belt. Col. Bisque says: 



The headquarters of this division look to you to prevent all acts of 

 sedition on the part of employer, employe or otiiers. 



Your Rovernment asl.-s you to produce 11,000.000 feet of spruce during 

 each month of 1018. It also asks you to immediately make up the defi- 

 ciency of the last few months when an average of only about 3.000,000 

 feet was obtained. 



Every detail of our government's aircraft plan has been executed accord- 

 ing to program, except the most essential, that of producing the timber 

 that is needed. This high dut.v falls upon you and me. You are soldiers. 

 -V day's layoff is two days' work for the kaiser. 



Manufacturers Prepare for Big Annual 



Secretary F. B. Gadd of the Hardwood Manufacturers' Associa- 

 tion of the United States announces that the program of the six- 

 teenth annual meeting, which is scheduled for the fifth and sixth of 

 February at the Sinton Hotel, Cincinnati, 0., will be completed and 

 ready for publication within a few days. He is v'ery much grati- 

 fied with the prospective offerings in the way of addresses and dis- 

 cussions, it having been possible to secure speakers who will keep 

 interest alive every minute during the sessions. 



The speakers already secured will talk on subjef'ts of vital interest 

 and concern to the industry and of immediate interest to business 

 roen. 



Col. L. C. Boyle of Kansas City, counsel for the association and 

 also for the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association and 

 affiliated organizations, will talk on the subject of open competition. 



Gilbert H. Montague of New York City will give his version of 

 the question of "Business Competition and the Law." 



The subject of "Trade Acceptances" will be discussed and 

 explained fully by Charles A. Hinseh of Cincinnati, president of 

 the American Bankers' Association. 



There are other exceptionally interesting and valu.able addresses 

 in prospect, which will be announced in full in the ne.xt issue of the 

 Record. 



