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Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



January 10, 1918 



No use to 



Shop Around 



With present liig-h freig-ht 

 rates and slow movement 

 of local shipments, it is 

 decidedly advantag-eons to 

 concentrate your buying to 

 make up carload lots. We 

 manufacture in A^eneers: 



American Walnut 



Half Round and Sliced 



Figured Red Gum 

 Quartered White Oak 



Sawed and Sliced 



Mahogany 



Rotary Poplar and Gum 



Can supply your entire ve- 

 neer rec^uirements, shipping 

 in carload, saving time and 

 money. 



Special attention is directed to 

 choice line of American Walnut 

 Veneers just cut. Would be 

 pleased to submit full size sam- 

 ples. Prices right. 



The Louisville Veneer Mills 



operating Rotary Machines, Saws, Slicers 



Louisville Kentucky 



All Three of Ut Will Be Benefited 



LETTERS FROM A PANEL USER 



THE LABOR PROBLEM 



Monroe, Mich., December 18. — The war will affect all lines 

 of business as far as labor is concerned, and the panel manu- 

 facturer is not the exception. Labor will be scarcer and wages 

 will be higher. It is futile to expect that the scale of wages now 

 established will be reduced until we run square up against hard 

 times, with consequent retrenchment. Until we are faced by 

 lean years of economy, wages will mount upward. 



What does this mean to you? It means that labor qa^ qfford 

 to be more independent and that regardless of the wage's paid 

 better working conditions must be offered. It is not surprising 

 in visiting glue rooms, say on a Monday morning, to find the 

 odor in such departments strong enough to knock a man down. 

 Or visit the veneering room and you will find it so hot as to be 

 almost unbearable. The foreman will likely say that he must 

 have it hot so as not to chill the glue. 



What most panel and veneer factories require is industrial 

 betterment. Manufacturers in other lines are giving their time 

 and co-operation in forming plans toward better conditions for 

 their employes. Every company working toward industrial bet- 

 terment is considered aggressive and has a reputation of being 

 among the leaders in its particular line of manufacture. Employes 

 show a disposition to advertise their company by their appre- 

 ciation of conditions which they acknowledge to be better than 

 those their previous experiences have met with. It attracts the 

 skilled labor of the market toward the company. 



In endeavoring to create the best business in panels you are 

 compelled to solve many problems, the most important of which 

 is man. You may buy the very best equipment, but if you do 

 not employ the right kind of help, men who will co-operate with 

 you. failure in such cases will result. 



It is to be regretted that so many manufacturers regard the 

 men in their plants and factories as necessary evils, and the men 

 in the office as the brain pow^er of the organization. This is abso- 

 lutely wrong. There is no place in the w^hole economy of the 

 modern panel and veneer plant where greater efficiency is re- 

 quired, where the exercise of a high order of intelligence is in 

 greater demand, or where ability to think quickly and act promptly 

 is of more importance than at the head of the various mechanical 

 departments. The heads of the leading and most highly successful 

 corporations of today recognize this. 



You w^ill admit that every man in your organization must be 

 efficient. There is but one w^ay — they must all be satisfied. Every 

 man is most efficient when his work gives him the greatest satis- 

 faction — when he is doing the thing his Creator intended he should 

 do. The progressive w^orkman of today is interested in, first, men- 

 tal and physical development; second, joy in doing it, and, third, 

 a decent living. The man who is thoroughly satisfied with his 

 job will be a money maker for you; the man w^hose w^hole being 

 revolts at his task becomes a captious citizen, an inefficient worker 

 and a meager earner. 



The manufacturer w^ho does not see the current of events, w^ho 

 thinks he can win with his own strength, is badly mistaken and 

 is sure to be beaten in the race for commercial supremacy. It is 

 the man who sees, the man w^ho has a vision, the man who has 

 light who is going to win. 



If labor is antagonistic to you or you antagonistic to it, the 

 antagonism cannot be removed by conflict, but rather by estab- 

 lishing the opposite of antagonism, which is co-operation. 



Of all the duties of the business executive that of firing help is 

 undoubtedly the most generally <lreaded and most heartily despised. 

 It is a function that affords no pleasure to any one, but occa- 

 sionally must be done. A little investigation will usually reveal 

 that if a little better hiring w^ere done firing w^ould not be so neces- 

 sary. Of course, we should give the man every chance. When 

 we do find it necessary to discharge the man, we should not do 

 this cowardly, as is too frequently the case. The common prac- 



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