June 25, 1915. 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



19 



out" offect of mahogany; the slab cut slightly off the direct quarter 

 shows the best general effect with the smaller wave at more frequent 

 intervals. 



It is hardly likely that black gum timber as it ordinarily stands 

 in the forest would make an especially important commercial factor 

 in any one operation. However, there are enough trees scattered 

 throughout all the timber of the hardwood belt, in the southern half 

 of the country east of the Mississippi river, to make it worth con- 

 sideration. 



These samples were Kraetzer-cured and had been standing in the 

 office directly over a fireplace, which had been used and remained 



cold alternately, but the specimens retained a perfect condition as far 

 as warping, checking or twisting is concerned. 



The boards were also finished up with a very pleasing smooth finish, 

 and while possibly there was some little difficulty in planing them off, 

 still this was not unsurmountable by any means. 



The possibility of turning black gum timber into merchantable 

 stock through careful quarter-sawing is apparent. While it un- 

 doubtedly would present the necessity for more or less careful ex- 

 perimenting, there is every probability that money can be derived 

 from giving a little care and thought to the manufacture and handling 

 of this stock. 



■iOTJTOTOSKTO^KJTOiHKliJMStMStreW 



Helping the Consumption of Lumber 



Though you may be a manufacturer of lumber, you are also a 

 consumer. Your employes, your associates and everybody else depend- 

 ent on your busines are not only to be considered with reference to 

 production, but also as to consumption. The lumber trade is gen- 

 erally ranked third among the industries of the country, and assum- 

 ing that this is correct, it is also fair to assume that it has the same 

 rank as to the consumption of products of all kinds, including lumber. 



With this immense consuming capacity, which could be just as 

 well directed toward lumber jiroducts as others, why would it not be 

 possible and practicable to improve conditions in the trade by an 

 intelligent and conscious effort to use more lumber than is utilized 

 in the ordinary course of events? In other words, why not apply 

 some of the "intelligent discrimination" advocated in H.MtDWOOD 

 Eecord several months ago? 



That this plan and its advantages are appreciated is indicated by 

 the following letter, which was mailed recently by the General Lum- 

 ber Company, of Milwaukee, to a number of re])resentative firms in 

 the business: 



Dear Sir ; Are you booyting for a market uii cul! himlier that will 

 put it on an even basis, let alone a losing one'; 



How are you going about it? 



Do you insist on all your purchases arriving in wmMlfn packages and 

 do you reship in wooden packages exclusively? 



Do you accept shipments in paper cartons? 



If you do, you're all wrong. Mark each order plainly, "ship in wooden 

 crate or shipment refused." A rubber stamp costs you but twenty-five 

 cents and you should see that each employee who buys goods for you 

 has one, and uses it. Lest you forget, we can get them for you. 



If everyone pulls the same string, we will clean up all the surplus low- 

 grade stocks and put the price back on a cost basis. Likewise we will 

 make a better market for our high-grade stock. 



If it is only one little bo.\. iusist upon its being a wooden one. Pull 

 hard. Every little bit helps. .\sk your friends to use wooden boxes. 

 Tell them where to get them. We all need business. Make one hand 

 wash the other. Use wooden boxes exclusively. 



The company which sent this letter is engaged largely in the sale 

 of crating material, and while the campaign which it suggests would 

 probably help its individual business, it is obvious that it is bound to 

 help the business of all of the box manufacturers and at the same 

 time of all the lumbermen, by making a bigger, broader, better 

 market for low-grade material. 



It really looks as if the lumbermen, and particularly tlie members 

 of the hardwooil trade, have been so busy thinking about the pro- 

 duction of lumber that they have forgot all about their consumption 

 of it. And while there has been plenty of talk of increasing con- 

 sumption, it has been mainly with reference to that vague, indefinite, 

 hard-to-locate individual, Mr. General Public. Almost nobody has 

 suggested that the lumber trade begin at home, and learn how to 

 consume more of its own products on its own account. 



Take, for instance, the commissaries maintained by the various 

 sawmills. These buy immense quantities of food products, which are 

 now shipped principally in corrugated paper boxes. Shoes and dry- 

 goods usually come in wood, though many of the shoe companies are 

 using paper boxes for this purpose. If the buyers for these com- 

 pany stores would follow the plan suggested by the General Lumber 

 Company, and would insist that nothing be shipped to them not 



packed in wood, it would have an immediate effect. 



The Shredded Wheat Company is one of the few manufacturers of 

 breakfast foods who ship their products in wooden boxes. Why should 

 not the lumbermen discriminate when they can in favor of shredded 

 wheat? That may sound small, to call for it in place of some other 

 brand, simply because the company is a friend of wood; but if 

 everybody connected with the lumber business, in the manufacturing, 

 jobbing and selling end of the business, were to adopt this idea, the 

 chances are that some of the other breakfast food people would 

 decide that it might be just as well to give lumber a chance. 



The Milwaukee lumbermen suggested in their letter that employes 

 handling purchases on the account of lumber companies make a spe- 

 cial effort to get all of their goods in wooden boxes. This could be 

 applied to their personal purchases just as well. And it would have a 

 direct and practical application just now. If the employe of a lum- 

 ber mill were told that he was being laid off two or three or more days 

 a week because there was no business, and if he were shown that this 

 loss of business was the result of the substitution of other materials 

 for wood in all directions, would he not appreciate the fact that by 

 patronizing articles packed in paper, when they might have been 

 packed in wood, he is literally taking the bread out of the mouths 

 of his children? 



It would be a good idea for every lumber concern to get out a 

 little folder or slip, which could be put in pay envelopes or distrib- 

 uted to employes in some other way, containing some facts about the 

 competition which the business is meeting, and the reduction in the 

 consumption of wood which is resulting as a consequence. With these 

 facts brought home in a personal way, and the moral pointe<l that it 

 is to the selfish and immediate interest of everyone concerned in the 

 trade to use wood himself whenever he can, there would be no neces- 

 sity of ordering employes to become boosters of wood aud wood 

 products; they would respond on their own account. 



There is always a tendency to ' ' let George do it, ' ' and the average 

 hardwood man, particularly, is guilty of thinking that he can dis- 

 criminate all he pleases against wood without having this action 

 act as a boomerang and ultimately smite him back of the left ear. 

 But if he has wide poplar to sell, and is longing for the good old 

 days when the automobile body manufacturers were among his best 

 customers, has he any right to complain of conditions if his own car 

 has a metal body? In fact, inasmuch as he is advertising the busi- 

 ness of his competitor by using this plan, how can he resent it if 

 the public at large is showing a decided preference for metal in this 

 kind of construction? 



A Gpod Idea from China 



The natives of certain parts of northern Fukien, China, have a 

 custom of starting a forest plantation at the birth of a male child 

 in the family. When the boy has reached the marriageable age of 

 twenty the trees are cut and sold, and the proceeds used to defray 

 his wedding expenses. Such a custom is unique and is in part 

 responsible for the great number of artificially propagated forests 

 around Yenpiug and Shenyang. 



