•JO 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



July 25, lUlu. 



banllj' UD Hem on tbo Hut but ban been biiI<1 ny Nome member Bt prices 

 equnl to, or unulir. tbnn the one recummi'iulwl. 



Stuckg on baud lire nnt «t all benvy ns c<iiii|uiri'<l «llh Home previous 

 yejirs wbcn the demnnil \vii8 better. Our miihi Iroublv bns been lensened 

 demand. It this U only piirllnlly restored, our KtockK will i|Ulckly be 

 absorbed. I.et u» bold flrmly to Hut prices uiul we believe we will nil 

 have cause to eonicratuliite ourselven by the time we bold our fnll nieetlnK. 

 Itespectfully submitted, 



JonN C. Kass, 

 M. D. Olds, 



»'. A. BlOEI-OW, 



C. it. Anaorr, 

 J. D. Stai'Les, 

 HlllCE O'Dei.l, 

 W. C. HL1.L, Chairman. 

 On the EUggestion tlint the president appoint a nominating commit- 

 tee, C. A. Bigelow moved that the rules be set aside and the present 

 officers be elected for the ensuing year. The motion was supported 

 by R. Hanson, put before the members and carried. 

 Taxation of Timberland 

 In discussing the question of taxation of timber and cutover lands, 

 T. W. Hanson stated that he considered it advisable to appoint a 

 committee to take care of this question, this committee to work with 

 the timber owners for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of 

 O. F. Barnes, tax commissioner, who was unable to be present on 

 account of sickness. This suggestion was supported by Mr. Richard- 

 son. After considerable discussion it was decided on motion that the 

 officers take the matter up with the state officials and find out what 

 the committee can do and that the president take Iii.s time in appoint- 

 ing the committee. The motion was followed by further discussion 

 of the general question, Mr. Langdon requesting information as to the 

 assessed valuation of timber in Cheboygan territory. A Cheboygan 

 manufacturer replied that it runs from $60 to $75 per acre, while 

 another gave figures as from $53 to $85 per acre. It was suggested 

 that the secretary send out a circular letter and gather data for report 

 on this question. 



Frank F. Fish, secretary of the National Hardwood Lumber Asso- 

 ciation, spoke briefly. He urged the Michigan manufacturers to unite 

 in becoming members in the National Association. This suggestion 

 was concurred in by Mr. Saunders, chairman of the grading rules 

 committee. A motion was then offered by Mr. Saunders that it was 

 the desire of the grading rules committee of the Michigan Hardwood 

 Manufacturers' Association that every member of the Michigan 

 Association become a member of the National Hardwood Lumber 

 Association. This motion was seconded and received the unanimous 

 support of the convention. 



R. S. Kellogg spoke briefly regarding the Federal Trade Commission 

 hearing at Chicago, and went on further regarding the proposed 

 advance in the classification of lumber and articles manufactured 

 from lumber. On motion by Bruce Odell it was provided that a com- 

 mittee be appointed to investigate the possibilities of arriving at a 

 uniform basis for handling logs to cover measurement, grading and 

 scaling and the assessment to be levied for this iervice. 

 The meeting then adjourned. 



At a meeting of the board of directors immediately after adjourn- 

 ment J. C. Knox was elected secretary for the ensuing year. 



The Salesmen's Post Mortem 



A hardwood man whose business is fairly large, but who has always 

 done most of his own selling, went out on the road recently and in less 

 than three weeks sold fifty cars of lumber. 



That was pretty good business, and would have been considered a 

 good record even with business rushing. Those who heard something 

 about it said it was wonderful, considering the conditions under 

 which the work was accomplished. 



"Jly salesmen," said :inotlier hardwood manufacturer, who employs sev- 

 eral men, supposed to be cracks in getting the business, "are hardly turning 

 a wheel. They say that business is simply out ot sight, and that orders 

 are so scarce that you couldn't sell gold dollars for ninety cents." 



"I don't know about your salesmen, ' said the lumberman, "but I do 

 know that some of the men on the road are getting their salaries under 

 false pretenses." 



"What do you mean?" inquired the other. 



"Just this," said the man who got the orders. "The average salesman 



riKbt now In nciired to deiitb. He liiiH convlncwl himself, and has been 

 coDvlnnsI by otberH, Hint It Is next to liujMiHSlble to K-'l liuslueKK, So be 

 Ijoes Into the odUe of every buyer exiK'ctlni; to be iiirnid down, and, us u 

 rule, be Is turned down, 



"I wns In the olllce of a blR mniiufncturer, who buys u lot of lumber, 

 not lonK ni!0. He Is riinnhiK- bis factory » little better tbnn bulf enpnclty, 

 which inenns tbnt he Ik working a short force about live days a week. He 

 Is usinc leHS luiiihcr tbnn usual, but when I walked Into the olDce of his 

 plant, I could bear the maiblnes wblrrlnK out In the factory, all riKht, 

 and knew tbnt I bad n bk'ltlninle reasuii for belni; there. 



"The consunuT wnsnl looklnn parlliulnrly downeasi, either. In fact, 

 he seemed to be bavlUK three square meals n day, and to be In a mood to 

 stall off the referee In bankruptcy for quite a while. It made mc feel 

 good to see bim. 



" 'There wns n lumber snlenman in here a day or two auo,' said thU 

 buyer, 'and he talked himself out of a good order.' 



" 'How was that';' 



" 'Well,' said the factory man. 'I had Just about decided that I oii(tbt to 

 buy ten cars of good plain oak, but the salesman was complalnlni; so Inttirly 

 of hard times, and telling how badly be needed business Ihnt 1 came lo the 

 conclusion that the time lo buy bad nut yet come.' 



"it didn't take me long to put my proposition up to that concern, and I 

 made the manufacturer feel that while consumers weren't clamoring for 

 lumber, there Is no great overstock, and all the conditions, such .is crops, 

 war buying, building, and so on, are favornbic to greater consumption i nd 

 higher prices. I pointed out to blin the difference between cuivent mid 

 normal values. 



" 'Don't be too much of a speculator, Mr. Buyer," I warned him. 'You 

 have a chance to get your lumber mighty cheap now, and my advice to you 

 is to buy while the buying is good.' 



"The result of that solicitation was an order for Ave cars, and I am 

 figuring on getting the remainder as soon as the first five are delivered 

 and the character of the lumber, which is new to that factory, determlni'd. 



"The next morning when I came down Into the lobby of the hotel, I met 

 several salesmen of other lumber concerns. None of them seemed Inclined 

 to start anywhere. They were telling how hard It was to get business. 

 I'lnally they sat down and held a regular post-mortem on business. I sat 

 with them Just to see how bad it was. By the time they got through, they 

 had everybody in the country dead broke and most of us in the poor-bouse. 

 It wns a most cheerless gathering. 



".Vbout that time 1 asked one of the boys how trade was in Blank, a 

 factory town about thirty miles out, where I intended going that day. 



" 'No use.' be said, shaking his bead. "I was out there earlier in the 

 week, and there isn't a thing doing.' 



" 'That's right,' said another. 'Nobody over there is buying any lumber 

 nowadays.' 



"I thanked them for the information, but as I reasoned that where lum- 

 ber is being manufactured. It is likewise being bought, some time, some- 

 where, and I went on out. I sold three cars of lumber In that town before 

 evening, and got back to the hotel in time to find another debate on what 

 the cause of the hard times is. 



"I went ahead to all the markets I had expected to visit, and while I 

 found a lot of people who didn t want to boy, and a lot of others who 

 thought my prices were too far out ot line with the market, I met enough 

 who wanted lumber, and were willing to take mine at the price I asked 

 for it, to make the trip well worth while. 



"In other words, there is lumber being bought today, just as it always 

 has been and always will be. The consumi)tion is somewhat less, which 

 means that it is a little harder to get the orders. It takes more leg-work, 

 more pluck and a little more intelligence in finding out Just what the con- 

 sumer ought to have that you can furnish him. But the salesman who lies 

 down and whines about hard times, instead of working, and who devotes 

 the time bis employer is paying tor to commiserating with other salesmen 

 in the hotel lobbies, Is a hypocrite, and Isn't entitled to the pay-cheek 

 which his boss is sending him." 



Wheel Company Busy 

 The Kelsey Wheel Company, Memphis, Ttnn., has been compelled to- 

 turn down an offer from the British goveriimmt for the manufacture of 

 antomobil.' and artillery wheels. It Is understood that this offer involved 

 .■jO.OOO wheels and that the company was unable to accept it because 

 of the enormous demand from .Vmerican manufacturers of automobile 

 and other vehicles. A. E. Mabannah, manager of the company, is author- 

 ity for the statement that the company has already forwarded to Eng- 

 land 200,000 wheels since the war broke out. The company some time 

 ago doubled its capacity and installed an enormous amount ot machinery 

 for the manufacture of wheels. For a long ti-ne it devoted most of Its 

 time to the manufactura of spokes and did not put up the entire wheel. 

 In this connection it may be noted that within the past fortnight this 

 company has received between twenty and twenty-five carloads of rough 

 material for the manufacture of spokes. This sbipnii:nt consisted en- 

 tirely ot hickory and came by boat from near Helena, Ark. It was un- 

 loaded with the derricks and other equipment of the Tennessee Hoop 

 Company on Wolf river. A feature of this shipment was the fact that 

 every single piece of hickory timber bore the mark of the inspector who- 

 looked after the loading thereof. 



