Sriilrmhir 10. an': 



Begging for Business is Bad 



It was au evil day, from a business standpoint, wlien some genius, 

 strong on alliteration^ coined the jihrase ' ' buy a bale, ' ' and sent it 

 broadcast to encourage the sale of cotton. That was just after the 

 beginning of the war last year, and the outlook indicated that much 

 of the southern cotton crop would remain at home in warehouses 

 for the want of a foreign market. The movement had for its pur- 

 pose the disposal of the crop at home by selling a bale here and there 

 to Tom, Dick, and Harry throughout the country. The effect on the 

 cotton business has been pronounced practically negligible, as might 

 well have been foreseen. Some cotton bales were sold, but not enough 

 to do much good to the sellers, and at best the result was only tem- 

 porary. 



The craze seemed to be catching. The idea struck in many quarters. 

 In all parts of the country campaigns sprang up with appeals to buy 

 this and buy that. It was buy a barrel of apples, buy a sack of 

 salt, buy a box of biscuits, buy a barrel of flour, buy of box of 

 oranges, and so on down the whole line of begging for business. 

 It was not advertising, but was pleading for patronage. It often 

 sounds like a plea for charity, and reminded one of the pitiful song 

 of the orphan, ' ' Buy my Flowers. ' ' 



Not Goon Business 



Such a method is not good business, except in the precincts of the 

 pencil and chewing gum sellers who make direct appeals to the 

 buyer on the basis of sympathy with distress. 



That method is not in accord with American business principles. 

 No business man is going to buy much of anything in order to help 

 the sellers. If he wants to give to charity, he gives it out and out, 

 but does not mix his purchases with charity. He buys for his own 

 benefit, not for the benefit of the seller. The real appeal should be 

 made to the prospective purchaser to buy for his own profit. That 

 is sensible, legitimate advertising, but to ask him to buy to help the 

 seller along will elicit a very feeble response. 



The way to increase sales of manufactured articles is to increase 

 the demand for them, the desire on the part of the prosjjective pur- 

 chaser to possess them. Department stores advertise what they have 

 to offer and endeavor to point out how desirable the things are. 

 The California raisin growers send out beautifully printed recipe 

 books, telling how to prepare raisins for fooil and how good they are. 

 The person who looks over such an appetizing array of good things 

 experiences an increase of desire to eat them, and he is apt to become 

 a buyer. The appeal is much stronger than it would be if it came to 

 nim as a mendicant plea ' ' buy my raisins. ' ' The cranberry growers 

 are doing the same thing. They try to increase the desire for their 

 product on the part of would-be buyers. 



A Field for Business 



At this time all departments of the lumber business are greatly 

 concerned in the problem of increasing their sales. The supply of 

 lumber is generally greater than the demand, and that situation is 

 calculated to make the seller anxious. A concerted and systematic 

 campaign is about to begin for the purpose of selling more forest 

 products of all kinds. It is safe to say that the men who have this 

 campaign in charge will not send out any begging pleas to buyers to 

 purchase more lumber or articles made of lumber; but the work 

 will proceed along the line of showing how desirable wood is for 

 innumerable purposes. If the prospective buyer can be convmced that 

 wood is the most suitable material for his purpose, he will buy it and 

 use it; otherwise he will use something else. It is a cold business 

 proposition ; nothing more and nothing less, and appeals to charity and 

 sympathy will amount to very little. 



It is a large field, and there is no doubt that returns will be satis- 

 factory if the field is properly worked. Those who contemplate build- 

 ing houses should be convinced that wood is better for many kinds 

 of buildings, and for some parts of all buildings, than any other 

 material. The decorative value of shingles for roofs, and their other 

 desirable qualities, ought to be shown in a way to convince the archi- 

 tect or builder that it will be to his advantage to use shingles. Sim- 



ilar argument will apply to street paving. The fitness of wood for 

 parts of vehicles may be the basis of an argument that will win a 

 market for this material in the vehicle factory. The cheapness, suf- 

 ficiency, and desirability of the wooden box will impress all users who 

 ought to make shipments in this dependable container. The same 

 argument will hold for the barrel as a shipping container. 

 False Pretenses Detected 



Nothing will be gained by claiming too much for wood. The 

 modern business man is quick to see through false pretenses. Give 

 this material its due, and claim no more for it. There is no need of 

 overstating the case or of asking any one to take wood on faith. 

 No permanent good will result from attempts to push wood into uses 

 where it will not give satisfaction. There are too many places which 

 it can fill without question to make it necessary to claim more for it 

 than it will do. 



It cannot be denied, and no one should deny, that change is taking 

 place in the use of wood along many lines. It held places once 

 which it has now lost; and it holds places now which it did not fill 

 some years ago. It comes and goes, but the field for its usefulness 

 is constantly widening. It has its rivals, which sellers of wood call 

 "substitutes;" but the competition, in the main, is fair. If wood 

 loses ground which it should hold, it is because the rival material is 

 more intelligently advertised. The remedy does not consist in humbly 

 pleading with purchasers to buy articles of wood, but rather to show 

 them, in a manly, face to face way, how it will be to their advantage 

 to buv and use wood. 



The Summer Log Stock 



Some hardwood niillmen carry heavy stocks of logs on their yards 

 all the time, this being necessary to provide against interruptions 

 to logging operations and to have at all times plenty of timber 

 available to meet special calls. Logs are a splendid asset for the 

 sawmill, but they constitute an asset that depreciates some in the 

 summer, therefore the true conservatives among the millmen seek 

 to clean up their log supply pretty close in midsummer. 



Logs cut in the winter and piled on the yard will, when the 

 summer rains and sun come, begin to show signs of souring and 

 decay, usually in the latter part of June or the first of July. With 

 some timber the main damage is to the outside sap wood, but there 

 are some species of timber that will sour, lose strength and discolor 

 more or less all the way through if kept piled on the yards through 

 the summer months. Bo it is always best where possible to make 

 a clean up along in June or July. Then during the summer months 

 keep the log stock comparatively low, supplying just the needs of 

 the mill until the height of the sap-staining season is past and it is 

 time for the fall cutting. 



It is in the summer that we are often reminded of the advantages 

 of winter cutting of logs, because those cut in the summer while 

 the sap is high will sour and show signs of decay much quicker 

 than winter cut logs and they also attract insects more. Of course, 

 where there is provision to store the logs in water all this can be 

 guarded against but the heavier hardwoods are not easily handled in 

 water storage, consequently the better plan is to reduce the log stock 

 to the lowest practical minimum during the summer months by 

 turning it into lumber, and even the lumber should be carefully 

 piled with plenty of air spaces that it may season clean and remain 

 free from sap stain and decay. 



Heretofore the ship and boat building industry has called for about 

 200,000,000 feet of lumber a year. We ought to be about doubling 

 that rate of consumption now, and on the way to make it an even 

 half billion feet in 1910. 



While that $3,000,000 fire was something of a joke on Edison and 

 concrete, the fact remains that all the talk about it will not result 

 in the use of a greater percentage of lumber in the rebuilding. The 

 way to exploit lumber is not through poking fun at other materials 

 but through finding its best use and advocating it consistently. 



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