18 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



February 10. l'J21 



Northern Operators Back Publicity Drive 



Annual Convention Pledges 2 Cents on Thousand of 1920 Cut to Help Revive 

 Building; Need for Extensive Advertising During Period of Severe Competition 



Is Keynote of Milwaukee Meeting 



The New Officers 



Till' following oftieers! wore elet-ti'd for the ensuing year at tliu 

 annual meeting of the Northern Henilork am! Hanlwooil Lumber 

 Manufaeturers' Association: 



President — M. J. Fox, Von-Platen Fox Ijumber Co., Iron Mountain, 

 Mich. 



Vice-President — C. C. 

 Rhinelander, Wis. 



Treasurer — George E. 

 Mellen, Wis., re-elected. 



Directors — G. N. Harder, R. B. Goodman, W, B. Clublne, Charles 

 Fish, C. J. Kinzel, E. A. Hamar. 



Bureau Chairmen and Directors Ex-Officio — Promotion, M. P. Mc- 

 CuUough; Statistics and Educational Information, Al Klass; Trans- 

 portation and Legislation, A. L. Osbom; Grades, J. E. McQuillan. 



Unanimous adoption of a 

 motion indorsing the rec- 

 ommendation of the direct- 

 ors of the National Lumber 

 Manufacturers' Asstjciation 

 that the constituent re 

 gional associations pledge 

 two cents per thousand feet 

 cut in 1920 to a fund for 

 general lumber publicity 

 purposes, epitomized the 

 forward-looking and opti- 

 mistic tone of the delibera- 

 tions of the Northern Hem- 

 lock and Hardwood Manu- 

 facturers' Association, in 

 .•innual session assembled, 

 at the Pfister Hotel, Mil 

 waukee, Wis., Jan. 27. 



This hearty indorsement of the National association's plan to 

 conduct a nation-wide advertising campaign to restore confidence 

 in and revive building, and at the same time tell the public the 

 truth about the lumber industry, came after a most convincing 

 address by E. B. Goodman, chairman of the Bureau of Economics 

 of the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association. Mr. Good 

 man officially reported the recommendation of the Board of 

 Directors of the National, which was adopted in Chicago on Satur 

 day, Jan. 22, following a meeting of duly authorized represent;! 

 tives of the lumber industry with representatives of various other 

 industries producing building materials, for the purpose of ascer 

 taining what co-operative action, if any, might be taken by the 

 building material industries to revive the building industry and 

 thus set in motion the machinery for solving the serious liousiui; 

 shortage of the country. 



The directors of the National had adopted their recomuieudation 

 ]iursuant to a resolution known as [iroposal number 1 of resolution 



."), adopted by a mass meeting of lumber- 

 men held in Chicago Jan. 5 and 6, on the 



call of Edward Hines and others, to take 



counsel as to the means of informing the 



public that lumber values are right for 



building. In this meeting the lumbermen 



concluded to first seek the co-ojieration of 



other building material industries, and if 



this did not result in a workable plan for 



building revival, to go ahead with their 



own campaign of publicity. 



Ill presenting the recoiiiuieiiilation, 



Mr. Goodman said that the force whicli 



now paralyzes building operations is 



largely psychological and that once the 



pre.iudices against building are removed 



from the public mind operations will go 



ahead with a rush. He believed that tin- 



proper kind of advertising might overcome 



this adverse psychological condition. ' ' The 



mind of man is the medium through which 



all the laws of economies work," he said. 



"and the mind of the prospective builder 



is now closed against building. The 



Collins, C. C. CoUtns Lumber Company, 

 Foster, Foster-Latimer Lumber Company. 



prospective builder has pre- 

 viously canvassed the situa- 

 tion and found it bad for 

 building. Now it is going 

 to take the biggest kind of 

 a jolt to get the people to 

 realize that conditions are 

 now favorable for building. 

 They must be convinced 

 that they can build this 

 year as cheaply as they can 

 for the ne.xt t.wenty years, 

 except for possibly small 

 percentages of reduction, 

 which the increase in value 

 of buildings erected now 

 will (juickly absorb." 



Mr. Goodman [iredicted 

 that tlie costs of building will recede on an average of 20 per cent 

 (luring the year 1921, and declared that this will mean more than 

 a normal year of building, provided the public can be brought 

 around to the viewpoint that little is to be gained by further 

 deferring building. He said that the prices of substitutes for 

 building lumber will seek the proper levels as soon as the public 

 w.akes up to the fact that lumber prices are at rock bottom and 

 begins to buy. 



Will Put Lumber Right 

 The other big phase of the campaign, Mr. Goodman explained, 

 will have to do with showing the public that the lumber industr.y 

 is not a closed corporation of profiteers, but that it is a free and 

 highly competitive industry, responsive to the pressure of all the 

 economic laws. The setting right of the public mind, he said, will 

 circumvent the attemjit of certain elements in and out of congress 

 to nationalize the industry. The necessities for tlie cani[ijiign are 

 so persuasive, he continued, that such men as Charles S. Keith of 

 Kansas Citj', who have always opposed 

 general publicity campaigns, are heart and 

 soul behind the present movement. The 

 campaign now planned is bigger in its :iims 

 than any other that the liiiiiber industry 

 lias ever contemplated, he said. 



Mr. Goodman estimated that between 

 two hundred ami two hundred ami fifty 

 thousand dollars will lie made available 

 for the c-ainiiaign through the two-cent 

 assessment on cut of the various regional 

 associations. Ten per cent of the assess- 

 iiii'iit is to be immediately available, ac- 

 rording to the motion adopted by the 

 .Xortlicni Hemlock and Hardwood Asso- 

 ciation. The money is to be ex|ieuded un- 

 der the direction of a publicit.v committee 

 romprising a representative selected by 

 each of the regional associations indorsing. 

 The lumber trade journals will be used to 

 arouse the retailers and secure their co- 

 operation in advertising in local papers, 

 .lournals of national circulation will be 

 used to reach the wiile general public. 



