October 25, 1915. 



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The Lumbermen s Round Table 



The Long Log Proposition 



Long lumb<!r, the delight, though not always the necessity, of the 

 consumer, cannot he made without long logs: that seems to be fairly 

 clear. Henco the problem of the sawmill man who is buying his 

 logs in the open market is how to get people who own timber to 

 cut the logs long. Thro\igh middle western and central southern 

 territory, lumber manufacturers complain generally of the difficulty 

 of getting a high enough percentage of 14 and 16-foot logs, which 

 they need in order to "sweeten" the stocks which they are putting 

 on their yards and offering for sale. 



At that, however, experience in a good many cases has demonstrated 

 that the concern which makes a definite effort to get more long logs 

 can do so. One sawmill man who had given his log buyer special 

 instructions along this line found that he was getting about 10 per 

 cent more long logs than he had received before, and without paying 

 any more money for them. 



As a general proposition, however, one must admit that there is little 

 incentive to the log man to cut his trees into long sections, especially 

 if the trees happen to taper rapidly. Measuring the log at the smaller 

 end gives him the worst of the deal on the footage proposition, and to 

 avoid this he is naturally inclined to cut the logs as short as possible, 

 10 or 12 feet, rather than 14 or 16. To offset this, the log buyer 

 ought to be willing to pay a sufficient premium for long logs to make 

 up for this loss of footage; but the objection there is that the maxi 

 mum price for long logs would soon become the regular price for logs 

 of all kinds. The sawmill man has had too many experiences along 

 this line to be anxious to establish a iHecedent in favor of higher 

 prices. 



Besides, the proposition is somewhat complicated in territories where 

 veneer manufacturers are competing for the logs by the fact that 

 the latter are not particularly anxious for long ones. They would 

 just as soon have lOfooters as not, as a general rule, and hence the 

 timberman, realizing that he has a market for his logs, long or short, 

 is hardly likely to go out of his way to make them long. 



Another practical angle on the subject is that the long log is less 

 likely to be a clear log. That is, if the limbs grow low, the owner 

 of the tree is certainly going to make his log short enough not to 

 show the marks, especially as he can't see any increased value in 

 the long log to make up for the loss of grade or the loss of footage, 

 either. Not all sawmill men are clamorous for long logs, though 

 some of them point out that in sawing tapering logs of this type, 

 there is bound to be a greater loss in squaring up and edging, and 

 that the resuITs, as far as footage and grade arc concerned, are 

 better with the short fellows. 



In broken country, where modern logging equipment is not avail- 

 able for handling logs, the tendency is of course to cut them as short 

 as practicable, so as to make it easier to load and haul them. But 

 this consideration in most cases is not of so much effect as the fea- 

 tures to which attention has already been called. 



Briefly, the sawmill man who wants long logs — a lot more than 

 he is getting now — must be prepared to pay something of a premium 

 for them, in order to induce their production; otherwise he can 

 hardly hope to see the log men hastening to improve conditions in this 

 respect without getting a quid pro quid. 



From the Consumer's Standpoint 



Consumers are a bunch of tough guys. 



Ask any lumber salesman; confirm his statements by the remarks of 

 any lumber manufacturer. 



Consumers want the lowest jirices in the market, and won't consider 

 anything but the quotation. 



And yet — 



The writer was recently in a furniture factory where the head 

 of the business admitted that he was paying $3 a thousand more 

 for plain oak than he could get it for from other sources. But he 

 pronounced himself perfectly satisfied with the deal, because he 

 believed that he was getting better lumber. 



He went into the factory and pointed to finished goods made of 

 that material. They had looks and class; they had finished well; 

 the oak, even the plain stock, had enough character to it to attract 

 favorable attention. 



"Lumber," said this consumer, "is the foundation of the job. 

 You can't take scrubby, trashy lumber and get a high-grade table 

 or ease. You have got to have the best material to get the best 

 results in the form of furniture. I know that a great many furniture 

 maunfaeturors try to eat their cake and have it, too, by the simple 

 process of buying the cheapest lumber to be had; but I know from 

 experience that it pays to bnj- high-class lumber. We are perfectly 

 satisfied to pay above the market price for this stock, because we 

 are convinced that it has value in keeping with the price. And the 

 way our customers approve the goods we are shipping them is just 

 another proof that we are operating along the right lines." 



Did you ever hear a lumber buyer talk like that? Mo? Well, 

 maybe you haven't been using the quality argument as much as the 

 price quotation line of talk. 



Opportunities in Custom Work 

 riiG concei'n which has a lot of expensive machinery in its i)lant 

 naturally wants to keep that equipment operating as much as pos- 

 sible. When business is quiet, its own requirements probably do not 

 furnish a sufficient volume of work to keep the plant going regularly. 

 The obvious answer to the question of how to get good results under 

 such conditions is to do the same sort of work for people on the 

 outside. 



Custom planing is a regular proposition, and so is custom kiln- 

 drying. Those with planers and kilns have seen the opportunities 

 for profit in performing special service for others and this applies 

 likewise to anybody else who has special facilities of any kind. A 

 panel manufacturer recently ran across a dimension stock man who 

 was anxious to have some jointing done. This was easy money 

 for the former, and it saved the latter a lot of trouble, besides 

 enabling him to cinch an order that could not have been handled 

 other'Aise. 



Business of this sort is mutually advantageous and profitable. 

 It enables the customer to get necessary work done in a convenient 

 and economical way, and it gives the operator of the equipment a 

 chance to keep his machinery going, and to make a profit on its 

 use. Look around your plant and see if you have any out-of-the- 

 ordinary equipment the use of which would be of benefit to some- 

 body else in your town; and then, if you're not so busy as you'd like 

 to be, sell them your services in that particular connection. 



Kilns in Wholesale Yards 



Although practically all consumers of any consequence have their 

 own dry-kilns, this fact does not necessarily mean that drying fa- 

 cilities are not needed by the manufacturer or wholesaler of lumber. 

 On the other hand, it sometimes emphasizes the advantage of having 

 kilns, because the buyer is in a position to appreciate it. 



This was suggested recently by the report that a big wholesaler 

 in an automobile factory center is planning to put in kilns in order 

 to supplement those of his customers in that town, including some 

 of the leading builders of motor car bodies. The latter have consid- 

 erable kiln capacity, but often this proves to be insufficient; and 

 to be able to get lumber already dry, and ready to go into the 

 factory instead of the kiln, is quite an advantage. 



The up-to-date manufacturer who is using hardwoods has as a 

 fixed policy the plan of taking his lumber from the car and putting 

 it into the kiln, saving investment and handling expenses. Hence he 

 doesn 't like to yard any more stock than he has to, and as a matter 

 of fact often has very little room in which to carry excess supplies 

 of lumber. Hence, from this standpoint, also, the services of the 

 wholesaler who will provide kiln space for his stock, and will hold 

 it until he needs it, delivered at his factory door, is providing a 

 feature which is well worth while. 



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