March 10, 1916 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



IS 



of the active directors of the associations which are endeavoring to 

 carry out plans of this character, are hampered more than in almost 

 any other work before the same associations, by the lack of co-opera- 

 tion among the members; by the general tendency to let the other 

 fellow do it, to sit by and wait for the good information that comes 

 from the other man's stock statistics and sales prices and use this 

 information for one's own good without sharing in the general effort. 



There can be no more selfish and no more narrow-minded attitude 

 than this. 



Standardizing of lumber values is the most desired and the most 

 essential accomplishment from both the consumers' and the sellers' 

 standpoint. The consumer is certainly entitled to definite informa- 

 tion as to what he should figure his raw material cost. lie has to 

 set his price for his finished goods at a certain figure and has to 

 state it in advance. He puts on his exhibits at the various furniture 

 shows, sells his goods on order for six months in advance in some 

 cases, and then goes ahead to manufacture. What if some lumber- 

 man in the meantime, or some group of lumbermen, suddenly decide 

 that they ought to get a few dollars more a thousand for their oak, 

 for their gum, for their birch, or whatever wood is being used? 

 This would completely upset the manufacturer's figures and he 

 doesn 't know where he is going to land. 



It is true, of course, that even with the possibility of stabilizing 

 prices and making advance pronouncements as to probable future 

 values, the same possibility would exist. However, the buyer does 

 not treat the seller's confidential information as to likely increases 

 in the price of lumber seriously because he has never been convinced 

 that the lumberman himself knows with any definite certainty what 

 may be expected. 



The value of absolute knowledge on which to base a fair scale 

 of prices lies in the fact that it would enable the seller of hardwood 

 lumber to speak with absolute certainty, which in turn would make 

 the buyer ultimately realize that these prognostications were reliable, 

 and would enable him to do his own figuring, accordingly, on an 

 authentic basis. 



As it is, nobody knows how much stuff is on hand at the mills, 

 how much is on hand at the factory, and what the actual demand 

 should be. A striking illustration of this was shown at a big 

 southern producing point recently. One manufacturer after another 

 came to see a shortage in his own stocks, and in the beginning every 

 last one of them thought he was going to be able to put something 

 over the other fellow by buying somebody else's lumber and holding 

 his own logs for better values. Every one of them proceeded to 

 work along these lines and it was only a question of time when all 

 saw the light and realized that there wasn 't any lumber. Then they 

 all had to get busy and manufacture it, the result being that in the 

 meantime there existed a distinct shortage in this stock which effected 

 an upset in value and calculations. - 



With absolutely correct figures of production, of available mill 

 and consumers' stocks, there would be no need of any combination 

 to control values. Everybody has intelligence enough to know what 

 to ask for his stock and how rapidly he should manufacture if he 

 knows the exact proportion of supply and demand. But until there 

 is some means effected for accurately and consistently tabulating 

 this information, we can hope for nothing but a state of chaos that 

 works to the injury of everybody. 



When Are Salesmen Salesmen? 



UNDER THE ABOVE CAPTION a commissioner of a large 

 furniture association issues a special circular revealing certain 

 conditions surrounding the sales end of the furniture business, which 

 possibly will apply in many other directions also. 



The circular is based on a letter received from a commission fur- 

 niture salesman who solicited the account of a certain manufacturing 

 concern, saying that he could sell from twenty to thirty cars a sea- 

 son of the manufacturer's goods, but would either have to have a 

 special discount or would personally rebate his large customers so 

 that the manufacturing company would not get into any trouble. It 

 is stated that competitors of the manufacturer solicited were ' ' get- 



ting away with" the same arrangement, and that "any inside" he 

 would give his big customers would be treated as strictly confidential. 



This is but the old bugbear of cut-prices dressed up iu a little 

 different apparel. It is something which it is pretty difficult to get 

 away from. 



Surely no conscientious and self-respecting furniture manufacturer 

 should knowingly make a selling arrangement with a man of this 

 caliber. On the face of it his statement of what he can do and how 

 he will do it indicates dishonest methods or at least the prospect of 

 dealings "below the board." It can always be safely assumed that 

 the man who will play wrong with another will play wrong with the 

 firm that he represents. 



Can anybody in any line of business afford to be represented by 

 such an individual, whose sole claim to salesmanship is that he has 

 a certain inside track that enables him to put over questionable 

 practices without trouble to the manufacturer? 



Rumor of Big Timber Deal 



TT SHOULD BE EMPHASIZKD AT THE START that the report 

 1 of an enormous timber deal in California is no more than a 

 rumor at present; and the probability of its consummation is so 

 remote that no one should become prematurely excited. According 

 to 'the talk, a syndicate which is supposed to have the backing of 

 the French and British governments, has begun negotiations, or 

 inquiries, looking to the purchase of all the redwood and pine lands 

 in California for $200,000,000. 



If that should be carried out, it would be the largest single pur- 

 chase of timber ever made in the world, where land did not go vrith 

 the timber. The Louisiana purchase included more timber than that, 

 but the land was included with it, and the whole price was only 

 $3,000,000. 



The rumored deal for California timber is unlikely to be carried 

 out, for several reasons. In the first place, the price is too low. 

 It figures out only about fifty-two cents a thousand feet stumpage, 

 based on the estimated stand of 381 billion feet in California. The 

 owners of the timber will not sell it at that price. It is doubtful 

 if they would touch less than two dollars a thousand feet, or $800,- 

 000,000 for the stumpage in the state. That is a substantial differ- 

 ence from the rumored $200,000,000, and eve;n the smaller is so 

 large a sum that great trouble would be experienced in financing a 

 deal for even that amount. 



There is another obstacle in the way of purchasing the timber of 

 the whole state as a block. A large part of it belongs to the United 

 States government and is in forest reserves. It may be taken for 

 granted that the government will not sell its timber according to 

 any such arrangement as that proposed. Its policy is to hold timber 

 in the reserves and sell it in small bounds to the highest bidders, 

 as it is needed by the people. To dispose of its timber in a whole 

 state like California, at one sale, and at the ridiculously low price 

 of fifty-two cents stumpage, would be directly opposite to the policy 

 heretofore announced for disposing'of government timber. 



The rumored purchase is interesting, but it should not be taken 

 seriously until something more practical appears than has yet been 

 observed. 



One trouble with setting a standard of efBciency for the average 

 man in a given kind of work, is that before a standard can be estab- 

 lished and put into use a new record is mado and a higher standard 

 created. 



The amount of electrical knowledge necessary in the equipment of 

 the average woodworking mechanic is growing larger all the time, 

 and fortunately the facilities for obtaining knowledge are increasing 

 in equal ratio. 



Of course a foreman has his troubles and his work cut out for him. 

 If he didn't have, what excuse would there be for the distinction 

 and higher salary that goes with f oremanship ? 



