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HARDWOOD RECORD 



May 10, 1918 



The Future of Dimension Stock 



THE TEADE IS GEXEEALLY AGREED as to the status of 

 dimension manufacture. The use of a greater quantity of 

 dimension stock by all classes of woodworking factories is right- 

 fully considered an economic measure, both from the standpoint 

 of economy of national resources and of the woodworker's own 

 expense records. No one can rightfully take exception to this state- 

 ment nor to the further statement that the chief causes operating 

 against increased use of dimension are lack of standardization and 

 inability to realize fair values. Any exposition of the dimension 

 situation that has come up during the past few years is based on 

 these same premises which are actual and unchanged. 



Since it is everywhere agreed that increased use of hardwood 

 dimension stock is desirable from every standpoint and that this 

 progress is blocked by the attitude of the woodworker, it is obvious 

 that the education of the woodworker is essential. The consumer 

 must be educated to a realization that at the prices asked for 

 dimension, he can render a national service through its purchase, 

 can perpetuate his raw material supply, can help to minimize in- 

 creases in hardwood values in future years as supply decreases, 

 and can actually save himself money in operating cost. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, many woodworkers who still decline to use dimension 

 stock at prices asked adhere to that policy while at the same time 

 they admit they might save money through its use. They have 

 reached the erroneous conviction that dimension being a by-product 

 is a source of pure velvet to the lumber manufacture and therefore 

 should be sold without consideration of the actual cost of getting 

 it out at the sawmill. 



The educational propaganda should proceed along such lines, but 

 at the same time sawmill men contemplating dimension manufac- 

 ture would be justified in finding encouragement in certain phases 

 of the present economic situation. In the first place, there is a 

 distinct tendency among woodworking trades to standardize speci- 

 fications, dimensions and parts. This already shows concretely in 

 various cases the most notable being the adoption of standard 

 sizes and dimensions by the farm wagon manufacturers a short 

 time ago. Such general standardization will eventually make it 

 possible for the dimension manufacturer to pile up his stuff regard- 

 less of orders on hand, just as he does his lumber. The hardwood 

 man today is loathe to begin the dimension business because most 

 dimension stock is cut on special order and therefore, if for any 

 reason the order is cancelled or the material otherwise made un- 

 deliverable, he has an outright loss covering the entire raw ma- 

 terial and manufacturing charge. With standardization he can 

 proceed just as he does now with his standard boards. In othei 

 words, the manufacture of dimension will ultimately be considered 

 a regular part of sawmUling and as dimension will make up a 

 definite item in stock manufactured, facilities will be found for 

 disposing of it. Such an outcome would also have a favorable re- 

 action upon the woodworker, as he would eventually consider it in 

 the same light as lumber, that is, as part of the regular offerings 

 of the lumber manufacture, and would thus be gradually weaned 

 away from the idea that at prices asked he is paying an unneces- 

 sary sum to the sawmill man. 



The present war situation is also going to have its effect, as 

 practically all of the war work call^ for a very high grade of 

 lumber. Vast quantities of the very best stock are going to be 

 taken for war work at steep prices and in order to satisfy his needs 

 for clear material, the woodworker must buy clear cuttings in 

 dimension stock made from lower grades. This situation is de- 

 veloping now and as it becomes national in effect it will compel 

 the woodworker to seek dimension with the result that he wUl 

 have to pay fair prices. 



The ideal time to push the dimension idea is now. The project 

 could be advanced by close study of dimension possibilities on the 

 part of the sawmill man, taking into account the woodworker's 

 requirements in clear material. The lumber manufacturers should 

 do everything within their power to educate the woodworker to a 

 reasonable attitude towards dimension and should exert themselves 



to bring about standardization in materials used by woodworkers. 

 At the same time the woodworkers as a whole should at least open 

 their minds to reasonable suggestions regarding dimension stock, 

 for as stated, it is distinctly to their benefit that dimension manu- 

 facture be expanded. 



Open Prices Mean Better Sales 



SIXCE THE IXAUGURATIOX OF THE OPEX PEICE COM- 

 PETITION plan by the southern hardwood manufacturers 

 through the Hardwood Manufacturers' Association, there has been 

 noted occasional tendency to consider the proposition as more or 

 less an altruistic experiment, linked more with brotherly love than 

 with cold business sense. It seems almost incredible that modern 

 business men would adopt such an attitude, but it has cropped out 

 here and there. Where this opinion has developed, those holding it 

 have lost sight entirely of the big idea of the open competition 

 plan — the idea that it is a money-maker designed from a purely 

 common sense business standpoint. 



Lack of knowledge of costs in hardwood manufacture has led to 

 deplorable differences of opinion as to proper values. This condi- 

 tion has been almost traditional among hardwood manufacturers, 

 and it is only within the last few years that the trade as a whole 

 has begun to come out of the woods on cost figures and value deter- 

 mination. It will avail a manufacturer nothing if, after working 

 out an elaborate and accurate cost system, he must meet competi- 

 tion with manufacturers who do not know their costs and hence 

 the value of what they produce. No trade project can expect con- 

 sistent support from any trade if it does not give to its subscribers 

 a definite, beneficial effect on profits. That the open competition 

 plan does offer a concrete means of realizing bettter values is 

 evident not only through an analj'sis of the plan, but from actual 

 results that have been accomplished for the members. To illus- 

 trate, one prominent manufacturer writes the association as fol- 

 lows: 



From the information derived from your reports we were enablerl to 

 get an increased price on one sale of about enough to pay our association 

 expenses for one year, and this information we would have been unable 

 to secure had it not been for this report. 



It is obvious that this one man is probably not the only manu- 

 facturer who proposed selling this particular item at lower than 

 market. The chances are that a number of other members of the 

 plan were able to bring their prices level with the proper figure 

 through the same report that brought the additional profit to the 

 manufacturer writing as above. 



The general adoption of open price competition cannot fail to 

 bring about stabilized market values. Cost investigation is going 

 hand in hand with open price development, and the result will be 

 a common basis of figuring costs. and ascertaining values. There- 

 fore uniform prices will follow necessarily. The competition in 

 the future will then resolve itself into a question of economical and 

 high class manufacture and the development of greater efficiency 

 in sales methods and service. Thus the consumer of hardwood will 

 also benefit directly, as he will be insured, a steady market with 

 visible and non-fluctuating prices which will give him greater con- 

 fidence in the grade he will receive; he will get a better product for 

 a lower proportionate price because with hardwood manufacturers 

 on a manufacturing rather than a purely sales competition basis, 

 the comparative cost of producing will be reduced and it will not 

 be necessary for the manufacturer to guess as to what he must 

 add to get a profit; the lumberman and consumer wdll be brought 

 closer together through the development of service competition and 

 present antagonisms and misunderstandings will automatically be 

 eliminated. 



Representative manufacturers of hardwood owe it to themselves 

 as well as their industry to support the open price plan of competi- 

 tion and its attendent cost standardization project. The success- 

 ful development of competing industries that have operated on this 

 modern basis is the strongest possible argument in favor of such 

 general support. 



