HARDWOOD RECORD 



uot fail to rojuvennto the oUl-timo fnavination for the nrtii^lic iiikI 

 beautiful homo buiMini; of wmul. It must be kept up roiitiiuiouitl.v 

 ju»t a» the fruit jKjopIo nr«> ap|Hitlinf; to tin* public tliroUKli tin- i>ori- 

 udicalM, ciiiienvoriiii; to wtimulnto fruit consumption. Furtlifrmoro, 

 ■liii ox|H)sition must bo continuoil, ouch year liottor than the pre- 



■ linK one. 



;>. Wc must advertise to ourselves. The National must keep up 

 a bombardment amonj; lunibor manufacturers with the end iu view 

 to awaken them to the necessity of modem morchamlisinR and pub- 

 '•■•ity work. I do not know but that this effort should have been nien- 



•aed first, as for a few years, at least, it is of first importance. 



i. A research de|>artmcDt, with a corps of field men headcil by a 

 :iu who is a real economist, should be oiwned up. A few of its 

 : iiictious should lie as follows: 



la) A chart should 1)0 issued at intervals indicntiu); increases 

 and decreases in consumption, indicating where this occurs and to 

 what substitutes it is tending. It should show data regarding the 

 effect on lumber consumption, due to shifting population from one 

 section to another, as, for instance, the heavy migration of farmers 

 from the Middle West and Northwest into Canada. It could supply 

 accurate crop data. It could even extend its work to furnishing 

 market reports on all woods in each principal market. We can read 

 them daily on all other commodities. Why not on lumber! This 

 industry can not navigate and avoid the reefs without a chart. 



(b) This department should make a thorough investigation of 

 methods of distribution of our product, just such as has been made 

 recently for the textile and automobile industries. Such an investi- 

 gation would result in a report which would astonish all of us. I 

 had the pleasure of perusing a digest of the textile industry report 

 (the complete one consisted of four volumes, each the size of Web- 

 ster's Unabridged Dictionary) and the information it contained was 

 a revelation. It was not compiled by a textile man, but by one who 

 knew nothing of the industry, who had no preconceived opinions. He 

 was unbiased: he was an economist in industrial research. He was 

 able to offer valuable advice after fourteen months' work to those 

 interested in the textile industry. We may be overlooking many 

 channels of outlet which are important. Here is a quotation from 

 an advertisement appearing as part of a full-page department store 

 :id in one of our large city newspapers: 



How about that new shelf your wife wants you to put up In the linen 



■ •set. the pantry, the closet or whore not? You would build it tomor- 

 r vv if you only had the board, wouldn't you? Honestly, Isn't that the 

 .lilbl you are putting up to your wife? .\nd It's hard to solve, too. You 

 can't get the two 12-inch boards, 5 feet 2 inches, that arc necessary to 

 do the work without going to the mlil yourself and carrying them home 

 on your bacis or paying a messenger boy "two bits" up, or buying a load 

 of wood, or some such expedient as that. 



That is about the problem that hundreds of householders hereabouts 

 are compelled to face every time they want to do a little carpentry. 

 They can't gel the boards — hammer, nails, saw, square — can get them 

 almost anywhere, but boards — why It costs more to get them than the 

 Job Is worth. But no more — because for the convenience of Mr. Handy- 

 man and his wife and for the boy who "lilies to make things" this store 

 Is going to carry lumber — right np on the third floor, where you can 

 buy your hammer, nails, saw, square, your chicken wire, .vour books, 

 etc., iiou can bun I/our boariia. Whatever your needs In household lum- 

 ber we can supply them. This service is for your convenience. 



Now, gentlemen, here apparently is a lucrative field for short 

 lumber consumption. I believe that an investigation would ]>oint 

 out many such. 



(c) This research department should have men in the field lec- 

 turing at farmers' institutes on the merits of the wooden silo — 

 working with the city officials in the interest of wood block pave- 

 ments; on the proposition of mill construction as against so-called 

 fireproof construction in public and other buildings. I have just 

 received a clipping from a Portland (Ore.) paper, with a full column 

 write-up, headed "Fireproofed Wood Challenges Steel." The city 

 commissioners there next week together with the school board and 

 a committee of lumber manufacturers will witness the setting of fire 

 to a building of wood especially constructed. The heavy mill con- 

 struction is to be fireproofed with a layer one inch thick of a mix- 

 ture of asbestos and cement. Both asbestos and wood are non- 



I'onductorH of ho^t and not subject to oxpanaion and iihrinkago a» 

 is xlotd. Four times the ordinary amount of furniture is to Im- placed 

 in this one-room building to domonstrnto that it can bo burnnl 

 without ilostroying the building. If the tost proves sucponsful the 

 cummiltoo now at work on the rovinion of the building rode hnvo 

 promised to incorporate in the new code the necessary jirovisions to 

 niaku pusttiblo the erection of buihlings for county and city under 

 this method. The lumbermen's committee demonstrated that this 

 class of building could bo const ructeil for 7 to S centa a cubic foot, 

 as against the cost umler present roquirements of 13 to I'Vd cents 

 a cubic foot. Class "A" school buildings now costing $8,000 a 

 room in Portland could be built for $2,S00 a room and be a more 

 safe construction. Why is not this the work of the Natlon.il every- 

 where i 



(d) The power of suggestion couM be worked in reading matter, 

 aiivertising, distribution of literature to definite good effei-t. 



It is far easier to get a man to repair an old house than to build 

 a new one. There are thousands of homes that would l>e remodeled 

 annually if the matter was urged by steady and intelligent fiersonal 

 solicitation, backed by suggestion. 



Take the agricultural implements that are now permitted to remain 

 in the corner of the field after the seasonal use. They aggregate 

 thousands in number. They should be housed with profit to the 

 owner and to the lumber industry. Suggestion will accomplish it. 



(e) The lumber and allied interests of the United States should 

 inaugurate a national manual training movement in the grammar 

 grades of the public schools. Just stop and think of the ultimate 

 effect — a nation of wood users could be developed in ten years if 

 the millions of boys and girls could use a hammer and saw with 

 reasonable dexterity. The time to instill this instinct into the child 

 is between the ages of six and twelve, not after entering the high 

 school. A general campaign of this kind might also have its effect 

 on the "back to the soil" movement. 



The Zone Associ.\tion 



The association composed of manufacturers of one district usually 

 producing one wood principally, must work toward the end of secur- 

 ing as large a cut as possible of this "National" pie. Provided 

 it works along in the channels where its wood is most adajitalde, it 

 can, in many lines of endeavor, supplement the very work of the 

 National without the results being anything but of benefit to both. 

 There is bound to be some conflict of statements between associations 

 in pushing their respective goods, some overlapping, but a studieil 

 effort to avoid this will reduce it to a minimum. If the general 

 effect is increased lumber consumption the desired result is obtained. 



The "Zone" association can broaden its markets in three prin- 

 cipal ways: 



1. By a campaign to the consumer, the purchasing agent, architect 

 and contractor, through advertising and supplemented by dissemina- 

 tion of literature. 



2. By a campaign through the lumber press to engage tlic co- 

 operation of the dealer by furnishing him "copy," cuts, etc 



.'5. By sending personal representatives into the field to work 

 among architects, dealers, home building companies, etc. If frame 

 constructed residences are the first appearing in a newly plotted 

 adilition in the suburbs of any city they are apt to have a far reach- 

 ing effect upon the type of houses covering the entire section. If 

 a stucco or brick house first appears many others follow. The field 

 men should have literature, samples, and be competent to give the- 

 facts relative to their lumber from all angles. All other ]>roducts 

 are exploited through the dealer by giving him the personal co- 

 operation of a representative of the manufacturer. The lumber yard' 

 has developed into a builders' Supply depot, where the percentage 

 of substitutes for lumber sold runs from .35 to 60 per cent. The- 

 dealer is developing all the tirtie into a better merchant. The mail' 

 order house, the hardware competitor selling substitutes, the junction 

 jioint yard are all forcing him into more vitalized selling. He is: 

 getting assistance from all producers of goods he handles except 

 from the lumber producer. The representative of the "Zone" as- 

 sociation can cooperate with him to certain benefit. 



