HARDWOOD RECORD 



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next lot. You can 't do that today in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, 

 Peoria, Springfield, or any otlier fair-sized town — the building has to 

 go up into the air, and it has been forced to go higher and higher, 

 and the sky-scraper, a product of modern invention within the last 

 thirty years, is the result. You could not properly use lumber for 

 that. The result of congestion in our industrial life has been to 

 produce this new type of structure, which takes the place of the 

 spread-out type which existed when laud was available at all points. 



Where we used to build forty buildings, one story high, and build 

 them of wood, we now build one building forty stories high, and build 

 it of steel and tile and concrete, and necessarily so. The effect is, of 

 course, that the lumber industry has lost a demand for material to be 

 used in the construction of forty buildings. 



But building is not the only thing that lumber can be used for. 

 \ again refer to Exhibit A. 



• New Uses fob Lumber 



All around us we see. large businesses being established for the 

 manufacture of new products of which the raw material is wood. 

 i<ut these things are being invented and their sale promoted by other 

 interests, and not by the lumber industry. Surely if this great in- 

 dustry got behind a department of research and investigation and in- 

 \ention and determined new places for the use of the product it would 

 have a tremendous effect on the industry, but you would have to tell 

 )ieople about them. Merely inventing a thing does not sell it; merely 

 making it does not sell it. You must have demand to make a profit. 



I am not a lumberman but I have in mind today three things for 

 which the use of lumber has never been promoted, and I am convinced 

 that the slightest investigation would show tremendous possibilities 

 for the sale of lumber in all thcfe directions if the material were 

 promoted for these purposes. 



Being an advertising man you would naturally assume that I would 

 speak entirely from the advertising standpoint, or rather what some 

 men consider as advertising — that is, merely the use of the printed 

 word and picture. On the contrary, I say that advertising can pro- 

 duce maximum efficiency only when it is supported and aided and 

 co-operated with by every selling force in the industry. 



Advertising does nothing but sow the seed. If given time of course 

 it will eventually produce the crop, but it will produce that crop in 

 infinitely less time, with infinitely greater results if the ground is 

 carefully cultivated and tended, if intelligent, intensive cultivation is 

 given by all the sales forces of the industry. To sum up, then, I 

 would say, from the standpoint of the advertising man, considering 

 the lumber industry, do not despise small things, they will grow. 



The little break in the dike of inertia and ignorance, especially if 

 it is helped and broadened by intelligent effort, will produce a flow 

 of demand aud of profitable selling and merchandising. 



The greater difficulty that is met with, in attempting to formulate 

 definite methods for this result, is to secure intelligent, enthusiastic, 

 active co-operation from all sources. The lumber industry is so big, 

 so widely ramified in so many different channels and directions that 

 it cannot be educated to these things in a day, but when once so edu- 

 cated the market results will be most beneficial. 



FROM THE STANDPOINT OF THE SALESMAN 



The salesman follows the advertising agent in the lumber 

 selling campaign. He strikes while the iron is hot, and not 

 infrequently helps to heat the iron ready for striking. He knows 

 the difficulties in the way of making sales, and is acquainted 

 with means for removing them. He is the connecting link 

 between producer and consumer. The following is a discussion 

 of merchandising lumber by M. B. Nelson, general sales manager 

 of the Long-Bell Lumber Company, Kansas Cit}', Mo. 



The subject on which I have been asked to address you is one which, 

 no doubt, all of you, like myself, know something about in a general 

 way, but when it comes to passing upon the true merits of the sub- 

 stitutes, or how to combat the infringement upon the interest of the 

 lumbermen, possibly few, if any of us, have given it enough considera- 

 tion even to solve the problem in our own minds, to say nothing of 

 the action necessary to make our ideas effective. 



There is so much to be said on the subject that I can only dwell 

 upon the surface, so to speak, as time will not permit of my going 

 into details. 



We have made impi-ovements in the methods of logging and manu- 

 facturing, but little or no advancement or improvement in merchandis- 

 ing or in promoting the use of our product. Practically the only 

 change is, the manufacturers are selling more lumber direct to the 

 retailer, and have added some expense by increasing the number of 

 salesmen. We have given scarcely any thought to the real merits 

 of our product. We have little or no data, intelligently compiled, to 

 pass out to the public substantiating our claims as to the merits of 

 wood products. The cypress manufacturers, during the last year or 

 two, have done more than any other wood manufacturers in this direc- 

 tion. How many lumbermen can go before the public today and 

 defend the merits of their product? We have given but little con- 

 sideration to what the buyer does with the lumber after the sales are 

 made and the contracts completed; we have given but little attention 

 at the time of making the sales to whether the buyer was buying a 

 quality of lumber best adapted for the purpose intended. The thought, 

 apparently, has been to make the most profit we could out of the 

 order. And in many cases, if the manufacturer has found that the 

 buyer would accept "la quality of lumber inferior to what his order 

 called for the lowest acceptable grade or quality has been shipped, 

 regardless of whether or not it would answer the purpose. As a 

 result, a quality of lumber has often been used for purposes for which 

 it was unfit, and because of this abuse the use of lumber has been 

 condemned. 



Many of our troubles are due to the methods of some wholesale 

 lumbermen who have no interest in timber, and the success of whose 

 business is measured wholly by the profit as between the purchase 

 price to the manufacturer and the selling price to the retailer or 

 consumer. Competition, and the lack of knowledge of the users of lum- 

 ber have caused such wholesalers as this to sell one grade to the buyer 

 and buy a lower grade from the manufacturer, and take their chances 

 on having the purchased grade accepted. Many methods are resorted 

 to in accomplishing this end, some of which have been dishonest. As 

 a result, the use of lumber, for many purposes, is suffering, and it has 

 given the substitutes greater opportunity for their introduction. 



I believe the manufacturers should give more attention, first, to 

 seeing that the architectural engineers and users of lumber throughout 

 the country are better educated as to the true merits of each wood 

 species in such a manner as will cause them to use the quality or grade 

 of lumber best adapted for the purpose intended; second, when the 

 orders are placed, see that the manufacturer or wholesaler furnishes 

 the grade and quality of lumber called for on the order. Heretofore, 

 our associations have devoted their energies more in protecting the 

 manufacturer against unjust claims, leaving it to the buyer and con- 

 sumer to protect themselves. I think it is just as much to our in- 

 terest for the associations to see that the buyer and consumer of lum- 

 ber get what they buy. 



Encroachment of Substitutes 

 Y'ears ago, when stumpage was not worth anything, and lumber so 

 cheap, the substitutes had little or no chance to enter into competition, 

 but now that the forests are being depleted and the price of stumpage 

 has advanced, there is greater opportunity for their encroachment, 

 and the manufacturers of substitutes are taking advantage of it. 

 Having had to create a market for their product they have educated 

 themselves along lines in which we lumbermen are deficient. Lumber 

 having been used so long we have taken it for granted that the 

 people know all about its uses, quality and classification, and, hence, 

 have not considered it necessary to spend any energy trying to educate 

 them. But the inroads made by the stubstitutes in the last few years 

 is causing us to realize the seriousness of the situation. I do not 

 wish to take up your time enumerating all the changes that have 

 come about, because no doubt, you are familiar with the many uses 

 lumber has enjoyed that have been displaced by substitutes. About 

 the only articles which seem to enjoy immunity are sounding boards 

 in pianos, axe handles aud ox yokes. 



The array of arguments being put forth by the substitutes would 

 cause a Shakespeare or Webster to turn green with envy. In some 

 cases there is merit, but many of their contentions are not substanti- 

 ated by facts. And while false contentions being made by them at 

 present may react against them later on, it is hurting the lumber 



