TH£ SILVER LINING 

 A hiir.lwoo.l himlMTiiinii who iii<isls on Wing iiii ii|>thiii»t, no 

 ittor whnt turnn uji to nmko him fi'i-l Muo. poiiitfil out ro.ciilly 



■ ..' fintiiro of the situation whiih niny In- pnumol by tho Kuroi>i'iiii 

 ' ir thnt is fnvornblp. 



"Wo may have to hoM somi> of our lumber fur n while," he saiil, 

 liut it's (letting drier nil the time, nnil we will be nble to snve 

 M>U({h in froighf to jiay for the cost of holilini; it. After all, it 

 ly be n cooil investment to keep it on sticks a few months 



■ i.ger." 



An«l. as a. matter of fact, there are many large domestic con 



- nners who want V)ig blocks of dry stock all at one time. The 



iicern which can supply only a car of dry material cannot com- 



. to for this business, but the house which has enough lumber ready 



■ ■ ship to take care of a .')00,000 or 1,000,000-feet order is in a 

 position to get the trade without n struggle. Hence the enforced 

 holding of stock at i>re8ent may turn out to be a blessing in 

 disguise. 



USE THE CORRECT TERMINOLOGY 



"It aoi's against the ^'rain," said :i proinim-nt vcnccr iiianu- 

 facturer, who has been in the business long enough to know what 

 he is talking about, "to hear a rotary cutting machine spoken of 

 as n 'lathe.' It isn't a lathe. A lathe is a turning machine, which 

 is an entirely different proposition, and the rotary machine ought 

 to be properly distinguished from it. Yet some veneer manufac- 

 turers refer to their equipment as 'lathes,' and so it is no wonder 

 that those outside of the trade often make the same mistake. It 

 - one, however, that no well-informed person ought to commit." 



The same manufacturer, who must not be thought finicky, but 

 merely accurate, called attention also to the folly of classing the 

 entire product of a rotary machine as "veneers." He said that a 

 lot of trouble is caused by shipping as veneer stock which is too 

 thick to come in this classification, the railroads seldom overlooking 

 tho situation and taking pains to "call" the offender. 



Calling a rotary machine a lathe is a good deal like referring to 

 nil engraving as a "cut." This is one of the things that photo- 

 • iigravers are quite sensitive about, and they are trying to educate 

 tlioir customers to refer to their product exclusively as "engrav- 

 ings." The word "cut" is so generally used, however, to denote 

 any kind of illustrating medium that it will be a long time before 

 the error can be corrected. But it ought to lie much easier to 

 restrain pi'oi.lo from snyin-.; "Inthc" when they mean rotary 

 machine. 



THE INSPECTOR'S COMPLAINT 



' ' Lumbermen don "t always give the in.spector the credit that is 

 due him," said one of the latter fraternity the other day during a 

 lull in the proceedings. "A really good inspector is worth all the 

 money the boss can pay him. Of course, there are other kinds, 

 but they are seldom overpaid. 



"I know a hardwood man — not the chap I work for — who treats 

 his inspectors as though they were not above the grade of the 

 lumber shovers. If the inspector isn't busy tallying and grading, 

 he puts him to work in a crew. That would take the heart right 

 nut of any inspector worthy of the name. 



"There is another lumberman who says that he would fire any 

 inspector of his who owned an automobile. The money paid to 

 his and many other inspectors wouldn't support a car iu the style 

 to which it has been accustomed, of course, but there is no reason 

 why a good man shouldn't earn enough to be able to trundle his 

 Ford around town. 



"But paying the inspectors too little means simply that the good 

 men aren 't going to stay inspectors very long. If the lumbermen 

 want mediocre men, and want them to have just about a nickel 's 

 worth of brains, all right; but I'm glad there is an occasional 

 hardwood man -sOho sees the advantage of having an inspector who 

 can think, along with his other qualifications." 



—26— 



ADVLUTISINU VENEERED WOUK 



The public is grndunlly being educated to the val..e of veneered 

 work of various nuinufarturers of veneered proilucts who, iDHtead 

 of disguising this fact, or putting the soft peilnl on it, arc making 

 a positive Helling argument of the condition. 



Tho National Veneer Products Company, which mnko^ the Inde 

 structo trunk, has done good work not only for itself but for 

 manufai-turors of built up gooils generally, by its advertising cam- 

 paign, in which the technical features of its procesHOH are ex- 

 plained, anil the advantages of having a trunk made of glued up 

 mnterialM are eniphnsiKod. That opens the jmblic's eyes to the 

 proposition, and when people hoar "veneered" after thnt. it 

 iloosn't convey the idea of "inferior" or "imitation." which it 

 often does to the uninformed. 



The manufacturers of the Franklin motor car have also beoh 

 hammering away at tho proposition from a new angle. In their 

 advertising they have pointed to the fact that instead of using n 

 body made of rigid metal, they have constructed it of laminated 

 wood, and that the wood, being resilient, is able to take up the 

 jars and vibrations, and thus causes the machine to ride easier 

 than one not so constructed. Perhaps "laminated wood" does not 

 suggest veneered work to the average person, but the idea will 

 soak in gradually, so that the man who appreciates the importance 

 of this construction in" an automobile body will come around to 

 seein^j that there are marked advantages also in getting furniture 

 made the same way, though for a different renaon. 



Those whose products involve the use of crossbanding could 

 make a point of this, going so far as to call their goods "rein- 

 forced." The use of this term has been suggested heretofore and 

 seems to be an adjective that couM be applioil to veneered work 

 very apjiropriatoly. 



THE LXmSERMAN AS A TALKER 



Since business became the subject of legislation, ami since trade 

 association grew to be a big and ]iositive force in commerce, busi- 

 ness men, formerly inarticulate and inexpressive, except as man to 

 man, have learned how to get on their feet and talk in a way 

 that convinces. 



Lumbermen as a whole have perhaps not appreciated the advan- 

 tages of being able to talk on their feet. Yet the opportunities 

 for the man appearing before a Congressional committee or 

 urging his point at a trade convention are as great in the lumber 

 field as elsewhere. 



Talking in public is largely a matter of practice. Lack of prac- 

 tice, therefore, is the chief handicaji of the lumberman who would 

 like to be able to present a proposition forcefully, before the right 

 l)eople at tl^e right time. 



Frequently the writer has attended meetings at which he has 

 heard auditors express themselves as being violently opposed to 

 the sentiments of a speaker; and yet, though the floor was open 

 to them, they did not rise to their feet, because they didn't regard 

 themselves as orators or as public speakers of any account. 



The lumberman ought to consider ability to talk before others 

 as a necessary business qualification. It is getting more necessary 

 all the time. You will note that the big business men who have 

 been quizzed by Federal and other investigating committees are 

 learning how to phrase their rejilies and point their statements so 

 as to create the right impression; and, after all, it is the form of 

 a remark rather than the essential meaning that often counts for 

 most. 



It isn't necessary to be able to "orate" and make the eagle 

 scream in order to be a good talker; but the straightforward, 

 forceful, simply-worded talk of the earnest, enthusiastic man 

 usually has the "punch" that carries conviction. 



