HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



storm to pass, are not the constructive geniuses who build lasting 

 success. There is no truth, but a deal of danger, in the old saw that 

 ' ' all things come round to him who will but wait. ' ' Nothing comes 

 that way now, except disappointment and defeat. Opportunities are 

 apt to pass so rapidly that the waiting man fails to see them. ' ' Tiey 

 also serve who only stand and wait ' ' was Milton 's idea of it. Serve 

 what? Surely not their own interests. Milton had poor ideas of busi- 

 ness; otherwise he would not have sold the manuscript of "Paradise 

 Lost ' ' for forty dollars when it was worth forty thousand dollars. 



The present business situation in the United States calls for confi- 

 dence. The greater the obstacles, the greater the need of confidence, 

 and the more prompt and persistent the confidence, the greater the 

 results. The San Franciscans reasoned quickly and accurately that 

 tourists and business men who are accustomed to go to Europe, wUl 

 not go in 1915, and that the millions which they would have spent 

 abroad will be spent next year in the United States. Therefore, the 

 thing to do was to prepare a show which will draw them to California. 



Would it not be better for business men in general to strike a 

 similar attitude? A defensive state of mind does not inspire like one 

 that expects to accomplish something. Hannibal in addressing his 

 Carthagenian army said: "The hope and courage of assailants are 

 always greater than of those who act upon the defensive. With ban- 

 ners displayed, you are come down upon Italy. You bring the war." 

 Business men wUl do well to think that over. Though spoken twenty- 

 one hundred years ago, and intended to apply to armed invasion, it is 

 equally true today when applied to trade invasion. It is aggression, 

 not timidity, that wins. 



The Box Industry 



•-pHE GOVERNMENT'S REVISED FIGURES showing the annual 

 *■ production of boxes in the United States have been published 

 in a bulletin by the National Association of Box Manufacturers. A 

 summary of the bulletin appears in this number of Haedwood Record. 

 The yearly use of lumber for boxes and crates amounts to 4,547,273,180 

 feet, of which thirty-one per cent is hardwood. Nearly twelve per cent 

 of the total annual sawmill cut of lumber in the country is worked into 

 boxes. 



In proportion to the quantities of softwood and hardwood standing 

 timber in the United States, the use of the hardwoods for boxes is 

 twice as great as of the softwoods. It is estimated that the country 

 has six times as much softwoods as hardwoods, yet only a little mors 

 than half as much softwood goes into boxes. The reason for the 

 relatively greater use of hardwoods in the box industry is because 

 those forests are generally nearer to industrial centers where the demand 

 for boxes is greatest. The box maker is not so exacting in his demands 

 for lumber that he must have certain kinds, even if he must go long 

 distances to procure them. Generally he can get along with the kinds 

 which are most convenient, and he is more interested in the price of 

 the lumber than in any peculiarities of quality, provided the quality 

 is passable. 



The box maker can be truthfully classed as a most efficient aid to 

 forest conservation. He is able to use many grades and kinds of lum- 

 ber for which other manufacturers can find no place, and he thus 

 saves much which would otherwise be lost. By so doing, he provides a 

 market for stuff which might be left in the woods or as waste on 

 the mill yard. That fact is so well understood by manufacturers of 

 lumber that they show much interest in the success of the box maker. 

 The larger the output of boxes, the greater is the mill owner's oppor- 

 tunity to dispose of his low grade stock, and to derive a profit from 

 his operations. 



This is the fii'st complete census ever made of the box industry in 

 this country, and there being no previous figures with which to com- 

 pare data, it is impossible to determine the rate of growth, or the 

 extent of decline, of box making. Little reason exists for supposing 

 that the industry is declining; yet some persons, interested in the 

 wooden box business are alarmed at the progress of the fiber box. It 

 is doubtful if the alarm is wholly justified. The fiber box industry 

 has grown in recent years; but no one knows that the wooden box has 

 lost to a corresponding degree, or that it has lost at all. As much 

 as can be claimed without question is that, but for the increased use 



of fiber containers, the wooden box industry might have grown faster. 

 The two are competitors, and it is natural that rivalry should exist. 



Wooden box makers will not soon, probably never wiU, want for 

 lumber. The price may advance, in conformity with the advance in 

 lumber prices generally; but no time can be foretold in this country 

 when the supply of box lumber wUl fail. Forests planted by nature 

 or by man wiU produce box grades quickly. Young trees, limby to 

 the ground, are usable. Some of the New England region is now pro- 

 ducing from planted or protected forests all the box lumber used. 

 Long before trees are large enough for furniture, finish, and structural 

 uses, they are ripe for the box mUl. Some of the box makers or users 

 of former years may grow reminiscent and speak of the faultless 

 yellow poplar, white pine, and basswood which once went to the box 

 factory, but goes no more. Their memory is correct, but, fortunately, 

 the makers and the users of boxes have learned to get along with 

 lower grades, and of such grades there is no famine in sight. 



Sermon on Silos 



OMEBODY HAS FIKED a pretty hot shot into tile and con- 

 *^ Crete sUos. It is a pamphlet consisting almost wholly of pictures 

 which are supposed to tell their own story. There is no name or 

 place of publication on the pamphlet. The pictures consist of a 

 series of photo-engravings of sUos made of concrete or tile which 

 have come to grief through cracking, bursting, and collapsing. The 

 pictures were collected in a number of states, as may be ascertained 

 by reading the lines beneath them. Silos are shown in all stages 

 of catastrophe, from the simple crack ten feet long, to the shapeless 

 mass after the collapse. 



The purpose of the publication is apparent. It is another battle 

 in the war against substitutes. No one ever questioned, or had 

 occasion to question, the sufficiency and reliability of the wooden 

 silo. It has stood every test. It has given general satisfaction. It 

 is low in price, adequate in service, and of honest value. Fault- 

 finders have never been able to pick flaws with it. Yet the preacher 

 of substitutes has been abroad in the land, delivering his sermons 

 about silos, the same as about boxes and roofing, and he has been 

 able to persuade farmers to try cement or tile. He told the farmers 

 that such sUos would last forever. His story sounded reasonable; 

 but the results went wrong. In some instances the sermon on substi- 

 tutes cost the farmers from five hundred to fifteen hundred dollars 

 each. Experience is a dear school, but some people are never satis- 

 fied until they have taken a few lessons. There is no question that 

 some of those who tried tile and cement for silos consider that they 

 are now so well educated along that Hne that they need no more 

 lessons on substitutes. 



"Making Things Happen" 



iN ONE OF VICTOR HUGO'S BOOKS he describes certain per- 



1 sons who had a way of ' ' making things happen. ' ' Some of the 

 northern and western lumber associations have found a way to reach 

 the same end. They are accomplishing it by appealing directly to 

 the users of lumber, particularly the builders of houses and barns. 

 Books and circulars containing plans for structures of various kinds 

 and sizes, and specifications for the necessary lumber, and a some- 

 what itemized estimate of cost, aie distributed where they wUl do 

 the most good. The campaign is accomplishing results. 



There is abundant reason why it is successful. It appeals to the 

 man who is likely to need lumber. It sets him thinking. It does 

 part of his thinking for him, to the extent of suggesting plans for 

 buUding, figuring out the material, and telling what such and such 

 a build in g ought to cost. The man who has part of his thinking 

 done for him, is pretty apt to do some of it for himself. He knows 

 he would Uke to have a new buUding, and when the plans and cost 

 are spread before him, he is likely to begin figuring on the financial 

 end of the matter. If he finds that he can meet the expenses, he is 

 in a frame of mind to talk to the limiberman. 



The associations which are conducting campaigns of that kind 

 preach the merits of lumber. They have no substitutes to seU. 

 The plans which they send out are advertisements of wood and the 

 campaign is bound to bring results. 



