22 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



numerous inquiries reacliing tlie office of HAKD^yooD Kecord, asking 

 for sources of supply for items that ordinarily could be had from 

 many sources. Hence the outlook in the veneer and panel business 

 is very promising. 



In fancy woods and figured veneers the trade is stronger, and 

 those who have maho§3ny, Circassian and other fancy woods in either 

 lumber or veneer form to offer, are having a very substantial trade 

 at satisfactory prices. Solid mahogany has advanced ten to fifteen 

 dollars a thousand in the last three months, and figured woods and 

 veneers are showing a corresponding increase in value. 



The handle business is in fairly satisfactory shape. This is 

 notably true of broom handle production. Hickory handles are still 

 being manufactured and sold at prices that leave a very small 

 margin of profit. 



The Middleman's Wages 



There seems to he a popular disposition at the present time on 

 the part of many lumber manufacturers to depreciate the services 

 of competent wholesale merchants in the lumber trade, and a very 

 manifest tendency to go past this element of the trade in market- 

 ing their product. Beyond question there is an unfortunate element 

 mixed up in the distribution of lumber that might logically be weeded 

 out to manifest advantage. Beference is made to the class of 

 "scalpers" who sell liimber to "price-buyers" at less than its 

 value, and then execute these orders with undergrade stock in the 

 faint hope that the deal .can be put through with a profit to them- 

 selves. This method of trading has put not only this element of 

 the trade in disrepute, but also reflects ou the character and value 

 of the services of legitimate jobbers. 



The ordinary process of distribution of any product involves pri- 

 mary disposal of goods in wholesale quantities, with the expectation 

 of eventual disposal to the consumer in retail quantities. A manu- 

 facturer of lumber may do his own wholesaling, he even may do his 

 own retailing, but on his books there should appear all the necessary 

 charges for the service performed by his wholesale department and 

 for the service and the expense of his retail department. He is or 

 ought to be as much interested as anyone in anything which affects 

 the general attitude of the public towanls the distribution of his 

 goods. 



Today, in tlie lumber business as well as in many other lines, the 

 "middleman" is under surveillance if not to say suspicion. His 

 wages are in danger. The profits of the legitimate jobber of lumber 

 are generally exaggerated by the illy informed, and also by the con- 

 suming iiublic. It costs money — and a gooil deal of money— to in- 

 telligently market lumber, and while producers of lumber in large 

 quantities often can afford to become merchants as well as manu- 

 facturers, and organize and maintain a sales deiiartment, the aver- 

 age minor producer of lumber can better afford to market his lumber 

 through the medium of responsible intermediaries than by attempting 

 to do it himself. The wholesale local merchant thoroughly acquainted 

 as he is with the requii-ements of his trade, with its character, with 

 its credit, is much better equipped to market lumber in this limited 

 territory than is the small manufacturer who scatters his lumber from 

 Boston to San Francisco indiscriminately to wholesale consumers. 

 The trouble generally lies with the small operator in not separating 

 his manufacturing and sales cost; in not charging up actaal sales 

 cost, including general expense, rebates, losses, etc., to this particu- 

 lar department of his business. This he s'aould do, and if he will 

 do it, he will find tliat in nine cases out of ten he will be better off at 

 the end of the year by marketing his product through the legitimate 

 jobbing element, and giving himself more time to devote to his 

 manufacturing business. 



The term "profit" is often a misused one, and is usually employed 

 to represent the entire difference between the price paid for a com- 

 modity in quantity and the price realized for it in lesser quantities 

 to the individual consumer. A man may buy lumber at fifteen dollars 

 a thousand, and sell it for seventeen dollars a thousand and lose two 

 dollars a thousand in the transaction. Undeniably the undesirable 

 element of the lumber business above referred to is attempting to 

 market lumber on such a close margin of profit as to make the busi- 



ness unprofitable to themselves, and usually results in a very unsatis- 

 factory transaction to both the !nan who supplies the lumber and the 

 one who receives it. i 



With proper handling, prtiper methods and with proper service, 

 the merchant in lumber or in any other commodity renders a real, 

 tangible and important service to the trade with which he is allied. 

 Properly analyzed this is the fundamental idea that should prevail 

 in the lumber iniiustry. The merchant invests his money, his time, 

 his talents, his experience in the business, and is entitled to a just 

 reward. He works for his living. His so-called profits are his wages. 



The fabulous pot of gold at the end of the rainbow-, that looks so 

 alluring to the small manufacturer of lumber when he attempts to 

 market his product direct to consumers, is entirely mythical. When 

 he counts his cost ; when he counts his losses ; and when he goes over 

 the history of successful small operators, he will find that the ma- 

 jority that are prosperous — who have made money in the manufacture 

 of lumber — are those who have selected upright and responsible 

 merchants to whom they have sold their output. 



Foreign Commerce of the United States '' 



The foreign trade of the Uuited States in the fiscal year which ends 

 with next month will show larger totals than in any previous year. 

 The ten months' figures down to the close of April just compiled by 

 the Bureau of Statistics, make it quite apparent that in both imports 

 and exports the totals for the fiscal year will- be the largest on 

 record. Imports seem likely to approximate ;f 1,600,000,000, exceeding 1 

 by between $40,000,000 and $50,000,000 the high record import year 

 of 1910. Exports seem likely to approximate $2,200,000,000, or about 

 $1.50,000,000 more than those of the previous high record year of 

 1911. This growth in foreign commerce, while common in both 

 imports and exports, is especially marked in the export trade. 



The leading exports and their indicated totals for the fiscal year 

 rank about as follows: 



Itaw cotton $.583,000,000 



Iron and steel nmnufaclure 260,000,000 



.Meat and dairy prndnds 160,000,000 



Hreadstuffs 135.000.000 



(•(ipper 110,000,000 



.Mineral oils 100,000,000 



Lumber and logs 90,000,000 



Cotton inanufnctiucs and coal, each about 50,000,000 



.\Kricultural implements, cars and carriages, 



leather and tobacco, each about 40,000,000 



Vi-yetable oils, fruits and nuts, between $20,- 



1100,000 and 3,").000,000 



The largest increases occur in iron and steel, meat and dairy 

 products, copper and mineral oils, although forest products show a 

 handsome increase. 



Salesmanship and Advertising 



The American Furniture Manufacturer makes generous excerpts 

 from an address given recently by Hugh Chalmers, the Detroit 

 automobile man, in a contention that salesmanship and advertising 

 are inseiiarable functions as applied to business. The observations 

 of the speaker contain so much good solid sense that they are 

 herewith reproduced and editorially endorsed. 



In the first place the business man deals with five m 's — money, 

 materials, machinery, men and merchandise. It is not so hard to 

 get money, materials and machinery. Each of these is a given 

 quantity and with each and all of them a given result can be 

 accomplished. The big thing is to get men. Men are not of such 

 certain quantities as money, materials anil machinery. A machine 

 will do a known quantity of work in a known time. A man will 

 do such work as he is willing and caj)able of doing. Jlen, then, 

 are the most important factors in the conduct of any business. 

 When men enter into business they do so with a distinct object. 

 In the primitive days of manufacturing the great question was 

 one of jiroduction. Our manufacturing methods were crude in the 

 beginning. 7he market was ready and we strived constantl.v for 

 greater perfection. Nowadays the great question is one of dis- 

 tribution, the getting of things from where they are to where they ^ 



