42 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



It may be of interest to note in this connection that the manufac- 

 turer referred to buys his veneers cut to dimension, matched and 

 taped. In other words, he does nothing except the absolute gluing. 

 He does not attempt to take the veneers from the mill, cut them to 

 the sizes wanted, match them up, joint and tape them and get them 

 ready for the glue-room; but he buys the material ready to lay, so 

 that he has the advantage of the facUities of the panel manufacturer 

 as far as this preliminary work is done, without the worries incidental 

 to waiting on the latter to put the stock through and get it to his 

 factory. This plan certainly has advantages, and while it would be 

 going too far to say that it is the ideal way, the man who is using it 

 is undoubtedly getting good results. 



If the panel men reaUy beUeve that their proposition is best from 

 the standpoint of the furniture manufacturer, would it not be worth 

 while for them to assume the admittedly more difficult and delicate 

 work of laying curved drawer-fronts and similar built-up stock? If 

 this were done they would remove the necessity now upon the furni- 

 ture man of operating his own glue-room. But is it logical to urge 

 the furniture manufacturer to throw away his glue pot and discharge 

 his panel force in favor of using the equipment of the panel expert, 

 if the latter intends to do only the easier and simpler part of the 

 work? 



The latter may reply, as suggested by the furniture man whose 

 remarks were quoted above, that he could not afford, in order to 

 handle one job of the kind indicated, to manufacture cauls and cut 

 his veneers for use in this work, for if he failed to get a repeat order 

 he would have lost on the order, unless he had charged a prohibitively 

 high price for it. At the same tim.e, if he does not ossume this part 

 of the work, he forces the furniture man to stay in the glucd-up panel 

 business, and can not with logic use the argument that it is cheaper to 

 buy one's panels on the outside. 



As many furniture manufacturers, who have been using solid 

 material exclusively in their goods, are beginning to use some 

 veneered work in their product, the question of manufacturing their 

 own built-up panels or buying them from other sources is bound to 

 be a problem that must be solved sooner or later. The foregoing 

 does not pretend to offer a final solution of the question; but it 

 suggests that some have taken a middle road out of the diflSculties 

 that sometimes beset the furniture producer. If he does not find it 

 profitable to buy his panels ready to use, then he may take advantage 

 of the facilities of others to joint, match and tape veneers so that 

 when he gets them they are ready to lay; simplifying his problems if 

 he cannot altogether eliminate them. — O. D. C, JB. 



Editor's Commeut 



The foregoing thesis and analysis of the logical practice in either 

 the purchase or home-factory production of panels contributed by a 

 student of the trade has been submitted to several leading veneer and 

 panel manufacturing houses for comment. 



One manufacturer says: "I have read this article very carefuUy 

 and wish to say that Mr. Furniture Man who wrote this article has 

 put out some pretty strong lines, and lines that it is pretty hard for 

 a panel manufacturer or anyone else to break down under present 

 conditions. I don't know that any panel manufacturer has any 

 rebuttal to put in against the arguments used, with the exception that 

 we do claim there are panel plants in the country that are in position 

 to build anything the furniture man is in position to build. How- 

 ever, the writer's deductions are faulty in the belief that any furni- 

 ture man can produce panels as cheap or cheaper than can be done 

 in a specialized panel manufacturing plant." 



Another prominent veneer manufacturer says: "Some time ago 

 we came to the conclusion that it was a waste of time to discuss the 

 question of cost with the manufacturer making his own built-up 

 stock, but there is one point brought out by your contributor in which 

 the party giving the information is entirely wrong. There are a 

 number of manufacturers of built-up veneers, ourselves among them, 

 who make a specialty of bent stock and are prepared to furnish any- 

 thing in the line of built-up veneers. The principal trouble with the 

 stock manufactured by ourselves and other veneer men who make up 

 bent goods is that we do not make cheap goods, and when our prices 

 are compared with cheaper goods we get very little consideration. 



As a rule quality is not considered by the buyer of built-up veneers; 

 it is usually a question of price. The man who builds up his ovni 

 stock often uses goods that he would not accept if he bought them 

 from a panel manufacturer. 



"There are some exceptions, notably manufacturers of high-grade 

 furniture who are often compelled to build up their own veneers, 

 owing to the small quantities of the different shapes they use and 

 the limited time they have to get out the goods. Such people are 

 almost compelled to make their own stock, but in this case it is not 

 so much a question of price as to get what they want and when they 

 want it. 



"We find our best customers for panels are those who have 

 attempted to make their own goods and have kept a close cost- 

 account on them, but to try to convince a man, who knows absolutely 

 nothing about the cost of production, that his panels are costing him 

 more than he can buy the same grade of stock for from the manu- 

 facturer making a specialty of veneers is a waste of time. ' ' 



The facts presented in this article and the observations of the two 

 panel manufacturers quoted are worthy of consideration, but scarcely 

 will result in a settling of the question of advantage between the 

 furniture man producing his own panels and buying them of a 

 specialist. It would seem that for some orders in special forms and 

 quick work, the furniture man is almost obliged to maintain a small 

 panel plant in his factory and produce his own panels, but undeniably 

 on regular work or orders of any considerable size, there is a manifest 

 economy in purchasing his panels, both plain and bent, from a first- 

 class house specializing in this line of work. 



Wealth of Nations 



At present Great Britain, Germany, and France hold more than 

 330 milliard francs (franc equals 19.3 cents; hence this sum equals 

 $63,690,000,000) of paper securities out of the 570 to 600 milliards 

 ($110,010,000,000 to $115,800,000,000) which belong to the various 

 nations inhabiting the various countries of the globe. These 330 

 milliards taken at 4 per cent bring them in a minimum interest of 

 13,200,000,000 francs ($2,509,000,000). On their markets more than 

 600 milliards are negotiable of the 815 milliards of the negotiable 

 securities quoted in the different markets of the world. 



The following table shows the holdings of the stock exchange 

 securities held by the peoples of the leading countries of the world, at 

 the end of 1910: 



United Kingdom $27,020,000,000 to $27,406,000,000 



United States 25,090,000,000 to 2.5,476,000,000 



France 20,458,000,000 to 21,230,000,000 



Germany 17,370,000,000 to 18,335,000,000 



Russia 5,597,000,000 to 5,983,000,000 



Austria-Hungary 4,439,000,000 tn 4,632,000,000 



Italy 2,509,000,000 to 2,702,000,000 



Japan 1,737,000,000 to 2,316,000,000 



Other countries 6,755,000,000 to 7,720,000,000 



Total $110,975,000,000 to 115,800,000,000 



Taking the highest figures, the wealth of the world expressed in 

 stock exchange securities alone would thus amount to the huge figure 

 of $115,800,000,000, in which the share of the United States would 

 be $25,476,000,000. 



The Archiv fiir Eisenbahnwesen has latest reliable statistics con- 

 cerning the development of the railway systems of the world. This 

 German statistical organ sets dbwn the lengths of railway line as 

 follows in kUometers (kilometer equals 0.62 mile) for the end of the 

 year 1909: Europe, 329,691; America, 513,824; Asia, 99,436; Africa, 

 33,481; Australia, 30,316; total, 1,006,748 kilometers. The average 

 cost of construction per kilometer of line it sets down as $76,718 for 

 Europe and $41,785 in other parts of the world. On this basis the 

 European railways at the end of 1909 would have cost $25,293,000,000 

 —a little less than the assigned value of American-held paper securi- 

 ties—while the railways in the other parts of the world would have 

 cost $28,291,000,000— a little more. Together, the cost price of all 

 the railway lines in the world at the end of 1909 would thus work out 

 at $53,551,000,000. 



