HARDWOOD RECORD 



27 



.Tarrell introduced a general discussion of the present and imme- 

 diate future of the veneer trade. The consensus of opinion was 

 optimistic regarding present business, and favorable regarding the 

 immediate outlook of the trade. It was admitted that there are 

 conditions confronting the veneer trade — such as cost of logs and 

 ditSculty of maintaining uniform prices — which will probably 

 become more serious as time goes on, but it was held that these 

 conditions will merely effect a more eflficient system of manufacture 

 and sales, inasmuch as competition will be closer. 



In reporting for the advertising committee. Chairman Defebaugh 

 deplored the lack of funds to carry on any general advertising 



campaign. He pointed out the absolute uselessness of spending 

 money for advertising without an adequate follow-up system. The 

 plan of advertising on any scale, the speaker suggested, should 

 deal with specifie woods and should be confined to showing the 

 particular advantages of the different kinds of woods — each in its 

 turn. It was recommended by the committee that a series of 

 pamphlets, designed to show the advantages of built-up stock in 

 furniture, be issued to furniture dealers, and that the one hundred 

 dollars already appropriated should be utilized in this direction. 

 The report of the advertising committee concluded the regular 

 business of the association, and it then adjourned. 



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A False Ideal 



A panel manufacturer who has done a good deal of missionary 

 work among the piano trade, and who has found that those in 

 that line in most cases are less responsive than others to the argu- 

 ments which are made in favor of having glued-up stock manu- 

 factured outside the factory by a specialist in that branch, has 

 come to an interesting conclusion regarding the reasons for this 

 attitude. 



It is that the manufacturers — that is, some of them — don 't want 

 to save money in the production of their goods. 



That probably sounds peculiar to the average lumberman and 

 panel manufacturer, but the logic of the situation is in favor of 

 the member of the trade referred to. He has the facts. 



He visited a piano manufacturer some time ago and talked to 

 him with the idea of selling him some built-up stock. This 

 particular factory, by the way, turns out a well-known instrument, 

 and one which sells for a considerably higher price than the 

 average. 



"No," was the imperturbable response to all arguments of the 

 panel man along the line of getting better results, eliminating the 

 possibilitj' of loss through imperfect work in his own shop, con- 

 venience in operation through the reduction in equipment and 

 labor expense for operating the glue-room, and all other effective 

 appeals which have resulted in the panel industry making great 

 headway among consumers of veneers. "No, we lay all our own 

 veneers. "We are not interested in what you have to say. Wc 

 don't intend to change our methods, which we have been using for 

 many years. We are successful, and we see no reason for altering 

 a winning combination." 



Those were not the exact words of the piano expert, but that 

 was the general tenor of his remarks. He made it perfectly plain 

 to the panel man that the latter couldn't get any business there 

 if he offered to sell his goods at cost, less a five per cent discount 

 for cash. 



A little later on, the same panel man — who seems to be a pretty 

 lively traveler, something on the order of the chief executive of 

 the TJ. S. A. — was in another plant, where the general manager 

 is a man of ideas and ability. He is in charge of a comparatively 

 new property, and is marketing a piano that is not nearly so well 

 known as many of its competitors. Consequently he is not over- 

 looking any chances to cut down producing costs, so as to be able 

 to sell his product at a comparatively low price, and also to enable 

 a sufficient margin to be made to provide funds for aggressive 

 sales and advertising efforts. 



This plant is equipped with a lot of modern devices which are 

 particularly advantageous in saving labor. All holes are bored by 

 electrically operated drills, screws being driven in the same 

 manner. As there is a lot of work of this kind on a piano, the 

 factory turns out its quota with a much smaller number of men 

 than is required to manufacture the same quantity of goods in 

 the other factory. 



It so happens that these two plants are connected financially, 

 the same interests controlling the stock of both concerns. It 

 was in this connection that the head of the older house, whose 



ideas on the subject were referred to above, visited the newer 

 plant, which is run by the young, aggressive manager who likes 

 to save money where he can by the adoption of better methods 

 and the elimination of needless labor. 



He looked over the equipment and watched the men boring 

 holes and driving screws rapidly and efficiently with the aid of 

 electrically driven appliances. He seemed interested, but not 

 particularly impressed, although in his own plant those operations 

 are being done by hand, just as they were done when the first 

 piano built in the factory was turned out. 



Finally he said, in an effort to show proper appreciation, ' ' Oh, 

 that's all very well for you; but of course we don't need to do 

 that in our plant." 



Do you get it? 



What the piano man meant was that his margin of profit on his 

 well-known, well-liked instrument, backed by the accumulated 

 good-will of several generations of use, was so great that it was 

 not necessary or even desirable that such picayunish economies as 

 saving a few dollars per instrument in the matter of labor be 

 striven for. Probably, if he had elucidated the idea, he would 

 have taken the ground that it would be undignified to go to all 

 that trouble in the case of his beloved product, and that the factory 

 which was compelled to descend so far from artistic ideals evi- 

 dently had little to offer in the way of a musical instrument that 

 would appeal to the souls of real lovers of art. 



That, of course, made it plain why he did not care to have any 

 panel work done on the outside, even though to do so would result 

 in getting better work and in saving some money. He really pre- 

 ferred to do the work by the most laborious process imaginable, 

 as though this adherence to the standards of those who had 

 started the business necessarily meant that the quality which they 

 had put into the piano would be maintained. Such reasoning, of 

 course, does not stand analysis, but it exists in spite of its lack of 

 logic, because those who believe in such ideas have back of them 

 years of unbroken success and financial prosperity. Their answer 

 is irrefutable, for it is based on a plethoric bank account which 

 has resulted from their methods of operating the business. 



However, to hark back to the factory where the new idea is not 

 rejected merely because it happens to be new, the general manager 

 is buying some glued-up work and is pleased with it. Close 

 calculation has shown that he will be able to increase his output, 

 with the same investment, to a considerable extent by buying 

 more of his veneered work from those who devote their time and 

 energy to its production. Therefore, it is safe to assume that he 

 will continue to increase his purchases from the panel man who 

 has been serving him, and will ultimately have most of his work 

 of that character produced outside his own factory. 



But the other man — no chance. He'll go on using up as much 

 time and putting as much labor and expense, needlessly, into his 

 instrument as possible, just as long as the public will continue to 

 pay the fat price he charges them for it. It has quality and class, 

 without question; but not because of the antiquated methods which 

 are used in its manufacture. 



