34 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



logging railroad, up to the Three Forks, and the bride looked just 

 as happy as though she was starting out for a trip to Europe. 



Then the steam skidder got loose the other day and ran away, 

 doing a lot of damage to itself, and running down and killing 

 Bud Lowe's cow. Bud says the cow was the best one in the moun- 

 tains, and while she could outrun a Shay locomotive, a skidder 

 turned loose on a five per cent grade was a little "too soon" 

 for her. Bud has a new cow, which has the reputation of not only 

 being a good milker, but of being able to jump a ten-rail fence 

 or a railroad fill. Bud has great hopes of her ability to keep 

 clear of logging trains and steam skidders on the move. 



News, what do we want of any more news than we have right 

 around us here at Camp Gibson? What Taft is doing, what Teddy 

 intends to do, or what Gov. Wilson may do, doesn't concern us in 

 the least. Down here in Sevier county, Tennessee we're mostly 

 Republicans. Henry Henderson, over on the Pigeon, is about the 

 only dyed-in-the-wool Democrat that we know anything about. 

 We're all on the fence this year on the voting question, and 



have not made up our minds how we shall cast our ballots. It does 



seem tough to vote for a Democrat; we haven't done such a thing 



since the Civil AVar. 



* * * 



Oh, I haven't told you about our humming birds. The re- 

 markable industry of this pair of ruby throated little beauties is 

 explained. They have worked as they have in gathering honey 

 from the red horse mint patch in front of camp for days to se- 

 curing sweets for a quadruple of young. Yesterday they pushed 

 the little fellows out of the nest, guided them over to the flower 

 beds, and placed them under instruction to secure a livelihood. 

 One of the youngsters, innocent in babyhood, sipped the honey 

 from the flowers in the pots on the dining table, but either father 

 or mother explained to him that it was a dangerous proceeding, 

 and since that time he has kept at a reasonably safe distance. 

 The parent birds are still with us, but the youngsters, like human- 

 kind, have left the old nest, and gone out into the world to hustle 

 for themselves. H- H. Gibson. 



^;e>^;-'j^^5Aiw:J5<y 



Talks from a Wholesaler 



Those who work with their "nose to the grindstone" have only 

 a narrow and one-sided view of their own particular business. They 

 can not see our faults as others see them and therefore are not in 

 position to remedy them. The writer is a wholesaler and he there- 

 fore has a one-sided view of his own work ; no doubt a millman could 

 give him pointers on how to run his business. In this instance, how- 

 ever, the writer will try to show a few of the weak points in the 

 millman 's business. 



The trend seems toward specialties — one man specializes in adver- 

 tising, another in a branch of engineering, another in selling, another 

 in specialty-manufacturing, and so on. And so it should be in the 

 different branches of each business. Wholesalers are sales-specialists ; 

 they have a source of supply, are not worried with manufacturing 

 conditions and therefore bend their entire energies in sales-methods. 

 On the other hand, the manufacturers of lumber are (or should be) 

 specialists in manufacturing and should devote all their time to that 

 branch of the business, unless they maintain an entirely separate 

 selling organization for that purpose, in charge of a competent 

 sales-specialist. This article is not directed at the latter. 



The minute a manufacturer tries to run a mill, with all the worries 

 of logging, sawing, piling, breakdowns, floods, etc., and then attempts 

 to market his lumber to the consumers with the kicks, bad accounts, 

 credits, etc., some branch of his business — and sometimes the entire 

 business — is going to suffer. He can't do these two things and do 

 both of them well. Another thing, his selling costs are much higher 

 and he stands a great chance of getting a lot of long-winded con- 

 suming accounts for the reason that he hasn't the time to watch 

 them. Furthermore, the average millman needs ready cash and about 

 two-thirds of the consumers give notes. MUlmen, in general, do not 

 have very good banking facilities, and if they do not accommodate 

 their customers they can not (as a general rule) expect to hold their 

 trade. 



It is just as bad for a wholesaler to attempt to run a mill and 

 continue to sell his lumber. The wholesaler does not understand the 

 details of manufacturing or lumbering, and has only a very vague 

 notion of mill costs. A recent failure of an eastern wholesale house 

 brought to light some very good figures to illustrate and sustain this 

 statement. As long as it did a strictly wholesale business and 

 knew its costs, etc., it made monej'. But when it started one 

 or two mill propositions in different sections of the country it lost 

 money steadily. Even if it had succeeded in establishing an equi- 

 table basis of mill costs at its first operation, a mill started in 

 another section would reveal an entirely different set of costs. Yet 

 some people figure one operation the same as another, regardless of 

 locations. These mill worries affected the sales organization finally 

 and the company failed for a large amount. 



Manufacturers will probably laugh at the statement that they 

 make less money in selling direct to the consumer than by selling to 

 the wholesalers. The manufacturers selling direct to the consumers 

 must maintain a sales-department. This will cost from $6,000 a year 

 up, depending on the volume of business transacted. Besides this 

 there are accounts to be carried, traveling expenses, extra office help 

 and other items. The little extra they get per thousand in selling to 

 consumers is more than eaten up in increased expense. If, however, 

 they sell through wholesalers they put out a stock-sheet and prices 

 once a month, attend to a few letters each day from the wholesalers 

 and their work is practically done — as far as selling goes. Then they 

 can devote their time to the manufacturing end and toward making 

 their products better as well as improving their methods, etc. They 

 have practically no selling worries, get cash for their lumber, and 

 the wholesaler will generally make cash advances if they are hard 

 up. furthermore, they can sleep nights. 



Some millmen will probably get the idea that this article is written 

 to show the wholesaler in the most favorable light. Such is not the 

 case; the writer believes that, generally speaking, the logical trade- 

 channel is manufacturer to wholesaler to consumer, and the reasons 

 are given herein. 



There is one way the manufacturer can increase his business with 

 his wholesaler. When he sends out a stock-sheet, room should be left 

 for a description of each item. By description is meant the widths 

 and the average width; per cent of 14' and 16'; the dryness; f. o. b. 

 price and rate. That saves time otherwise wasted in correspondence 

 getting this information. Furthermore, when the wholesaler's cus- 

 tomers ask him for a description he can then give all the information 

 and there is no misrepresentation. Nine times out of ten a deal can 

 be closed when specific facts are given, and the tenth chance is only 

 for the man who says "usual run of stock." This is a mighty good 

 point and already a few progressive millmen are taking the time to 

 get the descriptions because it means more business and a faster move- 

 ment of the stock. You wouldn 't buy a ear of logs at a price without 

 knowing all about them, would you? 



Mr. Millman, if you don't keep all your lumber moving you're 

 losing money. Right now, down in some corner of your yard, tliere 

 are some items you haven 't had a call for and consequently they have 

 lain there a long time. Every day, in some way or other, they are 

 costing you money, but in the end you will probably close them out 

 at a sacrifice. Yet someone is looking for just these items. Want 

 to clean them up? Just take the time, go and get up a good descrip- 

 tion — specific description (widths, lengths, dryness, per cent of cut- 

 ting, price and anything else that is a selling-point) — then send out 

 a letter to each of your customers giving all the information. That's 

 the way to move "slow-sellers." To illustrate an actual case: A 



