HARDvVOOD RECORD 



41 



just as good as possible for the money, for the purpose of pleasing 

 the customer and leading him to look to us for his permanent 

 supplies, we attempt to secure just as big a profit as we can. 

 Usually that means a kick of some sort, and the salesman is 

 called out to settle it. Unless he is a graduate of the diplomatic 

 service, he doesn't succeed in strengthening his position with the 

 buyer, and the next time he tries to sell lumber there he has as 

 much trouble as he had the first time. 



"1 am not taking tbe ground that the man who insists on 

 paying No. 1 common prices and getting firsts and seconds quality 

 should be yielded to. Everybody knows that in this world you 

 get just about what you pay for. But there are a lot of things 

 connected with the transaction of the ordinary run of business 

 which could be improved upon at comparatively little expense, 

 with the result that the customer would get something like real 

 service, and would be more nearly satisfied than he is now. That 

 would make for repeat orders, and would simplify the problems 

 of the man on the road." 



One of the principal criticisms made of lumber concerns by 

 consumers is that often the age of stock shipped cannot be deter- 

 mined from the statement of the salesman. In other words, if 

 the consumer required, for his business, stock that has been air- 

 dried at least six months, everybody who comes in to sell lumber 

 is willing to aflSrm, assert, declare, asseverate or even, in extreme 

 cases, to swear that tbe stock to be shipped by his company will 

 be at least six months old. If the consumer kiln-dries it on that 

 basis, he is likely to have trouble. 



Then, again, if a shipment of dry stock is being made and 

 the lumberman finds that he has an insufficient quantity of 

 material of that age, the tendency is to take green stock and mix 

 it in with the remainder in order to fill the car. It would be 

 more sensible and also more considerate of the user to tell the 

 latter frankly that it was necessary to use this method of filling 

 the order, so that the green lumber could either be laid out when 

 the shipment is received, or special pains taken in drying it to 



get the proper results. Obviously green lumber that is shoved 

 into a kiln with fairly dry stock, is not going to come through 

 the operation in good shape, and some warning of this kind should 

 be given the user, in all fairness. He would appreciate it, and 

 would remember it the next time he ordered. 



Then there is the little matter of shipping dates. A great 

 many buyers of hardwoods and other lumber have become so con- 

 vinced, that it is a settled policy of lumbermen to ship orders- 

 ahead of the date set by the consumer that they refuse to place 

 business until the stock is actually needed. When an order is 

 on the books, no matter when the buyer asked that it be shipped, 

 there is always a temptation to let it go, and of course the super- 

 intendent makes mistakes and ships stock ahead of the proper 

 time. But the superintendent has been blamed so often by lum- 

 bermen who shipped cars ahead of the proper time that buyers 

 have begun to regard him as a personage provided for the special 

 purpose of laying the blame on. A little point like the observance 

 of shipping dates would be in line with the general plan of pleas- 

 ing the customer, and would help to get the next order without 

 much expense on the part of the lumberman. 



The remark made by Commodore Vanderbilt about the public 

 is referred to occasionally as being a fine example of an obsolete 

 spirit in business. Yet it was not very long ago that the repre- 

 sentative of a considerable body of lumbermen was heard to re- 

 mark, ''The consumer be damned. What we are looking out for 

 is the lumberman. " Is it to be accepted as true that the interests 

 of the consumer and the lumberman are diverse, and that what is 

 for the good of one necessarily is for the disadvantage of the 

 other? Is it correct to say that there is no common ground, and 

 no mutual profits to be enjoyed? 



There are a lot of men in the hardwood business who insist 

 that no matter how the rest may answer those questions, they be- 

 lieve that they can make more money by looking out for the in- 

 terests of the lumber buyer, as far as possible, instead of disre- 

 garding them, as far as possible. 



''c ro!iaimh;^i<i;iTO!J.'fciii>tii>;ws<yM^ 



Lumber Piling 



There is shown in connection herewith a snapshot photo of 

 the back end of two lumber piles. It matters not for the pur- 

 pose here whose piles they are, nor where they are located. They 

 are of the hardwood class of lumber, and 

 will serve very well to illustrate a problem in 

 long division which plays quite an important 

 role in the matter of ideal lumber piling. 



The ideal lumber pile is one made of 

 lumber of the same length so that when the 

 front or face is carefully built up it will 

 carry with it an almost equally smooth back 

 end, one in which the only uncvenness is 

 caused by the slight variations in trimming 

 lumber to the same standard length, and this 

 is so slight that the back cross sticks can 

 be put near enough to the end to prevent 

 weather damage to extending boards. 



In the illustration herewith it will be 

 seen that one of these piles is almost ideal 

 in this respect, while the other has boards 

 extending through varying distances up to 

 about four feet. It naturally follows that 

 these extending ends will damage more or less 

 from exposure while the stock is in pile, and 

 that they will bend down and warp around, 

 thus adding to the depreciation in value. 



Any one familiar with the lumber busi- 

 ness knows that there are many different 



PROPER AND IMPROPER PILING 



lengths, thicknesses and widths of lumber, as well as several different 

 kinds of wood. Also, those who have handled it know how difficult 

 it is to assort lumber into its many possible divisions and get enough 

 of each for piling purposes, to say nothing 

 of the room or piling space required. That 

 is why piles like this are seen, and worse, 

 for these examples are from an exceptionally- 

 well kept yard and really above the average. 

 But how many, even practical lumber- 

 men, could tell offhand just how many 

 separate piles would be necessary to sort all 

 lumber from one kind of timber into its dif- 

 ferent widths, thicknesses, lengths and 

 grades? 



That is a question that came up in con- 

 nection with the hearing conducted at Louis- 

 ville July 17 by C. B. Hillyer of the Inter- 

 state Commerce Commission. It was an- 

 swered by E. C. Lang of R, J, Darnell,- 

 Inc, of Memphis, who has figured out 

 that it would take 576 separate founda- 

 tions to accommodate the product from oak 

 logs alone, and would call for something like 

 fourteen acres of ground space. Multiply 

 this by the different kinds of wood entering- 

 the hardwood trade, or cut and handled by 

 one mill, and a pretty fair general idea can 

 be gotten of the length of the division neees- 



