HARDWOOD RECORD 



3J 



trying to remove the difficulties that have here- 

 tofore prevented the New Yorls Assttciation from 

 adopting your inspection rules, and 1 want to 

 say that "the two days' session in conference 

 with the four men of your committee made me 

 more tlian wiliing to come to this beautiful 

 plate and look you all in the face and get better 

 acquainted with you. 



This meeting in New Yorlt with your repre- 

 sentatives was so very pleasant that I was con- 

 stantly reminded of that future state of per- 

 petual' bliss to which we all hope to attain. 

 Every picture of the heavenly city which 1 

 liaveever seen has had somewhere in it a beau- 

 tiful river, with overhanging trees and velvety 

 green banks, where we may all enjoy ourselves 

 without stint. I just want to say to you. how- 

 ever, that the number of "green rivers" that 

 were flashed before my eyes by your commit- 

 tee during those tw'o days in New York made 

 me think that your members must have already 

 attained to that state of perpetual and ecstatic 

 bliss even here on this earth. At the end of 

 those two days I began to comprehend the great 

 compliment paid me by your invitation. I am 

 glad to be here and promise you now that I 

 will talk to you only a short time, for 1 am 

 sure you would all prefer to enjoy the breezes 

 from the oid Atlantic and watch the beauties 

 of both land and sea from the Board Walk. 



The topic assigned to lue is the relations of 

 the various divisions of the lumber trade to 

 each other in general and the place the whole- 

 saler occupies in that division in particular : 

 in other words, the reason W'hy the wholesaler 

 is necessary ; for that he is necessary no one 

 would seriously question. .Tust wh.v your com- 

 mittee chose that particular subject at this 

 ])articular time I do not know. 



1 am sure that the position of the wholesaler 

 in the lumber trade is not in any danger. It 

 is possible that there is here and there some 

 fellow who thinks he is the "whole thing" and 

 so wants to occupy the entire field, but I 

 imagine that these men are very scarce and 

 that they remind us of a certain Royal Person. 

 We all have great respect for the German 

 Kaiser. lie is without doubt a great man, in 

 fact, a genius, but like every other genius he 

 has certain eccentricities, one of the Kaiser's 

 being his inability to forget his own import- 

 ance. One of his sons, a prince of the blood, 

 tells this little pleasantry about his father. 

 "The trouble with dad," says the prince, "is 

 that if he goes to a christening he somehow, 

 after a little, seems to think he is the baby ; 

 if he goes to a wedding he will, by the time 

 the ceremon.v commences, imagine he is the 

 bride ; and if lie goes to a funeral, he just can't 

 help it. but before the services are over he is 

 perfectly sure he is the corpse." So with these 

 lumbermen, few and far between as they are. 

 they can't rest unless they are in the limelight 

 all the time. But the wholesaler need not 

 worry. We all know we cannot get along with- 

 out him. Of course, little differences arise 

 once in a while between friends, but they only 

 serve to make life interesting. 



have more room." This same kind of thing 

 haiipens occasionally to the wholesaler. Some 

 manufacturer, who has been having a good 

 trade in some special thing, thinks he would 

 have more room if the wholesaler would get 

 up and leave the tield to him. ISut it isn't so. 



The conditions under which not only the lum- 

 ber business but every business is carried on, 

 are the results of many years of growth and 

 have only been brought about because many 

 men in common have found them to be the best 

 for all. All conditions change slowly, and 

 rightly so, for one of the most important of 

 all business needs is that of permanency and 

 stability : otherwise we would not know where 

 we are at. The easiest way to do anything is 

 very apt to be the natural "way. That is only 

 another way of stating the natural law that 

 moving bodies go along the" lines of least re- 

 sistance. Water will of its own motion run 

 down bill and if the volume is large enough 

 will produce a flood, but it takes power and 

 push to get this same water to go up a hill : 

 so in business, as long as we follow the natural 

 channels, or the lines of least resistance, we 

 do nut encounter many obstacles, things go 

 smoothly and the results are more than likely 

 to be found satisfactory. 



It is only when we leave these natural chan- 

 nels and undertake new and untried paths that 

 we meet with unusual conditions and make 

 trouble for ourselves as well as for other peo- 

 ple. 



The lumber business, as a result of many 

 years of development, has naturally divided 

 itself into four classes or branches, viz. : first, 

 the manufacturer or producer : second, the 

 wliolesaler. jobber and commission merchant, 

 or, if you please, the middleman : third, the 



N. H. WALCOTT. PROVIDENCE. ONE OF 

 THE HOSTS. 



Two little girls had one day been playing in 

 the park. They had been having a good time : 

 in fact, so good that they finally quarreled. 

 They sat down on a settee and turned their 

 backs upon each other. They sat still for 

 awhile, when one of them said to the other : 

 "If one of us would get off this settee I would 



W. W. KNIGHT, INDIANAPOLIS. 



retailer, including the large factory trade, the 

 door, sash and trim trade, etc. : fourth, the 

 consumer. AVe tind similar divisions in nearly 

 all kinds of business, which fact only proves 

 that we must be carrying on our business in 

 the right way. 



Many years of experience . have demonstrated 

 that the best interests of all lumbermen are 

 best conserved if the above lines are observed. 

 I do not mean that these lines are hard and 

 fast. As a matter of fact these divisions do 

 overlap. There are many wholesalers who have 

 found it necessar.v. in order to make sure of ail 

 or a part of their supply, to go into the manu- 

 facturing of lumber either directly or indi- 

 rectly : and. on the other hand, some manu- 

 I'.-irturers have found it both desirable and 

 prolitable to market part or all of their own 

 product. This does not affect the general propo- 

 sition as laid down above. These wholesalers 

 who manufacture, have not hereby ceased to be 

 wholesalers : they are wholesalers and manu- 

 facturers : and these manufacturers who sell 

 their own products have not ceased to he manu- 

 facturers : they are both manufacturers and 

 wholesalers. But these men who thus carry on 

 the double business, must maintain separate 

 departments for both manufacturing and whole- 

 saling. 



It goes without saying that the place for the 

 manufacturer or producer is at his place of 

 production, and generally speaking each manu- 

 facturer has only one such place. In order that 

 he may get the most out of his logs with the 

 least possible cost it is his business to be on 

 the ground. That he may succeed, his best 



efforts must be given and even then his task is 

 not an easy one. and without this close per- 

 .^onal attention the best results are rarely if 

 ever attained. Fully two-thirds of your mem- 

 bers are. I believe, manufacturers, and it needs 

 no argument of mine to convince this audience 

 tlmt after the manufacturer has done his duty 

 by his mill he has little or no time left for 

 anything else. 



This personal attention is as true of selling 

 lumber as it is of producing it. A man must 

 know his customer, his wants, his peculiarities, 

 his methods : in short, he must know in a large 



J. V. STIMSON. HUNTINGBURG, IND. 



degree the customer's business in order to please 

 him. This the wholesaler can and does do. 

 Things go wrong in the selling and delivery 

 of lumber as well as In the producing of it. 

 To keep the trade moving requires close per- 

 sonal attention. This close attention tlie manu- 

 facturer cannot give without, in a measure at 

 least, neglecting liis business at the mill or 

 producing point. That some manufacturers dis- 

 tribute their own product is true, but in order 

 to do so to good advantage they become to all 

 intents and purposes wholesalers as well as 

 manufacturers : they employ salesmen and in- 

 stall a complete outfit that corresponds fully 

 with that of any other wholesaler as already 

 stated. 



It is just as true in the Inmlier world as any- 

 where else that no man can be m two places 

 at the same time. Therefore, when a man, 

 either by himself or by his representative, is 

 meeting his customers he ceases to that extent 

 to be a manufacturer and becomes a wholesaler. 

 Whether a man or a firm wishes to he this is 

 purely a matter of policy which each one must 

 decide tor himselt. In any event the fact re- 

 mains that the seller of lumber is the function 

 of the wholesaler and is as firmly established 

 as that of the manufacturer or retailer. 



There is another function and a most im- 

 portant one which the wholesaler has performed, 

 and whicii he must not overlook. In every 

 lumber producing section there are small manu- 

 facturers who produce comparatively a small 

 amount of lumber when each one is considered 

 by himself but in the aggregate the result is 

 very large. These men are good, honest, in- 

 dustrious men, but they are men of small cap- 

 ital and they find it almost impossible to carry 

 I heir operations without outside help. In order 

 to keep their operations alive and to support 

 themselves and their families they turn to some- 

 one for assistance. Many wholesalers, in order 

 to .secure supplies of lumber, make advances 

 to these small manufacturers, depending often- 

 limes upon nothing hut the honesty of the men 

 to whom these advances are made" and it is a 

 great tribute to the lumber trade in general 

 that only in the rarest of instances are the 

 wholesalers disappointed in their men or lose 

 any part of the money which the.v advance. It 

 is no reflection at all upon these small manu- 

 facturers that they are thus compelled to seek 

 aid and assistance. The larger manufacturers 

 do the same thing only in another way. They 

 go to their banks and have the banks 'discount 

 notes, the proceeds of which ai'e used to carry 

 on their operations during the long time of 

 getting lumber in shipping conditions. We all 

 know these men. We all know how 

 liard they work. We all know what 

 difficulties they have to overcome, for it 

 is no easy matter, particularly in certain 

 sections of our country, as the mountains of 



