14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



stock, hardwood flooring, veneers and panels, whether through 

 national, state or local organizations, has shown wisdom and great 

 results. As is well known, there are stringent laws against any 

 organization which attempts to boost and control values. To intro- 

 duce this feature of organization is in no wise meditated, and there 

 is no occasion for even a suspicion of "trust" manipulation being 

 attached to this movement. The whole idea is for the mutual 

 acquaintance of people interested in the handle industry, thorough 

 threshing out of the problems which encompass the trade, reorgani- 

 zation of the inspection system, and analysis of cost, based on present 

 timber values, labor and manufacturing expenses. There are scores 

 of things that this association may do which will tend to the better- 

 ment of every division of this great industry. 



It is to be hoped that manufacturers of every variety of handles 

 will be present at the meeting, and will undertake to form specific 

 divisions covering the various lines of production, as well as a 

 general association to cover the totality of the handle manufacturing 

 industry. The editor invites from every manufacturer of handles, 

 no matter in what line he may be interested, letters of suggestion 

 that may be presented to the conference at Chicago. October 8. 



It is self-evident that this movement is a desirable one, and one 

 which will redound to the benefit of every individual in the industry 

 if representatives will only come to the conference without prejudice, 

 without jealousy and without selfishness, remembering only that 

 whatever benefits the industry at large invariably benefits the indi- 

 vidual engaged therein. 



The slogan of this meeting should be ' ' Get Together and Do Some- 

 thing ! ' ' 



The Duty of the States. 



The wonderful development in both knowledge and appreciation 

 of reforestry that has come to the people of this country within 

 the last few years involves a good many legal problems for the 

 various states of the Union to consider. Under existing laws there 

 is no logical and profitable way in which the individual may en- 

 gage in reforestry pursuits. Taxation and the paucity or even 

 entire lack of protection from fire and depredation makes it such a 

 hazardous and expensive proposition for the individual that few 

 dare enter upon it. Today there is no assurance that an area of 

 land set apart and devoted to the reproduction of trees may not be 

 taxed out of commercial existence, destroyed by fire, or otherwise 

 damaged. 



There are hundreds of lumbermen in this country who have vast 

 areas of cutover lands which are not suitable for agricultural pur- 

 poses, but which are particularly adapted to reforestry. Many such 

 owners would be glad to attempt the exjieriment of regroviing 

 the forest area if they had reasonable encouragement to enter upon 

 it. It has been suggested that the several states should exempt 

 from taxation for a long period of years such areas as individuals 

 might wish to devote to this purpose; but inasmuch as anyone enter- 

 ing upon this venture would naturally demand of the state stringent 

 laws prohibiting the setting of fires, require the employment of forest 

 rangers to guard against depredation, etc., it would seem that there 

 should be a reasonable tax assessed against such property for this 

 purpose. 



Very few lumbermen have any desire to avoid their just proportion 

 of taxation. Therefore if the several states should enact laws estab- 

 lishing a modest value on lands devoted to reforestry purposes there 

 is no owner who would find any fault. The government and the 

 several states originally sold millions of acres of forest lands at 

 $1.25 an acre. If today these same states should place that value 

 on stump lands and guarantee taxation on that basis until such time 

 as a crop of timber was matured, it is safe to say that hundreds of 

 stump land owners would be very glad to engage in reforestry. 



The farmer is taxed on his lands and on his improvements, not 

 on his growing crops. Hence it would be equally just to thus tax 

 land devoted to the regrowing of trees. The national government 

 is doing its full share through its Forest Service in protecting exist- 

 ing forests owned by the nation, and in assisting the regrowing of 



denuded areas and the protection of properties from timber thieves 

 and fire devastation. A few of the states are also engaged in forest 

 planting in a limited way, but what the country needs is to interest 

 individuals, and notably lumber manufacturers, in rehabilitating 

 devastated areas that are unsuitable for agricultural purposes, of 

 which there exist millions of acres throughout this country. 



The Sales End of the Business. 



The secretary of the Jlichigan Hardwood ilanufacturers' A.sso- 

 ciation, at its recent meeting, made the following observations: , 



That we have secured a better imderstiindinp of the 

 conditions pertaining to the marlieting of our product is a 

 statement tliat I think no one will dispute who has studied 

 the stock reports sent out by your secretary and the reports 

 of the Market Conditions Committee. Tbe matter of mar- 

 keting their product, however, is one that is sadly neglected 

 by most manufacturers of hardwood lumber. They will 

 work overtime and lie awake nights studying plans to 

 reduce the cost of logging, sawing or i)iling their lumber 

 ten, fifteen or twenty cents per thousand feet, spend thou- 

 sands of dollars on a device that promises a saving of a 

 few cents per thousand in the cost of manufacture and then 

 sacrifice from one to five dollars per tliousand feet in the 

 sale of their lumber for lack of more information in regard 

 to market conditions, information that could be obtained 

 with very little effort and practically no exnense. 



The observations above quoted are particularly timely and perti- 

 nent. The average sawmill operator devotes the greater portion of 

 his brains, money and energy to securing timber and to the 

 economical manufacture and preparation of lumber for market. 

 When it comes to the details and finesse of the sales end he is 

 lamentably weak. This weakness of the manufacturer is the very 

 strength of the jobbing element of the trade. The jobber makes a 

 study of the specific requirements of his customer and is therefore 

 able to supply his wants to a nicety. He studies particular lines of 

 manufactured product, and makes specific grades that will suit these 

 requirements exactly. If a customer is making interior finish he 

 furnishes him with stock that will rip to the best advantage. If 

 he is making furniture that requires short cuts he will select cross- 

 cutting boards for him. By these means he disposes of all the 

 varieties contained in mill-run lumber to his own advantage, and 

 to the manifest advantage of his customer, for he gives him lumber 

 that suits his requirements, at a minimum cost, grade by grade. 



A study of these requirements by every one — manufacturer or 

 jobber — interested in lumber production and sale is well worth while, 

 for by it he can realize the highest possible price from a given mill- 

 run product. The distribution of hardwoods of various types is 

 another study that is neglected by a great many manufacturers and 

 jobbers. The best trade for any lumberman is that which lies 

 nearest at hand, but no one doing a large or small business can iu 

 safety depend entirely upon local trade, but must needs make dis- 

 tributions of considerable breadth, so that if his trade, for local 

 reasons, falls off in one section he has calls from more remote dis- 

 tricts to depend upon. 



Today there is a development in supplementing the work of travel- 

 ing salesmen through selling lumber by mail, and many manufac- 

 turers and jobbers are enjoying a large trade that is handled exclu- 

 sively through the general sales ofl&ce. A man does not properly 

 support his salesmen who does not keep the mail loaded with letters 

 to every customer and prospective patron as well. It is the con- 

 stant, kindly letter that makes friends for any house, and the operator 

 who neglects to learn the specific requirements of his trade and 

 keep it posted on what he has to offer is neglecting an important 

 and low-priced way of disposing of his lumber output. 



It is this very system of sales manipulation to which the Hard- 

 wood Kecokd is contributing so largely, since it has been engaged for 

 nearly eighteen months in collating a list of the wholesale hardwood 

 consumers of the entire country, with their annual requirements of 

 lumber by kind, grade and thickness. With this information at hand 

 the hardwood man can solicit his trade within the proper geograph- 

 ical limits and contribute materially to the economical and advan- 

 tageous disposition of his stock. 



