HARDWOOD RECORD 



63 



American HardWoods and Where They Jire Sold 



Some Interesting Statistics Showing Where the HardWoods 



of the U. S. Jlre Sold 



Hiuiiijj till' past four years the Hakdwood 

 Record, hv means of sending out nearly one 

 thousand letters and report blanks daily, has 

 collected information from the chief hard- 

 wood buyers throughout the United States,. 

 covering their normal annual requirements by 

 quantity, kind, grade and thickness. This 

 information has been put into the form of 

 condensed paragraphs, which recite the state, 

 town, name of concern, use to which the lum- 

 ber is put, the name of the purchasing agent, 

 with the other information added. Up to this 

 date forty of these bulletins have been is- 

 sued. This information, when pasted up on 

 tabbed cards, as shown on page 64 of this 

 issue, and filed alphabetically by towns, be- 

 tween state guide cards, forms a roster of the 

 leading wholesale hardwood consumers of the 

 United States, and makes a ready reference, 

 showing from what source trade in every line 

 of lumber, including foreign woods, dimen- 

 sion stock, veneers and panels may be intelli- 

 gently sought. This information is free to 

 every display advertiser in the Hardwood 

 Eecord, and is being utilized by the majority 

 of them to their manifest advantage. 



As before noted, these bulletins, including 

 all back numbers, are supplied free to ad- 

 vertisers, and where people desire to paste 

 up their own system, the only additional cost 

 involved is that of the tabbed cards, which 

 cost $3.50 per thousand, and a set of state 

 guide cards, costing 75 cents. However, in 

 a good many instances, advertisers have pre- 

 ferred that this service be pasted up for them 

 in complete form, with the extra tabs re- 

 moved from the index cards, and filed alpha- 

 betically by towns between state guide cards, 

 enclosed in a four-drawer oak cabinet. The 

 service thus prepared is sold to advertisers 

 at practically cost — the sum of $35. This 

 includes 100 extra cards to continue the serv- 

 ice as subsequent bulletins are issued. Once 

 a year a correction sheet is sent out to all 

 concerns listed in this service, and if there 

 are any corrections to be made they are sup- 

 plied and issued in a correction bulletin form. 

 Thus the service is kept up-to-date. There is 

 no question about the accuracy of the in- 

 formation involved, as in every instance it 

 comes direct from the purchasing agent of 

 the various concerns. 



Up to this time more than 15.000 require- 

 ments are .shown on this service, which, in 

 part, list up about as follows: 



Buyers of .\sli IV2'} 



Bu.vers of Hassnnod i;(li) 



Buyers of Beech L'l.j 



Buyers of Bh-ch 350 



Buyers of Butternut 05 



Buyers of Cherry :;il() 



Buyers of Chestnut -175 vidual case is as capable of effecting a sale 



Buyers of Cottonwood 250 as a competent salesman, but the people who 



Buyers of Cypress 423 have thoroughly utilized this service have 



Buyers of Elm 350 demonstrated that the percentage of letters 



Buyers of Gum 375 inducing sales of lumber is very much greater 



Buyers of Hickory 300 than the forty-to-one cost involved in a per- 



Buyers of Mahogany 350 sonal visit. Again, it would be impossible 



Buyers of Maple 675 for the ordinary sized concern to employ 



Buyers of Oak 1,350 salesmen enough to cover the vast number of 



Buyers of Walnut 163 sales possibilities that is involved in this list 



Buyers of Poplar . G73 of buyers. 



Buyers of Sycamore 110 xhe h.uiDWOOD Eecord would be very glad 



Buyers of Dogwood 15 ^g supply further suggestions to both users 



Buyers of Tersimmon 12 ami prospective users of this system in detail 



Buyers of Locust 10 and will also be glad to suggest the use of 



Buyers of Holly 15 the best form of letter-duplicating apparatus. 



Buyers of Dimension Stock 650 A very important fact has been demon- 

 Buyers of Veneers and Panels 550 strated by the H.utDWoOD Eecokd 's luf or- 



With this information at hand the manu- mation Bureau and pertains to the distribu- 

 facturer or jobber in hardwoods is able to tion territory of hardwoods throughout the 

 address an intelligent letter to buyers on United States. Every user of wood in every 

 the subject of any variety of lumber. They Une has been thoroughly canvassed for this 

 know approximately what the buyer uses and information in all parts of the United States, 

 this enables them to gauge their offerings in and it is found that eighty-five per cent of 

 accordance with the requirements of the pros- the hardwood sales are made in a eompara- 

 pective customer. It is not an economical tively small area. It is an area where things 

 proposition to write these vast number of are made out of wood. It is within the seven 

 buyers individual typewritten letters, but it states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indi- 

 is logical for the man in charge of the lum- ana, Oliio, New York and Pennsylvania. This 

 ber sales department to Avrite one letter would indicate that the New England states, 

 covering one kind of wood each day and have \en- Jersey, Delaware, ilaryland, the High 

 this letter sent out in duplicate form to every Point district of North Carolina, the St. 

 buyer of this particular wood. The most Louis cUstrict and the small quantity of hard- 

 successful sales managers handling out this woods consumed in the chief cities of the 

 n.^RDWooD Eecord mail-order sales system Pacific coast and other cities in parts of the 

 follow this plan minutely. On Jlonday he country not herein mentioned consume only 

 will write a letter devoted exclusively to ash, afteen per cent of the total of hardwoods 

 describing in uetail his offerings in this employed in the domestic trade. TTiese facts 

 wood. On Tuesday he will talk to buyers of are further emphasized by the circulation 

 basswood, oak, birch or poplar. In the course books of the Hardwood Eecord, which show 

 of the month other letters pertaining to these- more than sixty per cent of its circulation is 

 same woods are repeated in different forms, („ the seven states first named, 

 and, of course, the answers induced are re- 

 jilied to in individual letters. 



Tbis system of soliciting orders of hard- Coolness of Trees 



wood lumber by mail in no way interferes it is not shade alone that makes it cooler 



with a sales force on the road, but manu- under a tree in summer. The coolness of the 



facturers and jobbers are able to reduce their '""" "^"^'f .^"^'P^' \°\ "s temperature is about 



forty-five degrees Fahrenheit at all times, as 



number of salesmen to a marked degree by ,1^^,^ „£ ^he human body is a fraction more than 



the use of this service and reduce their sales nimiy-eight degrees. So a clump of trees cools 



cost to a very low figure. For example: The fhe air as a piece of ice cools the water in a 



<! 1 . 1 i ,. Ditcher. That is why the legislature has author- 

 average expense of having a regular traveling l">^>^">^'- iuai. i» ""J' I c i<r5,..^ULUic ^^ "'• 



'^ OB B jjjpjj ^],g pjj^ij authorities of New lork City to 



salesman call on a prospective customer aver- pj^j^j ^^^^^ j^ ^^^^ tenement districts. If the 



ages about $2 per visit. These letters, in du- air can be made cooler and purer by the trees, 



plicate form, can be forwarded to prospective fewer children will die of heat ailments. 



. J a i. * i liver in a recent campaign, "has about as much 



customers, even under 2-cent postage, at a , . ^.~, .' " , ^ ^, 



' 1 B 7 logic — Did you ever hear about the young woman 



cost not to e.xceed 5 cents per letter. In ^^ p^^^ Dodge? One spring morning she sat on 



other words, it is a forty-to-one proposition the piazza of her pretty little home sewing a 



in favor of the mail sales system, so far as button on her husband's coat. The husband 



. " himself appeared and she said, fretfully. "It's 



° . ■ a perfect shame the careless way the tailor sewed 



It is not contended that even a forceful, this button on. This is the fifth time I've had to 



tactful and diplomatic letter in each indi- sew it on again for you."— Everybodt's. 



