SELLING LUMBER 45 



The Chairman: Has anybody got any light on the subject 

 Ways and means of disposing of short lumber? Has anybody got 

 an idea one idea? 



Mr. Martin: I think the proper way of disposing of short 

 lumber is, wherever you sell long lumber, to educate the other fel- 

 low to use the short lumber. I don't believe it would be very 

 much of an effort for the yellow pine manufacturers to dispose 

 of a part of their short lumber right along with their long lumber. 

 The coast mills and cedar mills, on cedar and cypress siding, they 

 bunch 20 per cent of 4 to 9-foot lengths with their long lengths. 

 There will sometimes be three lengths. They will just put them 

 right in; and the coast mills all absolutely specify that 15 per cent Disposing 

 of short lumber must be loaded with any lumber, or it affects the Leneths 

 price from 50 cents to $2.00 a thousand. The organization out 

 there is not very much tighter than the Southern Pine Association. 

 That is, their general sales methods. But that is one feature that 

 they strictly adhere to. If a man orders all 14 and 16-foot flooring, 

 they charge $2.00 per thousand extra, and there is not one con- 

 cern out of fifty that will waive that extra charge; and they don't 

 allow specifications of the lengths, either; it has to be 6 to 10-foot. 



The Chairman: Mr. Vanlandingham, where shall we sell 

 short lumber? 



Mr. Vanlandingham : What the gentleman said about the 

 coast business few adhere to those rules. We have rules, but 

 we don't adhere to them any more than the other pine mills. We 

 can buy a straight car of 14 and 16-foot flooring just as easily as 

 10 to 20. In fact, we generally have to do it that way, because 

 that is the way the trade wants it. If someone can tell us how 

 to get rid of 6-inch, 10-foot flooring, we would like to know it. 

 Our customers say they would like to know how to sell it. 



Mr. Irwin: I don't think the manufacturer realizes the dis- 

 advantages the retailer has in reference to short lengths. In 

 Illinois we have a trade union that governs it. For instance, 32- 

 inch lath ;*the union charges 30 per cent more to lay it than 4-foot. 

 They charge a given price to lay 4-foot lath. To lay 30-inch lath 

 they charge more. That is particularly true in Southern Illinois. 

 Now, the best way we know to handle short lengths would be to 

 make the price enough lower on those lengths to equalize that extra 

 cost of labor. You can't expect a man to use 6 and 8- foot when 



