152 



SELLING LUMBER 



Teach Others 

 the Merits 

 of Wood 



ers and consumers of lumber, and furnish this to our general offi- 

 ces so that they, in turn, may send it to the Association; let us 

 seek information from whatever source we can, and if it is not 

 in stock in the storehouse of the Association, get it there without 

 delay so it can be distributed for the benefit of the subscribers 

 and the entire lumber industry ; let us investigate at every oppor- 

 tunity the practices and methods pursued by the retailers, dis- 

 tributers and consumers of our product in every section, and if 

 their policies are along lines which will not promote the general 

 interest of the lumber business, take the matter up with the re- 

 tailers, buyers or distributers and make sure they understand that 

 they are doing our industry an injustice. In addition to this, re- 

 port the information to our general offices that they, in turn, may 

 send it to the office of the Association and that the committees in 

 charge of the work may know what is going on and seek to rem- 

 edy it. 



After we have gained a better knowledge ourselves of lum- 

 ber with respect to its real merits and uses, let us take advantage 

 of every opportunity to disseminate information to. the retail dis- 

 tributer, engineer, architect and consumer by constant, Systematic 

 effort until we have educated everybody who has anything to do 

 with the handling, of Yellow Pine to a point where they will be 

 able to defend its merits and prevent the unscrupulous substitutes 

 from entering our ranks and defrauding the public to the detriment 

 of our business. I do not mean by this that we should not give 

 due consideration to the merit of any substitute, or that we should 

 recommend the use of lumber where we know it is not equal to 

 something else, because I figure such practice would result to our 

 detriment. Our progress must be based upon merit, otherwise our 

 efforts will eventually fail. 



Up to this time only a limited supply of educational informa- 

 tion is available with regard to the merits of our product, and it 

 is therefore very important that effort be made by all of us to 

 secure further necessary information as rapidly as possible. 



Let the salesmen in the different sections of the country or- 

 ganize in small groups and meet as often as convenient, and devise 

 means whereby the retailer, architect, engineer and large consum- 

 ers of lumber can be properly informed. This can be accom- 

 plished by the salesman devoting his spare time with his customer 

 in discussing the subject, in seeing that the suggestions and ad- 

 vertising matter sent out by the Association are received and dis- 



