SELLING LUMBER 



263 



work that such organizations may accomplish. Approval has not 

 been withheld by even the President himself, for he, in a recent 

 letter to the Hon. Edward N. Hurley of the Federal Trade Com- 

 mission, stated that he thought the encouragement of association 

 work by that commission was a wise thing. 



The best method to promote association work is to dissemi- 

 nate in the quickest way, among the largest number of interested 

 people, the greatest intelligent comprehension of the principles 

 and benefits of co-operation. The Southern Pine Association aims 

 to use every channel of distribution at its command for this express 

 purpose. Heretofore, strange to say, proper use has not been 

 made of what is perhaps, next to general newspaper and lumber 

 trade paper advertising, the greatest asset which the Association 

 possesses for the accomplishment of this end. And what live asset 

 is that? I refer of course to the services of its thousands of trav- 

 eling representatives, who, when primed with enthusiasm, loaded 

 with facts and trained to a high degree of efficiency, can do more 

 with a specific individual, in an intelligent and trained talk of thirty 

 minutes, to further the cause of co-operation, and thus association 

 work, than any other known agency. A trained traveling repre- 

 sentative may be a package of dynamic energy. He should also 

 aim to be an electrical conductor of the stored knowledge, or power 

 of our Association. 



It is a recognition of the value of the personal element in 

 negotiating business transactions, which is responsible for your 

 positions. If you could not satisfactorily close a specific trans- 

 action better than any kind of a letter or telephone conversation, 

 you would not be holding today the honored and honorable posi- 

 tion of traveling representative. You will note here that I make 

 use of the phrase "traveling representative." I like that term 

 better than traveling salesman. Today a man who goes on the 

 road for his firm is not a salesman alone; he is, as a rule, the 

 general representative of his house in many senses. It is a far 

 cry from the days of the "drummer" of twenty years ago, to the 

 high-class, well-bred gentlemen who represents in a dignified way 

 his firm on the road today. Today the representative of the firm 

 out on the road handles in many cases a multitude of affairs. 

 While the first object is, of course, to secure orders at a satis- 

 factory price, and in accordance with the rules of the house, yet 

 today that representative is liable to be called on to make settle- 

 ments, adjust claims, cure old sores and heal new ones, assist the 



The Salesman 

 An Associa- 

 tion Asset 



"Representa- 

 tive" As Well 

 As "Salesman* 



