SELLING LUMBER 271 



tion between all parties concerned, and a financial loss to the lum- 

 berman. 



But just at present the atmosphere is somewhat clearer, due to 

 educational campaigns, such as the ones you are now holding, and 

 likewise the intermingling of the architects, the lumber manufac- 

 turers and the lumber dealers in heart to heart talks at open meet- 

 ings, which are becoming more and more instructive, and are creat- The Atmos- 

 ing a closer friendship so that the architect not infrequently calls 

 the salesman or sales manager representing the lumber interests into 

 his office to discuss thoroughly quality rather than quantity and 

 the lowest possible price, thereby intelligently writing a lumber 

 specification that can be interpreted only one way by all concerned, 

 leaving the arbitration lawyer to seek his remuneration and employ- 

 ment elsewhere. 



Here we are face to face, you gentlemen representing the lum- 

 ber interests, and I personally representing the profession of archi- 

 tecture, consequently there is no more fitting place, and meeting 

 ground, to discuss for a few moments our future relations, than at 

 a meeting such as the one you are now holding here. 



No doubt you gentlemen know that in the past it has not been 

 so easy when calling upon an architect to get by the office boy and 

 through the door leading to the private office and to meet the archi- 

 tect himself. You, therefore, naturally ask yourself the question, 

 why the lumber salesmen cannot as readily have an interview with 

 the architect as the salesman representing other materials that enter Why Archi- 



into the construction of the building. That question I will try to e" 'Lumber 



answer to your satisfaction and enlightenment. There are many Salesmen 



salesmen that in the past when meeting an architect have forgotten 



to practice the old virtue called "honesty." They have not always 



been honest with themselves when they have led the architect to 



believe that the lumber specified was the best lumber of its kind, 



regardless of quality or of the place where it was to be used. We 



all know that there are various kinds of trees in our forests, conse- 



quently various kinds of lumber in those trees, therefore if you are ^j^^ DeuSs 



a salesman and representing oak, it might be wise to tell the archi- of Species 



tect that there are two principal kinds of oak red oak and white 



oak and not simply tell him to write the word oak alone in his 



specifications. 



The architect might be thinking of using white oak, and you, 

 the salesman, not knowing for what purpose the lumber is to be 



