Chester Hogue Talks to San Francisco Hoo Hoo

"There is a decided reaction in favor of wood for bridge construction, for siding for houses, for sash, frames, and for furniture and interior finish, and there never was a better time than now to sell lumber", said Chester J. Hogue, Seattle, head of the trade extension and field service department of the West Coast Lumbermen's Association, in a talk on West Coast woods made at the Lumber Forum of the San Francisc.o Hoo Hoo Club held at the Elks Club, San Francisco, Friday evening, April 11.

"Lumber has been sold too much on price and not enough on its merits," he said, "and sellers of lumber need facts about the product they sell to enable them to sell on merit. A lumber salesman should know prices, stocks, grades and something about manufacturing. He should know the answer to such questions as when is lumber dry ? What is a moisture content ? What is fiber saturation point? What factors ,contribute to rot? What makes insulation value of wood? What is relative value of the various woods as- insulators? He should know the relation between strength and stiffness, the chemical 'composition of wood, the difference between spring and summer wood, whether a joist is stronger with the knot in it or with a knot hole and many other things.

"Above all lumber salesmen should spend no time knocking other species of 'wood, but should present a united front for wood and talk the merits of u'ood against those of other materials".

Mr. Hogue brought his talk to a close with a concise statement of some important facts about Douglas Fir, West Coast Hemlock, Western Red Cedar, Sitka Spruce and Port Orford Cedar, and after answering questions passed around a booklet entitled "Facts About West Coast 'Woods", published by his association.

Among those w'ho asked questions and contributed to the discussion were J. Walter Kelly, Chas. B. McCormick Lumber Co.; Fred W. Roth, of J. H. McCallum, Reuben W. Smith, California Redwood Association, and R. E. Caldwell. The Little River Redwood Co.

Fred Roth,.speaking as a retailer, said that it is up to the manufacturer of wood to make a much greater effort in the future to help the retailer to sell his products, than he has made in the past, and the manufacturer will have to spend the money necessary to create consumer demand as other industries have done.

President J. E. Peggs presided at the meeting and A. C. Horner, manager of the rvestern dvision of the National Lumber Manufacturers'Assn., was chairman of the evening.

H. S. Morton, Hill & Morton, Oakland, vicegerent snark of the Golden Gate district, and Paul Overend, vicegerent snark of Monterey distri,ct, were among those who attended. C.