Simonds Buys Grinding Wheel Company

Announcement is just made of the purchase by the Simonds Saw and Steel Company of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, of the plants and business of the Abrasive Company of Philadelphia, Pa. The Abrasive Company is one of the leading companies in the grinding wheel manufacturing field, making "Borolon" wheels for grinding steel and metals of high tensile strength, and also "Electron" wheels for grinding cast iron, brass, bronze, and metals of low tensile strength. They also manufacture abrasive cloths and papers.

The Simonds Company, established in 1832, is one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of Saws, Files and Machine Knives, owning and operating their own steel

(Continued from Page 26) of last year and with less production to satisfy this demand, there is no real reason why we should not get increased values for our product. We may not be able to secure such increases today, but we will surely get them before the year has elapsed. The United States can not and does not absorb lumber production as produced. It absorbs it seasonably. Under normal conditions, not to exceed 8O/o of production is consumed in January, February and March, but in April, May, June and July, there is absorbed I25/o of. production. In the balance of the year, there is a close stability between production and consumption.

The present price situation is due largely to an attempt to force production on distributors in seasons when they can not move it. The retail lumber merchant is like retailers in any other line-it is bad business for him to buy speculatively. He has a certain amount of capital in his business, and the greater the turnover, the greater his profit for the year. Under present conditions, he can practically secure his requirements in from 5 days to 3 weeks, and he should not and does not place his orders three or four months in advance of his requirements, but his stocks are now carried in proportion to transportation conditions. He can take onno substantial business without re-ordering. Consequently his orders are in smaller amounts and more frequent. This situation has been the same in the steel industrv. The unfilled order files of the United States Steel Corp5ration indicate exactly the same situation. Notwithstanding the fact that its order files are comparatively low, its volume of business is at a peak.

The readjustment from the past situation to present conditions has brought about a misunderstanding of conditions by the lumber industry. We cannot do what we formerly mill, in which, in addition to making steel for their own products, they make sheet and bar steel for the commercial market. did, to-wit, sell against production.. We must sell against stocks, but the present price situation generally is due to the fact that this economic condition does not exist and is not understood. The percentage of stocks on hand sold, while not as great in the South as formerly, is still substantial. In the West we have the same situation, which would indicate that the whole trade from the consumer back to the producer is working closer to production than ever before in the history of the industry. This situation is a healthy condition. Any slight bulge in demand for the product is bound to result in increased values, but, after all, the whole situation is largely up to the salesman.

The Abrasive Company has a complete organization of branches and sales outlets and will continue to sell their wheels through the same channels as in the past.

The products of both the Simonds Saw and Steel Company and the Abrasive Company are used almost entirely in the industrial woodworking and metal working field and this close association of the two companies should not only prove mutually beneficial to them but also acceptable and useful to the consumers of both the Simonds Company's products and the Abrasive Company's wheels.

Unless the salesman has confidence in the economic situation; unless he is sold on his product; unless he has the courage to ask the price for the product which he is selling, the result that should be obtained will not be secured. This applies with greater force to manag€ment than to salesmen. If the management insists on selling at periods of seasonable overproduction, the salesman has no option to do otherwise. The situation in the last two years has only been because of failure of managers and salesmen to understand conditions, and the lack of courage to demand proper values.

Whether the management has the courage to stock its product and cease urging the sales department to move the prodtict during periods of .seasonal underconsumption; whether the management or the sales department has confidence in the economic situation and the courage to demand the value for the product, conditions of supply and demand should and probably will result in better values for lumber in a short time. This is our own conclusion, and we intend to take advantage of the situation and shape our production and sales policies accordingly.

Company

"Why Wood Interiors Are Best"

Some good lumber friend who is on the Iookout for things that boost the lumber game, s€ntthig editorid desk the otrher day a small catalogue dishibuted by the makers of office safes, part of which is a mogt excellent adver. tisement f,or wood.

Mind lou, this is an advertisement for fireproof steel safes to protect office valuables against fire, and part of the description of the safes reads as followc:

"Wo'od at all temperatures below its ignition point is a far better insulator of heat than steel Steel transmits heat almost instantly, wherear wood can be e>rposed to a high tempenturc on

ROBERT L. REEDY VISITS CALIFORNIA

^ Ro!"I L. Reedy, sales manager of the Wheeler-Osgood Co. of Tacoma, spent a few days in San Francisco ar6und the first of the month conferring with L. J. Woodson, their Northern California representative. Before returning to the Northwest, he, planned on spending several dayi in Los Angeles and -othLr Southern Cilifornia points. He was accompanied by Mrs. Reedy.

' one side and remain cornparatively cool on the otrher side for a long tima

"We will furniEh "Y and E' Dty Insutated Safes equippcd with either steel or wood filiog sections, BUT WE URGE THE USE OF WOOD SECTIONS BECAUSE OF THE SUPERIOR

HEAT INSULATING VALUE OF THE MATERIAL''.

a goqd_ !oog!, isn't it. ^A,nd yet, ofi hand, y-otr would lqndly consider thatwood filing sec: tionswould be considered the safest and-most valuable for the inside of a fireproof safe, would you? Just goes to show th-at tfrere are properties of wood that are unthought of even by wood boosters.

C. D. SHUFELT TO LOCATE IN LOS ANGELES

- C, D, Shufelt, for many years connected with the lumber business in Salt Lake City, has sold his lumber yard to the Merrill-Robinson interesis and plans to locate'in Los Angeles. Mr. Schufelt was snark of the Salt Lake Hoo- HooDistrict, and at a recent concatenation he made a record when 67 reinstatements were made. Ife was a guest at the last meeting of the Los Angeles Hoo-Hoo Club]