"Fortune" Maga zine Publishes Amazing Story About Diamond Match

For years past "Fortune" Magazine has devoted much time, attention, and space, to relating unusual stories about industrial enterprises, and industrialists. The current issue, May, 1939, devotes all the reading matter on thirteen of its large pages, to telling the story of The Diamond Match Company. There are many California illustrations accompanying the story, including pictures of the Ojai Valley ranch home,of the remarkable president of Diamond Match, Wm. A. Fairburn; of the Diamond Match timber holdings in Northeastern California; of the sawmills of the company at Chico and Sterling City; and of some phases of the operations in the Chico match plant.

The greater part of the story in "Fortune" is the financial history of the Company, and of the very retiring and amazing business and financial wizatd who is most responsible for its success, Mr. Fairburn. The story is graphically told, from the time most of the match-making companies in the United States ended a term of destructive competition and price-cutting away back in 1880 by merging their interests under the banner of one concern, and calling it The Diamond Match Company. We shall leave the financial and biographical story to those who read "Fortune," and only quote a few of the highlights that will directly interest the lumber folks of California. It may be briefly stated, with regard to the financial success of the firm, that it has never passed a dividend since it was organized in 1880, and that its net dividends fluctuate less than that of any other large organization in history. The most money it ever made was about $2,8@,00O in l9D, and the least it ever made was practically $2,000,000 during the depths of the depression.

Mr. Fairburn took charge of the properties in 1909. At that time he was already a famous engineer, and was in Europe studying Diesel engines for James J. Hill and Edward H. Harriman, when he was offered the Match Company job. He looked over the match situation in Europe, came home and looked over the match industry here, then investigated the affairs of The Diamond Match Company, and then took the job. Since that day his has been one of the most successful records of financing, manufacturing and selling, that business anywhere has known. It is a tremendous story, as told in "Fortune" and is well worth the time of every thinking man for a thorough reading.

Today The Diamo,nd Match Company, according to this story, owns N,OW acres of timber land stretching away from the Upper Sacramento Valley, covered with Ponderosa, Sugar Pine, Douglas and White Fir, and Cedar timber. This timber is not processed into matches. It owns modern lumber sawmilling plants at Chico and Sterling City, California. At Chico, besides the mighty match-making plant for both wood and paper matches, it has a plant that manufactures bee hives, honeycomb frames, and other bee supplies in large quantities. It owns sixty retail lumber yards i.n California that are operated along the most modern lines. It operates twenty retail yards in New Eng- land territory. It owns a 6O,000 acre Pine forest in Idaho and Washington, from which it cuts White Pine splints for its wooden match factories. It owns sawmills in this timber where logs for match making are cut and seasoned for two years. It owns another mill near Spokane, Washington, where they 'cut the White Pine logs into rough timbers that are shipped to the Diamond match-making plants. ft ow,ns three match factories besides the one at Chico, California. They are located at Springfield, Mass., Oswego, New York. and Barberton. Ohio. Book matches are made at Springfield; wooden matches are made at Oswego; and both wood and book matches at Chico and Barberton. They buy the paper for their book matches, but produce their own wood.

In addition The Diamond Match Company is one of the country's largest distributors of paper napkins, toothpicks, clothespins, wax paper, picnic rplates, and toilet paper. Of Diamond's net sales, matches comprise 52 per cent; the lumber business D per cent; woodenware and paper products 13 per cent; and miscellaneous, mostly chemicals, 6 per cent. The Diamond Match Company, and its associated corporations, .does a large majority of the match business of the United States. It makes three types of matches: the strike-anywhere or kitchen match, which is packed in paper boxes and is a safety match used for all pra,ctical purposes; the strike-on-box safety match which is generally packed in wooden boxes, though not always; and the book, or paper match. The match business of the United States in terms of dollars, is not huge, just about $30,000,00O annually, wholesale.

The Diamond Match Company originated the book package of matches, even originated the safety slogan, "Close cover before striking." It likewise originated the idea of book matches for advertising purposes, now a tremendous propositi'on. The annual production of these book matches is now ab,out six billion paper 'packs annually.

Diamond, under the great engineer Wm. Fairburn, revolutionized the match business through research, and then in a spirit of broad humanitarianism, gave the first safety match formulas to its comrpetitors and to the world, for humanity's sake. The old original match that Mr. Fairburn found them making'were of white phosphorus, which were both explosive and poisonous, particularly for the workers in match factories. This was a terrific problem, but through the efforts of their research department they announced in 1910 a formula for producing nonpoisonous, nonexplosive matches. Mixing sesquisulphide with chlorate of potash brought the victory. Not only did Diamond give the formula free to the world but even loaned its own engineers to competitors to help them make safe matches, This ended the menace of white phosphorus matches.

"Fortune" praises highly the whole Diamond Match Company operation, and particularly the amazing accomplishments of President Fairburn.

The accompanying picture shows the remodeled office building of the Homer T. Hayward Lumber Company's yard at 47 West Lake Street, Watsonville, Calif.

The building is 25 by 5O feet. The front is stucco and 1x6 Combination Redwood Rustic is used on the sides. Redwood 5/2 shingles are used on the roof.

The walls of the office and display room are finished in USG Sheetrock. The floor is Oak.