Kenneth Smith Pictures Conditions and Makes Pertinent Suggestions to Northern Mills

(Continued from Page 20) a committee of dealers with the object of jointly working out a solution of this problem. Shortly after that time the Lumber Dealers Association of Los Angeles was organized with a membership embracing practically all of the yards, large and small, the. so-talled Common Yard and the so-called No. 3 yard, all of w.hom realized that some way must be found to bring about orderly merchandising in our market.

The correspondence with the West Coast regarding the conference dragged along without anything being done because of your internal problems of reorganization (you will undoubtedly remember that it was one of the multitude of problems dropped in your lap when you came out the middle of the year) but by June, last year, after six months' conscientious study of the problem, the Los Angeles Association definitely requested the West Coast to join harids with us to abolish the shipment and sale of mixed grades by the mills catering to the Southern California market and to help us to establish a policy of selling to us and of resale by us only on straight grades. Also we endoised the principle of grade marking, with a recommendation to the mills catering to our market that they institute grade marking as a group, saying to them that we would welcome grade marking at the same time the trade was switched to straight grades, provided it was practicable for the mills to grade mark at that time.

The discussion continued by correspondence and with Messrs. Hogue and Nelson, who visited California in September. Then in November, 1928, Mr. Tennant, your good self, and a committee of several manufacturers attended a convention of the Retailers at San Francisco, presenting the view that the West Coast Lumber Association was committed to the promotion of American standard sizes and that the program we desired of switching the California business to straight grades in Common would be much easier of accomplishment if we would change the California standard of sizing to conform.

The difierences between the American Standard Sizes of yard lumber and California sizes is not enough to be of any material difference as it is approximately only the difference between American standard sizes for yard lumber and American standard sizes for industrial lumber. There is no reason, from the standpoint of taking care of the trade in California, for changing our sizes in view of the fact that they are entirely satisfactory both to the dealers and to the consuming and specifying public. The difference in sizing is slight and the only opposition to making this change then (or now) was a natural dislike of the dealer for making a change from a custom which was entirely satisfactory from the sales standpoint to another custom which would be no more satisfactory and which would involve annoyances and confusion to all concerned. The only reason for asking the dealers to make the change was the one you presented; namely, to get in line with the program of the West Coast and the National and assist in making one standard effective throughout the United States, yet the dealers present ?t that convention voted unanimously to make the change in order to secure the cooperation of the mills in establishing the program-essential to them-of selling on the basis of straight grades.

That action was followed by a visit, early this year, of Messrs. Nelson and Titus and at a well attended meeting of Southern California Retailers held in Los Angeles on April 6th definite resolutions were adopted committing the dealers of Southern California to American Standard sizes and grades in accordance with the rules of the West Coast Lumbermen's Association and setting the effective date as July I, 1929. At the same time grade marking was heartily endorsed and the dealers went on record as not only being ready to accept grade marked lumber but requesting that it be furnished them at the time of switching to straight grades of common or at the earliest practicable date thereafter.

The action was unanimous, it was enthusiastic, it followed careful consideration through the months that had intervened since you met with the dealers in San Francisco and I am sure that you must have had reports from the representatives of the West Coast who were in California that you could not have had a finer spirit of cooperation or more .readiness and willingness on the part of the dealers to cooperate with the progressive program which had been sponsored by the manufacturers of selling uniform, identifiable merchandise to the consuming public.

Unfortunately for you and for the National and for the progress of the Trade Extension program in Southern California, some of the very manufacturers who have the most to gain by the successful injection of modern merchandising methods into the lumber business have-, by their actions since that great meeting on April 6th, created the impre.ssion,- rightly or wrongly, that the -manuficturers' "." "oi srnc€rely behlnd. the program, with the fesult that there is a growing feeling among the dealers. that they will have to do the best t-irey cai to improve the merchandising prattices of the trade without the co- operation of the manufacturers. It is a most unfortunate siiuitG because it means that be_fore the dealers go along *itt i"v -iotor. cooperative pla-ns of the west Coast they will hav-e to be convincid that the manufacturers are sincere and ihat they ire""t *o.i l"_ terested in using Southern California for a dumping ground than in helping. to make the industry profitable to th'ose"riho h;";1h"i. money invested in the distribution facilities there.

It is a great pity that after the dealers of Southern California have grven such sincere evidence of their desire to cooperate on a forward looking program that a small group of manufaiturers rtr.ora rr."i done more to "unsell" the idea in just a few weeks, time tfra" tfri organized industry, working through your Association, his been able to do altogether to keep the idea ,.sold."

. Grld.g marking _lumber-selling an identifiable product_is the toundatron of the Trade Extension program of the lumber industrv. f{e5e voq ha.d the gr-ea_test.consu-itrg:market n3o. prevrousry Deeq toilowing practices that made the application ot the 'l'rade Extension Program impossible, seeking the opportunity to start. merchandising on straight grades that could b. g.'"?i ed; solrclttng you-the manufacturers-to grade mark the lumber you sell to us; and agreeing, as a concession to your "ie*, to "aopi Amerlcan standard sizes; a situation which represented as'much cb_ operation as you-could. have normally-expecfed to have aevitopea after a v-ery considerable expe,nditure bf efiort and energy, ;"alil; most unfortunate that by the failure of the manufacturei';h. to this market, to "follow through", you have missed the toooi_ tu.nity to put over quickly the feiture -of Ameiican stinaaia-'si'zes. whlch you regard as essential to the grade marking program.

_. The present situation- is.that-we are making no effort to estab_ lish American Standard sizes for yard stock in ttris -a.tet.-iiut we have set out to defilitely s_witch- this market to the consumpt-ion of lumber on identifiable giades of No. 1, No.2 ""dN;.-tl;-;; c.ordance. with the grading rules of the West Coast Lumber-.";, Association and we have abandoned the policy of .eIi"g a -i*iA and unidentjfiable grade. More than 300 retail-yards are"ro* se.L_ ing_ their sales exclusively on new price lists, shl,wing tri.;; o; N;. I, No. 2 and No. 3 and not carrying any price on tlre old mixed grades. Naturally, in actual practice tfie transition has not been com_ pleted and.it is a^process #hich will stretch over many months, some of the yards moving.faster than others to switch their stoct<, b;; ;h;;; rs no questron that in time all of the yards will have switched their stoc.ks over to a straight grade basis.,.The problem ir..--pfi""t.i by the tact that so much more re-grading has had to be done than a.nyone .anticipated, as the dealers trave experienced difficulG i;;;_ ting shipments from the mills of orderj which ttrev h;;; ;;;a for .straight grades_. At the meeting of the state Aisociation held at San Diego on Juty 20th (at whiih incidentally th;-W;;;--C;;;i Assocratron was not even represented) deater after dealer got uD and- com^plained -that they- had had .orders. for straighi-giad;--h.i[ up.for 60 anil 90 davs and the.opinion was ireery ."*pi.i..J-ir,"ili looked like the mills were deliberately delaying"shipm;;t-i"-;;;;; to discourage the dealers.

- !!oJ gnly have the majority of the dealers in Southern California definitely gone on a basis.of segregated srade, bui ih;; "*';;;a; and anxious to be served with gradimarkJd lumber. E;;.t;;. ;;;i_ izes that the, greatest benefitJ from seiling iegregated gi"l", *iir come pnly w-hen those.grades bear an offic6l siaal -"rkl ""J *i;.; the .No- l, No. 2 and No. 3 grades shall hive become aiii"ii"i" established _there- is going to be an insiste"a a.;;J-'f";';iii;Hl grad-e marking of some sort that will have to be satisfied I have tried to give you a picture of the condition.-is'tt"v,t"na rooay and I am, ot course, not unaware of the fact that .the West coast Lumbermen's Association does not have in it. -.-u.i"rrio all the manufacturers of the Northwest and tfrit-tt"se-wfr;;;;;;;: bers are not all of one mind, but I feel thii the W;; -a;;;'1, ove-rlooking an unmatchc{ opportunit_y for hording ttr. t"rt -"iiJ both present.and potentiar, ic has in tfie united stit., "nJ-tol'ii.it'j lng new bustness and new values- by not developing a definite oro- gram lookin-g_to trade extension in tlose cooperitio-n *iln-iii. a'"ri- ers here and I would like to-urge upon you ai strongry ar-r-p"r"-rf,rn can the taking of certain definite sieps -in that direcltn.e - Yer'v'r

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