Vision

By J. C. Dionne

I said in this column one time that the lumber industry is in sad need of three things;-VISION-ENTHUSIASMSALESMAI{SHIP.

The most important of the three is the first, for without it there cannot be found the proper ENTHUSIASM, and SALESMANSHIP will not have the raw material to work on.

The great primary need of the irldustry is to see itself in its proper light, in order that it may develop a truer sense of its own importance and possibilities, increase its own wellfounded respect and self e6teem, and furnish the foundations for a great fund of ENTHUSIASM.

The attitude of the lumber industry toward ITSELF has always been WRONG, and under such conditions its attitude toward the world could hardly be RIGHT.

In those good old days-that are not so long ago-but which we are all worHng to regulate to the rear for all time to Gome, the lumber industry-from the stump.to the consumer-operated on the same plan as the famous poet's violet, which was "born to blush unseen," except that in the case of the violet it was a Providential arrangement, while the lumber industry held to its quiet and emotionless course through a mistaken idea of itself and its. place in the universe of business.

I am not dead certain whether the long series of years during rhich the lumber industry-from a standpoint of publicity, merchandising, and practical methods of promoting and marketing+lumbered, was due to wrong THINK-

ING, or entire LACK of thinking, but since the result was the sarne, we will simply refer to it as lack of VISION.

It did NOT appreciate itself or its work. It acceptg_d things as they wele. The mill man bought timber, built millq cut lumber, and sold it for whatever price his compe' titor would permit. When he loaded the stock on cars, and collected fofthe shipment, he was THROUGH, so far as his good, old-fashioned-program was concerned. The idea that he could or should take an active interest-or any other Hnd of aq interest-in the disposal, marketing to consusrer, and final use of his stock, was something that had never entered his cranium.

I remember the first articles I ever tried to write on the subject, suggesting that much good might -c!!!9 jl g. mariufacturJiwould take the same interest in CREATING' INTENSIFYING, and HOLDING a market for his product that the manufacturers of other commodities do. That was rnany years ago, and the things my friends said to me at the timeALMOST convinced me that ne"Voice crying aloud in the wilderness"-1tr7ss desired by the industry.

I was not entirely sguelched, however, and a -few years later I took up that line again and have never guit.-

In. those good old days the dealer had exactly the same amount of VISION as had the manufacturer; no more-no less. He ran an unkempt warehouse for raw material, waited for folks to decidl THAT they wanted to build, WHAT they wanted to build, HOV/ they wanted to bqtldt and WHEN they wanted to build. When the fellow had arrived at all of these various conclusions, he sold him the lumber, cement, aqd brick at the price that his competitors allowed him to make, and the thing was over when the lumber was hauled out and paid for.

FROM THE BACK OF THE WOODS TO THE HANDS OF THE CONSUMER THERE \[|AS NOT A SINGLE CONSTRUCTIVE HUMAN THOUGHT.

It is a changing VISION that is changing the lumber industry. The mahufacturer is learning that he can create markets for his stock just as certainly as can the maker of shirts aqd shoes, and that it IS his job to do so, and to help the dealer corral the spending money of each individual community. The dealer is awakening to the great truth that there is not a merchant in his town who has greater possibility for CREATING business that he has. He is 'learning that the public wants SERVICE, DEMANDS it, is going to have it, and is willing to PAY for it. :

And he is orofitins by this wonderful lesson in profiting oxactly the he comes out of th"e old rut. degree that comes out of old rut.

Greater VISION is coming, and greater things for the lumber industry are coming with it.

Give the industry a clear view of itself and its place in the business world, and the ENTHUSIASM will be automatically created, while the SALESMANSHIP will surely come.

These f'Eyes that see not and ears that hear not," are the things the industry is fast getting rid of.

NEW PLANT

Announcement has just been made by R. E. Brorvn, secretary of the Los Angeles Paper Manufacturing-Company, of the addition of a new asphalt Sdturation Plant costing approximately $20,00O. The new plant will increase production about fifty per cent, Mr. Brown said, and will be completed and in operation within thirty days.