The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-02-07
W GODS FOR
VEHICLES
And MISREPRESENTATION In Manu-.
facture and Trade Brought Out BY
the Forest Reserye-Some Popular
Fallacies.

The manufacture OF vehicles and
implements occupies a rather curious
position among Woodworking indus
tries, as is shown by study of vehicle
and implement woods lately made by
the forest service. 1t appears that in
spite of the fact that the more popu-
lar woods are becoming scarce enough
to make the use of substitutes in some
cases imperative, the trade is largely
tied down by unfounded prejudices in
the minds of consumers against the
use of substitutes. And these pre-
JUDGES, which manufacturers would
now often be glad enough to over
come, are In some degree due to their
own efforts, under the stress of COM
petition, to create and strengthen
demand for the very woods which the
depletion of supplies renders it more
and more difficult to obtain. For
years the maker of vehicles aud i'm
PIGMENTS made a point of. the fact that
his wares were constructed only of
certain kinds of wood, and the con-
sumer has been led to believe that
these kinds, and only these, are the
best. Now that other kinds must be-
used, the consumer, who has been an
apt scholar, still insists on having the
old favorites.
Under these peculiar circumstances
many manufacturers have chosen per-
haps the only course open to them
that is, they have used substitutes
without taking the consumer into
their confidence. And in SO doing they
have been justified not only by the
pressure of competition and the scar
city Of supplies, but also by the sex-
cellent results which have been given
by the new woods. The consumer,
however, who feels that he has been
tricked when he discovers what has
been done. is likely to be indignant.
When he finds, for instance, that the
box OF his buggy or wagon, which he
took to be poplar, is not poplar at all,
but spruce, red fir. cypress, cotton
wood. or red gum, he at once COM
plains to the retailer. In this way he
learns for the first time that large
percentage of so-called poplar vehicle
bodies are actually made of one or
other of these unfamiliar species. In
the implement trade similar conditions
obtain, though not in the same de-
gree. A..
To facilitate the introduction IT
legitimate substitutes it therefore
seems necessary to put the matter to
open trial, and. by removing popular
fallacies. to enable manufacturers TO
offer in good faith product which
will bring a reasonable profit without
falling short in utility.
One of the means which the forest
service has worked out to try the real
serviceability of the new woods is {:
plan by which certain lumber produce
ers and manufacturers have agreed to
lend their cooperation. The produce
ers will furnish, without cost, the
woods which give the best promise If
meeting trade requirements, while the
manufacturers, as their share in the
demonstration. will convert these
woods into parts of vehicles. The
vehicles will then BIZ given out to the
trade, each part clearly marked with
the name of the wood from which it
is made, so that it may be openly test
ed in practical use and compared from
all points of view with its favored
predecessors.
In addition to this trial, the forest
service has arranged for series of
laboratory tests of manufactured parts
of vehicles to determine the relativ.
strength of the newer woods and their
suitability for use in vehicle con-
struction.
Keen interest in these studies has
been shown by makers of vehicles and
implements. A circular setting forth
the scope and results of the work, to-
gether with such recommendations as
the service has to make, will be pub
lished. 4 n.