The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-06-13
TIME HAS COME ID
 ADVERTISE TIMBER

Mr. W A. Gilchrist of Memphis, in a paper on advertising lumber. read at the meeting of the National Lumber Manu-
 facturers' Association at Chicago last
 week, struck an original note. Tn a viz orous setting forth of the different ways of advertising In which lumbermer may make headway in stopping the inroads
 undoubtedly made by the aggressiveness of manufacturers of sundry substitutes
 for lumber, MT. Gilchrist gave attention to what is the main argument of these men-that their product, while costing
 more than lumber Is cheaper in the long run because of superior durability.
 MT. Gilchrst attacked this argument from both sides, asserting that in nu- merous instances the superiority sdoes
 not exist, the use of such material works
 an actual economic loss instead of a gain.
 Tong run relied on for justification of the use of stone, iron and concrete in building has been conspicuously shown
 not to exist, and that tens of thousands of buildings, both dwellings and factories,
 have been put up of stone, brick or iron, and have been torn down after only a few years when for every use for which
 they were originally planned they were Just as good as the day the builder turned
 them over He cited what has occurred on Michigan avenue at Chicago, within
 the memory of most-of those who heard
 him, for a couple of miles either way
 from the spot where he spoke. At one time the favorite residence section of
 the city, Michigan avenue was built up
 with costly homes of brick and granite,
 only to be torn away in a few years to
 give place to skyscrapers and big hotels.
 The same thing has occurred not only In
 all the larger cities, but even in the
 smaller towns and villages. Factory buildings of stone, iron and cement hav~
 been put up with view to years of
 use. but have been torn down at big ex- pense to permit installation of travelling cranes or other improvements, without which the factory could not longer com pete. and which it was impossible to change the building to accommodate.
 MT. NIllCHIlSl uGhutcp Iioih thSES ASNSsS that the time has not come in this coun- try for permanency of construction, ex- cept in the fewest instances. He said that even in Europe, which Is centuries ahead of us in the matter of building, some notable instances may be cited or
 great waste and loss resulting from put ting up structures of more permanent
 character than the circumstances war
 ranted. He pointed to the recent cen struction of the immense quay system on the river rMersey at Liverpool These ouays were the wonder of the world when completed but within a decade or so they
 were found too small to accommodate
 the ships in use, and as it was impos~ sible to tear them away, additional docks
 of larger size have had to be put in. MT. Gilchrist said that the ruins we see at Rome and Athens are not ruins Of the cities first built, but were preceded by centuries of less permanent construction.
 MT. Gilchrist's interesting citation Of modern instances and his excursions into history were used to good effect Tn sup port of his general argument that in the building trade alone lumber has suffered enormous inroads from substitution. much of which might have been prevented if the men who sell lumber had been as active and aggressive in asserting it's merits as have been the men who sold the substitute material; that lumberrnen have been asleep to their interests in this matter with the result that they are not confronted probably with decreas- ing per capita consumption of their pro- duct in the face of the fact that on most building lumber prices are no higher now than ten years ago; and finally that be- yond any doubt much of the ground lost may be recovered by the institution Of a concerted and nationwide campaign or advertising--not of advertising that any one or any number of individual lumber men have certain woods to sell, but general plan of lumber exploitation to increase the per capita use of lumber by combating erroneous beliefs and ideas that have been planted in the public mind by the insistent and persisting ad- yertising of various substitutes.
 MT. Gilchrists paper was one of sev- eral read at the meeting, the general tenor of all of which was that the time has come when lumbermen should take steps. as MT. Gerrans facetiousy eX- pressed it. to knock the tar out of roof ing and the lights out of steel sash.''
 No details of plan to be adopted were discussed, the matter being referred to the board of governors of the associa- ton. There is no doubt but that every constituent association of the national or ganization would vote an assessment per thousand feet of production sufficient to produce a very substantial sum. Such & fund could be used to immensely great advantage Results would probably be slow to become actually visible, but they would be there nevertheless. There Is measure of substitution of other ma terials for wood that is inevitable, and effective of a genuine economy. No man wants to check that natural evolution, but we fully agree with the papers read at Chicago that this substitution has been carried far beyond the limit either of conservation or true economy. To such a campaign of advertising as was dis cussed no valid objection can be raised even by the substitute men themselves. They have demonstrated the effectiveness of systematic, persistent and intelligent advertising. and to oppose advertising