Vagabond Editorials

By Jack Dionne

A board, and a nail, and a can of paint, Make many a place look new-that ain't.

*rFrF

And a building guy with a smiling face, Can sell the man that owns the nlace.

>t<**

Go hit 'em hard, you'll never rue it, For spring's the ideal time to do it. ***

I heard a speaker the other day (and he was talking on subjects far removed from building materials) remark, as a side-line, that he had just traveled across the United States by motor, and the most definite impression his trip had left with him was how badly this country needs paint salesmen. *+*

That remark clicked with me. Wherever I go I get that same impression of unsightliness, and loss, and waste, because of lack of paint. If only the people who actually and sadly NEED paint bought and used it, every paint maker would start running 24 hour shifts. And if, on top of that, the people who should be using paint for adornment and beautification alone, got into the market, there wouldn't be paint enough on earth to supply them.

*rFrF

There is only one state in the union that is even half decently painted, and that is California. There is a far smaller percentage of unpainted and unsightly buildings in California than in other territories; but even in California there is a gold mine awaiting the alert paint people. The possibilities in all other territories baffle description. ***

I have declared in these columns a thousand times that the retail lumber dealer is the most natural, the most practical, the ideal paint merchant. The local paint store in town plays a waiting game. It has the stocks, the color schemes, the suggestions, and the ability to advise and assist when the prospect co,mes in. But his business is NOT going out into the highways and the by-ways and offering his stuff for sale. The lumber dealer's IS.

The successful lumber dealer in every territory is the man who takes his business to his prospects. The farm with the unpainted buildings or the buildings where the paint is a thing almost forgotten; the buildings that manifestly need repairs and renovations; the places where the casual eye tells you that "a board, a nail, and a can of paint" are sorely needed-those are the natural prospects of the live lumber dealer and building merchant. A strong offensive-with him as with Napoleon-is the finest way to win a battle.

*rFr<

Figures, I am glad to report, show that paint sales are on the increase. The latest I saw for January of this year, when paint sales were l5.9Vo above those of January of last year; the payrolls in the paint factories were 15.6/6 over last year. Health, it seems, is returning to the paint industry. But if it ever finds some way to tap the almost bottomless reservoir of genuine paint NEEDS-look out !

Spring, let me remind you lumber folks, as I have been reminding you recurrently at this season since most of us can remember-is the ideal time for selling buildings, and building things, and building improvements and beautifications. Just as certainly as it is that "in the spring the young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love," so it is like- wise true that in the spring the fancy of the young and old alike automatically turn to thoughts of building, and fixing up. Most marriages take place in spring, so most homes should be planned at that time.

In spring the birds O"UU ,*r, nests-or rebuild those of last year. Humans do likewise. The house, the yard, the garden, the poultry yard, the sheds, the barns, everything that has to do with man and his possessions are looked over with a naturally critical eye in the spring. And almost everything the normal human does and plans as he goes around his home place in the spring can be interpreted into thoughts of building things. Every improvement and beautification that comes to his or her mind calls for boards and nails and paint. It is a natural, normal urge that is as old as mankind. It's the time to sell building materials.

But in every city, and town, and hamlet, and farm, and countryside, the amount of business done is going to depend very largely upon the effort of the sales people. The urge, the ambition, the spring fever that comes upon humans at this time of the year, soon passes unless it is put into early execution. Such plans are soon forgotten. "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." The good intention to build, and improve, and fix up soon withers on the stem unless something is done about it. And the something that should be done about it is for every lumber merchant to offer every prospect in his territory some spring building help and service.

To translate your *".lrrir" lrr.o .r" language of the things these passive prospects are thinking about-that is the problem. When the minds of the building material folks meet this problem squarely-things will sure pick up.

The lumber business ," *"r* tlU" *orraurful one of these days, and I'll tell you exactly when: When the industry as a whole starts reaching with its products and services a reasonable number of those people who SHOULD, COULD, and W'OULD buy if they were properly approached. That could be THIS year.

IMPORT SHIPMENTS FOR MA.R'CH

The Philippine Mahogany Manufacturers' Impbrt Assn. reports that imports of Philippine 1\Iahogany and Philippine hardwoods into the United States, consigned to all ports, for the month of March, 1936, amounted to 3,2@,W board feet, 5/o of which were logs. Total imports for the first three months of the year are 8,282,0ffi board feet,7/o of which were logs. Imports for the first three months last year amounted to 6,840,000 board feet, which shows an increase thus far this year of 1,368,000 board feet, or 2l/o.