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THE CALIFORNIA LUMBER MER]CHANT
July l, 1925
Millwork Institute Meets At Fresno Adopts Advertising Campaign
Sixty-five members of the Millwork Institute of California attended the Quarterly Session held at Fresno, at the Californian Hotel, June 12 and 13. The meeting had been postponed from May, due to a number of causes, accounting for the sfnall number of members on hand at the opening of the meeting, called to order by President Harry Gaetjen. He told of the very favorable reaction of the members of the Pacific Northwest Association and the Millwork Cost Bureau, to the insignia adopted by the California Institute, and predicted that similar action would be taken by these bodies, in a
short time. In his report, Secretary Didesch commented on a recent decision affecting trade associations, saying: "One of the best things for association work generallv that has happened in a long time is the recent decision of the Supreme Court in the cases of the Maple Flooring Manufacturers and the Cement Manufacturers Protective Association. The Supreme Court has actually reversed itself in its idBas as to trade associations. Heretofore, there was a stigma in their minds merely in the fact that such an association existed. The way they looked at it, everything pointed to collusion, price-fixing and so on and they even w-ent so far as to say it was illegal to issue prices subject to discount; that you could not agree as to costs and all sorts of things like that. Now, they haven't said now that you can fix prices and agree as to costs, but they have taken a more liberal view and say it is not illegal for trade associations to compare statistics bearing on cost, production, sales, profits and all things of that kind. As you all know, Herbert Hoover is verv strons for the idea and has done a lot of wonderful work in his deoartment
and has invited us now to participate in what they term simplifica-
tion. Now that is incorrectly called standardization and usually it is understood to mean that everything, our whole product, would make an attempt to standardize it. That is all wrong. but what they aie after is to eliminate, or have less standards but have those
standards of the same kind."
I\{r. Wm. Lucas, Secretary of the Eastern Millwork Bureau, spoke at the afternoon session, telling of the otganization, foundation and the functions of their body. After considerable discussion, pro and con, on the proposed $60,000 advertising campaign as worked out by Hammel-Sutphen Co., Inc., Los Angeles, the meeting went on record as being in favor of its adoption, for one year. This rvill mean, if the majority of the members concur, that the Millwork industry of California will receive the benefit of thousands of pieces of advertising matter telling the general consuming public of the aims of the industry, and will increase the use, it is predicted, of custom made millr.vork, against the material that has been heretofore made up on the job. Mr. Arthur Brenhauer, of Fresno, spoke of "What are the Three Most Glaring Causes of Loss of Profit ?" In part he said: "I don't know how we are going to confine this to three. The causes of loss is an easy subject to talk to, but to tell you how to eliminate them is not so easy. In any discussion along this line, we always thing of cost-finding which is fundamental and we have had so much talk on that, I am going to leave that out of it (Continued on Page 98)
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