1932 wood products: what kind of leadership?

Recently a designer was called into consultation by an executive of one of the furniture manufacturers' associations. He was shown photographs of a state of bedroom furniture, which was reported being sold in large quantities to a mall order house by a prominent concern for a reported price of $31. The association executive, heralded in the industry as a cost accounting expert, asserted that this price was entirely out of line and was of the opinion that the manufacturer was absolutely giving away the lumber and chiseling the wages of his help to an insignificant minimum in order to sell at this low price.

The designer took the photographs to his studio, laid a piece of tracing taper on them and proceeded to duplicate them exactly, with the exception of altering slightly the shape of the overlay. This sketch was sent to the association executive, who we understand in tended to circulate it to several manufacturers of a clique. At this very moment the clique members could be sharpening their pencils to a split hair fineness to make quotations to the mail order house, offering something "just as good and cheaper."

It has always been the belief of Wood Products that trade associations were organized to help the industry to progress through mutual endeavor in a way in which it could not progress if the members worked only individually. It has never occurred to us that trade associations were ever organized to embroil the industry in a cat-and-dog-fight type of competition which not only contributed to the clisintegration of the industry but to its complete demoralization as well. We believe that. for the past several years the furniture industry has been going down hill fast enough by itself without setting up an organization to tumble it into complete chaos.