File:Canadian forest industries July-December 1921 (1921) (20523856602).jpg

Title: Canadian forest industries July-December 1921
Identifier: canadianforjuldec1921donm (find matches)
Year: 1921 (1920s)
Authors:
Subjects: Lumbering; Forests and forestry; Forest products; Wood-pulp industry; Wood-using industries
Publisher: Don Mills, Ont. : Southam Business Publications
Contributing Library: Fisher - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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CANADA LUMBERMAN 45 tected his forced gaiety on several occasions. This afternoon he had seen Chalmers enter the office, and he decided that just as soon as he could get away from his friends he would follow him and try to learn the cause of his worry. He suspected that business had something to do with it. Chalmers looked up as he came in but did not try to hide the look of utter dejection on his face. Without any preliminary sparring Allison enquired of his brother the reason for his despondency. Chalmers told him all, without reserve; how he had plugged along for two years trying to build up a business, spending money on advertising, limiting himself to a small profit, but to no avail. The towns- people wouldn't patronize him and that was all there was to it. He was finished, and now that his mind was made up, the sooner he got out of the place, the better. If he lingered, he was liable to tell the people what he thought of them. Allison listened without comment until he was finished, and for some minutes afterwards. He hesitated to make the suggestion he had in his mind. He and Chalmers had not seen much of each other since they were boys and he did not know how the latter would receive his suggestion. He decided to risk it. Putting a hand on his brother's shoulder, he said: "Chalmers, my boy, I have a plan. The more I see of this old town nestling in the valley here and as I go around and meet my old friends, the stronger grows my desire to stay here instead of going back to Boston. I never knew how homesick I was till I came home. I have no ties in the States now and Kenton looks good to me. Besides, the old folks are getting along in years and I kind of feel that I ought to stay. I've been thinking it over ever since I came back, but the thing that puzzled me was what I could find to do. Now, if you're agreeable, I'll put some money into this thing and we'll make it go. What you need here is a planing mill to go along with your lumber yard." "The thing that has impressed me most about this town since I came back is the difference in the houses and in the scale of living of the people. Why, the old frame houses that used to be here are nearly all gone. All of the people I used to know are living in new houses. And I think the reason you haven't been getting the business is because people had to go to Fredericksburg to get all their millwork, and naturally they bought their lumber there too. If we had a shop here so we could give them anything they want, they wouldn't have to go to Fredericksburg for anything, and I kind of think they'd like the idea. We'll try it out, anyway, if you say the word. I was foreman in a woodworking shop down in Boston for five years, and I can look after the shop if you run the office. We'll form a new company and call it the Reddick Lumber and Woodworking Co. You can be president and I'll be vice-president." That train whistle that heralded the return of his brother was, without doubt, the turning point for Chalmers Reddick. As he said to me long afterward, "With my brother's hand on my shoulder, I won. If he hadn't come back home, I'd have been working on a farm, and, perhaps, I would not have been contented." The Reddick Lumber & Woodworking Co. was organized early this year. They built a planing mill which they equipped with a swing saw, trim saw with mortising attach- ment, moulder, planer, tenoner, sash and door clamp, arm sander and band saw. They would add other machines as they became necessary. The planing will was a success from the start. Un- doubtedly it was the solution Chalmers had been looking for. The brothers were congratulated by a number of the leading men of Kenton and were conducting the business only a short time when it was evident that the townspeople were behind them with both shoulders. It had even got noised abroad that they were operating a woodworking plant and a few months after they got started they received a letter from the govern- ment asking them to tender on the woodwork for a new post- office to be built in Kenton. The town is the centre of a prosperous farming district and several of the banks had been looking favorably towards the place as a suitable location for a branch. The walls of the new post office were barely up to the first storey when two of the banks purchased sites. Both were anxious to make a fav- orable impression locally so the contracts for the buildings were let to Kenton men and the Reddick Lumber & Wood- working Co. secured the contracts for all of the woodwork and lumber. Life for Chalmers Reddick took on a different hue. He had seen the Merton Lumber Company's truck in town twice only during the whole summer. The farmers no longer drove by flaunting Fredericksburg-bought lumber in full view of his office window. They went to the "Reddick boys" That they will continue to be drawn, Chalmers and Allison Reddick plan some new features which they propose to intro- duce into their business as soon as they can consistently make additional expenditures. They have set their heart on fitting up a display room where they can show customers samples of the work they make in the factory. They realize that it is much easier to sell woodwork if you can show it to a pros- pective customer made up as it will appear in his house. They
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'We'll form a new corrpany. You can be President and I can be Vice-president." plan to build an addition to the office to give them spaee re- quired for a show-room. In one part of the show-room they will have a draughting table for the preparation of plans. In a town where no archi- tect is available to supply plans the "Reddick boys" consider this an absolutely essential department in a modern woodwork- ing plant catering to the building trade. Allison, who under- stands plans and drawings, has been doing some of this work right from the start, but he has been handicapped in not hav- ing a suitable draughting room. It has also been a difficult matter for him to find the necessary time. Later he proposes to have a young man do the draughting and he will only super- vise the job and give advice where necessary. Allison has charge of the factory and yard and Chalmers gives his undivided time to the office and to mixing with the townspeople and farmers and associating with builders. In this way he is in close touch with public thought and new de- velopments.

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