THE ARIZONA

By FRANK DAVIS executive vice president

![/E started our second fifty years of rr conventions by having one of the most successful in our 51st Annual Convention.

The speakers were excellent and with the social events setting record attendance the whole a.trair made it one of the greatest.

The two morning panel discussions were excellent and the participation of dealers from the Westera, Northern

NtrWS

By ROSS K|I{CAID executive vice president

WfESTERN directors Carl A. Knoll rr and yours truly attended the recent meeting of the National Lumber & Building Material Dealers Assn.

of discussion of recent rulTVo important areas wene:

(1) Interpretations ings on wage-price.

(2) The need for support by direct dealer members to finance the programs of the industry development division.

.Here are some of the areas of commidtee work that affect every dealer: security; leasing vs. buying; unit lumber sizer; materials handling; EDP; capital mamagementl new stores. There are many more . your sup- port will help bring these helpful management tools to you.

The Washington State Unemployment Compensation Reserve Fund has dgcreased dramatically since June, 197Q to $10 million on March 31,

California and Mountain States Associations certainlymade them a success.

New officers for the coming year are:

Ray Lopp, Flagstafr, president; Ray Spelts, Yuma, lst v.p.; Morris Turken, Phoenix, 2nd vp.; Mike Ray, Phoenix, treasurer and yours truly, exec. vp.

Presented at the annual banquet for outstanding service to our association were the following awards. "Lumberman of the Year'' to Dean Dr.ake, O'Malley Building Materials, Phoenix; "Service Awardt' to Irarry Hamman,

Larry M. Hamman Lumber Co., Phocnixl "Man of the Year Award" to Carl Bastian, Weyerhaeuser Co., Phoenix; "Award of MeritD to Kay Kahus, WWPA, Scottsdale and "Induetry Award" to Bob Silvey, Silvey Products Co., Phoenix.

Something new was added this year 'rvith safety awards made to companies with outstanding safety records under our Workmen's Compensation program. They were awarded according to premium size in four divisione. Those receiving plaques were Heldt Lumber Co., Phoenix, division I; Ray Lumber Co., Phoenix, division II; Arizona Sash Door and Glass Co. Phoenix, division III; and theO'Malley Companies, Phoenix, division IV.

A complete story on our convention app€ars in another sectibn of this issue of The Merchnnt. (See poges 16-17, ) rate of 3% will be levied on a base of $6,0fi) in 1974 and $6,600 in 1975.

Remember, all of this tax is paid by you, the Washington State employer.

1972. It is forecast that the fund will be exhausted during the first quarter of 1973. In August, 1969, the all-time high of $343 million was reached. By June, 1970, the fund was at $298 million and by June, 1971, it had fallen to $120 million. The next nine months to March 3L, 1972, it decreased $110 million.

Amendments to the 'Washington Unemployment Compensation Act by the 19?0 and 1971 legislatures not only liberalized and extended benefits but also failed to close any of the major loopholes in the law. With the additional federally funded "emergen- cy" extended benefits recently enacted by Congress (Magnuson Amendment) of up to 13 weeks, many claimants have drawn benefits for as long as 65 weeks without intervening employment.

For the calendar yeat 1972 the employer's tax rate will be 3/o on a base of $4,800 and for 19?3 it will be 3% on $6,400. The State Department of Employment Security forecasts that unless the state's economy takes a definite upward turn the "emergency"

In a recent WBMA column we advised that members involved in construction should read the new regu- lations available at WBMA. Any dealer involved in construction, alterations, and/or repairs with his own labor or subcontract labor must comply with the standards.

A, Digest of the OSHA Construction Standards is available from the WBMA office for 75d.

CPA Sel Vander Wegen reports a good early response from members to the Surtseg of Operating Besults for 1971. The more we giet the more meaningful the averages become. The results can be most useful to your firm, so please help by sending in your figures. if you have not already done so.

'Welcome new members: Albany Planing Mill, Albany, Ore.; Angeles Millwork & Lumber Co., Port Angeles, Wash.; Edwards Glass Co., Portland, Ore.; Edwards Industries Inc., Portland, Ore.; Manzanita Lumber Co., Manzanita, Ore.; Nedco Aluminum Window Co., Springfield, Ore.; Smith Glass Co., Albany, Ore,; Somerset Plumbing & Heating, Beaverton, Ore.; Springtreld Glass Co, Springfield, Ore.; Vis-Rey.Ine., Tacoma, Wash, with a mill certificate of Grade from WCLIB, PLIB, CLIS or WWPA

Also dense select structural -kiln dried or green all pre.rodded with corners clipped Gall For Pricos

JIM WEBBER president of the Lumber Merchonts Associotion of Northern Cqliforniq 4546 El ComlEo Ral, Sull. O lor Altor, Callt.9S22 (4r5) 941.r617 of the

VOU, OSHA, and The State - California. To put it mildly pressure is On!

It may be that some of us need prodding on occasion to cause us to see hazards usually unnoticed. The association office has been flooded with requests for copies of the record keeping book and the Digest of Standards published by National Retail Lumber and Building Material Dealers Assn.

Inspectors have visited some of our retail yards but as yet there has been no official return correspondence to the yard as a follow-up to the inspection. This lack of return eommunication prompted LMA exec. q, Harry Mendenhall to follow through to determine what happens after the inspector makes his visit.

The State Division of Industrial Safety was contacted in Sacramento but this source only provided limited information on the OSHA program. They referred Hany to a Fresno office. The State Division of Industrial Safety has a Target Industry Program office in Fresno. This office is under contract from the Department of Labor to conduct safety inspections of the target industries for the Department of Labor.

The business cards of the inspectors are confusing since some of them list three different offices for which they work, but in each case it is noted on the cards that these inspectors are under contract to the Department of Labor although they are essentially state employees.

It was learned from the Fresno office of the Target Industry Program that there were approximately 20 retail building material yards, in addition to mills, that were on the list to be inspected. The office would not disclose the names of the firms on the list.

It was also learned that when the inspector makes his inspection the report is sent to the regional office of the Department of Labor where it is reviewed and then sent to the inspected firm under the letterhead of the Departrnent of Labor. Approximately five weeks are required to return the results of the inspection to the dealer.

New light has been shed on the future of OSHA. The prog'ram is here to stay but the initial plans of the Department of Labor to turn the program over to each state is progressing ahead of schedule.

MERCHANT'S IST 50

(Continued, lrom Page 8) months after the stock market crash oI 1929, he was quoting a banker who concluded, "Business is largely a state of mind." By January of 1934 he was able to write that ;'The lumber businessafter more than four years of continual slumping - took a new lease on life early last spring, soon after the Roosevelt administration began."

But more often than not. it was the lighter vein that made the Vagabond Editorials the favorite they were. Even the silly ones like this one from August, 1943. "There was a good looking blonde who was deftly working at a bench in a mu- nitions plant. When a visitor said to hero 'Are you doing piece work?,' she said, 'Nix, War Work."' Or, "A philosopher is a fellow who can't enjoy life because he's so busy trying to figure out what it's all about." Or, "There was this wag who was asked how much longer the war was going to last. He replied, 'relax, it's all over but the shootin'."'

Best News Coverage

While the magazine has undergone tremendous changes in the last fifty years as it has adapted to changing business conditions and our continual efforts to improve the magazine so we can serve the industry with an ever-improving publica. tion, there are two things that havc not changed, merchandising and selling information and lots of news in each issue.

News gets a special emphasis as always. News is rhe lifeblood of any industry and we pride ourselves on our many news "beatg," Our very popular News Briefs page, b"gun a little more than two years ago, is a good example of the steps we've taken to be sure our readers set the information they need to pirform their job at highest efficiency.

So The Merchant beeins its second half century of seivice to the lumber and building materials industry of the West. We treasure our readers's trust and interest and pledge to continue the job begun so long ago.