GALEN BAR

September

North American Wholesale Lumber Assn.regional meeings: Sept. 12, Redding, Ca.; Sept. 17, Medford, Ore.; Sept. lE, Eugene, Ore.; Sept. 19, Portland, Ore.; Sept. 20, Seattle, Wash.; Nov. 1, Albuquerque, N. M.; Nov. 7, Los Angeles; Nov. 8, San Francisco; Nov. 13, Vancouver, B.C.

W.O.O.D., Inc.Sept. 9.14, West coast mill tour, contact Buzz Coffman, Denver, Colo.

National Assn. of Home BuildersSept. 9-16, National Home and Apartment Week.

Inland Empire Hoo-Hoo Club 117Sept. 12, Plywood grading seminar, AFP, Rialto, (714) 875-1550.

Los Angeles Hardwood Lumberman's ClubSept. 13, meeting, Steven's Steak House, City of Commerce.

Los Angeles Hoo-Hoo Club No: 2Sept. 14, meeting, Huntington Sea Cliff, Huntington Beach, Ca.

Shasta Lumbermen's Golf TournamentSept. 14, l0th annual, Riverview Country Club, Redding, Ca.

19th Phoenix Gift & Jewelry ShowSept. 16-18, Phoenix Civic Plaza. Phoenix. Ariz.

Duds, Ltd.Sept. 21, golf outing, Santa Rosa Country Club, Santa Rosa. Ca.

Northwest Hardwood Assn.Sept. 2l-22, grading short course, Holiday Inn, Kelso, Wash.

lVestern Wood Machinery & Furniture Supply FairSept. 2l-24, 9th annual, Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, Ca.

Western Wood Products Assn.Sept. 23-25, fall meeting, Newporter Inn, Newport Beach, Ca.

Hoo-Hoo Ette Club No. 11- Sept. 25, meeting, Holiday Inn, Orange, Ca.

October

Los Angeles Hardwood Lumberman's ClubOct. ll, meeting, Steven's Steak House, City of Commerce.

Hoo-Hoo Ette Club No. 12Oct. 13, annual arts & crafts show, Orange Fair Mall, Fullerton, Ca.

American Paper InstituteOct. 17-19, President's forum, Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix. Ariz.

Los Angeles Hoo-Hoo Club No. 2 * Oct. 19-20, family weekend, Hotel Del Coronado, San Diego, Cal.

Hardwood Plywood Manufacturers Assn.Oc't. 4-26, fall meeting, Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco.

Pacific Southwest Hardware Assn. * Oct. 28-31, 1973 management institute, Hotel Riviera, Las Vegas.

National Lumber & Building Material Dealers Assn.Oct. 28-Nov. I' 57th annual meeting, Williamsburg, Va.

Didia Notice?

Sharp-eyed readers will notice that we have made a number of subtle changes in the type faces we use in printing The Merchant Magazine. These eraphic updates, that begin with this issue, are part of our continuing program to improve, streamline and make the magazine easier and quicker to read than ever before.

While we were at it. we also converted to the new method of producing type known as "cold lype." The important thing for you is that it means a greater clarity and sharpness for those modern new type faces.

Our choices of what new type faces to use came only after extensive consultation with some of the leading graphics consultants on the West Coast. We hope you agree with the experts, and with us, that these changes give a brighter, fresher and more modern look to our pages.

The Editors

Gypsum Firms Settle

Two major gypsum companies have agreed to an outof-court settlement to suits charging price-fixing that will cost them (U.S. Gypsum) $28 million and (National Gypsum) $18.6 million, respectively.

Georgia-Pacific recently agreed to a similar settlement that cost them $12 million, as did Celotex Corp. which settled for $5 million, Flintkote Co. for $3.5 million and Kaiser Gypsum for $2 million.

Both National Gypsum and U.S. Gypsum must have the settlements approved by the court and the various plaintiffs involved in the suits. U.S.G. said this action resolved all the actions brought against it for the pricefixing charges except for a U. S. government damage case pending in federal district court in San Francisco.

The suits were originally brought by a number of purchasers and users of gypsum products in class actions. Exact details of returning monies to the injured parties will be announced if and when the court oks the proposed settlements.

Graham J. Morgan, chairman of U.S. Gypsum, has asserted that "The settlement has been made in the firm belief that the company and its officials have committed no wrong and have caused no damage to the plaintiffs. "

Last April, U.S. Gypsum and National Gypsum were hit in a court-awarded damage settlement of nearly $3.2 million in favor of six building supply dealers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Price/Production vs. Starts

While it took the federal governmentos economic planners until their Fourth Phase to discover that lumber and plywood is a classic supply/demand economy, it has been obvious to anyone working in the business for more than about two weeks. The accompanying chart clearly shows that housing starts, prices and production (in this case of plywood) are all tied and that in a demand pull economy, they trace a remarkable set of parallel lines across a chart. Federal attempts to control one aspect, priceso could only produce the result it did, a distortion that, happily enough, was only temporary.

The years covered are 1967 to 1973, the top chart showing housing starts, the middle one reflecting plywood prices and the lower one indicating the course of plywood production.

It is interesting to note that from 1967 to 1970, 1.5 million housing starts was the best year recorded, quite a contrast with today when some now view anything under 2 million as a catastrophe.

Now, just for fun, think for a moment what you could do ifyou had accurate figures like these in hand, today, for the next five years.

Distributors' New Logo

A new association emblem has been created for the National Building Material Distributors Assn. According to NBMDA's exec. v.p., S.M. Van Kirk, the new logo-'oreplaces an emblem recognized throughout the industry for over 2l years. The old logo served the association well from its beginnings as a small group of building material distributors to its present position as the dominate trade group in the building material field with distributor and manufacturer members around the world."

The new logo uses the symbol of a shelter as its main theme. The center section represents the three basic building shapes on which all design and construction are based: the circle, triangle and the square.