IlUho sheds theliqht onthebEst plywood?

Iust oskthe people who do business with us. As o compony of estqblished professionols who core, we toke pride in performonce ond doing things right. A big port of doing things right is knowing the right source. Our long-stonding ossociotion with the West's leoding mills gives us thot odvontoge.

Sunrise Fiorest Products is o nqtionol orqonizotion hecdquortered just outside of Portiond, Oregon. We mointoin offices in centrol qnd Southern Colifornio. Sunrise olso operotes dis-

EDITORilAL

Chicken Little need not apply rFHE bad news is that interest rates and I mortgage rates are rising, causing lumber and other wood product prices to nose dive. The good news is that most people are not hitting the panic button. While there is almost universal disappointment, apprehension and concern, mr st of our sources are taking a calm, measured approach to this latest assault on nerves and finances. As one wholesaler put it, "It's the nature of our business, we'll just have to manage a way to cope. We've done it before, we'll do it again."

Right on! Fluctuations are a normal part of the business. While the last three years gave heavy new meaning to the words peaks and valleys, it was only the severity of them that was abnormal.

No one is minimizing the current wreckage from rising rates. Grim scenarios for the future of the short lived housing recovery are being voiced. But many smack of overreaction. The news is not all bad, not by a longshot. Some of

DAVID CUTLER editor-publ

the best observers see the higher rates as strictly temporary, the result of only modest tightening by the Federal Reserve Board of the nation's money supply. Many highly regarded experts see interest rates declining in the fourth quarter of 1983 and/ or the first quarter of 1984.

An oft noted bupport of this theory is the onset of an election year, a sure bet to see the current administration using all its power to hype business. It is comforting that many research houses do not see the government crowding out business from borrowing the funds needed to maintain a strong economic recovery.

It appears at this point, from the best evidence available, that the run up in interest rates is temporary. Given that, the calm determination shown so far by industry members to "find a way to cope," seems professional indeed.

As President Harry Truman said, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."