NEWS BRiltrTS

A mixed bag has smerged from Merchant Magazine field samplings of dealers, wholesalers and distribution peoPle in the West during the last few daYs of September....

Those connected with home improvemenl report little if anY business drop over the last 6 mos. industrial construction remains fairly strong in most areas, though commercial business has slackened in the last 90 days ....

The plunge in housing has been the kiss of death for those firms tied to new home construction: small office wholesalers and retailers tied to tract builders have sometimes found business coming to a virtual halt ..

The money for a turnaround situation remains out of sight despite indications as we went to press that the prime rate is coming down from its historic high of l2Vo . s & ls have gone hat in hand to the feds seeking new rules to help halt the big drain on their funds (needed to finance housing) by higher payinginvestments....

While $$ remains tight, no recession is in sight for'75, according to a survey by the American Statistical Assn. and the National Bureau of Economic Research; their consensus: the worst is almost over; following will be a slow but steady rise in the economy and a slight lesseningof inflation....

Various housing and housing supplier grouPs have aPPealed to

At the mill level, both in lum- prbiiOent- Foid to fini-ways-to ber and plywood, closings con- take the burden of fighting inflatinue, with scores reported in tion of the back of housing and its Ca., Or., & Wa. ., industrial related industries .. while Mr. construction may weaken rapidly Ford seems to understand the as companies pull in their purse problem, his money men have strings in the face of discourag- telegraphed no signals that they ing economic news . . . plan a change in their present ryelhod of battling inflation with

Prime cause for the bad news, tight money of course, is the lack of housing starts .. . latest dt.'f- ;G: Even a quick response by the show a 1,126,000 seasonally ad- feds, in the form of concrete aciusted annual rate, down l3%o tion, would still involve a time from July and their lowest point lag of months before the effects for an Aug. since 1966 .. . . bldg. would be felt in the lumber and permits for future construction plywood marketplace '. addino* indicate further declines, tionally, the Pacific Northwest with new housing starts expected faces drastically increasing prices to decline below the I million for industrial gas/electricity mArk.... users....

Plywood and lumber prices, at Confirming what we reported oresitime, were suffering further here last mo., cagh-short Evars !r"ri* *ith many foiecasting Products has begun to sell some that the bottom had yet been hit of its assets; they've agreed with returns (hopefully late Spring of posite, _Pfnef operations, Mon;i:j strarp'price rises are anti- cure, N.C., for some S12 million; iipLtia .'. . Monford orloff, chairman of the board, has taken on the additional job of chief exec.

Boise Cascade plans to build a $3.5 million manufactured housing plant 15 mi. from Billings, Mt.; production is slated for 75's Znd quarter Palmer G. Lewis Co,, Auburn, Wa., expects to complete expansion of , its Anchoraee branCh this mo.

Sierra Pacifc Industries president A.A. "Rod" Emmerson plans to buy back the remaining public shares and take the company private; he earlier purchased the40Vo of the firm owned by former chairman John B. Crook and his family

D & B Plywood plans a midOct. opening in Gilroy, Ca.;their other operation is in San Jose, Roy Campbell, owner ., .. T-G. & Y Stores recently opened in Gilroy with a large bldg. mtls. dept. ... Hugh M. Woods Co. has opened a 5-acre expansion to its Littleton, Co. retail yard operation....

Baldwin Moutding & Specialty Co., Denver, has been sold to Slaughter Industries, no price revealed . City of lndustry, Ca., has ok'd a 12,000 sq. ft. facif ity for Southern Building Materials Super Market, which has 54locations in the U.S.

MatDonulds is using more than 5 million sq. ft. of plywood in their current expansion program: 500 new outlets .... McCulloch Corp. is recalling 300,000 chain saws made before April, 1973 for a fire hazard, leaking gasoline; certain Mini Mac 1, lA and 64 chain saw.

Twelve of the l3 major industrial classifications recentlY showed increases, one didn't - lumber, which declined bright spot in declining lumber prices is that steel framing is no longer price competitive, as it was in 1972 .. .. Keep Smiling.