5 a.m. Saturday morning. Just another working day for Del Cole.

With much of American business moving towards the shorter working day and the 4-day work week, Del Cole, it would seem, is a bit out of step with the times.

But that doesn't bother Del Cole. He figures if he's slightly out of step like that, it means he's a big step up on his competition.

So while Del's wholesale lumber competitors are comfortably tucked away this morning, he's tracking asphalt through a 5 a.m. chill so he'll arrive in Sacramento when one of the mills he does business with opens its doors.

It's not something Del, or any other Rounds salesman. is required to do. It's something they just do.

Because they want to be the most knowledgeable wholesale lumber sales crew in the country. Armed with the kind of market information that can only come from a firsthand look at the source of supply.

Just so the next time you want something, they'll know where to find it.

Aren't they the kind of guys you'd like working for you?

Del, and the rest of the Rounds sales stafi, is waiting. Give them a call:

Telephone (707 ) 894-3362 or (707) 433-4816

Teletype 510-748-8260

Rounds Lumber Company

P.O. Box 97

Cloverdale. California 95425

Why Talk Yourself Out of Business?

f N spite of some of the rather horrible econI omic news that is currently floating around, we can't buy the proposition that next year is going to be a bad one. There are just too many good omens floating around for next year to be a real bummer.

Don't get us wrong, we're not discounting the fact that the latest housing start figures show a two-month drop that is practically straight down on the charts; that the Septemtrer figures reflected the steepest drop since 1960' Yes, interest rates are still high, with a prime rate that is still near the all-time high. And inflation is still with us as is the likelihood that the federal government will use tight money policies to try and control it.

But there is also an increasing wave of information that points in the direction of a far rosier future than a glance at those housing starts might indicate. And even there, the accompanying figures on building permits show that the West was the only part of the United States in which permits for future construction are up not down.

A number of respected institutions and some knowledgeable individuals have been voicing encouraging forecasts for I974.

For example , Fortune Magazine believes the housing cutback has about run its course and that the ensuing recovery will lift housing start figures to around the two-million mark by the end of 1974, bringing the year's total in at about 1.8 million.

Economists with the National Assn. of Credit Management do not see the currently high interest rates, with their associated curtailment of mortgage credit, as inhibiting housing activity to the extent it did in 1966 and 1969.

Peter T. Pope, chairman and chief executive officer of Pope & Talbot, Inc., opines "we do not expect a repeat of the unrealistically depressed markets faced by the forest products industry in 1969 and 1970."

R.B. Pamplin, chairman and president of Georgia-Pacific, flatly predicts "building materials should have a very good year in 1974 with housing starts stronger than the 1.8 million currently predicted by many economists," followed by a "very strong housing market in 1975, continuing through the decade."

For more of what the experts see for 1974, be sure and read our next month's Annual Business Forecast. One thing we'll venture now about next year, it won't be like this year, that's for sure.