Successful Management Gonference i I

tTt HE amount of unre- result of a committee chaired by recession. Residential housing has .l California at its 24 annual Management Conference, held recently in Palm Springs.

forested land in America is a Burns Lumber's Gordon Woolard lost funds, he said, due to the scandal equal to Watergate, and is expected to increase LASC boom in plant and equipment Senator Mirk Hatfield (R-Or.) services to its members and to spending and oil payments to the told the opening session of the make the group more effective in Arab nations. Lumber Association of Southern dealing with industry matters. The solution to inflation is to get the federal budget under control, and institute priorities thru the budget. He urged fewer controls for a healthier economy.

Citing housing as this country's number one problem, and the root cause of a wide variety of social ills, Hatfield called for intensive management of U.S. forests and de-control of both public and private exports of logs. Military spending should be cut to fund the needed reforesting and management programs as a strong economy is America's best defense, he said.

Stating that the U.S. had taken out profits many times over the cost of the raw materials that we have purchased from the Third World, he said the U.S. owed the world a debt to feed the starving peoples and that it was in our best economic interests to do so.

LASC president Frank Purcell also told the Spa Hotel gathering the association was in the black (1lth year in a row), had increased its membership, instituted a dividend paying insurance program, and had moved to new oflices at 1915 Beverly BIvd. in Los Angeles.

A new Five Year Program for the association was also noted. It is a

New officers for 1974-75 are Seth Potter, president; Chuck Jenkins, v.p.; Jim Barr, sec.; and Don Derbes, treasurer.

An excellent panel on fundamentals affecting residential housing was featured the first afternoon, Nov. 14. Art Contreras, Great Western S&L, sees no immediate upturn, though 1975 could be a good year if money is available. It takes time to get the money, when it becomes available, back into the marketplace, Contreras noted.

Gil Ferguson, Council on Environment, Economy & Development, a builder/business lobbying group, noted the political instability inherent in a nation when only the top one-third of the population can afford a new house, as is the present case in the U.S. He called for more competition in housing by getting government out of the market. He said hidden costs in a mortgage, such as cutbs, Iighting, greenbelts and the like, were public costs that should be borne by taxes, not the homeowner; government is the problem, not the solution to the high price of homes. Ferguson stressed that a dependable supply of money must be found for the home building industry.

Verl Johnston of the Federal Reserve Bank told the wellattended meeting that he sees some light at the end of the tunnel, that the recovery has started and that we're at the mid point of the

In an interesting prediction, Johnston said domestic energy demands by 1990 may reduce the number of single family dwelling units to 200,000 with the balance being in multiples.

Story at a Glance

Elements affecting residential housing and f uture lumber supply questions tackled bY two excellent panels .... Seth Potter elected new president . . Sen. Mark Hatfield strong keynote speaker 5 year plan for association announced.

"OIe" was the Word of the Day for the Mexican flavored dinnerdance that left more than a few throbbing foreheads and red eyes for next morning's first rate panel on lumber supply in the future. Panel moderator Joe McCracken, exec. v.p., Western Forest Industries, Portland, said that excess production capacity was a short, not Iong term probIem and that housing starts may dip below the one million mark for several months this spring.

Clyde Kalahan, Weyerhaeuser Co., Tacoma, described the U.S. situation as one of a timber surplus coupled with a production capaci- ty shortage. Exports are vital to our domestic industry, he explained, as they allow industry to derive the profits needed to build the production capacity required to meet all market demands. Exports of forest products are also a vital part in helping our balance of payments status.

Noel Wicks, Timberlane Lumber Co., noted that the oft-forecast increase in housing starts to the 1.4-1.5 million level means a 25V hike in wood demand over present market conditions. He wondered aloud if at the 1.7-1.8 million level (expected now to occur in late 1975) would not cause skyrocketing lumber prices as supply fell short of demand.

American Plywood Assn. exec. v.p., Bronson Lewis, observed that some, though not all, excess production capacity built in anticipation of the nation meeting the goal of 2.6 million homes per year as set by Congress in 1968 was being taken up by their recent diversifications into non-housing markets. New composite panels just now reaching market are a result of industry efforts to stretch the raw material supply. ll{TRODUCING panelists (1) is Don Derbes. (2) Sylvia and Jim Frodsham. (3) Noel Wicks, Sterling Wolfe. (4) Pete Speek, John Sweet, Pete Ganahl. (5) John Harmer, John Weston. (6) Murray Marsh, George Clough, Dave Davis. (7) Bill Johnson, Bert Holdren. (8) Marc Myers, Stan Brown, Al Newkirk. (9) Bob Ransom, Jerry Essley. (10) Bill Nickerson, Bill Connor, George Cudworth, Larry Quinlan, Pete lves. (11) Jerry Holdren, Wendell Lawson, Walt Smith. (12) Clint Rygel, Jack Secoy. (13) Bus Blanchard, Frank Stanger. (14) Ray Peterson, Verl Rhine, Jim Collins, Scott and Raloh Cardwell. (15) Dave MacDonald, Hal Anawalt, Robert Dimeco. (16) Bob Sievers, Jim Nelson (background), John Lipani. (17) Clyde Kalahan, Bronson Lewis, Bernie Sloop. (18) Dave Willis, Norton Halhaway, Max Garmon, Bob Ransom. (19) Leroy Ostrander, Mike Jameson, Tony Pacheco. (20) Lynn Dawson, George Otto. (21) Leon Lauderbach, Bill Hormuth, Tim Timmerman.

Bernie Sloop of American Forest Products, while noting the presently gloomy condition of moulding and millwork, pointed out that the industry has grown tremendously since the 1960s and that he sees the next 20 years for that part of the wood products industry as being "fantastic." Efforts to extrude sawdust and other wastes into moulding have yet to prove practical he said. Thinner profiles are to be expected in the coming years, he forecast.

Pulp and paper expert Ernie Leopold, Crown Zellerbach Corp., noted that tight supply conditions were expected in the paper industry from 1975-77 and that one key for conservation of paper is a better program to recycle than what we have now.

The formal portion of the convention concluded with a luncheon lightened by the remarks of outgoing president Frank Purcell who delighted the lumbermen and their wives with some very funny remarks on the world in general and the industry in particular.