NORTIHWEST NEWS

CHUCK LINK executive director

AN the occasion of our 75th !l anniversary, which we celebrated at our convention last month, we recognized the growth and changes in WBMA since the beginning. We thought you might be interested in reading a little of the history, so here is a brief review by W. C. "Bill" Bell, who managed WBMA from 1934-1959.

In the Spring of 1903 two loosely organized groups of retail lumber dealers met together in Walla Walla, Wa. One was the Inland Empire Retail Lumbermen's Association and the other, the Inland Retail Lumber Dealers Association. They had come to the belief that consolidation of their two groups would give them more influence and strength, and would save duplication of effort in solving many of the common problems then confronting them. During this meeting, the merger was completed with the name of Inland Empire Retail Lumber Dealers Association selected. An office was established in Spokane, Wa. with J. A. Borie as the first president and A. L. Porter as secretary-manager.

The first convention, held in Spokane, Feb. l0-ll, 1904, changed the name to Western Retail Lumbermen's Association and at once broadened plans and activities to include almost all of the territory west of the Rocky Mountains.

It may be something of a surprise to some of our membership to know that the association has held conventions in Great Falls and Butte, Mt.; San Francisco, Los Angeles and Fresno, Ca.l Salt Lake City, Ut.l and Boise, Id.

Later, the original far-flung area of the old Western Retail Lumbermen's Association was concentrated into the states of ldaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, which again makes the square miles o[ area covered by the association the largest of any similar one in the United States.

Inasmuch as most retailers con- tinued to increase their building material sales, the old name was again changed and has become recognized as the Western Building Material Association. The headquarters office was moved to Seattle, Wa. where a new office was built and paid for, lrom the building's rental earnings. Later this building was sold, and a still larger one was built in Olympia, Wa., with facilities for improved staff work and room for an ever expanding industry educational program.

During early growth and development of the building material industry, the newly organized Western Retail Lumbermen's Association was a very active, lusty and vigorous organization and performed outstanding service for its members, and was recognized as one of the leaders in the trade association field.

It became very active in fire insurance and succeeded in getting large reductions in the prevailing board rate. It maintained a traffic and freight bill auditing service, under the direction of Roy S. Brown. An industry news and technical magazine was launched and was followed by the introduction of a stock plan service, an advertising department and a silo information service. These were the years of the Golden Age in the association's life and this was under the direction of A. Porter, and the successive presidents and elected officers.

Then came the year of l9l7 and (Please turn to page 100)