A Big Year jor lndustry

The lumber manufacturing industry of the nation has had quite a year. The quickest way to describe it would be to say that it has sold ai1 the lumber it could make, and at high prices, and hasn't been obliged to work very hard to do it. If that doesn't spell piosperity-what does?

This was especially true of the softwoods-most all of them, and most of the tim'e. The hardwoods found some hard sledding for quite a bit of the year, especially the smaller mills in the South.

When the figures are all in for 1952 it will be found that it was one of the top years of all history, with tremendous quantities of boards, planks, and timb:rs being made and used. It has been one of the biggest production years in all the history of West Coast lumber, and the production probably sold for more money than any other year in history. In the old days when they cut huge quantities of Fir, they didn't get much for it. Today, with No. 3 bringing higher prices than clears used to bring, the cash register tells a different story.

Lest someone promptly remind us, let us recall that the cost of producing that lumber has advanced accordingly. You could buy a forest in the old days for the money you pay for an acre right now.

The South as well as the West has had a good year, heavy production sold at high prices. But here also the cost of buying timber and making lumber reached astronomicd figures.

Yet, take it all around like a hoop, as Gus Russell used to say, 1952 has been a fine money year for the sawmill industry.

Dcn Philips, Sr., Lau-rence-I'hilips Lumber Co., Los Angeles, and Mrs. Philips fleu- up to Humboldt Countl' earlv in December on a combined business and pleasure trip. Thev u'ere at their home at Reds'av. near Garberville. rvhen the big storm struck. and had a touch of the "good old davs" of living bv lamp and 6re light for a rvhile rvhen the storm cut off the porver supplr'.