Regal Door ConPany

Development Co. He is active in Los Angeles Ho.o-$go Club 2 affairs and a member of various social and civic organizations in his home town of Fullerton. He was born ant raised in the lumber, milling and building industry and is well known throughout the west in the wood and building materials field.

$375,OOO R,eleqsed to Increqse Timber Soles on Nqtionql Forests

The U.S. Department of Agriculture.announces that an additional $375,-000 to increase the number of timber sales on the national forests of Oregon and Washington has been alloted for use during the current fiscal year' This is in addition to approximalely $l .9 million previously allocated for the same purpose.

These additiorial sales will help forest products industries by making more timber av?rilible within the allowable cutting capacity of the national forests, and the-additi-gnal fundsivill-mat<i: it possible to advertise for sale B0O million more board feet oi timber than the Department's Forest Service has previously scheduled'

Four hundred millibn board feet will be advertised prior to Iuly 1958, and the remaining 4O0 million board feet will be idvertised between July I and September 30, 1958. Total value of this timber is estimated at $12 million.

Bill Wroy to Hecrd New Hubbard & JohnsonYord

S. \V. "Bill" Wray, formerly with Merner Lumber Comp,any, has been named to head Hubbard & Johnson Lumber ComDanv's new Port of Redwood City yard, according to Wesley L. 'iBud" Hubbard of Mountain View. Prior to his association with Merner, Wray had several years' sales experience with Pacific Forest Products, Inc. of Oakland.

; ' -^Those expecting a nationwide decline in net profits in , 1958 were over twice as numerous as those looking forward l:r tO an rnCrease.

Sales Expectations High-Some 9I/o of all those inter- viewed thought that their sales next year would eoual or

I exceed those of -1957. -Retailers- and durable goods -*arru-

: facturers were a little less hopeful on this than"wholesalers

1': -.'ayrd producers- of _nondurablei, and a larger proportion of them expected sales to be their greatestlro6te- in 1958.

Executives were considerably les,s optimistic in viewing

'fgs8 sales prospects on a nationwide bisis. Those who fori- saw higher dollar sales included. 45% of the rctailers. 4l%o

"of nondurables manufacturers, and, 36Vo of the manufac-

Instollmenf Selling Continues to Grow

The volume of outstanding installment loans for repair- and maintenance increised by only $4m,000,000 iq ^t!p^t^a^st^^!ve years, whereas t6ere wai a gain of $q,^3ry,000,000 in -auto loans and an increase of $a800,- 000,m0 in loans for other conSumer soods. The monthly_payment method of paying for hdine modernization jobs releived great_ empliasii last year in the promo- tion of Op.eratibn Home Improvemint, and yetihe increase in installment loans 1or repair-mod--ernization was only $15?,q,00,q0 for the year. Percentagewise the gain was 9.3/o but the dollar gain is hardly iirpressive.

The total amount of outstindins instailmeirt credit has more than doubled since 1951,-having reached the impressive total of $31,600,000,000 bv th-e end of last year. Charge accounts, on the othei hand. increased only-about sp/o in the same period as more and more retailers, and customers, turn to installment loans.

turers of durable goods.

It should, of course, be kept in mind that the sentiments reflected in this survey may- have changed since the interviews took place. As with any survey oT expectations, subsequent events can easily modify the thinking and planning of the respondents.

Price Rises Anticipated-Many of the businessmen, es- pecially the retailers, expected higher prices to accounl for much of the rise in dollar sales. For every retailer who an_ ticipated price reductions in his own com-pany, eleven foresaw- increases. LJnchanged price levels iareie most often predicted by manufacturers of nondurable soods. While 49/o of. those interviewed foresaw hikes in their own sellino prices, 55/o anticipated general price increases in the coun-- try as a whole.

Little Change in fnventories-Half of the executives par. ticipating in the survey believed that there would be no change in the level of their inventories next year, and, Zg/o