ilIore Than The fiolden Bule

Bv Jack Dionne

There is a firm oi printers in the east who have .been in business for more than two generations, and who have during that entire time used as their business and advertising slogan, this very delightful phrase:

"More Than the Golden Rule'"

Isn't that keen ?

There is so much talk nowadays about "The Golden Rule in business," that it is refreshing to find a man who has been ofiering MORE than that Tor a long, long time'

In the first place we are impressed with the thought that he must have kept his promise, or he wouldn't have lived and prospered so long a time.

Proving that "It CAN be done."

Then comes the natural thought: What does it mean to give "More than the Golden Rule?"

That Godly principle is to do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

MORE than that means that you are willing to do for others MORE than you expect them to do for you. And THAT is a truly regenerating spirit.

It is what Wanamaker had in mind when he adopted his slogan: "The customer is always right." He KNEW

Employer-Employee Dirurer Held At Long Beach

Wood ProCucts Institute, whose membership consists of sash and door, cabinet, and fixture manufacturers in Long Beach and the surrounding area, held a very enjoyable employer-employee banquet and entertainment at the Masonic Temple, Long Beach, on Wesdnesday, January 14. A total of 151 employees attended.

The Institute was formed for the purpose of negotiating labor contracts and bringing about better employeremployee relations.

W. A. MacArthur, MacArthur Planing Mill, Long Beach, is secretary. manager; Jay Burgin, Burgin Planing Mill, Long Beach, is president, and Clifford E. Wavell, Wavell Showcase & Fixture Co', Long Beach, is vice president' that there were many, many people who would take advantage of that business principle, and IMPOSE upon him. They DID. Thousands of them. But he stuck to his rule just the same.

It is the same thought that the old French storekeeper in Southern Louisiana uses when he gives the housewife thirteen for a dozen, and calls it-"Lagniappe." For Lagniappe simply means moie than you agree to furnish, and therefore "More than the Golden Rule."

The Man of Galilee had the same thought in mind when He said to the Jew who had been made to carry the burden of the Roman soldier a mile, as prescribed by law: "When he makes you carry it ONE mile, carry it TWO."

And I like this thought best of all. We are inclined to refer to the Golden Rule as a Christian theory-and it IS of course-but Christianity should be really rrMore than the Golden Rule." For the great Pagan philosophers from Confucius right down through Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle to Marcus Aurelius, ALL preached the gospel of the square deal, which is the Golden Rule.

But the Gospel of the Second Mile is a greater one. It means "More than the Golden Rule."

One More Christmas Story

The Passing Show column of the Long Beach PressTelegram recently published an interesting item. Erik Flamer, Lon.q Beach wholesale lumber dealer told tlie columnist that in place of the box of Oregon apples that he usually received each Christmas season from Herbert A. Templeton Lumber Co., Portland, he received a card with the following message: "We are going to say Merry Christmas in a dift'erent way this year. Our remembrance to you is the life of a little child in Germany. This child would almost certainly starve to death before next summer except for the additional food he will receive in your name through the American Friehds Service Committee, with rvhom we have made suitable arrangements."

o r e is order to maintain the good will of the most important people in any business-OuR CUSTOMERS -as they are the life-blood of E. J. STANTON & SON, Inc. For the past lifty-Iour years we have been wholesale distributors in the SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA area of... IMPORTED AND DOMESTIC HARDWOODS, PACIFIC COAST SOFTWOODS, STANWALL, PHILWALL, PLYWOODS, FIOORING, HARDWOOD PANELS and SPECIATTY TUMBER PRODUCTS.

FITS ANY PLAN!

Wall Panels

o Eosily opplied overpres€ntwolls... ot moderolecost.... gleoming, colorful HANDITYLE Woll Ponels ore ideol for "doing over" kiichens, both ond dressing rooms, slore inleriors, cofes, etc.

o Their gloss-smoolh ffnish is permoneni, woterproof, cleons wifh o domp cloth, odds smort ond losting beouty wherever used. Choice of 6 lovely colors . . . qnd F. H. A. APPROVED.

Gel Your Shqre of This Steody, Profifqbte Business!

Price Cuts In Douglas Fir Will Close Spending Curbs, Less Government Buying Small Mills, Lower Production, tVill Ease Lumber Pr'tces, Weyerha€user

Oregon Operator Testifies Spokesman Says

Washington, D. C., January 12, 1948.-"It is the history of the lumber industry that it produces itself out of a market, that it continues to increase production until prices break and marginal mills close," testified Douglas fir spokesman Judd Greenman, president, Oregon American Lumber Corp., Veronia, Oregon, before members of the Congressional Joint Committee Investigating Housing today.

Taking sharp issue with the attention focused on lumber industry pr<.rfits at various regional hearings of the Committee, Mr. Greenman flatly stated that fir lumber prices are not too high nor are "profits in the lumber industry as a whole today greater than are needed if this industry is to replenish its timber and amortize its plants at current costs and values."

Mr. Greenman pointed to the vast difference in economic position between the high-cost and low-cost producer within his region as evidenced by the great spread in selling price for a given item during a given month.

The entrance of the high cost producer into the field under the siimulus of a favorable market is responsible for the tremendous increase in production in this region since the end of OPA, he asserted. Production will continue to rise "so long as prices are on a profitable level," he predicted.

In defense of his opening statement that prices and profits are not too high in view of replacement costs, Mr. Greenman introduced evidence showing the sharp increase in operating costs and labor since 1939. In addition, the industry's raw material-standing timber-was shown to have increased 328 per cent over six years ago.

The committee, he advised, rvhose purpose it is to expand and cheapen available housing, "will be well advised if it lets Douglas fir lumber prices alone, either by direct or indirect action. After more than forty years of experience with them, I am thoroughly confident they will, as they always have in the past, provide a stimulus for constantly increased production rvhile demand remains high and such production is vital," he concluded.

Washington, D. C., January 12,Ig4&.-Laird Bell, chairman of the Board of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, told members of the Congressional Joint Committee Investigating Housing today that despite its genuine concern rvith the high cost of lumber, there is very little that Weyerhaeuser or any individual manufacturer can do to exercise corrective influence.

"To attack price alone is simply trying to cure a symptom rather than the disease. The disease is the excess number of dollars that want to buy the limited supply of material," Mr. Bell told the Committee. He suggested that only by increasing supply or decreasing demand could the disease be cured.

Production is already at capacity, he pointed out, and the government itself, through deferring its own building programs which are less urgent than house building and exercising its authority to limit unhealthy, over-expanded buying power can do most to stabilize prices by easing the demand for lumber, he recommended.

Turning to his own company, Mr. Bell stated that Weyerhaeuser Sales Company marketed 3.4 per cent of the total lumber sold in the United States in 1946. and marketed it at prices "well under the going market" for identical species. This did not influence the general price level in any way, Mr. Bell said. "Gray markets" would be the only result of voluntary allocation agreements as suggested by the Anti-Inflation Act, he continued, because lumber manufacturers do not control their o'ivn outlets and therefore have no control over the price to the consumer.

Anti-trust legislation precludes any collective action by manufacturers, Mr. Bell added.

Reiterating his concern over prices and their ellect on housing, Mr. Bell indicated to the Committee that his company would give further'consideration to any possible action which might benefit the situation.

Joe Weston, field service director, Douglas Fir Plyrvood Association, Tacoma, was in San Francisco on Association business around the first of the year. He was on his rvay to Tacoma from Chicago.

BATAA'U* LA,,.AO* PHILIPPINE MAHOGANY

After mony yeqrs we qre now in o position lo ofter, for prompl shipmenl from our Long Beoch Yord, lhese two selecfed qnd trqde-mqrked hordwoods.

Until present export reslrictions in fhe Philippines ole chonged we cqn supply only lumber resqwn here, from 8" qnd up by 8" ond up by 8' ond up, Conls ond Veneer Flitches.

Bu] Whot Lumber!

8" ond wider, from 8' lo 24' long, ond procticolly 100% Ribbon Groin, Dqrk Red ond lighr Red Philippine Mohogony. Truly o remorkqble specificofion, ond worthy of our lrqde-morks.

DRY l35l Mirssol St. los Angeles 23

ANgelus 2-1945

*Registered Trode-filqrks

Why all this fuss about the high cost of living? It's just what it has always been-all you've got'

,t< * :{<

A reminder to President Truman and his forty billion dollar peace-time budget: "Willful waste and woeful want, go hand in hand."

* * *

With Uncle Sam the biggest buyer of food and other commodities in all the world, any rascal with a job in Washington that enabled him to find out what and when the government was buyrng, could get fat in a hurry. And, what is more to the point, it appears that a lot of them HAVE'

* * {< poor otd Henry Wallace ! Day and night his doleful jeremiads rise heavenward. Henry wants to save the country from ruin and despair, he says. IIe's in favor of "peace and prosperity."

Reminds me of . lotoJ "l*J nr., of a generation ago. They find a man dying in the desert. One of the ladies in the cast offers the su,fferer aid. "What's the trouble with him?" asks Jolson. "He's dying for a drink," said the lady. Said Jolson-('Oh, Lady, who ain't?"

That's the way i, t, ;; lvdl"".'" platform. who ain't in favor of peace andr prosperity? If all those who ARE should vote for Henry, he'd be elected by acclamation'

Some of Wallace's apologists say, "Ilenry is sincere." Naw. Henry isn't sincere. Henry's "sore." Reminds me of a guy na:ned Lucifer who was hurled headlong from heaven. Henry was hurled headlong from the cabinet. Both Henry and Lucifer have been "sore" ever since, and trying to get even. That's all.

I often wonder if the ;Jt": of pigs that Henry destroyed just to raise the price of pork, instead of feeding them to hungry millions all over the world, come to visit the little man from Ioway sometimes in his dreams. Maybe he wants to save the world to atone for that little pig deal'

Same time he plowed under the pigs he likewise plowed under cotton, and sugar, and other valuable commodities. The world was both hungry and naked when Henry plowed under all that food and clothing. There has never been the least doubt in my mind but that Henry's total ability was measured and demonstrated in that awful and unbelievable New Deal plowing under of the necessities of life. That seems to be the*way he thinks in all matters. So he wants to be President and save the world FOR the pinks and the fellow-travelers and FROM those who add two and two and get four, and who still believe it a sin to destroy those gifts of God that men need in the form of food and clothing, etc., and; who believe in a strictly Democratic form of government, without any Communistic tint-the color that Henry seems to like so well.

Henry is just one of ;""" ";"tge little men who surrounded President Roosevelt during the early days of the New Deal, none of whom possessed unusual ability, few of whom possessed any fitness for the jobs they rattled around in, and most of whom fell heir through contagion to the same Messianic complex that was so completely prevalent in our government in those days. Only Henry is some sort of mystic in religion, they say, and he got a bigger and deeper infection of the virus than most of the others. With no sign of the stamp "Success" on anything he has ever done, he still insists on being a great leader and a world savior. Heaven keep this laughter from my liPs!

And Mr. Truman, who not long ago advocated higher wages without higher prices, now advocates the highest budget in history, with an accompanying cutting down of prices, profits, etc. He should remember the words of the famous "Two Black Crows" of years back. One of thern said: "The doctor told me to eat plenty of chicken, and stay in the house nights, and you know you can't do both." Looks like the President enjoys advocating fundamentals that refuse to coordinate. t(t<*

The forty billions of dollars that budget calls for must come from the pockets of every American. Remember during the war when they jumped the cost of Government continually and rapidly to meet the emergency costs of war? Remember how each of us automatically assumed that when the war ended the costs and the burdens and the taxes would race downward, and give us relief? Remember? What suckers!* * *

And now we realize that these costs and these burdens and these taxes are NEVER going to be deliberately lowered by those in power. This year the budget breaks all records-even those of war-and next year it will be progressively higher. Only one of two things will put an end to it; either a complete change in governmental think-

(Continued on Page 10)

(Continued from Page B) ing and planning, or a hell of a financial flip-flop. Let us pray for the first. * * *

Of course, in Presidential election years we must always expect a deluge of intellectual dishwater served with champagne labels; and this year promi.ses to be one of the worst on account of tense conditions. In the things that will be printed and spoken, it is going to be mighty difficult to separate the political from the actual. It looks like the kind of year the late Senator Joe Bailey rneant when he said: "It's going to take all the he-men and the shewomen to beat the she-men and the he-women this year."

***

The other day representatives of the lumber industry gathered in Washington at the insistent call of a Congres.sional Committee investigating the housing situation. The avowed purpose of the Comnirittee as stated by its spokesmen, was to bring about a reduction in the price of lumber. The mill men who were invited answered the call. and the representation was a stout one. Before the hearing started the attorneys representing the lumbermen told them that they could not take any concerted action with regard to lumber prices because in doing so they would come under the heavy hand of the anti-trust laws. They were told that they could not legally discuss lumber prices, even with the Congressional Committee. They were told that the Committee had no authority of any sort to grant them immunity against the anti-trust laws. Most of those present are still operating their businesses under a consent decree of the federal courts, handed the.m when they were convicted years back of doing things which various departments of the federal government had told them they must do oR

While this hearing was going on in Washington, news came that in the State of Arkansas the government had just made a sale of Pine timber from a national forest for the highest price ever paid in all history for stumpage; $57.87 per thousand feet. Yes, those are the figures-

FIFTY.SEVEN DOLLARS AND EIGHTY-SEVEN CENTS A THOUSAND FOR YELLOW PINE

TREES. These facts were related to the Committee by the lumbermen as an example of how lumber prices get high. ***

Honest, Mister, did you ever expect to live to see the day when Yellow Pine stumpage would bring such a price as that? Why, I can remember seeing the finest stand of Long Leaf Pine timber in the south sold for about 25 cents a thousand.

Of course the price of lumber is too high, just as is the price of everything else. Present prices were arrived at largely by the auction system. The willingness of the trade itself to bid for scarce lumber lifted the price to its present high level. It is asking too much of human nature to expect a man to sell a car of lumber for a certain price, when buyers are thrusting more money in his face and daring him to take it. That's how lumber got up. It would be better for all concerned if a consistent leveling off could be arrived at. But how that is going to be done, is a puzzler, until the old law of supply and demand takes a hand. So far, Mr. Demand has been consistently stronger than Mr. Supply, and remains so today.

Abraham Lincoln was born in February. The late William Allen White, "The Sage of Emporia," said that it was a good thing Lincoln lived when he did; that the times in which we now live could never produce a Lincoln. If a man were born today with Lincolnesque possibilities, he would be softened, side-tracked, pampered, and diverted in so many difrerent directions that he probably would lose all the elements of greatness. He might end up running a soft drink stand. * *

Have you heard about the dumb guy who heard some' one say that the Russians have refused the good ofFces of the United Nations, and said: "'Where the hell are they? f want to rent them."

Simpson Industries Tcrkes Over Entire Building

Simpson Tndustries has taken over the entire building at 1600 to 1610 East Washington Boulevard, Los Angeles. This gives them just double the amount of room and facilitates the operation of their expanding business.

The building has been completely remodeled, inclttding tl-re offices. These have been re-decorated. Dark ash panels have been used for wainscoting, and Simpson iusulating board on the sidewalls. Simpson decorative tile has been used for the ceilings, and nerv fluorescent lighting has been installed.

JAMES L. HALL

Pacific Coast Wood Products

PHONES: SUtter l-752o,-21-22 --- lO32 tUlltL5 BUILDING, SAN FRANCISCO 4, CAtlF.

lmrnediate Attention to Your Reqairements of:

Lumber, Veneer, Plywood, Prefobricoted Con:lruc- I I poRt oRFoRD CEDAR (whirc Cedqr or low:on Cyprcrs) rion, Pollctr, lkids, Polcs, Stube, Heovy fimberr, ( \

(Yellow) CEDAR-DOUGIAS FIR Prtins, Roitrocd rics ond srrins.r., r/rrrrwork, Fcncc ( rrom J *tltriiiljht?li5itiri,i"l"rtl., Ports, Shingfc:, Shokes, Stokc:, loth, etc. I I