Distribution Warehouse Opens Service to Tri-County Area

For the retail dealers in San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial Counties The California Door Co. of Los Angeles has recently added a new distribution warehouse in Colton.

Situated next door to the Cranford Wholesale Building Material Company the new warehouse ofiers customers a tremendous new advantage in transportation time and cost. It has the added value of a onestop location for practically every building material item and thus reduces heavy dealer inventory investment.

Red Thompson, 20 year veteran in the southern California wood products field, has been appointed Colton Branch Manager by Art Parkins, general manager of the 76 year old wholesale concern. Red has spent most of his adult life in lumber and allied material sales. Al Weins will continue to call on dealers throughout the San Bernardino county area and Roy Henry will continue to service dealers in Riverside county, Parkins explained.

The new distribution depot at 340 W. "G" is on the Union Pacific Railroad spur, two blocks from the San Bernardino Freeway. Early this spring Caldoor will establish truck delivery to all cities and towns in the three counties.

Red Thompson keeps an orderly house and everything is clean as a whistle, easy and fast to handle without any loss of time, bragged Art Parkins.

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Hess Lumber Compony Closes Lqst of lts Yords

Henry Hess Lumber Company, once a major force in northern California retailing, closed the last of its yards the end of January'

The San Raphael yard, last of a chain that once numbered 14, was bought by the California Division of Highways.

Charles T. Lund, general manager of the firm, said that the property has been used as a lumber yard since 1907, when it was owned by Jensen and Schlosser. The Hess Co. acquired it in I92I.

Lund said the company offices were moved to 696 Francisco Boulevard in San Raphael, where Hess owns an additional eight acres, during January. Lumber stocks were also moved to this property. When everything is sold, the company will discontinue business entirely.

The property along this part of Francisco Boulevard is subject to the State Division of Highways acquiring a strip from 90 to 125 feet deep which would not leave enough for the company to operate its mill again, Lund declared.

"Land structure in Marin County for a lumber yard is too far out of reach," he said. ooThere is no point in our trying to start operations again at another location."

Lund has managed the Hess lumber interest since the San Rafael yard was first opened. He was previously with Jensen and Schlosser for two years. He said he has no definite plans for his future business activities.

Henry Hess, owner of the firm, lives in San Francisco.

Cqliforniq Timber Industry: 1975

California timber holdings, like California farms, are getting bigger and fewer. And so are the mills that cut the timber'

The prospect is that the state's timber cut, which reached a peak o{ 6.4 billion board feet a year between l95B and 1960, will have leveled ofi at around 5.5 billion feet by 1975. At the same time, new wood uses, such as pulping, could balance ofi job shrinkage in the timber areas.

These forecasts come from a preview of the California timber industry by 1975, by Dr' John A. Zivnuska, University of Califor' nia forest economist.

His look into the future of the state's timber economy was taken as part of a study by the University's School of Forestry for the State Office of Planning.

A critical need of the California wood industry is new uses for now-unused wood material. "Only about half of the wood volume is now usedo" Zivnuska said. "The rest goes for fuel or products of low value. The total amount of wood available, if we knew how ts use it, could be 75 per cent more than we are using now."

Because the forest industries have long had a high ratio oI labor to product, he said, reductions in labor use can be expected in attempts to improve wood's competitive position. He forecast a 20 per cent drop in the industry's labor requirements by 1975.

Most likely sources of new jobs, he said, would be in three areas: further processing of lumber and plywood, laminated and prefinished products, and residue-based industries'

Pulping, the UC forest scientist said, shows some promise in the Sacramento valley and northwest counties. Additional wood processing industries, he aCded, are likely to locate out of the timber areas, just as present millwork industries are now concentrated in and near San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The bigger the Bandwagon The higher the Pressure!

Many of the brands that seek our business are giants in the field. Many have complete lines of materials. If we use one or two of their products, it's natural for them to pressure us to carry the lot. But if some small producer can give us a better product, he gets the business. Regardless of pressures to follow the bandwagons of big-name brands, we maintain our independence.

Lumber Morking Bill Venoed by President

President Lyndon B. Johnson, using the chief executives perogative, has used a "pocket veto" to kill the lumber marking biu.

Under the proposed bill all lumber entering the US would have had to be marked as to country of origin. It was aimed mainly at the Canadian lumber industry.

In rejecting the bill, Mr. Johnson said, in parts, "This bill would encourage new price increases in lumber and home building at a time when we are trying to expand our housing facilities."

The Memorandum of Disapproval accompanying his veto continued, "Such a bill was vetoed by President Eisenhower in 196I," and the marking provision "specifically violates our long standing trade agreement with Canada."

Proponents of the measure had earlier stated that the marking of the sawed lumber and wood products would be no hardship as most of the lumber now being shipped is marked to indicate grade or quality and excepting the US is marked as to -country of origin. They concluded that protests of discriminatory exclusion were thus not supported by fact.

Some daily newspapers in commenting on the president's action have seen the move as a clue to his future actions regarding foreign trade. Under their interpretation this shows that the President intends to rebufi protectionist moves for domestic industry in favor of a more liberal trade policy with the European Common Market and others.

Bob O'Brien Joins tMA

J. R. 'oBob" O'Brien, well-known figure in retailing, remodeling and new home construction has joined the stafi of the Lumber Merchants Association of Northern California. The addition was revealed in a joint announcement by association president Clair Hicks and executive VP Jack Pomeroy.

Bob comes to LMA after more than 6 years in the field working with retail lum' ber and building material dealers with emphasis on the remodeling and new home construction end of the industry.

A graduate of the University of Minne' sota, he served with the U.S. Navy during the Korean War and after his discharge joined Aluminum Company of America where he worked out of Alcoa's Chicago office promoting the company's various building products items. Alcoa later formed a subsidiaryo Alcoa Building Products, Inc., and O'Brien was put in charge of developing a nation-wide jobbing system for the distribution of Alcoa's Standard Aluminum Fastener and special screw machine and cold headed parts.

After five years with Alcoa, O'Brien joined CHIP (Comprehensive Home Improvement Plan) in November 1962, as district manager for northern California, Nevada and Utah. Bob's duties with CHIP National have made him a familiar and welcome figure throughout the northern California territory where he has aseieted numerous dealers in organizing and promoting home remodernization programs.

Bob lives with his wife and four children in Sunnyvale, and will work out of LMA's headquarters at 1255 Post Street.