\(/EST COAST SCREEN CO.

hardly necessary to mention the insulating value of wood doors. The heat transmission is very low, and such doors can be used as shields in fighting fire." Nice going, Mr. Hartman!

***

I find on my desk, from whose pen I know not, a bit of merchandising philosophy well worthy of publication at the present moment. It reads: "For years lumbermen have pondered the problem of why Americans buy automobiles instead of homes, but the answer is very simple. The automobile manufacturers' mode of thinking is entirely at variance with that of the lumber manufacturers, and, judging by results, it seems that the automobile manufacturers are right and that the others might take a few lessons from their merchandising methods.

***

"It would be impossible to conceive of an automobile manufacturer advancing prices 25 to 40 per cent just because the demand for cars taxes his factories to capacity. The automobile manufacturer would be more likely to lower prices, as the increased production would lower costs. A lumber manufacturer would advance prices as the demand increased until they reached a point where the consumer would refuse to buy. An automobile manufacturer knows that this sort of merchandising is not profitable.

***

"The stage is all set for a building boorn in 1937, but it seems that everything possible is being done to discourage prospective builders. Unio,n labor demands impossible things and the lumber manufacturers are raising prices, so that the consumer who is, in the end, the deciding factor, may declare a sit-down strike, and we may find that the automobile manufacturers in 1937 have garnered many dollars that should have gone into huilding hornes."

**'8

A warning of that sort is really timely. If the demand for lumber continues to increase, the price will unquestionably do likewise. The comparison between the auto and lumber manufacturers is NOT quite fair to the lumber folks, because the fundamentals of the two industries differ so greatly. Automobiles are all made by a few very large units; lumber is manufactured by many thousands of small units. No unit of lumber manufacture has any possible control over the price of lumber, as have the large automobile units over THEIR prices. As demand increases, lumber prices go "inching" upward. They always have, back to the cutting of the first commercial tree.

Unfortunately there r";*"".r group of men who have the authority or the ability to say, "This high shall the price go, and no higher." So we cannot handle the problem of rising lumber prices in any sort of manner other than to try to rouse lumber opinion in the matter, and suggest to the individuals of the industry that it would be very, very unwise to let lumber prices get so high as to discourage the use of same. It is well to remember that the relatively high prices adopted by the codes under NRA effectively killed the demand. People were poor, the d.epression was at its worst, and there wasn't the money in the land to pay the code prices. And demand wilted, just at a time when it had shown definite signs of waxing lively.

It is both fair and wise to say to every man making and selling lumber: "Don't get your prices unreasonably high; don't raise the price of lumber just because you haven't got it; don't kill the golden-egg-laying-goose by creating fictitious prices." The entire history of lumber stretches out behind us to prove the wisdom of such advice. What the lumber industry needs is to secure a price for lumber that will give a satisfactory return on the business accomplished and, at the same time, serve to induce peo'ple to use more and more of the products of the trees. It needs business and lots of it. It needs a maximum of business at a fair price for a term of years; not a wild rush of lumber for a short time at maximum prices, followed by a long and weary spell of inactivity. The lumber industry has killed its own market by unwise price making many times in the memory of the writer; let us pray that it will not do so again in this afterdepression period that marks so hopeful a spot in the highway of lumber history.

As I said before, we have no group or organization that can issue commands in the matter' or even directly bring about desired ends. Individual straight thinking on the subject is the only weapon at our command. If each man directly and vitally interested will see to it in his daily activities that he considers the welfare of the industry in his operations, and not just the matter of the sales of that day, it will help the problem a lot.

The lumber industry for the next year will vitally need: new ideas for the use of wood products; better, more intelligent, and more forceful merchandising; sane prices. Those three are planks in the lumber platform which will have much to do with determining how much prosperity will come to the lumber industry in the after-depression period.

I have before me a letter from a lumber friend enthusiastically extolling and praising the work of FHA throughout its activities of the past two years, and particularly boosting the Small Homes Program which that governmental arm is now launching. I entirely and thoroughly agree with him. That FHA is far and away the most intelligent and practical thing the Federal Government has done toward helping restore prosperity is my often-expressed opinion. And the Small Homes Program is definitely hold- ing out to the lumber and building industry a splendid helping hand toward a high tide of small home building in this and the years that are to immediately follow. Personally, I have found the lumbermen generally, whom I contact, stout boosters for FHA and ready and anxious to proclaim that it has been a great help to them in their business, and promises to be an even greater one. Yes sir, the Federal Housing Administration is O. K.

Add Salesmen to \(/holesale Staff

Ed'rvard F. Gould ancl Her'bert G. Dreu's are rlo1v connected rvith the rvholesale department of E. K. Wood Lumber Co. as sales representatives.

Mr. Gould rvill cover the territory north of Los Angeles, including Pasaclena, San Gabriel Valley to Pomona and the San Fernanrlo Valley. He rvas formerly rvith the L. W. Blinn l,umber Co.. and later represented "Gus" Hoover in the Southern California territory.

Mr. Drews will call on the retail tracle south of l,os Angeles, from Do'rvney south to Long Beach; Santa Monica, Inglewood and other cities in the Beacl.r territory. He rvas formerly r'vith tl-re Lumlter & Alliecl Prodncts Institute of Los Angeles,

California Visitor

Albert Schafer, vice-president, Schafer Bros. Lurnber & Shingle Co., Montesano, Wash., \\'as a recent visitor at their Los Angeles and San Francisco offices.