Oak Flooring Association Elects Whifman President

William G. Whitman. director of sales of the Memphis Hardwood Flooring Co., was elected president of the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers' Association at the group's annual meeting in Memphis, Tenn.

A leader in the industry for many years, he also headed the association for seven years during World War II and early postwar days. He succeeds James R. May of Veach-May-Wilson, Inc., Alcoa, Tenn.

Named to the vice-presidency was John F. Stewart, executive president of StewartMcElrath Oak Flooring Co., Macon, Ga. Stewart succeeds W. R. Warner, BradleySouthern Division, Potlatch Forests, Inc., Warren, Ark. Henry H. Willins, Memphis, was re-elected executive vice president.

Six new directors were chosen as the association altered its ls-man board in conformity with a recent change in bylaws. Under the new setup five directors were selected for one-year terms, five for two years and five for three years.

The new directors, in addition to Whitman, are: R. W. Buchanan, Jr., Montgomery Oak Flooring Co., Montgomery, Ala., and H. H. Littrell, Fordyce Lumber Co., Fordyce, Ark., elected for one-year terms. Chosen for two-year terms were J. R. Willis, International Paper Co., LongBell Division, Kansas City, Mo.; and Thomas Bradley, Meridian Wood Products, Inc., Meridian, Miss. Named to a threeyear term was R. V. Warner, BradleySouthern Division, Potlatch Forests, Inc.

Directors re-elected were: J. G. Smith, Arkansas Oak Flooring Co., Pine Blufi, Ark., and Allen Harris, Jr., Harris Manufacturing Co., Johnson City, Tenn., oneyear terms; T. B. Grissom, Jr., GrissomRakestraw Lumber Co., Burnside, Ky., Mllton Craft, Chapman & Dewey Lumber Co., Memphis, and Vice President Stewart, two-year terms; J. V. Cloud, Cloud Oak Flooring Co., Springfield, Mo., P. B. Lanham, Jr., Lanham Hardwood Flooring Co., louisville, Ky., Allen Taylor, DeSoto Hardwood Flooring Co., Memphis, and Past President May, three-year terms.

Efiects of President Kennedy's recent anti-discrimination order concerning new FHA and VA-financed housing "will not be as cataclysmic as some people predict," the meeting was told by James P. Gallagher, associate editor of House & Home

Magazine, principal guest speaker.

"Many of our northeast states have long had much stifier anti-bias laws than this federal order," Gallagher declared, 'oand this has not stopped our building and it has not changed our housing pattern noticeably.

HOUSING PATIERNS NO DIFFERENT

"The housing pattern of the northern cities is no different than the housing pattern of those in the South. Of course, this order and any others that may {ollow it will cause problems. I would just like to say that very rarely does the trouble face to face look quite as imposing as it did when it was coming toward us."

Speaking of the market for new homes in the years ahead, Gallagher declared new family formations need not be the key factor. He cited studies which show that the average American family can afford to buy a home priced 7l per cent higher than the home which that family now occupies.

The number oi houses the home con-r struction industry can build and sell, he asserted, depends on o'how many of our 52 million American families we can per' suade to spend more of their disposable income to improve their own housing standards.t'

He added that an expanded market for oak flooring is indicated in the trend he has noted toward two-story homes, as opposed to one-story slab-on-ground houses.

'oEven in areas like the Southwest and the West" where the one-floor house has been king," he said, oowe find the two-story house becoming much more popular."

In his annual report Willins said the association had made encouraging progress in capturing for strip oak flooring a greater share of the market in slab-onground homes. He explained that NOFMA in L962 vigorously promoted an economical new method of installation in such houses. The system involves use of a double layer of lx2-inch wood sleepers as a nailing base, with a moisture barrier of poly,ethylene film between them.

"We have received hundreds of r€' quests for information on the system,o' he said, and we have been informed that the method is catching on and being used in several parts of the country. We believe theie is great promise that it will be used to an increasing extent."