$hnll lTo Bulld [urope 0r The U. $. A. ? By

The building situation in these United States of America is little short of appalling.

'For many years there have been practically no new homes-that might truly be called homes-built in this country. Authorities disagree as to just horv many home units are needed-badly-but the total runs into the many millions.

Count the number of farms in the United States todav and you have the total number of farms that are badly in need of building, repairing, improving. We talk about the boys coming back from "over there" to go back to the farms to work, and the fact is that most of them are coming back to farms that are desperately in need of building; the kind of building and repairing that can only be done with LUMBER.

There are perhaps twenty million homes in this country today that are in bad repair, crying for some *o.f to b" done on them to put them in even decent order. How many other buildings besides homes are in that same fix, is anybody's g'uess, but it runs into the multi-millions.

Under the G.I. Bill of Rights a soldier can borrolv all the money to build a home. Already we have many, many thousands of returned veterans who want new homes and are easily able to get the money and the land, but are held up because they can't get the lumber. Under the law a returned soldier can get an AA-3 priority to build that G.L financed,house. But also under other laws, rules, regulations, and restri.ctions, the lumber dealer who sells him his needed lumber under such a priority cannot legally replace that lumber in his stocks. So thousands of veterans are already being denied homes because they can't get lumber, and every day the list grorvs. The home building provision of the G.L Bill of Rights is a splendid one; one that will sprinkle this land from North to South and from East to West with the satisfactory homes of our returned fighting men. But thel' tvon't get them until they can get the lumber.

To sum it all up, there is the greatest building need, the greatest lumber demand, that this nation ever dreamed of, prevalent right now. For year after year tve have gone

Jao[ llionne

without building, almost without repairing, until the res_ ervoir of building needs had grown high as the Rocky Mountains. The builders of this country have been splerr_ didly behaved in the matter. They have been told and have clung to the belief right along that as soon as the war effort had all the lumber it needed, the folks at home would get the balance.

Imagine their surprise and actual shock when they learned in the last few weeks that instead of turning any needed lumber over to the farmer and other hungry builders here at home, this nation is shipping great amounts of lumber to Europe, mostly on Lend-Lease. The retail lum_ ber industry could hardly believe its ears when they heard. the report, or its eyes when they read it. Can you blame theml

According to the first reports released and pu,blished a couple of weeks ago in this Journal, something like 400 million feet of lumber has already been assigned to Europe. Lend-Lease asked for 20O million and immediately got 2g million of it from the West Coast, with the balance yet to come. To England goes another 164 million feet of lumber to build 30 thousand homes. To Europe goes another big batch, the total being abbut 400 million feet right now. England says she needs 750 thousand home units, of which rve have already furnished 30 thousand. How much more do we propose to send ? And where do the American farmers and the American home builders appear in this pic_ ture ? If that is the course we are to pursue, when will we ever get around to our own nation and their building needs ?

Everyone knows that we have many millions of people in this country, particularly in the many heavily industrial_ ized sections, packed like sardines into living quarters that are to say the least, horribly inadequate. Mobs of people live in squalor under rocifs that barely cover their heads. We've got a housing shortage in this country that is close to appalling and gets steadily worse.

Everyone sympathizes with England and with Europe in their war made extremities. But sooner or later we are go_ ing to have to decide to "build America first"; or we will go into a housing situation that will become a national cal- irnity. We dctual war have it. need all the lumber here at home that the effort is not in direct need of. And we should

Surelv, before any more commitments are made for sending abroad our much needed lumber, the matter should come out in the open and be thoroughly aired, not just decided upon in some Washington office.

There is more commercial timber standing in Russia than in all North America. There are great tirnber stands in the Scandinavian countries. Germany and France still have timber. And Canada is pretty well supplied, too. At a lumber meeting recently in which these matters were discussed, a man bitterly remarked: "But Canada wants cash for her lumber." I don't know whether or not the implication is entirely based on fact; but I do know that Canada, which is part of the British Empire, could easily rebuild England without any help from us, if she went to turling her forests into lumber the way we have been doing here in the United States for the past three years. And why fact stan<is out in this building situation today; the United States needs, deserves, and must have all the lumber we can produce over and above that rvhich the war actually consumes, and for a long, long time to come. We have gutted our forests in a manner sad to contemplate, just to keep the armed forces and the armed efiort supplied; and we have done a magnificent job.

A wise old lumberman remarked the other day: "We are sending food abroad, and now we are sending our lutnber abroad. But unless we can furnish our farmers with building material, there is bound to be a lot less food produced to send abroad; looks like it would bg smart to supply our farmers with lumber so that they can raise the food rve need to send to our foreign friends; lve can't send them both successfully."

And there is wisdom in that remark.

New Cclilornia Mills

Plans for construction of a sawmill, box factory, and planing mill at Alturas, Calif., at a cost o{ $500,00O.00, by the Goose Lake Box Company, Lakeview, Ore., have been announced. The sawmill is expected to be ready for operation in July.

A project now under way at Corning, Calif' will include a sawmill with a 200,000 ft. daily capacity, a planing mill, plywood factory, box factory, and a by-products plant. The project is being carried on by the Yolla Bolly Lumber Co., a partnership, consisting of H. C. Crowfoot, Magalia, Calif.; J. W. Wilson, H. W. Dempsey, and H. D. Benner of San Diego. Timber will be obtained from a 32,000-acre tract rvest of Corning.

Visits Southern Calilornic

Lewis A. Godard, Hobbs Wall Lumber Co., San Francisco, r.as back at his desk April 16 from a visit to Southern California on business. He made his headquarters in Los Angeles at the firm's office.

HARDWOODS fOR EVERY PURPOSE

It hcs clwcrys been our aim to hcve stocks cts complete crs possible, in fcrct, "Hqrd' wods for Every Purpose." And as the Government's demcnds cre lightened it will then enable us to build up our stocks oIall species.

We qssure our old customer and new foiends tlrcrt we will be recrdy lor postwcrr business with increcsed lcrcilities and with greater elficiency thcrn ever before.

Heredity

"Fleredity," wrote the little boy in school, "means that if your father didn't have any children, and your grandfather didn't have any children, then you won't have any children."

Ghosts ol Dreams

Tiny ghosts of long-dead dreams, Come back to me at night, And sometimes tears come in my eyes, And blur the candle light.

I used to touch my lips to them'I loved each fragile part, Long had they lain in secret sleep, Nourished, in my heart.

And then-oh tragic dawning, fnsentient they lay, Their still forms crushed beneath the words. You never meant to say. \ f weep; for they are gone always, Small ghosts of memory, Who came by night, by candle light, And stretch their arms to me.

-Princess Martin.

Wise Fcrther

"Daddy," asked little Bobby, "don't they ever give any showers for the groom?"

"No, son," replied his dad, "there's be plenty of storms for him after the bride begins to reign."

A Redwood Yarn

Out in California the natives are mighty proud of their State's giant Redwood trees, and occasionally their stories about them are as tall as the trees, themselves. Here's one: "Big trees? Why, out our way they felled a hollow tree over a ravine that was too deep and wide to build a bridge across. One day while I was driving through this tree with a trailer f met a big moving van coming through from the other end. I couldn't back up or go ahead, so I just edged the trailer into a hollow branch and let the other fellow go past."-Pathfinder.

Books are a guide r" ,"I;,oifu an entertainment for age. They support us under solitude, and keep us from being a burden to ourselves. They help us to forget the crossness of men and things; compose our nerves and our passions; and lay our disappointments asleep.

Limle Things

I have so many, many things, That are no use to me, Old books, old letters, odds and ends, Of lace, embroidery i Well, soon 'twill be house-cleaning time, I know what I'll do then, I'll look them over, one by one, And pack them back again.

-Anna Camden Hall.

The Pessimist's Decrth Bed

An old pessimist lay on his deathbed, and his family was gathered about him. He said to them:

"Children, I've lived long, and I've worked hard, and all I ever got for it was my victuals and my clothes; and my victuals didn't agree with me, and my clothes didn't fit."

One of the, children said to him: "Father, don't worry any more. Soon you will be enjoying your long, long rest."

The old man said: "Well, if I were certain of that I wou,ldn't care. But it will be just my luck when I get settled down for a real rest, to have Gabriel start blowing that darn trumpet."

Youth

f saw them kissing in the shade, And knew the sum of all my lore: God gave them Youth, God gave them Love, And even God can give no more.

-F. R. Torrence.

Good Advice by Iohn Wesley

Get all you can without hurting your soul, your body, or your neighbor. Save all you can, cutting off every need. less expense. Give all you can. Be glad to give, and ready to distribute; laying up in store for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come.

Famous Remcrrks oI Famous Folks

Samson: "I'm strong for you, kid."

David: "The bigger they come, the harder they fall."

Nero: "Keep the home fires burning."

Cleopatra: "You're an easy Mark, Anthony."

Helen of Troy: "So, this is Paris."

Noah: "It foats."

Methuselah: "The first hundred years are the hardest."

SelI Made

"I is a self-made man," said the newly rich colored gent from Georgia.

"Brothah, you has relieved de Lawd of a heap o'blame," said the colored preacher.

BY FIR.TEX

GIEAMING,

For kitchens, bolhrooms, qnd commerciol instollqrionswherever o high-sheen, eqsy-lo-cleqn qnd durqble surfqce is desired. Equolly suitoble for new construclion qnd rei modeling; opplied oyer existing wolls, regordless of condition. Aggra:rivcly