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PONDEROSA PINE. SUGAR PINE, INCENSE CEDAR, DOUGLAS AND WHITE FIR

Sqwmills: Conby, Colif. qnd Anderson, Colif.

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Folls, Oregon

Box FoclorY: Alturos, Colif.

1635 llierks Bldg. Konsos City 5, ltlo. Vlctor 4143

Direct lnquiries lo Anderson, Gcrlifornio Boy Areo Representolive ilqlt R. Smith, 5 Yole Circle, Berkeley 8, Colif. Los Angeles Areo Represenlqlive Ed Fountoin, P.O. Box 4946,Los Angeles 14, Cqlif.

Where Did You Come From-Boom-My Dear? "Out Of The Everywhere Into Here."

tl{3*

Yes, like the "baby dear" in the sweet old poem, this great building boom that sweeps tfie nation just came from everywhere. ft came from North, South, East, West, and all local statione. And isn't it a beaut?

**tf

At thie time last year, not even the moet optimistic among us-meaning myself--cxpected anything like it. The graph showing the ups and downs of the building and lumber industry, was quite a picture of hills and dales for the good year forty-nine. And when I eay "good year," I DO mean GOOD. They say that "everything's well that ends well." Nineteen forty-nine "done it," and "done it" good ! ***

The lumber market generally was pretty soft last fall, and when winter ushered in the season usually closed to building in much of the country, things didn't look so hot. Fact is, they looked sorta coolish around the edges. The first good break came in the early winter in the Pacific Northwest, that country where so many big trees come into so many big mills to make so very many boards in so short a time'

{. ,r *

It froze plumb up, that whole lumber country did. The mill ponds froze, the log camps got snowed and iced under, and it was too dad-blamed cold for men to work in the mills. It was no temporary affair. When the weather man started in to help the lumber business in Washington and Oregon, he did a job, and for many weeks there was practically no lumber *"U..

And this was no single-bladed axe that Providence was using to make the lumber market pick up. fnstead of building falling off in the dead of winter as is usually the case, here, there, and in thousands of places, building kept right up to fall levels. In the Southern sawmill districts conditions were fairly normal during this time, but when the big mills of the Northwest shut doqrn and stayed down, the lumber production of the South was soon snowed under.

The opinion was ,.rr.L an* * soon as spring came and the Northwest mills got to hitting the ball hard, they would knock a lot of the stiffness out of the lumber market. And that proved to be a wrong prediction, too. The demand for lumber kept right on getting higher and higher as the builders of the nation shoveled away the last of the snow and ice, and the lumber market got even stronger with the coming of spring. It's that way now. The greatest home building boom in history seemE certain inl95o' * *,r

Ycs, Sir, last January when the demand for lumber bcgan swamping the reduced supply, the market pickcd up with a rush. It jumpcd high in the air, cracked its heels three times, let out three rousing whoops, and hit the ground running. And it's going at full speed yet. The big mills of the Northwest are doing their durndest to handle their order file, but they havcn't accornplished it, and the Southern mills are riding a splendid wave of prosperity, with strong Ui-TU*-d fine prices.

All the Western wood,s, the Southern Pines, all the hardwood producing areas, are in the same fix. Up to now they've got more business than they can say grace over. Same way with all the wood products, such as shingles, doors, plywood, and millwork. The plywood boom is sensational. ft's a red-hoa "O*"lt, and don't doubt it !

Nobody has come along to explain very clearly the why of this tide of lumber and building activity, other than that it comes from a great variety of sources. First came the Northwest freeze, then a winter building boom, and now there are two more big, strong shots being forced into the veins of business and industry. One is the "$2,800,000,000 which the Government is paylng out to the veterans; the second is the increased and increasing tide of credit business that the nation is taking advantage of. They are acting like hypos in the arm of business generallY' r. * r.

Two billion and eight hundred millio'n dollars is a whale of a lot of money, even in these days, and going to the Vets it is money that goes into the channels of trade RIGHT NOW. This cash is being spent, not hoarded. ft is safe to say that nine out of every ten of these Veterans' dollars become liquid als soon as received. That's the kind of money that is quickly felt. A highty intelligent student of finance and economics told me the other day that the force of this injection of dollars into our national money stream is going to carry along for months to come, and that the spring and early summer look like a cinch to follow the pattern ot j"Ult.*

And the nation is buying more and more goods on credit as credit is relaxed. Listen to the advertising coming in over your radio. "No down payment" is almost a slogan for advertising of every sort of goods the public buys. You'll find the same words printed in much of the

la rpot', l/na/ itt ?ol4n d/t/o*d fua t/4p B*ilA,lua-Oa*o-J/up pbqrffi t/4af a unz"pen? t/re car4af4 ?

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daily newrpaper advertiring. And you can be aure of onc thing; there are worlds of people to whom no down paymcnt, or a very low down payment, is an inducement they cannot resiet. So businegs generally is very active right now. The crowdE you 8ee on the streets have money in their pockets and are eager to get rid of it. Or they are hustling to take advantage of the easy paymcnt ofrerg. Anyway, they are buying frcely, thus greatly increasing the national business volume and eales turnover. They forget, as pcople invariably do when crcdite become lax, that everything must be paid for in the long run, and the famous old rhyme that says:

I bought the dress on the in'stallment plan, The reason, of courge, to please a man; The dress is worn, the man is gone, But the blamed installments go on and on. tt**

While there is always a lot of variation in such matters, the building boom is national. I talked to a man in the plumbing busineos in Southern California who told me he is right now putting the plumbing in fifty-five hundred houses. No, he said he didn't get the entire contract. His was only part of the home building project. And since that I read of another home building project near Los Angeles that will build nineteen thousand new houses just as fast as the job can be done. Things like that go on, in greater or'lesser volume, all over the country. ***

"Look" Magazine gives a sample of what's going on in Houston, Texas, saying: "The city throbs constantly with the staccato hammering of riveters, high up on scaffolds as new structures soar higher in the air. Houston is growing so fast that a building standing sharp against the sky one month, is likely to be another kid brother the next. To a person standing off on the prairie, the rising skyline could be the rocketing lines of a graph showing an economic boom rarely seen in the booming history of America'"

How long is this building situation going to last? Nay, nay Pauline, I shall make no rash efforts to answer that riddle, or stick my neck out that far. I cannot say, as did the old sage in Scot's "Lady of the Lake" that "'tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore, and coming events cast their shadows before." Not before me, they don't.

But there'r no harm in calling attention to rome facts that might point the way. Such as:

Government epcnding is the great force that supports our prescnt situation, with its high prices, high profits, high wages, high everything. The pouring of billions into the national bloodstream continuep unabated. Government spends with reckless abandon. And it is very likely to do eo for a long time to come; until the elections two years hence, for instance. We can talk all we pleaee about stopping waste, balancing thc budget, reducing the national debt, reducing taxes, etc., but it is most unlikcly that anything of the kind is going to happen. Thi,s Government is absolutely compelled to continue this mad money situation if it hopes to remain in office. Any severe elackening of easy money would*be*politically disastrous.

Therefore it seems to me to be junt plain common sense that the AdminiBtration is going to continue to do everything in its power, to turn every possible trick and spend every possible dollar, to prevent any slackening in our rate of economic and financial travel. And if so, business might deem it wise to plan its progress and direct its course along those lines. If the situation we have today is to be called "good business," then good business has a mighty fine chance to continue indefinitely. How long? Aw, Brother ! I wish I knew ! Some say until the money runs out. Some say until the fellow comes around with the check that must some day be paid. I dunno. But f have a feeling that this merry-go-round we are on will continue for some time. But dont t:a T. influence you.

The teacher asked the class: "Where is the CapitOl of the United States?" And a bright kid replied: "The capitAl of the United States is all over Europe!"

Stcrnley Preble Mcrncrger

Clay Brown & Company, Portland, announces the appointnient of Stanley Preble as vice president and resident manager of the company's plant at Fortuna, Calif. He has been handling the office management and shipping. Stan n as formerly affiliated with Stebco Company of Vancouver, Wash., was superintendent of the Euhlinger Lumber Company, and spent some time with Hegervald Lumber & Logging Co. in Stevenson, Wash.