Norrhern Ccllifornio Merchqnts Turn Out Lorgest Attendcrnce for 1957 Annuql in Yosemife Ncrtl. Pqrk

"Todayts successf ul lumber merchant is running more of a department store than a lumberyard," remarked Paul Ely, North Platte, Nebraska, dealer and president of the NRLDA, as he spoke to some 300 Northern California dealers at the final afternoon session of LMA's 17th annual convention, April 8 and 9, at the Ahwahnee hotel in beautiful Yosemite National Park.

"Gone are the days," Mr. Ely stated, "of nail-keg nterchandising, dull antiquated showrooms, window displays decorated with dead flies and spider webs, and the rest of the f aults we've all been justly accused of. Today's successful lumber merch;rnt is zrs nrodern as 'Flash Gordon'; he's running a one-stop shopping center for every home cclnstruction and maintenance need; and he's doing it none too soon. For it u'i1i Lre uranl' years yet beiore he can recapture the market that is rightfully his-the market that he himself \\'as resl)onsible for losing <luring the past {eu' decacles," he continued.

Paul lll1'-and those u,ho Precedecl or fo1lon'ed him on the proeram-1\'ere all an integral ltart of the finest, most informative and beautifullv svnchronizecl program ever 1)resented by the Lumber Nlerchants Association of Northerrr Calif orniaa tribute to lixecrrtive \iice-I'resident .Tack Pomeroy, otltgoing I'resi<lent Charles Shellard, incot.ning I)resident Hamilton Knott. ancl Secretarv-Treasurer I. Il. I-Iorton.

The conr,etrtion ofhcially began the morning oi \Ionclal'. ,\pril 8. imt nrore than 75/o of the irttentlance had arrir-ed carlier on Srtrrclay, either to participate in l,MA's 17tlr :rnr.rual golf t()urnament (pla1-ed on the \\rau'ouir course under the direction o{ Harnilton Knott), or just to get in:i little extra sightseeing ar.rd soak up the sunshine that lvas to prevail throughout the entire cotrvention.

Winners of the LX{A Totrrnament clairned their prizes

TMANC Direcfors - 1957-58 (New directors have x in front of name)

*Bob ADAMS

Nooh Adcms Lumber Co., Wclnut Grove tloyd BITTENBENDER

Bittenbender lumber Co.' Ukioh

Thomqs BRANSON

Melrose lumber Co,, Ooklond

Froncis CHRI5TIANSEN

Modesto lumber Co.

Richord CROSS

Cross Lumber Co., Merced

Homer DERR

J. M. Derr Lumber Co., Elk Grove

*E. H. METCAIF

The King Lumber Co., Bokersfield

J. O. HANDTEY

Cqrmel Builders Supply

*Cloir HICKS

Hicks Lumber Co., Solinos

Fronk HEARD

Mofroni-Heord Lumber Co., Woodlcnd

I. E. HORTON

South City tbr. & Supply Co.,

South Son Froncisco

Henry HULETT

Nodh Boy Lumber Co., Corte Mqdero

*Arthur MARTIN

Holes & Symons. Sonoro

*Eorle JOHNSON, Jr.

Wotsonville lumber Co.

J. H. KIRK

Kirk lbr. & Bldg. Mtls. Co.,

Sonto Morio

H. H. KNOIT

Yosemite Lumber Co,, Fresno tes IEY

Sonlo Cruz Lumber Co.

Roy NOBI.E

Visolio lumber Co.

WOITE' PETERSON

Bokersfield

Ailhur C. POST

Delcno Bldg. Mtls., lnc.

Elmer RAU

Modero Lumber & Hqrdwore

*Chorles CROSS, Sr.

Truckee-Tohoe lumber Co,, Tohoe City

Chorles SHEPARD

Friend & Terry Lbr. Co., Socromenfo

*C. D. DART

K-Y Lumber Co., Fresno

AI SMITH

Fqrmers lumber Co., Fresno

Russ STEVENS

A. F. Stevens lumber Co., Heoldsburg

Dove WIGHT

O'Neill lbr. Co., Son Corlos

*Cloyd GARNER

Son Jooquin [br. Co., Sfockton

*A. B. WIISON

Fronk G. Noyes Co., Nopo trophies at the Nlorrdav evening banquet. Ilrian [',onnington, Ilonnington Lun.rber Co., r'vas rvinner of both the low gross and lou, net trophies formerly held b;- Chrrck Noble, Irairhurst I-umber Co., and Wenclell Scott, X{erner Lumber Co. Other prize u'inners included Del Travis, Travco, Inc. ; i{ay Noble, Visalia Lumber Co., and \\renclell Scott.

MONDAY MORNING, APRIL 8

At 9:00:r.m. sharp, LN'IA's lTth annual l)rog'ran1 ofhciallv began r'vith registratirin in ti.re rnair.r lobby of the elegar.rt, old Ahr,r,ahnee hotel. 'fhis u'as the desk at u'hich an all-time record of 300 de:rlers and their l-ives u-ould be registering tluring the trvo-dav event.

MONDAY AFTERNOON, APRIL 8

LNIA President Charies Shepard, Friend & 'I'crry l-umtrer Company, Sacrament<.r, presiclecl oler the heacl tablc c',uring an excellent luncheon program and aftern<)on session. Foilot'ing his u'arm and sincere u,elconre to all thosc present, Shep:Lrd introduced the aiternoon's first speal<er, I)r. Thomas Larrtos, a u'i<ie1y trar-clecl econonrist of n<;tc, and a specialist in retail credit problcms.

Although I)r. I-antos' progn<istications of business to come-and credit prolrlems in particular-\vere far from optimistic. dealers could not help but agree s'ith certain ;s5pects of his concise talk m.rre a u'arning th:rn e prediction.

Secon<1 speaker fclr the afternoon rr'as Stary Gange, vicepresident of Pacific Olir.e Company, Visalia. an accomplished speaker rvho possessed a great deal more optimism in regard to our business future. N{r. Gange, a highly successful gro\ver and proclain-recl enemy of governnrent controls-and farm srrbsidies in particular-sun.rmarizecl his rvhole speech rvhen he statecl : "Neither God nor Governrnent ou'es us a living." Gange further pointed ont hou' unfortunate it is that so feu' of us ever begin to approach the limits of orrr abilities. Rather, drrring times of good business, too many owners and officers tend to let down

MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 8

and become complacent with not only their businesses but Evening festivities got off to a fine start at 6:00 p.m. with with their government and even their own personal lives. an industry-sponsored ,cocktail party in the Ahwahnee's

It is these people that, during times of business recession Indian Room, where the conventioneers could get dor'vn to a.nd increased competition, seem willing to expend great a more personal basis. amounts of energy griping about how bad government and An excellent banquet and dancing in the main dining business is, and yet so little energy in actually trying to room followed the cocktail hour. Surprise entertainment improve the situation, he said. that evening featured The Gateway Singers, well-known

In concluding, Mr. Gange, who has made over 50 talks tecording artists currently packing the house at the Hungr-r' the past year "trying to sell America to Americans," warned, "I" in San Francisco. The famous Firefall, delayed nearly "We can all lose our freedom and liberty-our American an hour u'hile the crowd brought the Gateway Singers back

The following quotes are from the talk by Dr. Lantos, a Hungarian native from Budapest and recently a lJniversity of Washington teacher. He has just completed a world tour and gave the dealers these points to think about:

"The world is very near the boiling point-continually just below it ." "The American economy is increasingly reflecting international conditions . ." "Consumers are still largely optimistic-one of the two major bolstering influences in our economy . . ." "I see no tax relief, no Federal budget cuts in sight ." "I predicted the 1.3 million housing starts in 1955; I now predict a further 1957 fall from the 1956 starts."

Stary Gange voiced followed. Under the more optimism in his talk that title, "Make Mine America," he said these things:

Way of Life-if enough of us sell out to Government's paternalism." \Mith that thought-provoking fact in mind, the business session was adjourned and the remainder of the afternoon was spent in leisure or attending a ladies fashion show presented by Rhonda's of Millbrae.

With the exception of two professional models, the show, which was arranged by Jean Pomeroy, used "native labor" throughout, in the most appealing forms of : Mrs. Cleone Stevens, Mrs. Gertrude Godard, Mrs. Lu Pessner, Mrs. Chris Pendleton, Mrs. Donna Chichester, Mrs. Barbara Giles and Mrs. Shirley Shipman.

"If things toughen up, just tighten the belt, try a little harder and do it again like we've done it before" for encore after encore, concluded the convention program for Monday.

"I'm not worried about the swing of the pendulum backward as long as we have red-blooded Americans to swing it forward again" "I'm not my brother's keeperf'm my brother's HELPER ! The Good Samaritan 'mothered' the wounded victim but he didn't stick around and SMOTHER him" "You cannot BUY friends. We have a list of 43 nations we now help in the eveni they get into a war-but they've ALWAYS got into wars !"

Signing off with the thought that one end of the human body can absorb more than the other can, Speaker Gange advocated that President Eisenhower implement the recommendations of the Hoover Commission Report.

TUESDAY MORNING, APRIL 9

At 9:00 a.m., some 100 dealers gathered in the Indian Room to participate in a recent innovation in the association's annual convention program-the LMA Members Workshop-a chance for dealer members to get together and discuss problems of mutual interest and their possible solution. Presiding over this gathering was Russ Stevens. head of A. F. Stevens Lumber Co., Healdsburg.

The first dealer-speaker on the panel was President-elect

The Lumber Merchants Assn. of Northern California acknowledged with Thanks the cooperation of these firms in hosting the really great Cocktail Party at the 17th annual:

Adex-l,MA-1qn&y Plcnky Ads

Allied Building Credirs

Americcn Sinlkrofi Corp.

Arcoto Redwood Compony

Armslrcng Cork Compony

Atkinson-Slutz Compony

Blue Diomond Corporotion

Bonnington lumber Gompany

E. [. Bruce Co., Inc.

Building Moterial Dirtrs., Inc.

Coloverqs Gemenl Compony

Cqlif. Western ttoter Lifc

Gelotex Corporction

,Gooper lumber Gompony

Droke's Bay Lumber Co.

Fairhurst lumber Co.

Frod C. Holmes lurnber Co.

Gorehime Corporotion

Georgio-Pociftc Corp.

Golden Gqte Lumber Co, lhe llyster Compony

Horbor Plywood Corp.

Hobbr Wqll Lumber Co.

Holmes Eureko Lumber Co.

Insulitc

Johns-llonville Scles Corp.

Lomon Lumber Gompony

Lumber Deolerr filtls. Co.

Lundgren Door & Plywood Co.

Mosonite Corporufion

Pobco Building Mrlc. Divirion, Fibrebmrd Pcper ProdUcls Corp.

Poci{ic Cement & Aggregote:

Pqcific Fir Soler

The Pqcific Lumber Go.

Poromino Lumber Go.

Permonenlc Cement Co.

Rcd Gedcr Shingle Bureou

Rounds Lumbcr Cmpany

Simpson Rcdwood Compony

Torter, Websfer I Johnson frinity River Lumber Soles Co.

Trovco, Inc.

Wendling-Nothon Compony

West Coqct lumbcrnen's Asn.

W. C, firntber Products Agency

Westoln Pinc Association

Western Pine Supply Co.

Wholesole Building Supply, Inc.

Winton lumber Scles Co. (Colif.)

Wood Convercion €ompony

Woodside lumber Compony

Hamilton Knott, owner of Yosemite Lumber Company, Fresno, who spoke on the subject of Advertising. Knott. rvho prior to entering the lumber business was in advertising, spoke with authority when he stated that all too often dealer advertising was being handled in a "catch-ascaJch-can" method. Advertising should not just be carried along on arr "out-of-the-till basis," Knott explained. Dealers should make up a budget for advertising (somewhere around 2/o of consumer sales) for a full year in advance. "One-shot advertising is fine for the seasonal lines," Knott stressed, "but consistency will prove of most value to us."

Knptt went on to discuss the value of difierent types of' media-radio, TV and newspaper-and Yellow Page adver- . tising in particular. Altogether too often overlooked, Knottrr;,,-, proved by a survey of the dealers present that over X)% '. of them use the Yellow Pages regularly when they want to find out where to buy a product. A further survey of the 'j dea1ersalsoprovedthevalueofclassifiedheadings(for each of the lines carried by a business) over using one :1 catch-a1ldisp1ayadunderonegeneralheading.

During the question and answer period, Dealer Larty King, King-Marshall Lumber Company, Bakersfield, asked about the value of newspaper classified advertising.

"Classified ads," Knott explained, "appeal principally to the bargain hunters; therefore, place your classified advertising with that in mind."

"I've noticed that grocery stores usually run their specials in the Thursday papers. Would this be the best day for us to run our weekend specials ?" asked Frank Heard, partnel -:' in Motroni-Heard Lumber Company, Woodland.

"Any mid-to late-week issue would be best for your weekend specials," Knott answered, "but if your message is especially to women, your Thursday paper would be " your best bet."

"Does extensive consumer advertising impair your business with contractors?" asked Joe Kirk, Kirk Lumber & Building Materials Co., Santa Maria.

"Definitelv not," reDlied Knott. "contractors have found