THE CALIFORNIA LUMBER MERCHANT

Jack Dionne, Publisher

Subecription Price, $3.00 per Yecr

Single Copies,25 cents eqch

How Lumber Looks

Crow's Lumber Price Index was down all along the line in the week ending May 4 compared to two weeks previous. Green Douglas Fir studs, framing lumber, plank and timbers were rveak but studs were not easy to buy. Standard-grade k.-d. D.F. dimension and 2x6 and. wider lower grades helped pull that segment down. The supply of 12" No. 2 and 3 P.P. boards has eased. Plywood sheathing continued firm and most mills have raised prices. There is no industry-wide attempt to boost prices.

Lumber shipments of 491 mills reporting to the National Lumber Manufacturers Assn, in the week ended April 27 were 0.5/o below production, orders 0.4/o below. Production was 2.4Vo and orders 0.9/o above the previous week. For the year-to-date, orders are 0.6/o above production . Shipments of 126,590,628 feet were 3.8/o above production at 163 mills reporting to the West Coast Lumbermen's Assn. in the week ending May 4; orders were 1.3/o below production Orders of 78,497,000 feet were 5.8/o below production at 1Z2 rrrills reporting to the Western Pine Assn. in the week ended April 27; orders were 1.7/o below the previous week when shipments had climbed 6.9/o above production Orders were 1.05/o and, shipments 3.08/o above production of 19,206,000 feet at 99 mills reporting to the Southern Pine Assn. in the week ending May 4 Orders of 111,201,000 feet climbed 3.4Vo above production in the week ending May 4, reported the Douglas Fir Piywood Assn., and were nearly l/o higher than the previous week and 24Vo above the similar 1956 week. While production dropped 2.47o from the previous report, it was 5.2/o higher than the similar 1956 period.

Wetcome

In this issue, we welcome these new advertisers into the family of California Lumber "Merchant-isers":

And we are also happy to welcome back the return of these former

Survey of Business Conditions -1957

First Gluorler

(Compiled from questionnaires submitted by members of the Lumber Merchants Association of Northern California)

1. Compared with first 3 months of 1956, volume of busi- ' ness for the first 3 months of 1957 is :

24o/o reported an average increase of. l2o/o

760/o rcported an average decrease oL 25o/s

2. Compared with April l, 1956, dollar volume of inventory on April 1, 1957, rvas:

40o/s reported an increase of. l3o/o

36o/o reported a decrease of.ZLo/o

24o/o reported same as last year

3. Compared with first 3 months of 1956, net profits for the first 3 months of 1957 were:

180/6 rcpofted an increase oI 9o/o

680/o rcported a decrease of. 3lo/o l4o/o rcpotted same as last year

4. Compared with first 3 months of 1956, construction activity for the first 3 months of 1957 was: llome Building:

82o/o reported down 280/6 l3o/o rcported about same

5o/o reported up 5o/o

Farm Construction :

79o/o repotted same as last year

Z|o/o rcported down 27o/o

Commercial-Industrial :

38/o repofted increase of. 19% l4o/o rcported decrease of. 22o/o

48o/o reported same as last year

Repair and Modernization:

23o/o reported increase of l4o/o

23o/o rcpotted decrease of. l4o/o

54o/o reported same as last year

5. Predictions for balance of 1957 \\'ere :

Home Building:

33o/, said Up

25o/o said Down

42lo said Same

Repair and Modernization :

3316 said Up l7o/o said Down

50/o said Same

6. Compared rvith April 7, 1956, Accounts Receivable on April 1, 1957, were : l2o/o repofted Accounts Receivable higher t7% rcported Accounts Receivable same

7to/o reported Accounts Receivable lower Average age is 48 days

7. Funds for financing are reported.as:

Scarce vA . 13% 87% Title II .... 23% 77% Conventional .... 70% 30% TitleI... .s7% 43%

8. Construction Loan Funds : 610/o 39o/o

9. The prevailing Discount Percentage on mortgage loans rvas reported as:

FHA-5-10 pts; VA-7-12 pts; Conventional-2-6 pts.

10. Have you or your lenders used the facilities of the Voluntary Home Mortgage Credit Program in your area ? 100/o reported No

37o/o Yes; 63% No

Has the OHI Program increased the Repair and N[odernization business in your community?

42o/o Yes; 58/o No

Percentage of dealers ansr,vering questions in the field of Merchandising and Promotion: Yes No

1. fncreased advertising expenditures. 37o/o 63o/"

11. Have you as an individual, or jointly with others, attempted to derive any benefits from the OHI Prograrn? 72. 13.

2. Added additional.help to sales force 26/o 74% Has your cost of doing business gone up this cluarter over the same quarter last year?

Yes, 76o/s; No, 24o/o

lrq BoundsTqkes Over Woods Lumber Co. qt Sqlinos

\\roods Lumber Company,933 E. Market St., Salinas, u'as purchased by well-known Retail Lumberman Ira L. Bounds on May 1. Bounds, a long-time Edward S. Hines Lumber Company employee at Chicago and more recently manag'er of Chase Lumber Company at Salinas, will do business under the name of Ira L. Bounds Lumber Companv.

When cuslomers uTont lo blend

Only wood sidings offer the combination of charm and durability whilh create distinctive homes, garages and summer cabins. This is a strong point in selling architects, builders-, and home prospects who are seeking ways to personalize today's home.

Weyerhaeuser 4-Square sidings come in several patterns, te'ftur-es' and species for horizbntal or vertical application. They can be finished-with varnishes, stains, or paints. You can show customerg many of these interesting variations in your Weyerhaeuser 4-Square Home Building Service Book.

Like all products bearing the Weyerhaeuser 4-Square brand name' these sidings are precision manufactured, scientifically seasoned, accurately graded, and carefully handled to prevent damage, to-the finished product. When customers ask about siding material,_show them the lumber patterns, textures and species which you stoc\-and the attractive efrbcts which can be achieved on exterior walls of their choice. For full information on how Weyerhaeuser 4-Square wood sidings, red cedar shingles and shakes can increase your profits, see your Weyerhaeuser District Representative.

ONE OF THE BEST timber stories in &ristory was told on himself with much gusto by the late great forester, Col.

*** ft became a habit *i.f] hl in di."o""irrg his work to ' refer to "my forest." Once he encountered a crusty old lumberman in conversation, and several times he was heard to refer to "my forest."

He said that when he got his first forestry job, righ,t out of cqllege, he adopted the forest in w&rich he worked pretty ' much as his own, and practically said so.

Finally ttre lumber*.rl "iru *,o ,orrrg Greeley: .,you know you remind me of a Bible story." The young forester expressed his interest in the subject, so the old man said: ***

"I mean the story of how Satan took the Master to the top of a high mountain and showed Him all the wealth of the world, and said to f{im, 'All this I will give you if you will bowdown and adore me.' "

What was ttre interesting part, young Greeley wanted to know? Said the other: "Well, all the time Satan was offering to give it a'way, the lying rascal never owned an acre of it." Greeley saw the point and stopped talking about .,my forest" from then on.

But he never stopped telling the story on himself and recited it often to enliven one of his very practical and learned discussions about forestry.

Col. Greeley was one of the originators of the tree farm plan of perpetuating our forests. It started small, but today there are hundreds of thousands of tree farms raising commercial trees on a scientific basis, and ranging in size from a few acres to those enclosing hundreds of thousands of acres'

One American tr€e farmer on the Pacific Coast actually planted some 35,(X)0 acres in young trees during the past Year' * * r<

So we know that there will always be a large supply of commercial trees for the American builders and that this wonderful material, so amazingly versatile in its uses, ,,shall not perish from the earth."* * *

A poet of great gifts wrote that "Only God can make a tree." But the timber industry has learned the wondrous lesson that wise and practical men can certainly assist the

BY JACK DIONNE

work of Providence by scientific forestry. They do not make trees, but they can certainly prepare and direct, and assist their proper growth

IT HAS BEEN recited in this column before, but may bear repeating, that in the growth of a young and wellarranged forest of softwood trees, it is demonstrated almost beyond doubt that there is no socialism in Mother Nature. Ilere's how:

Young trees in a well-cared-for forest grow straight and tall, the lower limbs fall off leaving a well rounded trunk and straight timber for the cutting of lum'ber.

A sister tree, growing outside the forest and getting all the sun and moisture available without competition, grows short and squat, with limbs growing from the ground up, and only gnarled fiber in the trunk.

Because this tree has no battle for sun and moisture, it produces littl,e if any straight and clear timber. While the forest-grown tree, fighting always upward for the necessities of tree life, and losing its early lower limbs because of the forest shade, becomes a tree of quality and usefulness.

Thus demonstrating ,i*, trl the tree world, Mother Nature practices no socialism, and gives the quality to the forest tree that must battle for existence.

THE \VALL STREET JOURNAL gives this idea of what a billion is: "A man starting in 327 B.C. to give away $100 an hour, working 12 hours a day 365 days a year, wouldn't yet have run through a billion."

A GREAT FAMILY is the Success F"amily. The father of Success is Work. The Mother is Ambition. The oldest son is Common Sense. Some of the other boys are perseverance, Honesty, Dependability, Foresight, Cooperation, and Enthusiasm. The oldest daughter is Character. Her sisters are Cheerfulness, Loyalty, Courtesy, Care, Economy, Sincerity, and ffarmony. A stout familyto Yo*.

The Why Family is a great gang, too. Many men had known that when an apple fell from a tree, it fell down. One fell on the head of Newton, and he went to work to find out WHY. And so was discovered the law of gravitation. "Why" men have played.*-ior*n.tt in the world's history.

WHEN YOU write a business advertisement of any sort, put at least one thing in it that will stick in the mind of the reader.