L. A. Building Boom Double s 1923-.Lumber lnflux Beats All Previous Records

Back in the good year 1923 we thought we had a worldbeating building boom going on in Los Angeles. And we DID, compared with anything of the past, or in the remainder of the world.

But it did not compare with the high tide of building being done in Los Angeles in 19,f6. The biggest building year in the previous Los Angeles boom. was 1923. For the first five months of that year the building permits totaled $78,810,500, rvhile from January through May in 19'16 the building permits reached a total of $109,793,553. In fact, the first ten months ol 1923 barely passed the record of the first five months of 1946, reaching a total of $112,251,198. It therefore appears very likely that the building in Los Angeles this year will without doubt double the record established in 1923.

And from a lumber standpoint the record of 1946 over 1923 is even greater than the figures, because in 1923 this city enjoyed a great boom in down.town business buildings of the larger size and character, while so far in 1946 the building of homes and dwellings is the dominant feature of the boom. It would be safe to guess that 1946 will build three or four times as many homes in l-os Angeles as did 1923.

The intake of lumber into the city has changed tremendously since 1923. At that time about 90 per cent of all lumber came in by water. Today the figures are reversed and fully 90 per cent comes in by rail. Art Kayser, Southern California representative of the West Coast Lumbeimen's Association, estimates that at the present time an average of.2ffi cars of lumber arrive in Los Angeles daily, carrying an average of more than 25,0@ feet of lumber per car. This would indicate that a minimum of 130 million feet of lumber is arriving in Los Angeles monthly, which also far surpasses the records of. 1923.

The shortage of lumber in Los Angeles is far less notice' able than that of many other important-items oI building materials, such as sash, doors, millwork, flooring, roofing, hardware, plumbing, wallboard, plywood, etc. If the supply of these other materials should show much increase. it would cause a still greater upward spurt in Los Angeles building.

It is estimated-nobody knows for certain-that about 70 new retail lumber yards have started up in Los Angeles in the last eight or ten months.

One of the great Los Angeles industries now is commercial remanufacturing of lumber, meaning resawing and ripping and otherwise re-working large lumber items from the North into boards. There are eight or more large outfits engaged in this business in the city today, and they turn out about half a million feet daily. Nearly all the inch lumber used comes from these local re-saws. In addition, all the retail yards do a certain amount of this resawing and ripping in their own plants.

25-Year VA and FIIA locrns Avcrilable

The 2S-year monthly payment plan is available for financing new veterans'homes, regardless of whether the money is borrowed through the guarantee provisions of the Servicemens' Readjustment Act or on a Federal Hpusing Administration insured mortgage. In both cases, 2l-year amortization is permitted if the home meets established standards of durable construction. The loans are made by private financing institutions under regulations governing insurance of loans by the two Government agencies, the Veterans' Administration and the Federal Housing Administration.

Improvements to Blcrgen MiII

The Blagen Lumber Company, at White Pines, Calaveras County, California, has lately added several new conveniences for handling logs and Jumber at its modern sawmill. A 125 horsepower electric motor has replaced the steam lvinch that powered the high line across the pond. Logs are now unloaded at a concrete landing which prevents them from bqing scarred up in unloading. A catwalk 90 feet long has been constructed to help the pondman guide logs to the log haul. A new 14 x 42 shotgun, packed in asbestos, and a new stack 5 feet in diameter and 160 feet tall, are other recent improvements.

Board o[ Directors o[ NLMA Meets in San Francisco

C. Arthur Bruce, E. L. Bruce Company, Memphis, Tenn., president of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association, presided at the summer meeting of the Association's board of directors, held at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, June 10-12.

Richard A. Colgan, Jr., executive vice president of the NLMA; Henry Bahr, secretary, and Richard G. Kimbell, director of technical services, also attended.

Largest War Housing City ls Spreading Thin

The fate of Vanport City, Oregon, largest war housing project in the United States at its peak, is typical of the use being made of such projects since the war, according to the Federal Public Housing Authority. Latest reports indicate that a sizable block of dwelling units no longer needed at Vanport have sifted down to smaller projects in other places where housing for veterans is needed, and th4t this imm€nse project, whose nearly 40,000 population once made it the second largest city in Oregon, is gradually melting away.

C. Arthur Bruce

Meetings of the executive committee. Forest Conservation,, Forest Policy, Research,

Lumber Standards and Advisory Committees were held.

The Forest Conservation Committee developed a forest conservation policy for the guidance of the industry representatives attending the American Forest Conference to be held in Washington in October.

The Association's committee on Lumber Standards and Development formulated amendments to the American Lumber Standards to be submitted to the regional associations and eventually to the Department of Commerce.

Interest Reduced Under HIIA Progrrctm

Veterans buying or building ner'v homes will find their financing costs reduced under the current program of the Federal Housing Administration. The maximum interest rate is now 4/o instead of +l/o on an FHA-insured loan under Title VI of the National Housing Act, recently revived by the Veterans llmergenc-v Housing Act. The FHA mortgage insurance premium of one-half of l/o remains the same. In the case of .combined financing consisting of an FHA-insured loan for 8O/o of FHA's replacernent cost estimate and a Veterans' Administration loan for 2O/o o{ purchase price, the total monthly payment to principal, interest, and mortgage insurance amounts to $5.47 per $1,000.

Originally, the project for shipyard workers, situated between Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon, had 9,942 units and facilities making it a community in itself. Today, 5,903 units are still active, which means most are still occupied. Veterans and servicemen have claimed a major share of vacancies. The balance of 4,039 have been "terminated" for re-use in other areas' Already re-use are I,274 units sent to various small projects, while I,487 are earmarked for this ptlrpose' Some 1200 already panelized for re-use before VJ-Day were sold as surplus material after the war ended.

Because the needs of FPHA's northwest region were met from available Stocks, the bulk of the units taken from Vanport have gone to the adjoining West coast region in groups ranging in size from 14 allocated to Yuma, Arizona, and Monterey Park, California, 'to 434 sent to various projects in Los Angeles. Other dispositions were as follows: Flagstaff, Arizona, and Price, Utah, each 28; Inglewood, California, 56: Reno, Nevada, 112; Maricopa City, Arizr>na, 126; Salt Lake, IJtah, 2lO, and Logan, Utah,252-

Society oI American Foresters Resumes Ncrtioncl Meetings

Meetings of the Societv of American Foresters, interrupted by the 'ivar, will be resumed with a national conference in Salt Lake City on September 11-14 at the Hotel Utah, according to an announcement by Shirley W. Allen, president, of Ann Arbor, Mich.

The sessions rvill start on the afternoon of September 11 with special meetings of the Society's eight divisions concernetl rvith forestry education, silviculture, r,r'ildlife management, range management, forest economics, forest recreation, forest products, and private forestrv'

National Survey of Lumber Demand and Supply

Lumber needed for veterans' housing is the dominant factor in all government planning designed to increase and channel lumber production. Eight billion board feet will be required to meet the Wyatt program this year for 1,200,000 housing units. Other needs will bring the total lumber .requirgments in 1946 to 33 billion feet. An additional 4 billion feet is needed to bring mill and distributor stocks nearer normal levels.

While production will be adequate to meet the .r.eterans' housing program, it is difficult to predict horv closely all other demands will be met. Lumber operators are still unable to attain maximum production and present evidence indicates that the goal of 32 billion feet set by the OpA is not likely to be met.

Factors which held produ,ction during the first quarter to a level below that of 1945 have been alleviated and output is improving. Recent increases in price ceilings of most major species are expected to stimulate production somewhat. Government housing agencies are counting on the recently approved subsidies to encourage production of hardwood flooring and other items. Work stoppages in the West have been settled with the exception of the Redwood region, and employment is increasing as war workers and veterans return to the lumber industry. Gradual improve_ ment can be noted in the equipment situation.

Lumber production for the fipst quarter of 1946 rvas 6,006 million board feet. During the second quarter it is expected to total nearly 8 billion feet, about 2 billion more than in the first quarter, and approximately the same as in the second quarter of 1945.

While production difficulties have been eased to some extent, distribution problems are becoming more difficult. 'Because of depleted inventories, it is impossible to avoid local shortages, especially at points remote from the lumber producing areas. Direction 1 to PR-33, issued by the Civilian Production Administration, has undoubtedly helped to channel lumber to such areas. VHP-I, issued by CpA on March 26, requires specific authorization for new construction materials and repairs.

The Lumber Survey Committee consists of Thomas S. Holden, president, F. W. Dodge Corp., New york; J. Philip Boyd, J, Philip Boyd & Co., Chi,cago, Illinois; M. W. Stark, Columbus, Ohio; Calvin Fentress, chairman, BakerFentress & Company, Chicago, Illinois; and Wilson Comp_ ton, president, Washington State College, pullman, Wash_ ington. J. L. Muller, acting chief, Forest products Division, l)ept. of Commerce, is secretary of the Committee.

Opens Ycrd in Los Angeles

Fir & Pine Lumber Co. has opened a yard at 5101 San Fernando Blvd., Los Angeles. Jack Stovall, formerly credit manager for the Patten-Blinn Lumber Co., is manager, and George Mattes, who was with Owens-Parks Lumber Co., is sales manager. Both Mr. Stovall and. Mr. Mattes are well known to the trade, and have been connected with the lumber business in Los Angeles for many years.