A Practical Appraisaf of the N. R. A.

Continued from Page 11)

At one time, any one in any,business took what he,could get his hands on. There was no limitation of any sort upon his right to be a pirate in business. But about forty years ago this right to be a pirate in business began to be restricted and the body of laws that we know as Restraint of Trade Laws is the outcome of this effort of the public to protect itself from piracy in business.

It does not seem to me that there can be any question to the thinking man but that this trend, this steady progression o{ limitation of the right to initiative by statute will continue, and not only that it will continue, but that it will be tremendously accelerated in an effort to do by legal means the things whi'ch it was attempted to do by NRA. This applie5 not only to trade practices and to restraining the right of men not only to engage in business but to be a pirate in business, but it applies also to that o,ther field of law which was so disastrously tied in with the control of trade practices in the NIRA, and we shall see further extension by statutes of the limitation of the right of the employer to grind the laborer down. I do not think that the public generally, whether composed of professors, politicians or businessmen, will have any objection to restrictive statutes which will prohibit competitors in business from engaging in piratical trade practices and then endeavoring to recover their losses by trimming the wage of the man who works for them. I do not believe any of us ever again want to see wages beaten down by unconscionable employers to the level that w€.s?w on all sides of us in 1932.

I am not in agreement with my friend Charlie Cunningham as to the value of the new NRA. I do not think it can or wiil bccomplish anything. I think it was merely a facesaving lesture by an Administration which has demonstrated'that "itcan dish it out but can't take it"; and I think even its own proposed program is intellectually dishonest. They propose to sit in judgment upon their own acts and expect intelligent men to accept their conclusions.

However, I do think there is every reason why the businessman, not only of the construction industry but of every other industry, should study ttrese problems with intensity and sincerity, both in their own trade groups and in those bodies where it is pgssible to. get a community of opinion of allindustries, because'of this very certainty that I have been stressing, that we are going to have an acceleration ih the enactment of statutes limiting the right of initiative. Unless the members of the ,construction industry develop fbr themselves before the next session of the Legislature of fitate and Nation, an unanimity of opinion as to the sort of tatutes limiting the rights of initiative which will be fair the public, and fair to themselves, and unless, in keeping ith therp,.other major branches of industry, whether they e eg-gagef, in -manrtfacturi4g, in distributing at wholesale r retaifr sucqeed in that time in achieving some unanimity f opiniotr which will enable them to work jointly for pro- selves confronted with some of the other kind which I mentioned earlier in this talk.

We are going to have, whether we like it or not, more and more legislation in these two broad fields, labor relations and competitive trade practices; and it is going to be entirely up to business and industry to decide for itself if it will participate vigorously in the preparation of these, and thereby obtain fair and workable legislation, or whether it will sit back and do nothing and have jammed down its neck unfair and restrictive measures whi,ch will hamper business and retar.d the progress of the country.

I am having a small part in a very serious effort sponsored by our Chamber of Commerce in organizing an Association Executive Trade Conference under the chairmanship of Mr. Max Koffman, by means of which we are going to endeavor, through a series of not less than twenty-four forums held between now and the convening of the next session of our State Legislature, to deal aggressively with this problem by three steps. The earliest of these forumb will be devoted to the educating of all the Association Executives who attend as to just what are the existing statutes, as to what has been and can be accomplished through them, and as to what their limitations are. The next step we propose is that an intensive efiort shall be made, either by mass meetings or by individual work in the respective associations, to familiarize all of the men in all the various industries, wholesale, retail and manufacturing, as to the things learned from this first study and as to the problem which will be before us to meet at the next session of the Legislature. As the third step, we are hoping to bring out of the first and second steps an unanimity of opinion, a common ground of understanding, that will enable Southern California to be solidly united behind proposals for constructive legislative handling of these problems. If this can be accomplished, it will have two very wonderful results. It will bring about the passage of sound legislation and it will present a solidarity of opinion and opposition to unsound legislation in these two great fields of law and of business conduct which will make it impossible for unfair and restrictive legislation to be passed.

We have not yet proposed any particular method of attempting to solve this problem, but I am personally advocating, until someone else comes forward with a more workable proposition, the ,creation in the State of Catifornii of a State Trade Commission, which will actually do what it was originally intended the Federal Trade Commission should do, namely, assist business in the promulgation and observance of fair trade practices by sitting in at thoroughly representative assemblies of industries and trades whi,ch wish to take corrective measures, agreeing with them as to practices which are fair and.in the publi,c inter-;, est and approving the operation of the particular industry along the lines agreed upon. This procedure will never permit'coercion and it will not legally restrain the recalcitrant, -ressive legislation, we are practically certain to find our- b,ut it will have the tremendous advantage of removing the fear that constructive programs jointly agreed upon are a violation of the Restraint of Trade laws already on the books. Predatory and piratical business practices which c4n be restraine'd only by force will have to be dealt with entirely by direct statute along the lines of AB 1870, the California Fair Trade Practice dct, just passed.

I trust that you gentlemen of the construction industry who have so much need for practical and workable fair trade practices and so much to gain by them, will attack this problem sincerely and earnestly in the coming months and cooperate closely and aggressively with this other endeavor of the Chamber, through the Association Executives Trade Conference, to achieve an unanimity of purpose and understanding of this problem well in advan,ce of the next meeting of our legislature.

It is your responsibility and my responsibility to see that your industry and my industry and all industry learns to deal intelligently and cooperatively with this problem.

Attend Sales Conference

Geo. R Kendrick, district sales manager, Chas. R. McCormick Lumber Co., San Francisco, and W. B. Wickersham, district sales manager at Los Angeles, left San Francisco July 12 to attend a sales conference at Portland. While in the Northwest they will visit the'coinpany's sawmills in Oregon and Washington.

Re-Elect Offtcers at Annual Meeting

At the annual meeting of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Co. held at Tacoma, Wash., the following offi,cers were re: elected:

F. E. Weyerhaeuser, St. Paul, presidenti J. P. Weyerhaeuser, Jr., Tacoma, executive vice president; A. W. Clapp, St. Paul, vice president and general counsel; Laird Bell, Chicago, vice president; H. H. Irvine, St. Paul, treasurer; W. L. McCormick, Tacoma, secretary; H. J. Richardson, St. Paul, and George S. Long, Jr., Tacoma, assistant secretaries; A. D. Orr, Tacoma, assistant treasurer; F. R. Titcomb, Tacoma, general manag'er, and Charles H. Ingram, Tacoma, assistant general manager.

In addition to the officers of the company the following are director,s: F. S. Bell, Winona, Minn.; C. R. Musser, Muscatine, Ia., Dr. E. P. Clapp, Medina, Wash., and R. M. Weyerhaeuser, Cloquet, Minn., was elected a director to fill the vacancy caused by the death of J. P. Weyerhaeuser, Sr.

Breaks Leg on Golf Course

George B. Mcleod, vice president, Hammond Lumber Company, San Francisco, fell and fractured his right leg on a Portland golf course June 30 while playing with three friends. He was on a vacation trip to Oregon, and is now convalescing at his Portland home.

All Wrappcd up in s f sALK RA FT

This house is probably the biggest purchase the owner will ever make. Naturally, he has it wrapped in the best protective material he can find-SISALKRAFT. He thereby shuts out moisture and dust permanently, saving hundreds of dollars in repair bills and adding gteady to living comfort and appearance.

Let your customers see the tough, sisal reenforcement and the protected asphalt core in SISALKRAFT. They, too, will *"rrf to wrap thlir homes in this quality sheet. Ask for our self-demonstrating samples and literature on backing uP stucco.