Wholesqle Lumbermen ]lold ffifimuloting 65ft Annucrl; Elect

Mortin Wiegond

li. '. The 65th annudl of the National-American Wholesale n:j:",:,Lumber Assn., at Bretton \Moods, N. H., June 1G11, was i , attended by 350 men and women, with about 200 men at:l*'tending the closing breakfast session, June 11, at 8 a.m. :,r,;..Philip Boyd,retired after two terms in the N-AWLA . presidency and was succeeded by Martin T. Wiegand, Washington, D. C. Donald R. Meredith, Madison, Conn., f1, ana'1. Ward Allen, Vancouver, B. C., were elected first and ii' second vice-presidents. Executive Vice-President Sid L. l" .Darling of the NYC office was also elected to serve as secretary. Paul C. Stevehs and Donald S. Andrews of the r Portland, Ore., office were reappointed western and assist' ant westerh manager, respectively.

In addition to Lewis A. Godard, Hobbs, Wall Lumber ' Co., San Francisco, who was elected a director with term , expiring in 1960, Robert Dobson, Alta Lumber Co.,_ Salt ' Lake City-, was elected to fill the unexpiled term of H. T .Cromar, Salt Lake.

ftili," ', In the absence of the Snark of the lJniverse, Cliff Schorli{r,,,,: Ieg, -his_address was read by Robert J: Stalker, a past

-il:Snark. The business sessions,- social events and entertiin-

American bbfore the Interstate Commbrce. Commission in opposition to the. proposed increased freight rates.

To be kept informed by reliable information as contained in timely Association b.ulletins is aosential as in. the matter of maximum moisture content proposals recently before the American Lumber Standards Committee. Who knows what will be next?

The loss in the number of Western sawmills has been noticeable. Our survey indicates that in the 2Gmonth period between April 1955 and December 1956; there were 88 sarvmills in the Douglas Fir region alone that discontinued operations. Three-fourths of these mills cut less than 70M' per eight-hour shift. During the same period, there were only 16 new Douglas Fir mills built, all of rvhich were designed to cut less than 100M' per day. In the same period, 42 pine mills wertt out of business and 13 new ones were added. These figures were compiled in April.

In.1956 the- Douglas Fir region cut 9.1 billion board feet of lumbbr and the Western Pine area cut 8.2 billion. Both rsf these figures were off about 4/o trom 1955. For the first quarter of 1957, Fir production was otr. 3.2/o, Pine was of.f.9/o,, and Douglas Fir. Plywood was down 7/o. For the first time in ten years, there are no plywood plants definitely scheduled for construction in 1957.

In the face of this struggling and

.o*p.iiti.r"

market, a Western wbolesaler told me three weeks ago that he had the best week since his company first started business over lO,years ago. He was not a boastful man and I am sure that he was being honest. When I asked him what his secret was, he said, "Roll with the punches." In other words, he was keeping his organization flexible enough to change over to different types of business when necessary.

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This repbrt will touch on some of the recent develooments we have observed from the Portland office and whiih , _ we feel are important. No one needs to be told that 1956 ' tr-d the first half of this year were difficulffor many whole_ ; salers as well as sawmilis. Consequently, the jot 6t main_ taining membership has been extr'emelv difficult. As a re- sult of the weakened lumber markei, many companies have been forced to close down or titterr"h operations. Such actions by member companies .resulted in a net loss rusn acf,rons Dy compantes ot. ll membersh_ips in the Western division during the fis_

. gal year ending March 31, l9S7 . This is one of the fiw time s tn the past 15 years that there has not been a net increase itt membership- in the division.

, In every instance the resignations were the result of the member either going out of business or retrenching operations. The formeiis understandable. But durinE these times of unsettled cofiditions it would seem lik-e false economy for-anyone in business to attempt a sav- ing by resigning from his industry's trade assbciation.

The necessity of holding and increasing the numerical strength of the National-American is as-great today as it ever was. Numerical strength means riuch when an

Association petitions such governmental bodies as the

House Ways & Means Committee, as did the NationalAmerican in urging the discontinuance of the 3/o transpor- tation tax, as well as urging the elimination of unfair cbm- petition by making the so-called cooperatives subject to the same taxes as their competitors. Numerical strength also carried weight in the joint petition of the National Retail Lurnber Dealers Association and the National-

During the past year, several wholesalers who previously transited lumber almost exclusively have swung their business over to 50 to 60% mill shipment. Others who had stressed green Fir boards and dimension have gone out after new business in plank, timbers and rough cutting. The associated species of the Western Pine region, including White Fir, Fir and Larch, and Lodgepole Pine have received more attention by some wholesalers recently. The time is with us when operations must be kept flexible, as well as diversified, in order to survive.

A few months ago, a Western wholesaler sent out letters to other wholesalers throughout the country asking their opinion on whv a wholesaler in the 'West and one in the East could nol work'together to the mutual advantage of both. The principle and problems involved are not new and have been discussed many times. The majority of answers received from the inquiry agreed that the Western wholesaler, because of his close contact with the producing end, can do a much more efficient job of buying, except in special circumstances where large mills have set up their own wholesale departments. And, conversely, the wholesaler located in the consuming territory can more effectively sell the products of the lumber industry.

There were some who contend that there is not room for profit for two wholesalers in view of the competitive conditidns existing today and extensive direct selling by Western wholesalers and direct buying by Eastern wholbsalers. There are, nevertheless, a number of Eastern wholesalers who are working closely with their Western counterparts, and apparently to their mutual profit.

It is still a fact that no one sawmill or even a few sawmills can give a customer all the service required. The reliable Western wholesaler, and there are many, can continue to pqovide good quality lumber'and at prices which are difficult to beat by going direct. In fact, some of the transit cars we have heard about in

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