Smith There's a"Ralph L. Now Sales Representatiye Area! in Your

To give you faster, more direct service, the Ralph L. Smith Lumber Company has appointed sales representatives across the nation.

Mott R. Smith,5 Yole Circle, Berkeley, Calilornio

H. A. Crqne, 90 W. Oliver St., Battimore, Md.

CorI J. Almas, lO3O4 Miles Ave., Cleveiand, Ohio

C. J. Hvdelr, IOO West Chiccgo Ave., Eosf Chicogo, lnd.

Reed P. Morse, P.O. Box 2O9, Miomi, Florida

Frqnk W. Stonley, P.O. Box | 983, Fort Worth, Texos fhomqs E. Movld, Security Building, Sioux City, Iowo

Alta Lumber Company, Wolker Bcnk Bldg., Sall Lake City,lltoh

/l{. R. Smith Lumber ond Shingfe Co., Box | 854, Seottf e l, Wash.

J. A. Lowe, Jr., Hudson Trusr Bldg., llnion Cily, N. J.

TNANUFACTURERS AND EXPORTERS

Ponderosq Pine

Sugor Pine

Incense Cedqr

Douglos Fir lE5 Die*s Bldg. Konsos Oty 5, [lo. Vlcror {143

Sowmillr: Conby, Colif. ond Anderson, Colif.

Remonufoeturing Plant: Xlomolh Folls, Oragon ond White Fir

Box Foctory: Alturor, Colif.

Federal Reserve analysts announce that at least one out of every four American families are living beyond their income this year. (NewsPaper headline)

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When I read that headline my mind went back to a funny man named Artemus Ward, who, fifty years ago' was acknowledged to be our best humorous writer and speaker. Ward said that "a man should always live within his means, even if he has*to*borrow the money to do it"'

Garry Moore, a well known comic of today, remarks that "civilization is where a small part of the world takes reducing tablets, and the rest of the world starves." ***

The wbrld situation fails to make sense in a lot of ways' We are now sending countless millions of dollars worth of food to Europe, because we are told that Europe is starving. And every boat and plane that leaves this country for Europe is carrying Americans-tens of thousands of them-with well lined pockets, to Europe to play and visit and enjoy vacations. Who feeds them in those starving lands? Or are they going to eat the food we are taxing ourselves to send ""to"at * * *

I have just read where an American syndicate is getting ready to build a string of large hotels in Europe to take care of the American tourist trade, which gets bigger by the hour, and promises to be bigger than ever in history' Those moneyed tourists are going to be well fed over there, or they wouldn't go over. With what? Can starving nations support a great tourist trade and countless luxury hotels? If they can, do they need the billions we are in the act of giving them? It doesn't make sense. rlc {< *

Every list I read of super-:'ich Americans who are on their way to Europe to play, I wonder why they don't give the cost of the trip to those allegedly starving Europeans, and'stay home themselves? When I hear of this army of purse-proud Americans swarming over Europe on pleasure bent, and then read the tearful exhortations to all of us to help those millions of hungry and desolate women and children of Europe, I am compelled to the belief that some way our books are out of balance. Either Europe is NOT over-run with starving and pitiful people, or else it's a damn poor place for our idle rich to use as a play ground.

Going back to tr,. op.rli"j pJr.gr"pt, of this writing, r have not the slightest doubt that the government report that one fourth of all American families are living beyond

'their incomes this year, is an understatement. The percentage is probably far greater- as prices rise. In the old days when a customer pulled out a ten dollar bill in a food market the clerk would say: "Is this the smallest you have?" Now he u/ants to know if that is the biggest he has. A lady enters a food market. A clerk at the door says: "Don't you want a basket to shop in?" She says: "I don't need a basket-I've only got ten dollars." Multiply by millions daily, and you have the chief reason why incomes of so many Americans fail to cover expenses. ***

Again speaking of food, this time on an international basis. There is a newspaper editor in Los Angeles named Manchester Boddy,.who speaks and writes with much clarity. He made a talk the other day on the subject of ERP (European Recovery Program) and its proposal to help feed the world. He feels that the effort will fall short BECAUSE MAN HAS NEVER HAD ENOUGH FOOD. This is not just a matter of the moment. It is and has always been a permanent thing, this shortage of food. It is worse now than average, of course, but this has always been a hungry'world. "Two-thirds of the world's people are und.ernourished today," says Mr. Boddy. "Hdf actually are living close to the starvation line."

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Then he goes on to tell about it. "Postwar food production for 1946-7 was 7 per cent less than prewar outPut; this, notwithstanding the fact that 200,000,000 more people live in the world than before the war-just ten years ago. It is the FACT of hunger in areas of Europe and Asia that causes hundreds of millions of persons to turn a deaf ear, a cold, unseeing eye, and an. unbelieving heart to our preachments about the 'American way of life' and the blessings of democracy. Even if the United States goes all out to remedy this situation, it will be impossible to do so. Cold, unsympathetic facts are dead against us."

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Mr. Boddy continues: "This does not mean that the human species is doomed to destruction' .All nature presents an irresistible movement toward balance. We. of this generation, are caught in that movement; a REACTION to science and industrialization that characterized the movement in which our immediate forefathers lived their lives. There are stormy seas ahead and the mariner who neglects putting his craft in order because he thinks American aid to the old rrorld will calm the seas, is doomed to bitter disappointment and*distress."

And Mr. Boddy draws these thoughtful conclusions: (Continued on Page 8)

(Continued from Page 6)

"The success of the (ERP) plan, depends entirely on two considerations. 1-Can we produce and ship things to the ERP states according to schedule, and remain politically and economically stable? 2-Since ERP dollars remain in the United States-while the things they buy go out-can we remain financially solvent? In short, can the United States stand the strain? The nation's leading economists and certainly her leading Republicans and Democrats say 'yes.' But it will be a strain; whereas NO ERP WOULD MEAN WORLD CHAOS AND RUIN. So we begin our journey into the unexplored, admittedly hazardous era called ERP. Probably it will be the greatest international adventure of modern times."* *

It seems to me that Mr. Boddy's strong statement of the international situation justifies my presenting it to my readers. There is nothing more vital to consider in the world today, and the quoted remarks give a thinker something substantial to mull *orl.f;. *

Dr. Robert G. Sproul, President of the University of California, made a recent graduation address, and mostly he talked about the Russian threat to world peace and security. He said he could scarcely distinguish any difference between Soviet Russia today and Germany of the prewar period when Hitler was bursting with military power. Ffe remarked: "Indeed, as one compares the rise of Nazi power with recent coups of the Communist Party in Europe and Asia, there is a natural temptation to pick up one's hat and leave the theatre, for if this isn't where we carne in, there must certainly be unnecessary repetition in the plot." And President Sp-:oul reached this conclusion about Communism today: "The end he seeks justifies any means that circumstances dictate. To a Communist, NO ACT IS A CRIME WHICH IS COMMITTED IN THE NAME OF COMMUNISM." * t< {< ,!

I infer that President Sproul would hardly agree with President Trumar with regard to old Joe Stdin, the heart and soul of the foul thing called Russian Communism. For Truman recently said in public with regard to the Dictator of the Soviets: "Good old Joe. I like Joe."

The warmth, the beauty, the versatility, the workability, the usefulness of wpod, have been testified to in song and story since the earliest days of civilization. The United States has led all nations in the use of wood. One of the most outstanding examples of room decoration in wood is the Common Room in the Isadore Strauss Memorial Dormitory at Harvard University. This is a White Pine room in which the wood carvings cost $36,000. rk*t< t<*{.

Lumbermen in any branch of the industry, should make it a rule whenever the opportunity presents, to explain to laymen who do not know them, the facts about the cutting of commercial trees. For there are still plenty of intelligent people who do NOT know these facts, and who still feel sentimentally that trees should NOT be cut down, but should be allowed to stand, things of shade and beauty, forever.

Never fail to explain the facts when you meet such people. Tell them that cutting trees is like cutting flowers; if you don't cut them while they are in bloom, they soon wither and fade. Tell them that trees are just a crop, that grows, matures, deteriorates, and then decays; and that they should be cut while still at the height of their usefulness. Otherwise they die, lose their strength and commercial value, and mankind loses their great commercial value and services. Cut into commercial products, trees protect and serve man and his possessions for generations. There is no more common-sense and justifiable business on earth than the commercial cutting of trees. Be sure and get that thought home to those who do not understand. A modern forest goes on forever. Cutting trees at regular intervals, and protecting the younger and growing ones, means perpetual forests-perpetual lumber.

Scrn Francisco Lumbermen's Club Meets August 24

The next luncheon meeting of the San Francisco Lumbermen's Club will be held in the Comstock Room, Palace Hotel, San Francisco, on Tuesday, August 24. 'Ihe principal business will be the election of officers.

On September 17 the San Francisco Lumbermen's Club rvill hold its Annual Fall Roundup at the California Country Club. The Roundup will include the annual golf tournament. There will be an increased number of golf prizes and door prizes.