\_ J-!^-,/:ARrnsTRoNG BUILDING TNATERIALS

tl You, your cuslomers . . iust qbout everybody knows the greot line of money-moking Armstrong products.

O With Armslrong, crs with qll its quoliry producls, Weslern Pine Supply Compcny will follow ifs bosic policy . . . protect you by selling wholesole, onfy.

o Armslrong, Molorkey, Pinecrest qll the greqt products distributed by Western Pine Supply Compony, offrer crn open door fo sure profits. Weslern Pine Supply Compony mqinloins complete stocks, makes frequent, fosl deliveries, helps you keep your inventory down ond profits up.

For Armslrong, Malarkey and other qvality bvilding materials, in Norfhern California it's

"SoMETIMES I JES' PREACHES FUM DE EXTEMPORANEUM.''

{.*16

There is an old story about the colored preacher who was explaining his methods of sermonizing, who said, "Sometimes f preaches fum de text, but sometimes I jes' preaches fum de extemporan.J-;"

That came to mind when reading one of Bruce Barton's newspaper columns. Bruce Barton is a New York advertising man, and one of America's brightest and best citizens. His column is usually good for at least one thought to pack up and carry away. *{.

In this column he started right off telling about sitting down to his typewriter to prepare a newspaper column, and discovering that no thoughts, no ideas, nothing to write about would come up out of his mind that would make copy. Try as he would, he couldn't get started. He just couldn't think of anything to write about. So he quit trying.

*{<*

You'd think to read it that something unusual had happened to the gentleman, instead of the same thing that happens to the writer of this piece very frequently when he hits the typewriter and tries to dig up some interesting words, phrases, and thoughts. And it's been going on for years. No sir, Mr. Barton*n": "? corner on blank thinking.

And it not only happens to the writer of this piece but, judging from what we read, it also happens to lots of scribes who sign their names to newspaper columns. The difference is that Mr. Barton, finding he could dig up nothing to write about, gave up the effort for the time being; whereas newspaper pages are often well loaded with articles whose authors should have done the same thingbutdidn't'

The trouble with too many column writers is that they refuse to follow the example set by Mr. Barton and quit the typewriter when they discover that they have nothing to say. Instead, impelled by the desire to fill the space assigned to them, they go to writing anyway, with the only result that could reasonably be expected from such procedure' t *. ,r

There was an old saying among preachers long ago tJrat sermons should be extemporaneous; ".|ust open your mouth and the Lord will fill it." And along came an iconoclastic

BY JACK DIONNE

sort of preacher who said, "Yes, the Lord will fill it, but he'll fill it with wind, and there are too many old airguns running loose in this country today."

This, of course, is the day of the columnist, the special writer, the commentator, the signed article. Wherever you read, there you will find them. And the careful reader is sometimes of the opinion that they may be likened to those old timey preachers who just open their mouths and let the Lord fill them. The filling is sometimes awfully thin fodder'

Now the writer of this column probably gets caught off base and without a single good idea to write about oftener than most, and in that case he follows either one of two plans of action. He either gets up from the typewriter and postpones the task until a more enlightened moment; or, as is often the case, he just reaches for the old scrapbook, seeks out the words and thoughts of other and better men, and uses them to fill the space. With quotation marks of course. A little comment, perhaps, but not enough to weaken the matter. If this be treason-well then, it's treason' flowever, if a writer is not too particular in his selection of subjects, there can always be found plenty of things to write about. For instance, a person of authority prints the statement that since the end of the last war more than one hundred thousand books have been published, all of them attempting to answer the same question: "Where do we go from here?" * * *

There's a question that could furnish fodder for countless chapters of free-hand writing. What a subject ! Where does the world go, where does the United States go, where does humanity go from here? What comes next on the highways of history? Any enterprising typewriter pusher who cannot turn himself loose, high, wide, and handsome on so broad a subject "",|",*oti, just hasn't got the stuff.

In handling such a subject a writer meets with no restrictions. His opinion is as good as anybody's. He has the length and breadth of the world to wander over. Predictions he can make in countless numbers, and who is there to deny their truth? By the time history rolls around they will be forgotten, and no one to remind him that he guessedwrong' * * ,,<

In the old, old story, a lecturer rose before his audience and asked: "Ffas anyone here ever been to Africa?" Nobody there had been to Africa. "Very well, then," said the lecturer, "we will talk about Africa." Nobody can say the gentleman wasn't careful in selecting his subject.

But when it comes ," ;r;.;g the questisn-"whs1s do we go from hgrsf"-3 writer needs ask no preliminary questions in order to protect himself. Nobody has been any particular distance into the future, so all men are equal when it comes to prophesying. The entire realm of future history spreads out before the writer of such a piece. ***

Ffe can talk politics, religion, business, commerce, sciience, anything and everything. He is as unfettered as was Groucho Marx the time he told about traveling in the Sahara Desert and meeting up with a huge Polar bear. Someone interrupted him, and asked: "What was a Polar bear doing in the Sahara Desert?" Groucho replied: "This bear was sick and had been South for his health; he was rich and could afford to travel; and besides that, you look after your animals and I'll look after mine."

*{<*

Heard about a man getting into a taxi, and having the taxi driver turn to him and ask: "Quo Vadis, Mac?" Surprising as the language was, the driver was simply asking the same question we have been discussing-r'1ry6ere do we go from here?" For, as we remember our Latin, Quo Vadis 6s3ns-"\ll/hither Goest Thou ?"

A well known public ";.;.lr".a to say that he would rather talk on a subject he knew nothing about, than on one that he did, because if he chose the latter his remarks were naturally restricted to the things he knew about the subject,

Legion lumbermen's Posr 4O3 Holds Election of Officers

Lumbermen's Post No. 403 of the American Legion of Los Angeles held its annual election of officers Julv 14 at the Nfona Lisa restaurant.

Commander Matt Curovich, lumber hauler, called for :,r report from the nominating committee and the follorving were elected and n,ill be installed at the next meeting, to be held at Taix cafe, Wednesday night, August 11:

Commander-LaVerne Hubbard, credit manager of Hayu'ard Lumber & Investment Co.; First Vice CommanderHatry West, salesman for Sand Door & Plywood Co., of Los Angeles; Second Vice Commander-Bud Cabot, coowner of the Three Star Door Company, Gardena; AdjutantDave Schappel, co-owner of Cal-Pacific Wood Products of Do'ivney; Finance OfficerMilt Page, coo\vner of Cal-Pacific Wood Products; Sergeant-at-ArmsTom Mills, owner of T. W. Mills Lumber Co., Gardena; Chaplain-Fred Coady of the T. \\r. Mills Lumber Company; Historian-Andie Nlorrison of Owens-Park Lumber Company, and Executive Committee-Randy Secluine, U. S. Gypsum Company, and Maurice Boyd, R. W. Dorvner Company.

Membership is open to all personnel of lumber and allied industries rvho served in either World War I or II while in the former case he had no restrictions or limitations, and therefore could talk freely. So, when the subject is "Where do we go from here?" a prolific writer with a working imagination has plenty of room for utterance. or the Korean conflict. Harry West will also be membershio chairman.

As a sort of terminus*ao*anl colunin of twaddle. we might suggest to Bruce Barton that the next time he sits down to the typewriter, and discovers a lack of thoughts and things that seem to be worth writing about, he might simply take for his text-"Where do we go from here?"and a writer of his ability could certainly spread himself.

Abraham Lincoln must hale 1..r, trrirrr.ing along these same lines when he once remarked that-"If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it." It must be admitted that it would be simpler to discuss where we are going if we were fairly sure about where we are now.

They don't do much *rnina irlso.ri.t Russia these days. Or, if they do, they don't use much paper in the effort. Contrasting Russia with the United States has become common practice with writers. But here is one set of contrasting figures that you may not have seen, one that furnishes almost endless food for thought. In Russia the per capita consumption of paper is just 15 pounds per year. In the United States it is 400 pounds per year. Now there is a little set of figures from which many interesting conclusions might easily be drawn. It is likely that much of the fundamental difference between this country and Russia today might be traced to those figures on paper consumption.

Do-lt-Yourself Show Held

The second annual National Do-It-Yourself Shorv, nearly trvice as large and far more extensive in the number of fields covered, opened a 10-day run at the Pan-Pacific auditoriunr in Los Angeles July 23. Hours r,vere 1:00 to 11 p.m. through closing day, Sunday, August 1.

There were more than 300 exhibits, covering nearly everv phase of the home handyman trend that has burgeoned in the U.S. since the war. Emphasis r\ras on visual demonstrations in the "Horv-to" field. A complete story u'ith pictures of the show r,vill be carried in the next issue ,If THE CALIFORNIA LUMBER MERCHANT.

Hqnson qnd Neeley Purchose Phil's Lumber Yord" Compton

Harvey Hanson and C)rlin "Bim" Neeley, o\vners of the H. N. Hanson Construction Co., Compton, Calif., purchased Phil's Lumber Yard, 500 E. Pine Ave., in Compton, last month. The nerv owners are rvell knou'n in the Lyn'rvood-compton area.

J. B. "Phil" Philpot opened the retail yard in 1917 and sold it last month due to failing health. The yard r,vill be open from 7:3O a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily and n'ill offer complete building service. including free estimates.