THE CALIFOR}.IIA LUMBERMERCHANT

How Lumber Looks

Lumber shipments of 508 mills reporting to the National Lumber Trade Barometer in the week ended September 17 werc 10.8/a below production; new orders were 13.8/o below and unfilled orders were 42/o of stocks. Qompared s'ith the previous holiday week ended September 10, production was 19.7/o, shipments Il.0%, and new orders 9.8/o above. For the year to date, shipments were 1.5/o and orders 1.3/o above production.

West Coast Lumbermen's Association reported for 170 rnills (165 operating) in the week ended September 17: production, 126,373,285 feet; shipments, llo,4'26,618 feet; orders, 107,n|,123 feet (15.2/o under production). In the week ended September lO, l& operating mills reported production 103,614,934 feet, shipments 98,4O7,918 feet, and orders 91.666.656 feet.

The weekly average of rvest coast lumber production for the Douglas fir region in August was 187,62I,000 b.f., reported Harris E. Smith, secretary, WCLA. Orders averaged 158,659,000 b.f., shipments 170,891,000 b.f. Eight months of cumulative production were 6,621,151,000 b.f., compared to s,576,@8,000 b.f. in 1954's first two-thirds.

Western Pine Association reported for ll2 mills in the u'eek ended September 17: production 95,543,000 feet; shipments, 83,167,000 feet; orders, 78,522,000 feet. Production increased 2O/o from the previous rveek ended September 10 and orders were up 4.1/o, approximately level with the similar 1954 rveek.

ln This lssue

Southlond Building Tops $1,371,900,000

Dcrve Dovis Elected Sncnk ol Universe

Vogobond Editoriols

Better Hondling Methods Turn Loss to Profit

My Fovorite Story

Son Diego's Airline Yord Merchondising Experts

'Operction: Home Improvement' Lcrunched

'The Yord OIfice Towel'by Jock Dionne

Wonied: A Mon-An Ediioriol

Western Pine Crowdinq 1954 Records Obituories

Southern Pine Association reported lor I22 mills in the holiday week ended September 10: production, 19,O77,040 feet; shipments,79,242,000 feet; orders, 18,794,W0 feet. All were below the 3-year average but slightly ahead of the like period in 1954.

Douglas Fir Plywood Association reported production at 102,130,@O feet was 8l/o higher than orders in the week ended September 17. Orders were 94,000,000 feet, compared to 82,000,000 feet in the similar 1954 period. Output rose 2O/o above the previous week and rvas almost 25/o ahead, of the like 1954 week.

Pre-fobs Not Reql Property

Carson City, Nev.-The state's attorney-general has ruled that pre-fabricated houses are subject to Nevada's new 2/o sales tax. The ruling stated that prefabs are personal and not real property.

Sourhlond Building Totol Tops $t,3zt ,gOO,OoO in 1955's First Two-thirds

Building permits issued in Southern California's 69 cities and nine unincorporated areas in the first eight months of 1955 totaled $1,37I,966,31l-an increase of $312,105,690 over the volume in the first two-thirds of 1954, according to figures compiled by the research department of the Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles and reported in The Los Angeles Times.

There was an upsurge of building activity this August, with the total of the cities and countv areas registering $I90,8D,%7 in the month, compared to $145,048,048 in August 1954.

Both Los Angeles city and county appear headed for a record building year on the basis of August permits for a combined total of $92,862,308, reported G. E. Morris, general manager of the Building and Safety Department. New construction in the city in the month totaled $56,AlZ,7l9-the third largest figure in its history. Morris said the August total indicates Los Angeles "clearly will set a new record for construction this year."

Los Angeles County set a new record in August when 5062 permits were issued with a valuation of 936,849,589, including 2,684 dwellings.

August construction doubled the Jrly valuation of $29,105,631 and was more than $22,000,000 over the August '54 total. The highest previous August was 1950, which was 11lo less than August 1955 ; this August's figure exceeded July 1955 by 32/o.

In this yearfs first eight months, construction values in Los Angeles city and county totaled $297,046,518, compared to $277,147,363 in 1954. The record year to date is 1953, when construction reached $430,256,010.

Diomond Mqtch Co. to Build

Sowmill, Kilns qf Red Bluff

Red Bluff, Calif.-The Diamond Match Co., New York City, has bought a 37S-acte manufacturing site just south of the city limits here and annoLlnces it will construct a sawmill, dry kilns, planing mill and other facilities to manufacture millwork and wood fiber products. The property was reported to have cost $300,000 with an early start gn construction indicated.

' Diamond Match Co. has 2?5,W acres of timber in the Sierra east of here which it will harvest on a sustainecl yield basis. Company President Robert G. Fairburn said, "The aim of the new plant is to effect a more cornplete utilization of forest resources and protect Diamond's conservation policy of cutting no more timber than it

Hoo-Hoo Elecfs Sqn Froncisco's 'Dqve' Dovis Snork of Universe

California's orvn E. G. "Dave" Davis, sales manager of Simpson Redwood Company, with offices in San Francisco, was elected Snark of the Universe at the 64th International Hoo-Hoo convention at the Hotel Statler, Detroit, September 12-16. He succeeds Snark John H. Dolcater, Tampa, Fla., who concluded a successful and popular year's reign.

This is a much-merited honor in the lumber fraternity for hailfellow Davis, who is-one of the most likable and afiable ge/rtlemen in the business. By happy coincidence, the 1956 HooHoo International convention, long since set to meet in San Francisco, will now fall in the "home town" by the Golden Gate of the newly .elected Snark of the Universe. Herb Schaur, Jr., is general chairman of the 1956 annual.

In Lumber Business Since 1923

The well-known and highly respected Simpson Redwood sales manager has been in the lumber business since 1923, when he joined the office staff of the Chas. R. McCormick Co. in San Francisco, remaining until 1934 there, in Los Angeles and San Diego. For the next two years, Davis was Southern California sales representative for Coos Bay .Lumber Co. and, from 1935-1948, was with Union Lumber Co. at San Francisco, Los Angeles and Fort Bragg, rbsigning as manager of the wholesale division. From 1948-1951, he was sales manager of Rockport Redwood Company. Early in January 1952, he organized the Dave Davis Lumber Co. in San Rafael but soon heeded a call to join the Simpson Logging Co. This was followed more recently by his position with Simpson Redwood.

"Dave" Davis has been long active in Hoo-Hoo. In 1946 he was founder and first president of the San Francisco Lumbermen's Club, as well as Vicegerent Snark for the S. F. district; in 1947 he. was Deputy State Snark for Northern California; from 1948-51 he served two terms on the Supreme Nine of the International Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo. In 1947 he founded and was the first president of Dubs, Ltd.

The recently concluded Detroit convention was "one of the best," reports George Clotrgh, Clough Lumber Co., Los Angeles, who was Senior Hoo-Hoo on the Supreme Nine from Jurisdiction VI at the conclave. I{e says that rvhile attendance was not quite up to last year's record in Houston, the convention was a lot of fun and excellently programmed. Don Bufkin, Hobbs Wall Lumber Co. representative in Los Angeles and a Deputy State Snark for Southern California, reported that the business sessions were very stimulating

Both lumbermen declared that the election of "Dave" Davis as the new Snark of the lJniverse was a widely popular choice and that the Californian endeared himself immediately to all Hoo-Hoo wth his acceptance'speech and gracious. friendliness.

STRA T G HTO O' STRO lIG ...

Sold Exctusivety Through Tumber Deaters

Tecbnical information: Axel V. Ped.ersen, AX 1-5494

Quotations: Pbone, urite, or uire-Ed' Fountain Lumber Co,