Western Pinellen Told Spring Business Upturn Due

Portland-Though the "bloom is off tl-re lumber rnarket," Western l)ine lumbernren here September 11-i3 for their semi-annual \\restern Itine Associatirn meeting l-ere told they ri'il1 probably see an improlenrent in business conditions by next spring.

A. B. Hood. president of the associatior.r. u.arned the group a merchandising jr>b of huge proportions faced tl-reir industry. Since the siorvdor.l'n in tract-housing construction, the individual nerv homeou'ners u'ho get hnancing fr<>m regular commercial ler-rding agencies ":rre no\\' the backbone of ottr industry," he declared.

"We must show them and their families that the hems-nqf the gadget-is the foundation for a sound American way of life," he said. Hood is manager of the Ralph L. Smith Lumber Co., Anderson, Calif.

W. E. Griffee, assistant secretar)'-manager of the association, suggested the industry was "going worst of the slump" right non'. He termed 1957 vear for lumber since 1946.

Other speakers included S. V. Fullaway, Jr., rn'ho discussed the association budget and financinS; C. A. Gillett, managing director of American Forest Products Industries, Inc. ; Walter Leuthold, president of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association, and that group's new executive vice-president, Nfortimer B. Doy1e, who made his first western appearance since assrrming his post.

The association board of directors voted to support for one year a wood school-promotion program planned by the NLMA if most other elements of the lumber industry also give support. Other board action included:

Recommended continuation oi an all-out effort seeking relief from current inequities in federal agency timber policies the industrv considers vital to its survival.

Gave its okay to a new moulding book designed to standardize pattern sizes and numbering to supplant the 7000 and 8000 series. The book is being published in cooperation with the West Coast Lumbermen's Association, and will be released late in the Fall.

Adoption of selection grade standards for No. 2 and No. 3 common knotty paneling of all Association species. This standardizes the selection of board stock r'vhich is to be run to paneling, and results in increased quality within the paneling grades from the resulting paneling stock.

Okayed a Promotion committee move to give increased emphasis to Larch, White Fir, Douglas Fir, fncense Cedar, Inland Red Cedar, Lodgepole Pine and Engelmann Spruce. The group's promotional program hereafter will stress these woods on a plane equal to the Three Western Pines.

Heard statistics indicating injury frequencies have generally declined since initiation of safety promotion rn'ork.

Redwood Assn. Re-elects Officers, Plons Increqsed Eostern Morkets

At the annual meeting of the California Redwood Association in the association offices at San Francisco. Se suLrdLlurl rrr Lrlc ass()cra[ron omccs at Jan l: ranclsco, )ep_ tember 9, the following officers were re-elected for 1958: President, Hugh |. |acks, The Pacific Coast Comoanv: Ex- Pres.idenf .Hugh J.Jacks, Company; Executive Vice-President, Philip T. Farnsworth; SecietaryEx- ecutive Vice-Presi Treasurer, Selwyn J. Sharp.

Elected to the board of directors for 1958 r,vere President Jacks; H. A. Libbey, Arcata Redwood Company; E. B. B_irmingham- Harnmond-California Redwood Company ; W. M. Moores, Hollow Tree Lumber Company; F. V. Holmes, Holmes Eureka Lumber Company; Stanwood A. Murphy, The Pacific Lumber Company;. Gordon J. Manary, Simpson Redwood Company; C. Russell Johnson, Union Lumber Company, and Russell H. Ells, Willits Redwood Products Company.

An increased market for California redwood in key areas east of the Rockies was the objective of field and technical representatives of the California Redwood Association during September and October, following earlier promotion rvork this year in the South, New England and Rocky Mountain areas. Intensive promotion .il'ork with architecti, builders, specifiers and usbrs of redrvood rvill be carried out in areas of Ohio by Harry L. Lowell of the association's Promotion division, with assists from William A. Dost and Jack Behrens of the Tecl-rnical division. This will be follorn'ed by a newspaper advertising promotion campaign, entered into jointly by the California Redwood AssoCiati,on and local redwood dealers in the Cincinnati and Columbus areas. Bernarr Bates, director of press relations for the association, flew to these cities to coordinate this campaign.

To add further knou'ledge to a long-range study on the problems of handling circulating water in industrial cooling towers, for which redwood is a favored construction material, William A. Dost and Iack Behrens of the Technical division, CRA, make a s-ing through the Southeast, South Middle West and East. Dost rvill confer with officials at the U.S. Forest Products Laboratorv in Madison. Wisconsin, on their continuing studies witli cooling tower and redwood finish problems. Visits rvill be made to the seven test sites located throughout the United States, where redwood finishes are exposed to varying climatic conditions.

Lowell conducts a series of evening meetings for architects and redlvood dealers in the Denver area betlveen September 27 and-October 2. This follows up a successful field promotion and newspaper promotion campaign in the Denver area during the early part of August. During November, field calls will be made on architects in the Chicago area by members of the California Redwood Association staff.