Board o[ Directors o[ NRLDA Meet at Houston

The more than 500 retail lumber and buildirg materials dealers and their u,ives t.ho attended the anfiual meeting of the boarcl cif directors of the National Retail Lumber Dealers Association, October 9 to 11 in Houston, Texas. came a\\.a1/ convinced that their industry has laid sound plans for the challenging year lvhich lies ahead.

Reports by officers and committee chairmen of NRLDA disclosed that the Association is prepared to keep close rvatch over legislative developments and economic controls arising from the rearmament program u,hile, at the same time, going forvi'ard u,ith other basic programs needed to heighten the prestige and protect the rvelfare of the retail buiiding materials industry.

Clyde A. Fulton, Colborn-Fulton I-umber Co., Charlotte, Mich., rvas elected president of NRLDA, succeeding C. B. Sweet, Long-Bell Lumber Co., Longview, Wash. C. W. Gamble, Boise-Payette Lumber Co., Boise, Idaho, \vas named vice president, and Fred R. Stair, Farragut Lumber Co., Knoxr.ille, Tenn., u'as elected treasurer.

H. I{. Northrrl> and Edl'ard H. Libbey were re-elected executive vice president and secretary, respectively.

In his farel'ell address as President, Mr. Su'eet expressed the firm belief that the industry is on the right track and paid a tribute to its leadership.

"One of the biggest and most vital tasks n'hich I recommend to those n'ho n.ill steer the affairs of the National in the future." he said, "is to keep everlastingly at the job of persuading the individual dealer to play his own individual part in major industry programs. \Ve nor,v have, perhaps, 1000 dealers n'ho are participating actively in our legislative and educational n'ork. .Think lvhere we can go if 'lve multiply that nurnber by five, or by ten !

"Another matter to u'hich the National should give continuing attention, in my personal'opinion, is the rvholehearted support of prirrate enterprise. You knor,v as well as I that strong forces are at rvork undermining public confidence in private business. We can not afford to sit back and hope tl-rat others rvill protect our future for us. Now that t'e again have been forced, by unavoidable circumstances, into an emergency economy and all the controls it involves, rve nrust face the fact that \\re may never get out from under governmental control unless we do tu'o things.

"First, rve must so conduct our individual businesses and our industry that the need or excuse for controls is held to a minimum and, second, we must keep constantly telling the public and its leaders why the private enterprise system is the one and only system for this country.

"It isn't enough, by any means, to know that we are serving the public rvell. We must, in addition, take every feasible step to increase our efficiency and to ofier services that will be appreciated and then u,e must make sure that the public properly evaluates those services and fully recognizes and appreciates our efficiency. Everything u,e can do to develop ways of improving and expanding our services, and hence enhancing our indispensability, r,vill make our future that much more secure."

Mr. Northup reported on the present status of the defense production program as it affects the building materials industry and on the outlook for further controls, and then presented an S-point program designed to maintain a healthy national economy and a strong construction industry during the period when the nation is rearming.

In anal1'zing the outlook for construction and materials, Norman P. Nfason, past president of NRLDA, said that copper u,ire and steel sheets would be the most serious bottlenecks in 1951. He added that building products which do not contain strategic metals rvould be in ample supply by early next year, if not sooner, thus creating a buyer's market.

Assuming that the defense production program is not stepped up mnch beyond present schedules, Mr. Mason said that nerv construction next year probably would run around $21 to $23 billion, that the repair and modernization market 'lvould be strong; and he anticipated a moderate increase in farm construction, no more than a moderate drop in nerv commercial building, and a cutback of 50 per cent.or more in new housing.

Clarence Thompson, chairman of the Lumber Dealers Research Council, reported that results of a study of space requirements in housing, financed by the Council at the

(Continued on Page 60)

ANDERSON. CALIFORNIA

A plumed knight with heart of gold, A centaur, tinged with grey, A genius bold in a soldier's moldMacArthur's on his wav. ***

A flashing flame in Korean night, A gleam of hope in the dark, A valiant sight in an up-hill fightThe Marine" nX.lt.*,heir mark.

Just as some men go to stammering when they get highly excited or enthused, thus do I, under the same conditions, wax poetic. So I turned loose my nimble fingers on my well-worn typewriter, and the above two four-liners came out. And, regardless of what*others may say-I like 'em.

A long time ago-f don't know the date-Grantland Rice, considered by many literary men to be the greatest poet of our time, as well as our far-the-best sports-writer, wrote a two-stanza poem about the Magnificent Mac that belongs in everyone's scrapbook. Here 'tis: >F**

I'm just a wayside poet in this mighty ebb and fow, Where the magic of MacArthur is beyond all words I know, A miracle of heart and brains that calls, above the flood, For a soul that's dipped in genius, and a pen that's dipped in blood.

So, poets, from a thousand years, rise from your faded dust ! Bold Byron, Keats, and Shelley, help clean away my rust; For above all lyrics written I must have a godlike pen, To pay a fitting tribute*to fVlacArthur and his men.

And, if that beautiful tribute was deserved at that time, how much more worthy of such unstinted praise is the MacArthur of today, and his men ! I heard a high ranking General in the United States Army make a splendid talk the other day, and he declared in glowing terms his firm opinion that MacArthur's leadership in this present Korean war, will go down into histo'ry as top-ranking with anything the history of warfare, with all the military genius of the ages, can point to. Since f had already made my amateurish guess to that same effect, in these columns, I enjoyed the MacArthur tribute all the more.

Hey, folks ! Cast aside your complacency, and stand up and ho'ller ! Doesn't it mean anything to you to realize that one of the greatest military geniuses of all time is with us today, and doing his stuff for our boys in uniform, and for every one of us here at home ? Doesn't it thrill you to realize that now, in our time, miracles of military genius have been performed that will be re-lived in song and story as long as this land shall endure? Don't let your ardour cool about MacArthur and his deeds. Don't allow any of the small and jealous fry whose mistakes his genius have corrected, cast any shadows over his name ! Truly great men come to this earth but seldom ! Don't forget that ! Don't let your children forget it ! We havi something great and mighty to brag about, to enthuse over, so let's not lose the chance! It's our night to*howl!

When I started to, write this column I had a stack of notes on various subjects piled up at my elbow to write about. But the spell of MacArthur is on me, and I'm going to devote this entire piece to this glamorous subject. I have before me a copy of the Kansas City Star, dated September 29, and this powerfully edited newspaper devotes more than a column and a half to a leading editorial headed: .,The Genius of MacArthur." The rest of this column is made up from that editorial. Read it, for the writer paints perhaps the best word-picture of the General that has yet been written:

**1.

"Once more MacArthur has come through-writing his name in the annals of history certainly as one of the military geniuses of our time, and unquestionably the world soldier of today. There is something almost mystic in the man, in his sublime faith in his destiny. Aloof, sometimes utterly unapproachable, he presents one of the most contradictory characters imaginable, one about whom there is no half-way. You either have to take him on his own estimate and revere him, or you can sneer at his grandiose measurements of his own stature, but he always confounds his critics by coming through. ,k * childhood to believe completely in himself, and that he was to lead and do great things. The son of a great soldier and a patrician mother who brought him up almost by hand, day by day and year by year instilling in him the unshakable belief that he was to be the great soldier of all time and do great things. ft was enough to spo,il any ordinary individual. Almost before he had learned his ABCs they started grooming him for West Point. He was built up. physically and mentally, always with just one thoughthe was to be a great soldier.

"MacArthur is 4 case of an individual brought up from THIS JOUR,NAL BETIEVES - -os oll true Americqns once believed, thot q mon gets olong in fhis world, not by qn Act of Congress, bur by his own industry, chorocter, courqge, obility, perlreverqnce, qmbition, sticktoiliveness, qnd love of Liberry; ond thot oll governmenl is foros Thomos Jefferson tought-is to provide o protective frcmework in which he cqn live, lqborr produce, work out his own destiny, qnd qchieve the ihings he longs tori it believes in the Americqn who stqnds on his own feef qs our forefothers did, eqrns his own living, provides for his own future, qnd is beholden to neiiher governmenl, mon, nor devil for his sup- port; who occepts lorgesse, gifts, subsidies, ond speciol privileges from nobody.

"[.Jnder such ambitt""";"1";l training, and according to rule, the wonder is he didn't come a cropper. Generally, this would have been the case. Instead, he led his class, leaving a record as one of the most brilliant graduates of our-training school for future generals. With powerful military and family infuence behind him, he was pushed fast in the army. Ife became the youngest general of World War One, and emerged with a record as a brilliant leader. He became one of the youngest and was regarded as one of the most capable chiefs of staff in reorganizing our modern army.

"Then when it seemed he had had everything and his ,career was at an end, he was off to the philippines where his father had fought before him. Seemingly at the summit of his car€er, always MacArthur believed destiny had still greater and bigger things for him to do. He became a legendary figure in the Orient as field marshall of the philippine army. For a time it looked as if MacArthur's star had begun to set as his air force was caught on the ground in the outset of the Japanese war, and as Bataan and Corregidor fell and he had to leave his troops behind and be smuggled out of the country in a submarine under presidential orders.

"I will return," he said with great drama, as he left his comrades to their fate and went away into the night. Then came the return. All our attention was centered on Europe. The Pacific war was secondary in the attention and certainly in supplies and men. But MacArthur, tediously and with unshaken faith in his o,wn star began building FROM NOTHING the great island-hopping campaign that eventually led to that climactic moment on the mighty Missouri when he received the surrender of the Japanese army and nav'' i< {< t< And so he was handed the problem of reconstructing Japan. Aloof, almost unapproachable except to a few old comrades, he has run the show as only MacArthur could. He does nothing to popularize himself. As a general who had served under him in many capacities through the years said in a private conversation recently, 'I don't like the man. He is one of the most pompous, vainglorious individuals I have ever known. But take it from me, I would rather be under him than anybody I know. He has that stroke of genius that is given to no ordinary mortals.'

"All the military experts figured it would take us years to break down even the outer and middle perimeters of Japanese defense. There shone the genius of MacArthur, the soldier, and his adaptability. ffe never struck head-on, but, combining air and sea command, he simply by-passed the mighty fortresses the Japanese had built up, against which we supposedly were to wear out our strength through the years. He simply hopped around them with his landings-an amazing new chapter in a new form of warfare, .leaving the impregnable Japanese outposts, and hundreds of thousands of their men behind him to ',wither on the dlne," as he put it.

"'f have returned,' said MacArthur, as he waded ashore at Leyte. And soon the Philippines were recovered, although he took fearful chances and at times'heavy losses.

"seldom has such . ;r;.:sial figure emerged upon the world stage. The few intimates and those who serve under him, deny that he is either conceited or self-glorious. They revere him, almost worship him. * * {< There has never been a close affinity between the Pentagon and MacArthur. He takes orders like a soldier, but he believes that MacArthur knows best and acts on that basis unless he is absolutely ordered not to. The Japanese revere him almost above their own Mikado. They don't pretend to understand him, bu( they have the innate feeling that he is their friend. **{<

"Now comes the climax to this amazing career. The critics and sniper! of MacArthur must feel small indeed today in view of the amazing latest exhibition of military genius. ft was Napoleon who used to say when asking about a new general, 'Has he the luck?' He didn't mean was he just lucky, but did he have that indefinable touch of genius to do the unexpected and the extraordinary at the critical moment. Call it luck or lenius, MacArthur has it. It is apparent that he had the Korean situation in hand shortly after he took over-that is, he knew what he wanted to do. He threw in his reinforcements piecemeal, supposedly violating every rule of warfare. * * * But all the time MacArthur was centering on his counterstroke. I{e concentrated his strength on that, taking a real gamble on holding the beachhead. ***

"When the battle was fiercest and the territor5r held by the United Nations fo,rces had shrunk almost to tJre size of a pinpoint on the map, he stripped it of all reserves to augment the striking force of his offensive. He chose, not the logical spots that would have been picked militarily, but one where 35 foot tides made it almost impossible. They say the navy has never liked MacArthur, but his landings on the dangerous beaches at Inchon was a perfect exhibition of naval power, air power, and land power merged together into split-second timing. There was real unification for you.

***

"A lot of people are called geniuses when they are just above the average. Always there will be cohtroversy about MacArthur, but no one can deny his genius. Through him runs a deeply religious streak, almost mystical. Whether you like him or don't, he is entitled to his dues now fo,r the tremendous contribution he has made not only to his country but to world'0.""*..

* *

..WHAT A PITY THAT WASHINGTON YEARS AGO DID NOT SEE FIT TO USE THIS PECULIAR GENIUS IN DEALING WITH TROUBLED CHINA !''

(Continued on Page 30)