T.

364rh TTT Held qf Bel-Air

The 364th Terrible Tl,entl tournament n as hclcl at Bel-Air Country Club, September 27. Bob Faiconer \\ras our host and arrangements \l'ere m()st complete. We had a ltrunch at 10:30 a.m. so u,e could gct off early :rntl trot bother the club members, and tl.re afternoon u'as perfcct. The day's event rrA.q a tin -ivhistle won by Gecirge Roclcclicr rvith 38 points. Rex Wall rvas second rvith 37.

The semi-finals of the first 6 months tottrnament founcl Pierce beating Alling 1 up and Groschan l>eating Gallchcr 1up. The fina1s'n'il1 be in Novernber, u'ith Rodecker pl:r1'ing J3auer, 1st Flig1it, and Groschan playing Pierce in thc 2nd flight. Bob Falconer operated a $2 pool on best-ballof-foursome. You guess lvho r'von it.

A{ter dinner a voice vote rvas taken ancl it u-as decidecl to change our handicap system from a fir'e-game a\reragc to the' merlbers' club hanclicaps, although members from the hr-rst clrrl.' u'ould play 1 belorv their club handicap. The present mutcl'r tour4ament r,vould be finished or-r the old 'basis, tlicre being only the finals to be played in November.-H. M. Alling.

NoCql Secfion, FPRS, Meets in Reno

Members of the Nbrthern California Secticin, Forest Products Research Society, rnet September 28 in Reno, Nevada. Plans for th€ occasion included a tour of the Vaughn Nlillu,ork ,Company plant, follo'"ved by a dinner rr-reeting at the N{apes ho'tel. The speaker for the evening rvas Bill N{cCudden of the Diamond N{atch Company; his subject u'as "Automatibn in the'Planing Mill."

LumberMoney...

Let's have a look at a pair of mid-September items of news from Washington, D. C. They are of interest to anybody who is on a logging or sawmill payroll. The earliest one said:

"Mortgage credit continues to be tight. Housing starts have dropped to an annual rate of less than 1,100,000 per year. For the full year, a decline of around l2/o f.rom 1955 is now probable."

The later story had this to tell:

"A meeting at the White House yesterday resulted in administration approval of steps to be taken to insure a freer flow of mortgage money. Action will not be sufficient to open gates wide but shbuld be of substantial help."

Of course government can never do anything more than "help" to correct a hiatus in the American system of private business enterprise. The government's concern is that, at a time when other major divisions of our economy are going steadily forward, home building has slumped.

New homes are where the lumber g'oes, in the main, and homes are where the lion's share of revenue comes from to pay wages, taxes, dividends and forest conservation costs.

The average home-building family raises the money for the job through a modest down payment and a long-term mortgage. When mortgage finance money tightens, lumber sales are choked off.

Remember1938?...

I remember 1938 right well, because a pay cut came along in May, just when I'd signed the papers for a new second-hand automobile, then yet mors papers for a garage, which happened to have a house attached. Mortgage finance money was frozen. Then came "the recession."

The lumber industry, nationally and regionally, had taken strong leadership for two years, in organizing programs to make the National Housing Act of 1934 do a job. The machinery of the ac.t was that of the Federal Housing Administration's plan for insurance of long-term home loans, with cost, interest and charges amortized in equal monthly payments for the term, which was limited to no more than 20 years. The down payment on a home, new or old, could be no less than ?O/o of the price of the homehouse and lot. Interest rate was 4%%. The government's charge for insuring a home to protect the lender was f of one percent.

It was a fair partnership of business and government, with the business kept under private management and control. Uncle Sam has made some money on the FHA home ,loan insurance all the way through. So have the bankers. I know it has worked wonders for one family, my own, as it has for millions of others. FHA has made mighty mountains of business for the lumber industry.

A Hoover Plan

The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was a plan by President Herbert Hoover. A related program took form

Direct Mill Shipments

as the Home Ou'ners Loan Corporation, saving millions of homes through insured refinancing from mortgage foreclosure-after a hostile Congress had rejected it in 19317932.

After 1932 the Hoover "HOLC" was passed as a "new deal"-rvithout credit to the real author, of course. The idea was next applied to the need to implement the construction of a nerv home u'ith small down payment ancl under long-term loan financing. That is, to the FHAinsured home loan.

In 1936 the National Lumber Manufacturers Association, cooperating witl-r National Retail Lumber Dealers Association, ltuilt six FHA-plan homes at Bethesda, Maryland, to demonstrate horv u'ell the plan lvould n'ork nith smail, lou'-cost lumber dwellings. In the Pacific Northu.est the

West Coast Lumbermen's Association carried on a similar promotion.

For a long, long time, mortgage finance money was tight, even on loans that were insured by the Federal government itself. This brought on a "recession," rvith related causes, in 1938. The trouble then, as now, was rvith authorities that held on like grim death to the ancient, discredited system of multiple short-term mortgages on a single home, rvith bloated down-payment of "no less than 35 percent"a system that all but ruined the country in 1932, when Herbert Hoover's practical plan of loan reform was rejected by irresponsible opposition in Congress.

(Tell them you saw it in The California Lumber Merchant)

Didn't fUliss cr Thing

A foreigner wanted to see some typical western mountain scenery, so he hiredr a car at Denver and told the chauffeur to do the b-bst he could inside of two hours, whlch, he explained was his time limit.

It was rather a hair-raising experience, the car careening arp hill and down date at a terrific speed. However, the man-in-a-hurry was satisfied, and congratulated the driver when paying him off.

"But, I say," he remarked, "I'm afraid we must have run over something about an hour ago. I distinctly felt a a bump."

"Bump?" replied the driver. "Bump? Oh, that was the Continental Divide."

Ugty?

And then there was the guy who was so ugly that Frankenstein was picketing his house.

Well Spending

To understand the world is better than to condemn it; to study the world is better than to abuse it; to make the world better, lovelier, and happier is the noblest work of any man or woman. The measure of a man's life is the well spending of it, and not the length.-Plutarch.

Logicol

"No," replied the husband during a quarrel. "No, you didn't run after me. But listen, babe ! A trap doesn't run after a mouse, either. But it gets it just the same. See?"

The Price of Ftrme

"Fame sometimes deceives a man into believing he is better than he really is," once observed the celebrated tenor, Enrico Caruso. And then he related the following story to illustrate his statement.

The noted singer was motoring through the Northern section of New York State when his car broke down. He sought relief at a nearby farmhouse until he could get a mechanic to repair his car. Presently the farmer asked'the visitor's name, and Caruso introduced himself.

"I am Caruso," he said simply.

"Caruso !" exclaimed the farmer, leaping to his feet and warmly grasping the singer's hand. "To think that such a great man should visit my humble home. Caruso ! The great explorer, Robinson Caruso !"

Hot Roising

A certain low-brow wrote the editor of the local paper and asked for information; he wanted to know when and where it is polite for a gentleman to raise his hat. The editor replied:

"Without consulting etiquette authoritles, I will glve you a horse-back opinion on the subject, and suggest that the hat should be removed on the following occasions: When mopping the brow, when taking a bath, when eating, when going to bed, when taking,up a collection, when 'havin! the hair trimmed, when being shampooed, when standing on head."

V. C. Kitchen Soid:

In the business of life, Man is the only product. And there is only one direction in which man can possibly develop if he is to make a better living or yield a'bigger dividend to himself, his race, to nature, or to God. He must grow in knowledge, wisdom, kindness, and understanding.

Broodening

Reginald, in a fit of choler,Thrust his head neath a big steamroller. The folks were all surprised to find, How the treatment broadened Reggie's mind.

Possing Remqrks

Sam says he meets all kinds of girls. Some of them are awfully positive and others are vice versa.

There's a famous saying to the effect that whiskey improves with age. What they mean is that the older a licker-drinker gets, the more he likes it.

A kilted Scotch highlander met one of our American soldiers in a bleak mountain district in Scotland. The American soldier said: "Pal, I'm lost." The Scot said: "Is there a reward out for ye?" The American said no. "Well, then, ye're still lost," said the highlander.

WAR, said the grocery-front philosopher, doesn't always decide who's right, but it DOES decide who's left.

And the literary man went into a restaurant, ate one of those small meals, and wrote across the face of the menu: "What foods these morsels be."

Red Bud

Too lovely to be real, here is this slim

Brown net of limbs that lie in intricate design

Upon the crystal sky. . . . This is no whim

Of wearied fancy, that our eyes define

From tangled thoughts webbed in a darkening brainThese scarlet-clustered stems, blue-misted, still

Beneath the hush of wind, this soft refrain

Of color breathed upon a greening h,ill-

Not so. Once Beauty walked here undivined.

This is a flowering dream she left behind.

-Joyc"e Hunter

Don'f Bother to Wrop lt

Salesman: Sir, f have something here which will make you popular, make your life happier, and bring you a host of new friends.

Supply Store Manager: I'll take a quart.

Planing Mill Seruice

Save iime save money ..saveheadaches by using Inland's Planing Mill Service. Use 1000 ft RR spur to ship limbers direcl to lnland. After milling, Inland delivers if you wish, Next time lry Inland - profit ably.

Herb Forrell Becomes Club 39 President rthe Hord Woy'

' A hard-hitting new program for the coming year was bpened rp by Oakland Hoo-Eloo Club 39 with an Election iNite meeting, September 24, at the Oakland Seafood Grotto, $c€n€ of many past spectacular plub 39 meetings.

Following libations (courtesy of the club) and a roast ibeef dinner par exCellence, the smiling Gamerston & Green lsalesman,'Joe Pepetone, took a last stand at the.rostrum and quickly reviewed the club's activities during the past $'ear. After thanking all members for their support during his regime, Joe turned over the spotlight to Bill Chbtham, jhimself 'a past president, for a eulogy on the new president

Fot

PTYWOOD to be-Herb Farrell, of Hogahi"Wholesale Building Materials, Oakland.