Tfestern Hardwood lumber Co. Employees Thrilled by

A demonstration ,by the United States Navy for the information of the employees of Western Hardwood Lumber Co., Los Angeles, was held at the company's plant at the noon hour, November 10.

Frank J. Connolly, executive vice-president of the company, which has been closely tied in with the war effort for the past three years, in introducing the Navy group, said that the company was fortunate in having the trained personnel, the facilities and the materials to enable them to join in the work on a large scale. He congratulated the men and lvomen employees on the admirable job they had done in assisting in construction of war vessels, freight ships and other craft, and in supplying materials for many other war purposes.

Lieut. B. F. Schwartz, Inspector of Naval Materials, Vernon, Calif., thanked the Western Hardwood employees. "This plant," he said, "is vitally important to all of us in the Army, Navy and Merchant Marine. We and you make up a team. You men are as important as any man in uniform and you have a right to be proud of your work."

Lieut. Schwartz introduced the men in his group. Each gave a short account of his experiences.

Chief Sid Cross, U. S. Navy, chief fire control man, who was still on crutches as a result of his injuries, described what is known as a concentrated air attack, in which 83 out of 84 Jap planes were knocked down.

Sgt. Frank King, U. S. Marine Corps, who was in the initial landing at Guadalcanal, told of his part in raids as an aerial gunner.

Basil Izzi, U. S. Navy, member of a gun crew on a merchant ship which was torpedoed, related some of his experiences when he spent 83 days on a raft with four others and had to live on raw fish and birds. He was one of 'three survivors. The wood life raft, 8 by 9 feet in size, saved their lives, he said.

Measured in terms of cement only, heavy construction in the Far West has fallen off this year at a lesser rate than has been the national experience.

For the first nine months this year the seven states of the l2th Federal Reserve District received shipments of cement, either internal or interstate, about one-fifth lower than in the like 1942 period. For the rest of the country the decline was about 37 per cent and for the nation as a whole, including the Far West, it was about 28 per cent.

The Far Western states required 16.4 per cent of all cement shipments for the nine months this year as against L4.7 per cent last year.

Only six states nationally required more cement in the three-quarters this year than last, one of these,being Idaho with a 61 per cent gain. Decreases in the other Far 'Western states range from 6 per cent in Utah to 59 per cent in Nevada. The big Hawthorne arsenal and the Basic Magnesium plant in Nevada were big cement consumers in 1942.

Picture of Far 'West cement consumption by states as between the first nine months this year and the like 1942 period, with national and district comparisons, follows (in barrels):

The Moisture Register, an instrument for the measurement of the moisture content of all kinds of lumber and wood products, is manufactured by the Moisture Register Co., with factory at 5ll7 Kinsie Street, Los Angeles.

The instruments are used by lumber companies and by many defense plants, particularly in the aviation and shipbuilding industries, all over the country.

Miss Edna E. Morgan is president of the company.

H. L. Shepard, former president of this concern, is now a Major in the U. S. Engineers, stationed in Washington, D. C.

A. B. (Bert) McKee, Jr., general manager of San pedro Lumber Co., Los Angeles, returned recently from a three weeks' trip to Chicago, New York and Washington, D. C. In Washington he and H. R. Northup of the National Retail Lumber Dealers Association talked with the Procurement Division of the War Department.

He picked up a car in New York and drove back to Los Angeles by way of North Texas and New Mexico. He called on some lumber dealers in New Mexico and had some interesting talks with them.

E. L. (Bert) Cooper, Union Lumber Company, who has been at the company's mill at Fort Bragg, Calif., for the past fourteen months, has been transferred to the Los Angeles office where he will be office salesman. Bert has been with the company f.or a long period, and prior to going to the mill was outside salesman in the Southern California territory.

He succeeds M. H. McCall, who has been connected with the Los Angeles office for the past seventeen years. Mr. McCall has taken a position with the Acme Tank Manufacturing Co., Inc., of Los Angeles.

M. C. Mclver, of the Penokee Veneer Company, of Mellen, Wisconsin, is in Los Angeles at present conferiing with A. C. Pascoe, who represents his concern on the Pacific Coast.

has been has assoLos An-

To make it easier for both buyers and sellers to determine rnaximum, prices, the Office of Price Administration announced dollars-and-cents ceilings for services of pressure-treating railroad ties, lumber, piling, poles and allied items with creosote and other preservatives.

Wood products, treated with creosote or creosote tar mixtures to increase durability, are used in the construction of railroads,,bridges, docks, shipyards, overhead power and transmission lines, and other structures where the material is likely to be exposed to dampness or other conditions which favor rot.

For some treating concerns the new ceilings are slightly above, for others slightly below, their former prices. Previously maximums were the highest prices individual sellers charged during March, 1942.

The new ceilings, in substance, are an avefage of the March, 1942, prices expressed in uniform dollars-and<ents ceilings for all sellers. The only exception is that in some special services requiring special handling, allowances are broadened to offset increased labor costs.

Two sets of treatment service dollars-and-cents ceilings are provided, one for West Coast species and the other for "all other" species. The West Coast species ceilings, following industry practice, are higher than those for other species because 'West Coast species are harder to treat.

Along with the new treatment service ceilings, OPA issued a formula to be used by sellers in determining maximum prices for treated products.

Under the formula, maximum prices, f.o.b. treating plant, are established as the sum of the ceiling price of the untreated product, plus the treatment charge, plus a mark-up to cover cost of the preservative.

Maximum prices items are as follows:

Maxlmum Prices for preservatively treating selected Treatment of owned Treatment service product (Service onlv (Item not charge when item owned by treating is owned by treatplant) ing Plant)

'West coast species:r"R;it;;;a-.ftss ties '...$16.00 per MBMz...$!9 q0 per l4El4' Lumber '$20.50 ier MBM....$24'50 per MBM' t0-?;;t "; shorte. piling.30 cents per cu !t. ..35 cents per cu ft' iili;;i.; sho*iid"l.tl.25 cents per cu ft' ..40 cents per cu' ft' lDouglas 6r, West Coast hemlock, all species of true fir, redwood, Sitka spruce and Western red cedar.

2Per 1,000 board feet.

To the foregoing ceilings may be added cost of Preservative and transportation.

Treatment service ceilings for longer length piling and poles, and for fence post, switch ties and mine material also are established.

To cover certain extra services, such as special handling, adzing and boring, pole framing, peeling, etc., dollars-andcents additions are provided which may be added to treatment service ceilings.

(Foregoing prices are established in Maximum Price Regulation No. 491 (Pressure Preservative Treatment of Forest Products-Services-and Pressure Treated Forest Products-Commodities), a new regulation which becomes effective November 19, 1943).

Owners of rental housing are receiving larger operating margins under rent control than they did in 1939 and 194O, an OPA survey says. The rate of net operating income from apartment houses during six months of rent control was 34/o greater than in 1939, while that from small structures was 36%.

The Sales Manager rose to his feet. His face was serious. It was evident that he had something on his mind. fn front of him his force of salesmen faced him in a semi-circle, anxious to learn the reason for the emergency call to headquarters. The Sales Man: ager speaks: "Men.," he says, "we have a job to do, and I am expecting every man to devote all his energ'y and ingenuity to the task. I want you to get out and hit the ball. Call on all your customers. Put the high pressure stuff on them. Get results. That's what I want-results. And those who bring in the BIGGEST CANCELLATIONS will be given bonuses proportionate to what you produce. Now get going !"

George B. Carpenter, Portland, Ore., Administrator ,for Order L-218, in a letter to the Northwest mills dated November 13 outlines the procedure that will be followed to meet the increased demands for lumber for war orders. Mr. Carpenter's letter follows:

"Last Wednesday while the lumber auction was in progress I outlined our present requirement that each mill ship its full proportionate share of direct (CpA) war orders, and it is only fitting that I express my personal agpreciation of the response this announcement received. Your willingness at all times to meet the needs of the situation is evidence of the industry's approval of our policy of never asking more than must be done, to achieve the purposes of Order L-2I8.

"IJnfortunately, it is already clear that we had set our sights too low, particularly as to the requirements for boards and dimension, and while we are not at liberty to disclose the details of the new needs that have developed during the last few days, we can assure you that the lumber footage is large. These increased demands are the best proof we could have that the country's military plans are progressing satisfactorily-that we are really getting on with THE job and hastening the end of it-but when these new and unforeseen requirements are coupled with reduced production we have no choice but to hold to the following procedure:

1. Continue our present policy of releasing only for those mills which show they are shipping the required percentage of their production on CPA orders.

Confine the releases of boards and dimension to purchase orders carrying priority ratings of AA1 and AA2. (Resale or use of such lumber will be restricted as a minimum to the rating certified on the customer,s purchase order.)

Make no radical change in our present poticy with respect to releases covering timbers but, where receivers are yard operators, make certain either that there is essential use for the sizes ordered, or that plans for working into usable sizes are completed at the time the order is placed.

Get full information about end uses. Ratings have no force or effect on shipments by producers, but par-

Appointment of a West Coast Logging Industry Advisory Committee composed of seven Pacific Coast logging company executives was announced by the Office of Price Administration.

The committee, which will serve as a liaison body between OPA and the industry, will confer with OPA whenever pricing matters or pricing problems arise with regard to West Coast logs, stumpage and contract logging.

Members of the committee, all of whom are managers of the firms with which they are associated, are: ticularly in the case of yard operators, priority ratings are often the only indication of end use.

J. D. Bridge, Sound Timber Company, Seattle, Wash.

Lloyd Crosby, Consolidated Timber Company, Portland, Ore.

A. Q. Morgan, Morgan Logging Company, Forks, Wash.

L. T. Murray, West Fork Logging Company, Tacoma, Wash.

Arnold Polson, Polson Logging Company, Ifoquiam, Wash.

C. H. Wheeler, McDowell Creek Logging Company, Portland, Ore.

Roll Williams, Werner Timber Company, Taft, Ore.

The committee will hold its initial meeting at the OPA office, Monday, December 6, in Portland, Ore., for the purpose of electing a chairman and to consider any other matters which may be presented for discussion. Henry G. Champeaux of the Stumpage and Logs Section, Lumber Branch, Office of Price Administration, Washington, D. C., will attend the meeting. Future meetings will be presided over by the committee chairman and may be called by either the Chairman or OPA.

5. Avoid releases for quantities in ,excess of what producers reasonably expect to ship within three weeks from date of application. (If order is larger, make several releases at intervals.)

"We also want to advise you that we are sending out a request toward the end of the month for a report as of November 30, along the same lines as our circular request of October 14, bu't including in this new report the actual footage shipped on CPA orders in November. Please be prepared to file this report promptly on receipts."