Uhingle Congress Announcement Brings ltlemories . . . . . Bv laeA Siotno

Announcement of the forthcoming annual meeting of the Red Cedar Shingle Bureau to be held in Seattle on December 8, 1950, brought to the writer some distant memories. Especially when I looked over the printed list of the present officers and directors of the organization, consisting of E. R. Scott, president; W. H. Mclallen, vice president; Virgil G. Peterson, treasurer; W. W. Woodbridge, secretary; and Dale Craft, N. A. English, R. H. Farrington, Keith G. Fisken, N. C. Jamison, J. A. MacKenzie, R. D. Mackie, Charles Plant, Fred A. Roles, C. C. Rose, Paul R. Smith, H. V. Whittall, R. A. Wil$e, and Earl S. Wasser, directors.

I reached back into the dark corners of my memory to try and recall how many of those 18 men were present when I made my first speech to the Shingle Congress, as they used to call it, back in 1918 in Seattle. Not many. Neil Jamison, of Everett, Charlie Plant, of Vancouver, B. C., and Bill Woodbridge are the only ones I am certain were pres.ent, though there could be one or two others. Most of the list of present officials are of another generation. After all, 32 years is quite a long spell. Bill Woodbridge rvas there then representing The West Coast Lumberman, of which he was advertising manager.

I shall never forget that speech. Having ahvays maintained that a good audience was at least 75/o of a good speech, my talk had a guarantee in the shape of one of the best and most responsive audiences I ever talked to in a lor-rg career of jabbering. The toastmaster of the meeting was a gifted and eloquent Irishman-long since gone to thrt lreavenly home of all good lumber and shingle menT. J Donovan, of Bellingham. Ife sent me off to a flying stert by shooting good-natured insults at the free state of -fcx:r". ar-rd I keenly recall that making that speech rvas fun ; for rne, anyway, and the shingle gang seemed to enjoy it, also.

Sor.neone from the Northwest asked me only a ferv months ago what the remark was that I made to those shingle men on that occasion that I heard quoted for a generation afterwards. I had been in the Northu'est for a week or more before the Congress, and had talked to many shingle men in various Northwest cities, both singly and in groups. And my deep impression was that thev were grand men, individually, but they just rvouldn't pull together in anything. So I told tl-rat big crorvd at the Shingle Congress that after looking them over pretty carefully I had arrived at the conclusion that "you are the most lovable aggregation of disorganized jackasses I ever met in my life." And they were. And they knen' it. And they howled until the roof trembled rvhen I told them that.

It took them a long time to get organized so that thev rvould play ball as an organized group, ltut rvhen they did, business picked up and has been uniformly successful ever since. But they sure used to fight. One day I had lunch with about a dozen of the leading shingle men in Seattle. We ate and talked and laughed and it was a swell gathering and I was impressed with the apparently fine spirit displayed. When the luncheon finally broke up I walked down the street rvith one of the gang, and I said to him, "That was certainly a fine bunch of fellows." And he looked at me pityingly and said, "Yah a fine bunch of soand-sos." And he meant it. That was what I meant when I told the Shingle Congress how they impressed me.

I remember many of the leaders in the shingle gang of that time. J. S. "Bill" Williams was secretary of the organization which u'as then the Shingle Branch of the West Coast Lumbermen's Association. Bill is still in the association game, mixed up with a furniture association in Los Angeles. John McMaster, a sturdy oak indeed, was president. He is long since gone. Some of the strong men at the time were to become close and lasting personal friends of mine from that time on. There were Neil Jamison, George Bergstrom. and Henry Olwell, of Everett, the trvo Earles Brothers, Tom and Mike, of Bellingham, E. E. Case, of Raymondville, Arthur Edgecumbe, of Vancouver, Ted Conner, of Seattle, Charlie Plant, of Vancouver, and quite a number of others. And there is another imperishable character in my memory, Charlie Constantine, who handled the publicity for the shingle men and the association. Wish I could remember the names of all the good guys I enjoyed visiting with at that time, which list rvould also include a number of lumber manufacturers.

Bill Woodbridge reformed years ago and left the lumber journal business to take over the active management of the present organization, The Red Cedar Shingle Bu:eau. With him they have rvorked together intelligently and successfully, and the organization is a useful and forceful one. But f can't help remembering that old gang of 32 years ago. They were rugged.

Chrishcs Hyun

It was the calm and silent night ! Seven hundred years and fifty-thre"e, Had Rome been growing up to -igFt And noy was queen of land and sea. No sound was heard of clashing wars, Peace brooded o'er the hushed domain: Apollo, Pallas, Jove and Mars, Held undisturbed their ancient reign, In the soremn -Y*i;"T"sHJ*

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