Reviewing the State of the Retail Lumber and Buildins Materials Industry

Bv H. R. Northup Notional Retail Lumber Dealers Association

Sales volume of retail lumber and building materials dealers held up much better than was expected in 1951, largely because anticipated shortages of critical materials were slow in developing and because inventories in dealers hands were some\l'hat higher than usual in the early part of the year.

Although light commercial const:uction rvas cut back by NPA restrictions. housing starts exceeded all preliminary estimates, there rvas a continuing good repair and modernization market, and farm demand remained relatively high.

The shortage of mortgage funds whi,ch threatened to curtail housing operations began to clear up at many points by the end of summer, ancl the liberalized credit terms votecl by Congress on lotv-cost housing stimulated starts in tl.re latter part of the year.

Government economists predict that private non-industrial construction rvill decline about 20 per cent in the new year as compared to 1951. However, total construction, including defense plants and n.rilitary building, will be off only about l0 per cent-from $29 billion dorvn t<.r $26.5 billion-if the experts are guessing right.

The 2A per cent decline in private non-industrial building is predicated on Mobilizer Charles E. Wilson's statement that housing starts in 1952 would total around 850,000, which would mean a drop of only about 15 per cer-rt in housing. llowever, other defense agencies have beerr calling for an even greater cutback, and the outcome is not too clear.

Tlre fact that 1952 is an election year, rvhich means that the Administratiorr in Washington will tend to avoid actions which might antagonize any large segment of the public, gives rise to a hope that every consistent effort will be made to keep housing volume fairly high.

The shortage of structural steel, which is responsible for. the sharp cuts in commer'cial, non-defense industrial, school, and hospital building is supposed to become less serious by the middle of the new year. But copper will remain tight for an indefinite period, according to the defense agencies, with the result that it may become the ruling factor in determirring how much construction can go ahearl during the remainder of the emergency.

lluilders and dealers n'ere saved a good many headaches, at least temporariiy, .ivhen the self-certification plan was aclopted by NPA. The only practical alternative is al :rll-out permit system, rvhich rvould mean endless delays and confusion for everyone r,vanting to build any kincl of a structure.

If too much critical material is used nnder that plan, it n'ill have to be modified or scrapped and everyone, includir-rg defense officials, hopes that rvill not be necessary Florvever, the plan had not been in effect for one montlr ltefore DPA-NPA Administrator Fleischmann served noticr: that NPA alreadl' was looking for possible abuses. With more anlple mortgage funds available, \\rashington officials are afraid that starts may run considerably higher thau they rvant them to.

\\rhile structural steel remains in short supply. there is a splendid opportunity for the lun.rber industry to regain some of its lost market and to help the public do more building by promoting the use of lumber in place of steel.

The Federal government is ready and .rvilling to aid in such a movement and, in fact, is refusing to grant permits for commercial or industrial buildings unless a minimum of structural steel is to be used.

The National Retail Lumber Deialers Association has been handling a tremendous load of defense-related rvork along rvith many important programs .ivhich were under r,vay before the emergency started. The 30-Day Courses for dealers' employees have been continued, and the Educational Committee is watching lvith great interest a number of Management Conferences rvhich have been arranged by State and Regional Dealer Associations.

In addition to analyzing and interpreting production, construction, price, and wage regulations, and assisting defense officials in developing regulations governing retail Iumber dealers, NRLDA has had a full measure of Congressional legislation to watch closely, u'ith the aid of its National Affairs Committee.

Congress is not expected to pass any great volume of new legislation affecting the building industry in its next session, but, as usual, many far-reachins bills u,ill be in-

(Continued on Page 74)

D. J. HANTDY

sssystetnatic saoings o;ffer the sutest n eenE oJ future security and. ue knon oJ no better systenratic saoings plan than that afiord.ed by payroll d,eduction purchases oJ u.s. DeJense Bonds. Nearly nine out oJ e,ach ten oJ our enF ployees are helping their country while thq sarse by participating in ihis plan.r,

There are three easily underetood reasons why BB/o of Allegheny Ludlumos 14,379 employees are enrolled in the Payroll Savings Plan: r the recognition by Mr. Hanley and his associ. ates of the Payroll Savings Plan as a major contribution to America's Defense effort . , an important, stabilizing factor in our national economy a road to personal security for Allegheny Ludlum employees. ff employee participation in your Payroll Savings plan is less than 50% or if you are one of the relatively few industrial companies that does not have a payroll Savings Plan, phone, wire or write today to Savinga Bond Division, IJ. S. Treasury Department, Suite Z(X), Vashington Building, Vashington, D.C. You will get all the assistance you may need to place your company among the thousands of companies that have 601 7O, 80/o, even&B/o participation in the Plan That protects.

Allegheny Ludlum's person-to-person canvass of employeeso which put an application blank for the Payroll Savings Plan in the hands of every man and rroman on the company payroll.

. the patriotism and sound eense of the Allegheny Ludlum employees who know that every dollar they invest each month in U. S. Defense Bonde is a double duty dollarit helps to keep America etrong . . it builds personal security for the employee.

The u. s. Gouernment iloes not pay for this ad,aertising. The Treasury Department thanks, Jor their paniotic donation, the Ad,uertising council anitr

108 West 6th St., Room 508, los Angeles 14, Cqlif.-VAndike 4565

Plywood Promotion Hits $100,000 Monthly John Muffley Sends Christmas Greetings

West coast plywood manufacturers have stepped up the tempo of sales promotion to $100,000 monthly to drive demand for the panels ahead of increased production.

Already hitting from coast to coast, the program is rifled at four targets-specifiers of building materials, retail luml>r'r' dealers, hcme owners and builders, and the nation's rn l:nu f acturers.

'Ihe industry's ner,v advertising program was announced irr Tacoma, Wash., by O. Harry Schrader, Jr., managing drrector of Douq-las Fir Plywood Association, representing tlte 70-factory fir plyr,r'ood industry of Wa.shington, Oregon arid California.

Heavy Schedule

I{e said the current sales promotion is far heavier tharr ever before although only an expansiorr of continuing plyrvood advertising begun in 1938. The bigger investment includes advertising in some 75 national and regional magazines, developrnent of dealer sales helps, field sales prototion by a dozen engineers, product research and quality trraintenance to assure top performance of plyu'ood in :crvice.

Advertisirrg includes schedules in publications of multimillion circulation (Saturday Evening Post, etc.) carrying to the public the properties, capabilities and versatility of the big, rugged sheets.

Better Living Theme

Home owners are being prcsented ideas for better living through remodeling rvith llyr.r'ood. To manufacturers throughout the nation, the ads carry the record of plyu'ood's use for packaging, pr.'oduction lines, factory maint(:nance and better products.

Other campaigns point the way to use of structural plywood for roofs, rvalls and floors of nerl' homes, warehouses and factories. Among the other plyrvood uses being broadcast are boats, farm buildings, railroad cars, signs and furniture.

Production Up

Douglas fir plyrvood, r,vhich the manufacturers tab as America's busiest building material, is now being produced at a weekly rate of more than 50,000,000 square feet. This is an increase of about 15 pei' cent over 1950, but simultaneously military needs are taking.more and more plyu'ood. The National Production Authority has directe<l r.,lylvood makers to set asidc up to 30 per cent of output for defense reo'-rirements.

Norman Goodman, formerly rvith Dell Lumber Corp., Burbank, is norv u'ith Macartney, Fletcher & Herr, fnc., Pasadena, rvholesale lumber dealers.

Elton W. Disher, general manager, Linn plyr,vood & I)oor, Inc., Albany, Oregon, was in San Francisco and Los Angeles recently on business for his firm. He rvas on his \ru'ay to the Atlantic Coast by way of the South'n'est and South, and will return by the Middle West. He is making the trip by air, and u'ill be gone four n'eeks.

Appoints Yard Superintendent

Jirnmy Wilde, former yard superintendent for WhitingI\fead Lumber Co., Los Angeles has been appointed to a similar position w'ith Commercial Lumber Co., Los Angeles.

(Continued from Page 70) troduced and will have to be follorved carefully

NRLDA's Public Relations Committee is preparing to issue a new Picture Brochure designed to acquaint the public r,vith the many indispensable services which the retail lumber and building materials industry performs for the public and has planned a Public Relations Contest rvhich every member is eligible to enter.

The nerv Minute N{an Program, in which individrral dealers send to their local nervspapers in their own names news releases prepared by the Public Relations Department, has been unusually successful. More than 1100 dealers are participating in the prog'ram, and nearly 2500 clippings have been re'ceived in little more than one year's time.

Along 'ivith these and other programs, NRLDA has u'orked closely 'i",,ith other branches of the building industry on mutual problems arising in Washington, and its representatives are playing an active part in several orter-all industry organizations.

Barring nerv international developments, the retail lumber and building rnaterials industry is looking forr'r.ard to a reasonably good year in 1952. Sales volume undoubtedly u,ill be smaller than in the last fen' years but should be high enough to keep the industry as a rvhole in reasonably sound condition.

WHOTESAIE DISTRIBUTORS . PONDEROSA PINE ' SUGAR PINE Lumber . Plywood ' Moutdings ' PINECREST doors ond millwork 5760 SHEttftTOUND STREET . ETVIERYVILLE, CAuFORNIA

TELEPHONE: PIEDMONI 5-7322

May You Have g loytu[ @ttristmud

And Much Happiness in the fr-tfn Peur

Sqsh, Doors crnd Millwork 2nd cnd Alice Streets

OAKLAND 4, CAIJF.

The Sequoias Were Here When Christ Wqs Born

By Adeline M. Conner

We were a virgin forest, On the California hills, Fed by the snows of winter, And springtime's gushing rills. We swayed in the summer breezes, That came from the sea afar, And silently watched in the twilight, For the gleam of the evening star.

We then were strong young forests, And we longed to touch the sky, Where shimmering snow peaks beckoned, And grey clouds drifted by. We whispered a prayer in the moonlight, For immortal life we craved, And the great peaks pointed upward, And the white snow banners waved.

And then on one mystic midnight, In the long, long ages past, A sign to us lvas given, That our prayer had been heard at last. For a wandering ray of starlight, On the night when Christ was born, Crept o'er the dim Sierras, And lingered till early morn.

It lay on our fragrant branches, With a pure and holy sheen, It hallowed the heights above us, And the gorges dark between. Soft zephyrs swept about us, And under their fingers light, With a sound as of many waters, We sang our song that night.

And so as the aeons vanish, We wait in immortal youth, Clothed in unfading verdure, And this is our wondrous proof That a wandering ray of starlight, On the night when Christ was born, Lay on our perfumed branches, Till the coming of the morn.

Worry Wanders Awcy

That mighty Intelligence-whatever you want to call it-that made us, and made the universe, made everything, is still on the job, and will do the sitting up nights for us if we just know it. He is still running the job. When we quit trying to run it ourselves and start realizing that the situation is in good hands-regardless of how black it may look today through our small glasses-the great weight or responsibility drops from our shoulders, and relief comes, and worry wanders away.

Robert I. Burdette Sqid:

"ft is only when, to the burdens and cares of today carefully measured out to us by the Infinite Wisdom and Might that gives with them the promise, 'As thy day, so shall thy strength be,'we wilfully add the burdens of those two awful eternities-yesterday and tomorrow-such burdens as only the Mighty God can sustain-that we break down. These are God's days. Leave them with Him."

Yuletide

Without the door let sorrow lie, And if for cold it has to die, We'll bury it in Christmas pieAnd ever more be merry.

Punished Jonch

"An' so, breden an' sisten," said the Rev. Obadiah Hamm, concluding his sermon on the subject of "Jonah"; "you see what de Lawd does when His chilluns disobey Him! De Lawd done tole Jonah whut t'do. An' Jonah didn't do hit. So whut did de Lawd do? Whut did He do, I asts you? De Lawd done WHALED HIM! Dass whut he done!"

Wcrtch crnd Cow

Two colored brothers were in the same jail and in adjoining cells, one charged with stealing a cow, the other with stealing a watch. They killed time by needling one another, or "hurraghing" as the country folks down South call it.

The one in lail for stealing a cow said to the one charged with t].re theft of a watch:

"Boy, whut time is hit, anyhow?"

And the other said: "Hit's milkin' time, big boy, hit's milkin'time."

Vice Versc

"You understand, don't you?" the officer of the day asked the new recruit, Mose Jackson, who was going on sentry duty for the first time, "if anyone moves, you shoot?" "Yassuh, Cap'n, an' vice versar" replied Mose.

"What do you mean, vice versa?".asked the puzzled Captain.

"f means if anything moves-I shoots-and I also means if anything shoots-I move."

Phil Gosslin

Pcul Gaboury

Joe Petrcsh

Bob Sqndqrs

Bob Bolton

Henry Hcrding

Orville Bresee

Frauk Pierce

(eith Htrrry

Henry Bciley

Milton Britt