\Thsililiwruft, 1Jw. Lumber Serles Division

that wherever our Fanny goes she will be well received and appreciated. Texas being the kind of state it is, and Texas men being the kind of men they are, we know that our Eanny will prove to be a great asset to the Lone Star State. - ---- - -:---

"N"xt month we start in search of another Fannv. But for now the slate is wiped cleatr.

"Our Fanriy'is gone."

' The company'stannouncement of the move of the beauty model to Texas.,a'lso said the next issue of the News will have photos of candidates to replace Fanny Forest, so all hoie is not lost,for lumber dealers (an'd wholesalers are human, too) who have awaited Fanny,s appearance in the monthly Forest Fiber advertisements.

_ Thestory-ended with this announcement from Fanny Forest herself:

"f've gone to Texas. f know even Texanb can't have a better panel than Forest Sandalwood." And she was pic- tured-for her final Forest Fiber pose-beautifully'reposing on a high stool.

Willirs Redwood Srory of Growrh

(Continued from Page 67) ment heads can claim equal fame. fn no department has the company ever had a fatality. As a resuli of its hard- hitting safety campaign, Willils Redwood won the 1956 California Lumbermen-'s District Award for the, Redwood Region, and placed second to Union Lumber, winner of the 1956 C. R. Johnson Memorial Safety Trophy.

Willits Redwood safety campaign is coordinated bv Harold Robinson and inc'ludes lwo meetings a month-1 one with operating supervisors and the oiher with the plant's Safety committee. These are the men who keep the word_ "safet-y"_ foremost in every employe's mind. Th; system also inciudes departmental iwaris (prizes awarded each 60 days) for each department with a no-accident record. In addition, if a department goes 52 weeks without an accident record, the company,treals the entire crew and their wives to dinner and an evening out-which doesn,t hurt the employee relations one bit either!

Employee relations ? Of the 72 Willits Redwood products gggloyeg who have leen with the company over five years,2ohavebeenwiththecompanysinceitsiormation!.

Each employee is an individual-his family a part of the ,r team-underthe company's system. Eacli velr Willits ,, Redwood holds a Chiistmas barty for all ifs emplovesi r children at Willits' Park Pavilion. - Gifts "t" oid"r"f #; Santa Claus and each_ child receives a gift of his clroici (last year there were 260 kiddies on han"d). A Christmas" bonus in cash has supplanted Willits Redwood,s former' policy of holding a Chrlstmas party for its employes, , '..l

In addition, and to generate higher interest in the com-, pany, Willits Redwood also holds periodical organized foremen's meetings at which all phases of comDanv- ooi""- tion-including financial-are discussed. Absoiuteiv iothing is held back. The foremen inturn discuss the'results of these meetings with their respective crews. . ', ',.

As a result of this p-r-ogram, eaoh,employee has : become a mental stockholdei of iortsr--de"tiasld-turil ,', over and cost of operation the immediate result. ,;

In- public relations with the town itself, Willits Redwood has been a leader. The company has even furnished twb *l r.nSlors-Russell Ells and Pr6duction Mapaget I-"o lt.ri"ti ,t (the..latter, is currently. serving his term -of office). ' fn:'.: addition, the company- has beein a staunch .opp.ort"n oJ . ! community projects, including the town,s Littte Leaerue. n, and hascompany tlasketball- and baseball teams wfrich .., compete in the locbl Industrial League ' _ Yep, there's a heck of a lot more to running a sawmi.ll than just turning out boards and dimension. tfs morJ tite running a small city in many ways .'

'

llatloml-lmerlcea Uloheele laalrlt eesoclotloa Docs tadustty Selzrlce mth Pnmotloa of llood

: $5th Annuol Convention

Brelron Woods, N. H.-June lO 1957

, A lot of water has gone over the dam during the past , year. There is no minimizing the fact.that it h3.9 not been i sood vear generally for lumber wholesalers' This is par- ticirlarlv truJof the list six months. Those of us who have been in business a long time realize that there are periods . 'in which this kind of condition exists, although this one has l-.'been more pain{ul because it is the first prolonged dry spell Ithat we have had since the war. There have been some '"'casualties in our business as was to be expected, and in my i"estimation one of the remarkable things that has occurr-ed that the membership of our Association has actually ' sufiered a loss in membership of only-about 5/o. This is a great testimonial to the strength of this organization and the interest taken in it bv all of the rnembers.

First, as you will recall, a year ago we placed our advertising ca-paign on the basis of a relular item of ciur budget and ibandoned the voluntary subscription. It has, of course, taken almost a year for that fund to be built up as memb_e_rship renewals occur at various times during the year. We are very happy with the results of this advertising, as small as the cam-p^aign has necessarily been. You will note that more and mbre we are directing our advertising towards the promotion of wood, in conjunction of course with the proinotion of the wholesalers as the proper medium of distribution. This emphasis on wood has created a great deal of favorable comment throughout the industry.

Some of vou may have read an article which I wrote for Crow's Lurirber Digest a few weeks ago which was in the form of a suggested invitation to other segments of the lumber industly to consider joining forces with our olgairization in the promotion of 'Wood. I am ho-nestly.of the opinion that thi National-American is the only lumber oreinization that can promote wood, as such, regardless of 3pecies. Notwithstaniling the remarkable job that some of the'reqional Associations have done in promoting their orvn oroduit. necessarilv a sood deal of the results that they lbtuin are at the tixpenle of some other species of w-ood. Naturally they cannot avoid this because their own advertising bridget- is specifically created for- the plomotiqn of the ihings ihat ttrey manufacture themselves' The National Lumber"Manufacturers Assn. has been doing a veSy fine iob in a sood manv quarters which do not seem too spec' iacular oi a.e possibty not noticed too much, but they are not able to promote Wood as such because that Association is in turn iontrolled bv the regional associations. Consequently, their war of the- specfus makes it most difficult fbr the ir[ational Lumber Manufacturers Assn. to effectively oromote Wood to the Public. '

I have been amazid at the inroads that competing materials have recently made into the time-honored markets of Wood. We iruly have a marvelous product because it certainly seems tb have held its own without assistance in man-y cases, but there is increasing anq alarming evidence-that it is rapid-ly-now-losin-g gro\rnd in certai-n fields. It has been said that the advertising budget of the entire l'umber industry, exclusive of re' tail idvertising, would be less than what the Aluminum Company of America alone spends -on their promotion.

When-you add to that the other aluminum companies and the iluminum industrS and when you add the in' dividual steel companies and the steel industry' and

Predicr Aportment Housing Boom

._ "Housing NIarkets," monthl_v rep()rt oi Housing Securities. Inc...predicts that "'l'-he srirge in :Ll,lrrtrrreni house construction is to stay u'ith us ii,r s,,n-re tirne.,' I;aclors accenting this trenil. thev sa-v. lrre: l) rel:Ltively lorv vt,lrrme r,f multiple, liuilt rlurinrr the ltrst six vears createcl a,sizealtle backl,,g;2) the e'"". g.,rrr.- ing scarcity of suitable land rr'ithin' reasonablJ airt:Ince,s; 3) increased operating cost of hor-ues rnal<es rentals m()re competitive and attractir-e.

then all of the other products such as plastics and other synthetic materials, you have an arriy of wealth and aggressiveness of which this industry had better take quick cognizance. Otherwise, it witi not continue to exist as we now know it.

..Someplace there should be a pon'erful voice {or \\rocicl clirected not only at the various segments of our ou,n inclus- try, but directecl to tl.re public, and clone so eI1ectivelr,. It is not.to be expected that.overnight tlis industry u,ill come up u'ith a ten-million-dt_,llar advertising pool- (although it should) but there shoukl be r r igt,rirrs ancl attenti& arrestrng start made in this direction. When I made tl.re sug_ gestion in the article that I mentioned earlier. I dicln't ei_ irect that many other parts of the industry u,oulcl respor.rcl, and thev dldn t_ don't care whether the industry uses the National-American or uses the Rotary Intirnational, but f would like to see them do someihing. I h"G i; think that.th.is great industry will continueio take the whlpplng it is getting without even a faint attempt to fight back..By fighting bagk I do not mean going oi.r the detenslve, but rather taking the offensive in this high_ powered battle for the consumer's dollar. Ever sincE I can remember we have been a little on the defensive and.I am getting tired and somewhat ashamed of it. ..?yrtr'rg- the past year \\'e have been faced rvith the pos- sibilit-y of another radical increase in freight charges. That r.'.oqld. put .our p_roducts at ;r furtl.rer disa?vantag. b".a.,re of their bulk and the long distance from produ.ing u..i to market. Ner.er ,before h:rs the National-American'taken a stand orr the q_uestion. but this year we joined u,ith the Na_ tional Retail Lumber Dealers Assn. and are sharirrg rvitrr the.m, t!e cost of presenting vigorous opposition io this rrelgnt lncfease.

This runs true to form ancl perhaps tire people u.ho think a little iike I do are. rva,sting lime incl ltreath in er.en sug_ gesting-_that the lumber induitrl, is capable of any conccrte? effort. Not har-ing any inr.estnrint nrf self in timjrcr ()r sa\\._ mills, I s.uppose I should say "to hell u ith it. u-hv shoulcl I worry?" lJorvever, like most of vou, I have sueni rnv life in this industry and I hate to see it rvhittrecl a*-a/ au,l started down the drain due entirely to our ou,n inerti':r.

I believe that in the future the Association shoulcl corrtinu.e. to take. vigorous^exception to an). furtlrer irrcreases rn thts tnflexlble part of the cost of our prodrrct.

All of rrs rvonld liketo think that the last six'r.nths of this year:rre going to be good enough to overcome the first srx months. I hope that that u.ill be true. It corrld be corr_ srderably ltetter, but f cannot see too much to make it that 1*ay. I surely hope that f am tvrong. Hor,vever, this is no time to be a crepe h_ange1 and u,e ian do ail iight on as much busrness as u'e h^ad th-e past six months if .*'e sharpe' our pencils and really fight foi the business.

It looks like,,ne o[ those ding-dong markels.rvhere it is hard to ^seli anything or hard _to buy inything, ""4 th" ;"_ pense ot prrttrng a deal together sometimes makes it look trke a labor of love instead of profit. Ifotvever, it has been that rvay beiore and it is going to be that rvay again in the future. It all means that tire giavy train is over.

4.: Ioul retiring. President'iet rire take tlris opporturrit.v ro prrlllicly tlrank eaih anrl everyone oI vorr ror ale assrstance, advice. and srrpport tlrat you haue so ireely gir-err

"Sold through quolified iobbers only"

PTYRONldeql for cobinet doors, shelving ond underloyment for plostic overloys. Monufoctured in, 4x6 ond 4x8 ponels with your choice of three quolity surfoces:

Avoiloble in ony quonfity on oll mill shipmenlsby Truck-&-Troiler or Roil.

1618 o Menlo Pork, Colif. o TWX: Polo Alto 49

Soles Agenls for DURABTE PTYWOOD CO. DURABTE FIR

PLYWOOD CO.

Lumber Mqnufqcturers Witness Points Weqknesses in 'Wilderness' ldeqs

A sookesman for the nation's lumber rnanufactttrers has called on Congress to :

1. Curb acquisitions of private commercial forest lzu.rd for federal reservoir projects ;'

2. Consider offering federal land in exchange for private timber acreage accluired by the government for reservoir projects;

-

3. Block the setting aside by larv of large tracts of gor-ernment-ou'ned timberland as permanent rvilderness areas.

A. Z. Nelson, forest economist of the National Lumber Nlanufacturers Association, presented the industry's viervs in statements and testimony before ;r House Government Operations subcommittee and a House Interior subcommittee.

In connection rvith government acquisitions of private forest land, Nelson told the lalvmakers :