1958 Gonptruction Erpected to Rise 5% Above The Record-breoking $47.2 Billion Set ln 1957

Outlays for new construction are expected to total $49.6 billion in 1958-5/o above the record expenditure ol $47.2 billion evident lor .1957, according to outlook estimates prepared jointly by the' DepartmEnts of Commerce and Labor. This rate of dollar outlav would mark 1958 as the second highest year in the pfysical'volume of work put in place (expenditures adjusted for price changes), exceeded onlv by 1955.

The $2.4 littion expansion in 1958 construction will be moslly in residential building (private and public) and on highway work, which altogther are expected to account for $2.1 billion of the gain. Expenditures for almost all other major types of construction will probably rise moderately, or remain at about 1957 level. The onlv notable declin6s will be for private industrial plants and military facilities.

Reflecting the anticipated reversal of the 1956-57 downtrend of housing activity, total private expenditures for new constrtrction are expected to cbntribute more to the total 1958 expansion than public-risingby 91.4 billion to 934.7 billion, compared with a g1-billion increase to 914.9 billion for public projects.

The expected volume of new construction in 1958 is based on the assumption that construction costs will continue to trend. mo^d_eralely upward, but at a somewhat slower pace than in 1957. Supply of mortgage funds will cdntinue t-o be a chief limiting factor in housing activity next year. Some easing in the mortgage market is assumed for i958, however, in part because of increased savings of the types used for mortgages, and also because investirent in horne loans should benefit from some tapering off in funds demand for such purposes as industrial plant and equipment expansion.

The outlook assumes, therefore, that a total of about 1,100,000 new dwelling units will be started in 1958, about 1,050,00O of which will be privately financed. This compares with a probable total of a little less than 1,000,000 private units and about 50,(X)O public units in 1957.

Residential Building

A strong advance in total new residential building (private and public) is anticipated for next year (8 percent, from $17.0 billion to $18.4 billion), which represents the expected 6-percent, $675-million increase in new private nonfarm dwelling units to be put in place, and, in addition rapidly rising expenditures for additions and alterations to existing housing (up $335 million) and for construction of new public residential buildings (up $345 million).

The number of new private dwelling units expected to get under way next year represents a larger increase from

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TExqs 0-6456

1957 in tl-re number of apartments to be started than singlefamily houses, continuing the decided uptrend in multifamily residential building which began early this year.

It is likely that apartment units will constitute almost a fifth of total housing starts in 1958-the largest proportion since 1949, when apartment house construction was assisted by easy credit conditions, and by special financing aids under the former Sec. 608 program of the National Housing Act.

The rising rate of rental-type homebrrilding at present may be attributed to a numl>er of influences, incluclingexpanding programs for rebuilding urban centers ; anticipation of greater returns on rental investments ; ancl a large core of demand for convenient, central-city locations from the fastest-gron,ing adult segments of the populationyorlrlg couples rl'ithout children and the elderly.

Outlays for public housing next year u'ill probably climb to a recorcl $850 million, chiefly t() ptlt in place the sharply rising number of armed services (Capehart) units that have been getting rrnder n'ay this year. Public housing starts rvill alrout double in 1957 as cor.nDared u'ith last year, and

€""hsive Di"trif,fiors

then are expected to level off in 1958 at about 50,000 units. reflecting some decline in armed services housing starts, offset by a rise in other public horrsing programs. The chief deterrent in armed services housing l'il1 be the dearth of credit for lorv-interest mortgage loans.

Major fix-up work (additions and alterations) to existing private housing has been rising sharply since 1955. This trend is expected to continue into 1958. Under current stringent credit terms and limited housing availability, many families tend to add rooms or redesign their present homes, rather than buy new houses, to meet changing requirements.

Private nonresidential building construction, for the first time in six years, will not show an increase in outlays. This is primarily due to an expected clecline in industiial constrttction of about 9 percent. Long-range expansion programs frtr tl.re construction and modermzation of many plants have been largely fulfilled, and a substaniial volum-e of neu, capacity l-ras been added in the past three years.

(Tcll tlrcnt yott .to"tu it in The Calif ornia Lumber Merchant) in rhe United Stqfes, l89O-1957

(Figures for 1950 to 1957 from Current Population Survey. Figures for 1890 to 1940 from decennial censuses.)

I S,OOOPOO Douglcs Flr Seedllngs Dedicoted in Greeley Nursery

' 18 million Douglas fir seedlings, standing at attention in an industrial forest nursery parade ground, were dedicated late last summer to keeping green the memory of Col. W. B. Greeley, American forestry leader through the years 1905-1955.

Greeley, who died Novbmber 30, 1955, at his Gamble Bay home, was a founder of the nursery that the West Coast Lumbermen's Association inslalled at Nisqually, near Olympia, in 1941, and now operated by Industrial Forestry Association. .It was a cooPerative venture of Douglas fir loggers and lumbermen, designed to provide seedlings for planting on cutovers and burns where provisions for natural reforestation hpd been wiped out by successive fires.

The formal dedication recently was made by Washing- ton Governor Arthur B. Langlie, who was associated with

Col. Greeley invital cooperative projects of industrial and public forestry,early in the 194Os. In June 1941, Governor ,, Langlie dedicated Clemons Tree Farm at Montesano, first unit of the American f,ree Farm System, now numbering ,: , more than 8,000 certified tree farms on 40,000,00O acres in r' 4O states. As chairman of the board of American Forest Products Industries, fnc., Col. Greeiey was national leader in the tree farms movement and the extension of "Keep ,Green" toall corners of the country. r , A dedicatory plaque of bronze, mounted on a massive . boulder of granite, was presented by the Puget Sound and . Columbia river Sections. Societv of American Foresters. ft was inscribed: '

"This Industrial Forest Nursery Dedicated to W. B. GRFELEY, FORESTER

A man strong in his faith in the land and the ability 'of informed people to manag€ it wisely during the transition from old forest to new, he became a builder of industrial forestry in the Northwest and a teacher of forestry toall the world."

Present were veterans of forestry in the Pacific Northwest who had "eaten smoke" in the Idaho fires of 1910, which took 85 lives and killed white pines on 2,25,M acres of virgin timberland. "Bil|' Greeley was then United States district forester at Missoula, and so took command of the field forces in that holocaust. Promoted to assistant U. S. chief forester, he took leave of.absence in l9l7 to command the 20,000 forestry troops of the American'Army in France. He was chief of the U. S. Forest Service through the years 1920-192F., and then served as secretary-manager of the West Coast Lumbermen's Association for 17 years. The forestry department that he established in the association grew into the independent Industrial Forestry Association of today in the Douglas fir region.

A New Yorker born, Greeley was descended from a long line of Congregational miiristers. As a boy he was taken on the missionary ship, "Morningstar," to the Hawaiian Islands, then to California. He gradualed from the University of California and Yale forestry schools to become a "Pinchot Crusader" of the 1900s. His experience in the field led him to evolve a philosophy that sought to advance the practice of forestry through the medium of "teachers in thetimber" rather than by means of Federal police regulations and enforcement on private forest properties.

Out of his personal experience, W. B. Greeley wrote a rousing epic of American forestry and forestry men: Published by Dorrbleday, it was a best seller in 1951 and, is still in high demand. He also wrote a textbook on the theme of "Forest Policy" for American forestry schools. He left a nearly cornpleted manuscript of a history of the U. S. Forest Service.

W. B. Greeley lvas chosen as an aSsociate and counselor by the great in his professional years, from Theodore Roosevelt to officials of the Eisenhower administration. The legislation that led to application of the term, "the Forestry Senator," to Charles L. McNary, was the joint rvork of Senator McNary and Chief Forester Greeley.

The newly named and dedicated "Col. W. B. Greeley Forest Nursery" is an evergreen memorial of noble enterprise to a forester of true and noble greatness.

Movoble Woll System Developed

A movable interiorwall system, combining aluminum framing by Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation and four-ply, Kaiser Gypsum wall panels, is being intr6ducecl by Vaughan Movable Interior Walls, Inc., Los Angeles, manufacturers of movable interiorr.vall systems. Ten extruded aluminum shapes, designed jointly by Vaughan and the Product Development Department of Kaiser Aluminum, are used for base and ceiling closure plates, runners, jambs, mullioris, fillers, partition and glazing stops. The wall systems are said to cost about half that of conventional types and the gypsum panels permit numerous decorating finishes and materials, including wood iaminates.