Veaf'6 end... Vearr'o beginminfl ...

The cm,monNh LUMgnR MERCHANT hopes it has served itt n*tait Dealer Subscribers well in the year nowending. ., ' pledges its every efiort to ,u*j thu* better in the corlpetitite months ahead

Beginning in the ]anuary 1, 1961, Issue-'EVERY isstre will be packed solid with Jtems of New Products, New $ales Aids, New Promottonal Helps for YOUR Store, ioun Yard, YOUR immediite needs .

'In additioru EVERY tssue will cany more vital, more pertinent articles and plolos of-self-heln and information in the successful, every-day aonduct of YOUR business

Issue of "ThetrtnRCffm+f'tqrlqe1a-month; twice as good!

Jack Dionne, Publisher

NUTH RICHARDS Crncur.l,rrox

Single Copies, 25 cents;

"Il We Hcld q Son"

If we had a son a son who was trytng to detormine the diroction of hls future, who perhaps wa,s tempted by the gla,mor of a career ln electronlcs, mlsslles, plastlcs, or a similarly overpubllcized fielil wo'd want him to know about the .,opportunitles unllmlted" in wood.

Perha,ps not all the things wo'd tell him could have been told 10 yea,rs ago, or even five. But today there's plenty to tell that's excltlng and lnspiring. As we survey the dynamic, resurgent wood field, we see oven greator, more sweeplng developments to come. Marketing concepts are changlng and the technotogical revolution is grow{ng as our .,catching-up', program ga,thers momentum.

It wlll give us oll a better itl,ea of where we/ro golng if we'll pauso and take stock of where we've been and what we'vo accompllshed ln the recent past. Not only wlll it serve as a, refrosher for anyone with a, son who needs to be told but it could have an lmportant bearlng on our businees planning for the 60's-a new decade of opportunlty.

\ile'd tell our son about wood's great comeba.ck ln school and church constructlon, in kltchen cabinets, toys, offie,e furnlture, TV cabtnets, wa,ll panelinS that many markets lost by lumber ha,ve gone not so much to motals or plastlcs as to other wood-base materlals.

We'd tell htm that particle board, orginally a product of the lndustry's soa,rch for better waste utlliza,tion, has in a felv years taken lts place as a NEW wood industry . that there'll be other slmilar cases as our knowledge of wood chemlstry g:rows.

We'd toll hlrn how lntegratlon is fast changing the lndustry's compledon es mrur&gement flghts consta,ntly rising costs and Increasing' marketlng complexltles wlth thfu big weapon for gleoter efficlency, ecrnomy a,nd a fa,ir profit. We'd tell hirn that the same baslc economic r@sons underlle the many sweeping changes ln materials handling which are replactrg hand labor with mechanized operatlons evorywhere, from log to finlshed product.

W€/at tell hlrn that much valuable wood formerly wasted is now being converted through end and edgo glutng into products w{th a hlgher market value than the original materlal. We'd

A Guest Editorial

tell htrn how wood ls being jotneil w{th other materials wherever it will give the consumer a better buy for hls money-ln plasticfaced panellng, paper-venoer packaging m.aterlals, paper-overlald lumber and plywood.

We'd tell hlm how factory ffnishtng of more and more wood prod.ucts is growlng in volume-not only furniture, but flooring, paneling, siding, sash and doors, kltchen cablnets, bevora,ge cases, numelous others.

We'd tell him that mlllwork and cablnet producers (like furniture people) today are marketing: finlshed doors, windows a,nd cablnets complete w{th hardware, g'Ia"ss and weatherstrtp in consumor ca,rtons{reatlng a wholo new O.E.M. market for products whlch wore formerly applled elsewhere at higher cost.

We'd tell him that more house components as well a,s more complete houses are being factory-fabrlcateal . that tho volume of factory-built housing wlll grow with our natlonal economy and our exploding populatlon.

We'tl tell htm that tlurtrg 1958-59, a, mllllon-dollar program was launched to sell wood, that a 91.3 milllon prog'ram ls under way ln 1960 . . and that lndustry leaders are stud5dng a l0-year "Marketlng Unllmlted" prograrn estimated to cost $12t/2 million per yeer. We'd tell hlm that a National Forest Products Week, deslgned to put more sell behind wood. at the grass roots level, wlll be la,unched in October 1960.

We'd tell hlm that plant modernizatlon and streamlining, and replacement of obsolete ma.chines, equlpment and tools, are growlng trends whlch reflect the inilustry's determination to produce better finished goods more efrciently and economically to meet expandlng demands ahead.

Every one of these htghltghts is a harbinger of the great, unlimlted future challengtng.your son-and you-in the wood field. Yet lt's only the beginntng. What lles ahead wlll stagger the lmaglnatlon.

Indoed, if we had a son . we'd want hlm to know these things about wood before he ventured lnto other fields which today might look greener to the unlnformed.-(by Jack Koellisch, Edltor. \ilood and Wood. Products, February, 1960) (Reprlnted frorh Nattonal Ilardwooil Lumber Assn. "News")

Table of ContentsWillBe Found, onPage 47