Vagabond Editorials

Bv Jack Dionne

Federal foresters (in the guise of hustling young CCC men) planting Pine trees in the new Government forrests at the rate of ONE THOUSAND TREES PER DAY PER MAN, are something to think about. And these trees are being planted in territory that nature intended should raise that sort of crops. That means future forests. Most of we middle-aged folks won't be around when they harvest this crop. But other men will be. And they will need the wood that is the product of trees. {<**

There are lots of commercial trees, ready grotvn, standing ln this country today, however. f recall distinctly about ten years ago when someone asked the late George S. Long, of Tacoma, head of the Weyerhauser Timber Company, if the timber of this country were not pretty well exhausted, and Mr. Long's answer staggered him. He said, "There is more timber standing in this country today than has been cut in this country from the Revolutionary War up to now." That was true then. And, while our mills have been grinding away for ten years since Mr. Long made that.statement, it would probably still be true today. ***

That statement may seem exaggerated. But we still have a lot of 'trees. Remember, that in our Western states, there are abqut twelve hundred billion feet of virgin timber still standing. We knour that the majority of Southern timber has been cut, but there is a lot left; thai the Northern and Eastern states have only a small remnant of their former forests; but.what remains of the great stands in the South, the North, and the East, added to the trnla{d.O-pi4g.rgserves and the Western states, is stilt i'mighty fiiotage.

*t<*

We hear a lot about "business" these days. Business is asked to hire more men, to pay more taxes, to coo,perate more freely, etc., etc., etc. It sometimes makes you wonder what "business" really means. In my scrapbook I find a definition that Henry Ford gave of business, many years ago. He said, "Business is the mechanism for supplying human wants, and the wants keep right on getting bigger and bigger. As fast as you get a want supplied, a bigger want rises to take its place."

True ! Look at the way our human "wants" regarding entertainment, for example, have been answered with the radio, the movie, etc. See how our transportation "wants" have been supplied with millions of miles of roads, millions of automobiles, busses, trains, airplanes. You can keep on digging r p marvelous answers to human "wants" in every direction. *rf*

It is difficult for the business man to, understand what is meant when he is asked to hire men in order to cure unemployment. The business mind instinctively looks upon business as something governed by natural rules and regulations, and not an artificial thing. A business man hires people because he has something for those people to do, some work, some service, some ideas, something he needs in his business. Just to hire people without some practical place to employ them doesn't come within the range of normal business thought. **rX

Yet business, so far as I contact it, IS hiring more people today than it actually NEEDS at the moment. The SUPPLY of help has proven so discouraging during the past year as business bulged, that almost everyone who employs people has put on a certain amount of extra help, partly to train them for his particular work, partly to prepare for more work to be done as business improves. I think a world of unemployment slack has been picked up in this way. And that is the way it will continue to be done. As business improves employers will keep adding to their lists. ***

Even the most severe critic of business must admit that there are high hurdles that the business man must deliberately prepare hir.nself to handle when he extends or expands his business today. Present high taxes and prospective higher taxes (state, county, city, national) as the cost of living, of doing business, and of government continue to mount, are hardly inducive to industrial development; the reiteration of threats of regulation take no mental strain off the prospective investor; and the dark clouds of prospective wide-spread labor trouble do not help keep the arteries normal. For instance, ship owners would not likely be interested in extending their operations regardless of business propositions; General Motors would hardly consider adding to their industrial facilities or units, regardless of the potential automobile demand; and other lines of industry look on with sadly dampened ardor. Present business is orperated with all the enthusiasm possible; but it requires considerable faith and confidence to broaden industrial developments.

How high taxes often re-act was well illustrated the other day in new stories of a Hollywood star who was offered a lot of money for radio appearances, and declined. The reason given was that his income already puts him in the high income tax brackets, and any additional income would pay 60 per cent to the Federal Government, as well as a goodly gob to the State income tax collector, and he was not willing to work for a small percentage of the wage offered him. Likewise rumor has it (and unquestionably based solidly upon fact)-that there are many, many thousands of men of means in this country who are today facing the hazards of golf courses and fishing waters simply because they fear the unusual hazards of business. Personally-while there is not a socialistic hair in my head-I am definitely in favor of high taxes on high brackets. In times of extraordinary need who could better be selected to pay the bill than those who make more money than they know what to do with? But I would like to see taxes on high incomes so wisely arranged-if that is possible-as NOT to destroy initiative, and NOT to keep people from wanting to operate businesses, or make money. ,F** rt*:t r*:t* otd-fashioned narrow *Lultu1", won't go any more. Not where people are building attractive homes. They are out of date. They are unattractive. They are up on the shelf with the cold pie. I think worlds of people now using other side-wall materials would be delighted to have a beautiful wooden exterior on their homes ifit were ofrered them. But they want scmething new, something attractive, something the neighbors will admire, that passers-by will stop to look at, that they can take pride in owning. I think wood can answer the question if it goes after it right. Very wide and attractively made siding; shakes; big shingles; plywood; all these have their possibilities. It is a fact that more wide siding has been made and sold in the last six months than in the previous several years. But it still isn't enough, and the home builder here, there, and everywhere, has not been shown as he should be.

Bruce Barton wrote years ago, "Faith in business, faith in one's self, faith in other people, faith in this countrythis is the power that moves the world." Many men, in discussing and criticizing business, fail to understand how definitely business depends upon FAITH and on CONFIDENCE. On faith is built credit. And whence comes credit?

From CREDO, meaning I BELIEVE. Business is built on confidence. And whence comes confidence? From CON FIDES, meaning WITH FAITH. Business is tremendously improved. Prospects generally look grand. But, because of the high hurdles already mentioned, business men generally still lack a lot of faith and confidetrce. When it comes, there will no longer be any unemployment problem. Not among employables, at any rate.

My belief is that recovery was long retarded by a failure of too many responsible people to understand that business is really built and dependent much more upon MENTAL and SPIRITUAL foundations, than on physical ones. Business is of men. Business was lacking in faith, in confidence, for years; it was frightened. And frightened men do not accomplish much. Business has improved largely because business men have improved their confidence, renewed their faith, reduced their fears. It will continue to improve in exactly the ratio by which these clouds disappear. If things happen that give business men more faith, more confidence, and less fright-bingo! And vice versa.

The building business, right here in mid-winter, is rosy. It is going to be a selling year, this 1937. The one best thing that could happen to the lumber industry would be the discovery and opening for general use, of a Pandora's Box of new building ideas. I'm telling you that one of the biggest \VANTS in this country today is the WANT of newer and better ideas for the use of WOOD. For ex' ample: I drove through some new and attractive residential districts in a certain city a day or so ago. New homes by the score, all sizes, shapes, costs. But on the side-walls of those new homes only one class of material-practically speaking-brick. Brick everywhere. Very littte wood for side-walls. Why? My opinion is that the makers of wood for homes have dragged; dragged in the development of qew wood walls, and in their selling, or both.

One of the greatest needs of the lumber industry right now is for manufacturers to produce attractive new wooden products, and for retailers to get out and push their sale in the retail market. The dealer who is content to sell the sheathing for the side-wall and let someone else sell the outside material, is lying down on his job.

And let me leave this selling thought with you, one that applies grandly to the retail lumber business. It is a fallacy to suppose that the public knows what it wants. It waits to be shown and sold. It is a fallacy to suppose that the public will automatically seek the BEST. It has to be educated and directed. It is a fallacy to suppose that the public will understand the difference between PRICE and VALUE. It is a fallacy to suppose that the public will continue to demand what it is not CONTINUALLY REMINDED OF.

Let's talk about the "flickers." I'm an incurable movie fan, I admit, but I'll swear that the things these foolish picture-makers in Hollywood do to my history and my heroes and my illusions keep me "sore" at the whole movie business most of the time. I feel like the famous old Texas Ranger who went into a movie last summer to see the picture called "The Texas Rangers." When he came out someone asked him how he liked the picture. He said: "I feel like setting fire to the theatre." f didn't blame him. They took a guy admirably fitted by nature with face, form, actions, voice, and acting ability to be a good third-class hackdriver; and they coupled him up with a fat comedian; and these two were the men who impersonated the boss Rangers on the screen. They could have gone to Texas and gotten REAL men, real Rangers and ex-Rangers, goodlooking men who LOOK like Rangers and would have given some atmosphere of reality to the picture. But no! The old Hollywood dumbness wouldn't think of that ! They do the most wonderful things in the MECHANICAL end of pictures, and the most awful things in the thinking department !

Now they are showing a very scenic and beautiful picture on the screen with Wild Bill Hickok for its hero. And there isn't a genuine thing that Wild Bill ever did, in that picture. He is used in fictional stuff strictly. Which is a perfect example of how these movie producers THINK. Or do they? You probably know, gentle reader, (even though the gang that made the picture didn't) that Wild Bill Hickok was undoubtedly the most formidable man in personal hand-to-hand encounter that this nation, with all its past heroes, ever produced. He did things with pistol and knife that never were done before, will never be done again. His REAL exploits deserve to be preserved. And what a wonderful way to to it would have been through a moving picture ! But no ! They decided that their studio fiction writers could prepare more interesting adventures than the actual exploits of the greatest single-handed fighting man that ever lived. I think every American kid should know the real exploits of Wild Bill Hickok. Now they never will. They will see that fictitious picture, and the real Wild Bill will be lost to them. It's enough to make Wild Bill rise from his grave in Deadwood and haunt Hollywood. r*rF*

Which reminds me of the current ruckus that was raised in Hollywood because a Northwestern university professor named Hubert C. Huffner made the public announcement that "child movie actors are little more than animated dolls." Official Hollywood stormed its denials. Shucks ! The professor could have cut out the word "child" from his statement and still got a verdict from almost any adult jury.

Pioneers in Redwood Industry Honored

Four key figures in the California Redwood industry, each more than 7O years of age and still actively engaged after 50 years or more in the industry, were honored last month by directors of the California Redwood Association at a dinner held in San Francisco.

The four were C. R. Johnson, president of the Union Lumber Company; J. M. Carson, president of Dolbeer & Ca1son Lumber Company; J. H. Holmes, president of Holmes Eureka Lumber Company; and C. E. DeCamp, vice-president, Caspar Lumber Company.

Despite the age of the guests of honor, youth was the keynote of the evening. Stories of the past, mingled with plans for the future, stressed the importance of youth to the industry.

Invited to attend the function were L. C. Hammond, George Mcleod, W. S. Burnett, H. W. Cole, Ifammond Redwood Company; A. Stanwood Murphy and Herbert Klass, The Pacific Lumber Company; Ot:s R. Johnson, E L. Green, Casper Hexberg, Union Lumber Company; Henry Hink, W. W. Carson, Dolbeer & Caison Lumber Company; F. V. Holmes, Walter E. Dalton, Holmes Eureka Lumber Company; George Ley, Santa Cruz Lumber Company; J. L.Reid, Winfield Wrigley, EIk River Mill & Lumber Company; C. H. Jonas, Stanley Pedder, Hobbs, Wall & Company; Cass Woods, Caspar Lumber Company; J. A. Harris, Monterey Bay Redwood Company; J. H. Hickey, Standish & Hickey; Everett Wieslander and C. B. Moores; Carl W. Bahr and J. W. Williams, California Redwood Association.

Back From Northwest Trip

R. W. Dalton, of R. W. Dalton Company, Los Angeles, California, sales representative for West Coast Plywood Company, Aberdeen, Wash., and Southern California rbpresentative for W. R. Chamberlin & Company, San Francisco, returned January 18 from a business trip to Aberdeen and Portland.