South ern California Retailers \(/ar Industry

Con lerence at Los Angeles, February 10-11

War regulations, rnarket outlook, selling the present market. and post victory planning are among the subjects that will be discussed at the War Industry Conference (Annual Meeting) of the Southern Cali{ornia Retail Lumber Association to be held at the Biltmore Hotel,Los Angeles, on Thursday and Friday, February 10-11, 1944.

Jack Dionne, publisher of The California Lumber Merchant, rn ill deliver the ke1'note address at the luncheon on Thursday, February 10.

Among the other speakers lvho will address the Conference are: H. R. Northup, secretary, National Retail Lumber Dealers Association, Washington, D. C.; George Carpenter, Administrator of WPB Order L-218, Portland, Ore.; Colonel W.B. Greeley, secretary-manager, West Coast Lumbermen's Association, Seattle, Wash.; Dr. Fredric P. Woellner, Professor of Education, Unir.ersity of California at Los Angeles; Dr. Vervon Orval Watts, Economic Advisor, Los Angeles Chamber of Conrrnerce, and R. T. Titus, Director of Trade Extension, West Coast Lumbermen's Association, Seattle, Wash.

There will be a "Questions and Ansrvers" panel Thursday afternoon, and the annual banquet rvill be held Thursday evening.

Vicegerent Snark Dee Essley, and Roy Stanton, chairman of the Los Angeles Hoo-Hoo Club committee, have arranged a fine program for the Hoo-Hoo luncheon on Friday, February 11. Dr. Herbert Harris, a member of the faculty and former president of Whittier College at Whittier,, Calif., will be the speaker. Dr. Harris, also a prominent Rotarian, is a Past District Governor of the Second International Rotary, has served on the board of directors of International Rotarv, and is the author of the "Six Objects of Rotary, The Universal Peace and Understanding."

The Association officers are: H. Park Arnold, FoxWoodsum Lumber Company, Glendale, president; George Lounsberry, Lounsberry & lfarris, Los Angeles, vice president; Gerald V. Curran, Curran Brothers, Pomona, treasurer, and Orrie W. Hamilton, Los Angeles, secretarymanager.

Log Supply One-Third Greater Than 1943

Log inventories at tide water in main Pacific Northwest areas are calculated to have been a third greater for January than a year ago, although they were drawn down on the Columbia River in December from previous levels that had been attained under favoring production weather. Estimates were that for all species, 669 million board feet of logs were in booms in Puget Sound, on the Columbia River and at Grays Harbor. The position is helpful for winter operations of mills struggling with war demands.

About 45/o of the total supply of logs was Douglas fir.

Redwood Seasoning Committee

San Francisco, California, January 5, 1944-Marking another step of the Redwood lumber industry's continuous program to produce an ever higher quality product, form;ltion of a Redwood Seasoning Committee was announced recently by the California Redwood Association.

Organized for the furtherance of studying the possibilities of advanced improvement in the science of drying Redwood, the new committee is composed of kiln operators at the various Redwood mills and of others interested in the seasoning of this durable wood.

I. G. Utschig, Union Lumber Company, Fort Bragg, California, is chairman of the Redwood Seasoning Committee, and J. P. McGovern, The Pacific Lumber Company, Scotia, California, is secretary-treasurer.

In order that a complete study may be made of all problems involved, regular monthly meetings of the committee are to be held alternately at each of the member mills in northern California. The initial meeting was held on December 15 at the plant of Dolbeer & Carson Lumber Company at Eureka, California.

Enlirsts in Marines

Miss'Rhea Leishman, daughter of R. R. Leishman, who is associated with A. L. Hoover, Los Angeles wholesale lumberman, has enlisted in the Marines. She will graduate from Pomona College in about two months and will then report at Camp Lejeune, New River, North Carolina.

Named Head o[ \X/estern Softwoods Section

A. Stewart Fathman, head of the Western Softwoods Section in the Lumber Branch of OPA, has been appointed head of the Branch's Stumpage and I.ogs Section to succeed Henry G. Champeaux, who resigned January 10 to return to private industry on the Pacific Coast, the Office of Price Administration announced on January 17.

Stuart C. Smith, now in charge of the Douglas Fir Unit in the Western Softwoods Section will assume Mr. Fathman's present position. In his new post, however, Mr. Fathman will continue to have supervision over the pricing of such primary forest products as mine materials, railway ties, fence posts, piling, and the preservative treatment of wood. Before joining the OPA lumber branch on October 26, 1942, Mr. Smith was a partner in Fountain-Smith, lumber wholesalers in Los Angeles.

Attended Army-Ncrvy Conlerences

Albert Schafer, Schafer Bros. Lumber & Shingle Co., Aberdeen, Wash., attended the Army-Navy Conferences in Los Angeles last month. He also visited the company's Los Angeles and San Francisco offices.

Like the Merchcnt

Glad to renew. We like the "Merchant."

R. J. Welton

Victory Lumber Company

Chula Vista. Calif.

Not gold, but only God can make, A people great and strong; Men who for truth and honour's sake, Stand fast against the wrong. Brave men, who work while others sleep, 'Who dare, while others fy, They build a nation's pillars deep, . And lift them to the sky.

-Emerson ***

Soldier Sam says he meets all kinds of girls. Some of them are awfully positive, and others are vice versa.

And Minnie, the *orol, *r" an", can say what they like about our soldiers and sailors, but no one can say they are not "broad" rninded.

And the Main Stree- Onil*"*er remarks that war has its many sad sights, but none as sad as a sailor on shore leave who can't whistle. ***

Much discussion of postwar problems. For instance, what's going to happen when some WAC Sergeant who looks like Marjorie Main, marries some Army Sarge who looks and acts like Sergeant Quirt? Maybe the answer to that would also be the answer to the math query about the irresistible force meeting the imrnovable object.

*d<*

There's a famous saying to the effect that whiskey improves with age. What they mean is that the older a lickerdrinker gets, the more he likes it. ***

Some people take you for a.sucker. Others take you for an easy mark. And others just take you.

The Indian who was not interested in trying to get rich so he wouldn't have, to work any more because he never had worked anyway, is rnatched by the philosophy of the colored brother watching a baseball game for the first time. He remarked: "H'it sho look lak a foolish game t'me. A lotta men runnin' dey legs off aroun' a fiel', an' fo' what? Jes' tryin' t'git back to whah dey is befo dey stahts, dass all."

* * :r

A man rang the door bell of a Washington home, and when the sour-faced lady of the irouse opened the door, he said: "Madam, can you give me some help? I'm su,ffering frcim exposure." She said: "Which are you, a Congressman or a Senator?"

I{owever, she was no worse than the kilted Scotch highlander, who met one of our American soldiers in a bleak mountain district in Scotland. The American soldier said: "Pal, I'm lost." The Scot said: "Is there a rewaid out for ye?" The American said no. "Well, then, ye're still lost," said the highlander. *** t<**

\JVar, said the grocery-front philosopher, doesn't always decide who's right, but it DOES decide who's left.

And the literary man went into a restaurant, ate one of these wartime meals, and wrote across the face of the menu: "What foods these morsels be." ***

"Life," remarked Uncle Eben Johnsing, "am mos'ly made up of prayin' fo' rain, and den wishin' h'it would cl'ar off."

Then, of course, th.r" J."*tnJ tttt. Scotch boy who put all his toys away in the attic; said he was saving them for his second childhood. ***

And the champion optimist of the season is the man of 80 marrying a woman of 75 and looking for a house for rent close to a school. * * *

Speaking of weather, have you. ever noticed that the same amount of rain on Sunday morning that makes it impossible to go to church, doesn't even slow down a golf game? ***

Voltaire, the great Frenchman who did more to strike the shackles of slavery from the wrists and minds of humanity than any other man that ever lived, used to drink 70 cups of coffee a day. You'll seek far for a better recommendation for coffee than that.

Ben Franklin's father i"l.rlUi, said grace at some length before each meal. One day in early winter Ben was helping the old man car"y a side of beef into their cellar storehouse in preparation for the winter, and Ben asked him why he didn't just say grace over the whole carcass at once, and save a lot of time later on.

He was of the ,"*" l""rioot* or trrorght as the little boy who was just learning the alphabet. The teacher asked him what letter came after A and he said, "All of 'em." ***

Worst joke of the day: The absent-minded professor who poured the 'syrup down his back and then scratched his pancake, isn't in it with the one who poured the catsup over his shoe and then tied his spaghetti. *t<{<

Carlisle, the philosopher and author, said: "Make your.,

The food problem: We used to sing yes we have no ba' nanas with music in our voices; now lie say it with tears in our eyes. And the fellow who used to boast that he worked hard to earn his bread and butter and bring home the bacon, Row says he works for his bread and margerine; and there ain't no O""ot.

Man wanted: One looking for hard work and rapid promotion; one who gets to work on time in the morning and does not endanger the limbs of others trying to get away first at night; one who listens carefully to directions and asks only such questions as are needed to insure accuracit; one who works fast and makes little noise; one who looks you straight in the eye and tells the truth; a man who does not pity himself because he has to hustle; a man who is cheerful, courteous, and kindly to everyone. Such a man can apply any time, any place, to anyone, aird get a grand job'

And now there arises to high heaven a gabble of voices chanting their fear about the postwar world, and wondering what all of our men are going to do when the war ends; and this in a land easily capable of sustaining five times its present population, and supplying them with everything worth while in life, so rich are its natural resources.

I have written several It-I. il the past few months on the subject of treating wood with electricity. There has been much misunderstanding. People have jumped to conclusions of the wildest sort. From the four points of the compass have come inquiries about instantaneously drying green lumber with electricity. No, Brother, you can't do that. They ARE using electricity to mould thin slices of wood and glue into laminated airplane construction ma' terial. It is entirely practical, but tremendously expensive. They CAN take a small piece of green wood and cook the water out of it in no time at all by electricity. But no meth' od has yet been discovered-and none is being actively sought for that matter-for taking boards and planks and drying thern in quantity by electricity. Experiments with small pieces of green wood are very expensive. If you DID dry lumber with electricity through any means now known, it would be done one piece at a time, and would cost so much they would have to sell it in jewelry stores' The fact that you can take a.small piece of wood and cook the juice out of it with electrodes at considerable cost, does not mean the same process can be applied successfully or economically to lurnber in comtmercial quantities.

In my discussion I said nothing about expense' I simply recited facts and opinions that had nothing to do with economics. One man expressed the opinion to me that becausd a small piece of wood could be dried quickly with electricity showed that the same thing could be done with a large piece if the research and laboratoiy work was ever carried that far. Which may or may not be true, being only in the hypothetical stage. The comrnercial use of electricity as applied to wood is, up to now, confined entirely to laminating wood and glue for uses where the cost is of no consequence. To the ordinary user of lumber it can be said that nothing has yet been done to make elictrically treated wood of the slightest commercial interest to him.

The Andrew Jackson Day dinners in all parts of the country, are for the purpose of honoring the gfeat Demociat, and raising funds for the Party. Wish it were possible to get the keynote speaker at each of these dinners to quote the words of "Old Hickory" when he was Governor of Florida, when he said: "I am clothed with powers that no one under a rep,ublic ought to possess and which I trust will never again be given to any man." Wonder what the old boy would say if he could witness the concentration of power in this country now? \itle've got an army of officials in this land today any one of whorn has more power and authority than Andrew Jackson had when he uttered the above statement. But I predict they won't call attention to that fact at these dinners.

Buy Brown & Dauser Yards

C. Gilmore Ward and Frank C. Harrington, formerly with the Barr Lumber Company at Santa Ana, have purchased the Brown & Dauser Company's retail lumber yards at Fullerton, Brea and La Habra, and are operating under the name of Ward & Harrington Lumber Co.

,Mr. Ward was secretary and purchasing agent for the Barr Lumber Company and had been with that organization since 1921. Mr. Harrington was with the company sincc 1926 as treasurer and general sales manager.

Softwood Pfywood Production

The average monthly production of softwood plywood decreased from 153,353,000 square feet (fi,, equivalent) in l94Z to 124,355,W0 square feet in 1943, but production in both years was considerably higher ttran in 1939, the only prewar year for which comparable figures are available.

These facts are brought out in a report on monthly production of softwood plywood, and consumption and stocks of materials, 194I-1943, based on a mail canvass conducted by the Industry Division of the Bureau of the Census for the WPB Lumber and Lumber products Division. Data, compiled for 31 mills, covers the total output of softwood plywood for the country with the exception of approximately 1 per cent produced in mills manufacturing principally hardwood plywood.

Three tables give figures by months from September, 1941, through September, 7943, as follows: Table l: pro- duction of softwood plywood by type, moisture resisiant and exterior, logs consumed and logs on hand ; table 2: shipment and stocks of softwood plywood by type; table 3: softwood plywood manufacturers' consumption of glue f.,, type-casein, soy bean, phenolic resin, and other. Copies of the report are obtainable from the Bureau of the Censu:;, Washington, D. C.

Production of softwood plywood in 1939 was approxi_ mately one billion square feet, with an average monthll. production of 83,333,000 square feet. Average monthly production in 1941, based only on data for the final four months of the year, was 150,392,000 square feet. production in 1942 was 1,840.231,000 with an average monthly production of 153,353,000 square feet; in 1943 production for the first nine months totaled l,ll9,ly2,W square feet, with a month- ly average, based on these nine months, of 124,355,0ffi square feet.

,Douglas fir is used for about 95 per cent of the moisture resistant plywood pr.oduced and for practically all of the exterior plywood. The balance is made principally from Ponderosa pine.

Visits Los Angeles

Captain Ray Hill, Lawrence-philips Lumber Co., was a visitor at the company's office in Los Angeles last month. He is in the U. S. Transportation Corps and stationed at Oakland. Mrs. Hill accompanied him on the trip.

Society of American Foresters Efect Officers

Washington, D. C.-Dr. H,enry Schmitz, dean of the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Home Economics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, wes reelected president of the Society of American Foresters for the two-year term 1944-1945.

A professional organization of technically educated foresters, the Society of American Foresters has a membership of 4,000 in the United States'and Canada. Its biennial elections are held by mail ballot.

Professor Shirley W. Alten of the School of Forestry and Conservation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, was reelected vice-president.

These officers, together with nine additional members, constitute the Council which is the governing body of the Society. Also elected to the Council were the following foresters.

Ralph C. Hawley, School of Forestry, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

A. B. Recknagel, Timber Production War project, Albany, N. Y.

Dr. Hardy L. Shirley, Allegheny Forest Experiment Station, IJ. S. Forest Service, Philadelphia, Pa.

Walter J. Damtoft, assistant secretary, Champion paper and Fibre Company, Canton, N. C.

Jay H.Price, regional forester, U. S. Forest Service, Milwaukee, Wis.

Professor Frederick S. Baker, Department of Forestry, University of California, Berkeley, Calif.

Col. William B. Greeley, secretary-manager, West Coast Lumbermen's Association, Seattle, Wash.

F. Paul Keen, forest entomologist, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Berkeiey, Calif.

Glen A. Smith, formerly assistant regional forester, (norv retired), U. S. Forest Service, Missoula, Mont.

The Society of American Foresters was founded in 1900, with headquarters in Washington, D. C.

Western Pine Annuql

The annual conference of the Western pine Association will be held on February 11 at the Portland Hotel, portlancl, Ore.

The Home Pl nners' lnstitute

The Home Planners' Institute of Pomona, Calif., was'inaugurated on January 18 by the Pomona City Schools' Di' vision of Adult Education rvith an opening roster of 350 men and women who wish to build or remodel their homes after the war.

Offered to the public entirely free, the new gourse is backed by a sponsoring group of about 35 concerns such as the realtors, lumber dealers, contractors, builders, bankers, building and loan associations, and utilities. These sponsors have formed a permanent committee to assist thc public school in arousing and maintaining interest in the four months' course.

Over 300 attended tl-re opening session, and at the time of this writing the roster has grown to about 400 men and women. There will be seventeen tlvo-hour sessions, closing the series abqut May 30. Many of the programs will be "double-headers," two speakers being booked for one hour's presentation each. Ample time will be provided at the close of each address, for questions and discussion from the audience. The Institute meets every Tuesday evening. 7 :30 to 9:30 o'clock.

Promoted to Lieutenqnt Colonel

L. G. Burns, Burns Lumber Co., Los Angeles, was recently promoted {rom the rank of Major to Lieutenant Colonel in the Army. He is in the Transportation Corps, Procurement Division, and is stationed at Portland, Ore' D. W. Budde is now in charge of the company's lumber department.