R. A. Long's Statement to the People of the Northwest

TO THE PEOPLE OF TTIE PACIFIC NORTHWEST:

Since social life began, men have put certain questions to those who come as strangers into the community:

What is your .name ?

Where do you hail from ?

What is your trade?

Have you come to locate ?

An answer to these questions admits the newcomer but the final estimate of him, his standing, his chara'cter, his ideal-these may not be answered for a long ti,me. The stranger must prove his place in the sun by the life he lives, by the work he does, not for a day or a year, but throughout his allotted span.

So, in this initial number of Longview's newspaper, I, as head of our company, have been asked ,to answer the customary questions, rightly put to the stranger within the gates.

Our name is The Long-Bell Lumber Company and we began business in a small retail lum'ber yard in Kansas back in 1875. Yards were added as the, business grew and later we entered,also the field of wholesaling and lumber manufacturing.

Our company hails from the Middle West and the South, our general offices having been i'n Kansas City for many years with retail interests in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Ken'tucky, Oregon and Texas an'd manufacturing plants at the present time in Arkansas, Missouri, Lousiana, Texas and California. Approximately 8,000 persons are employed in our operations in the South, Middle West and West.

Forty-seven years' activity, therefore, in the lumber business entitles us to give our trade as lumbermen. And we have come to the Pacific Northwest to ply that trade, attracted by the opportunities which, in our opinion are unexcelled anywhere in the world. Needless to say we have com,e out here to stay.

It is a mo,mentous time with our company when rye approach the actual beginning of this new a,nd large operation and I feel, as do,my associates, that our success is this new field will depend largely upon the cordial and friendly relations we are able to establish with the citlzenry already so happily and prosperously located in this great section of our cou,ntry.

We realize we have much to learn. Our work has been in another part of the country and it would be impossible for us at the very beginning to understand all of the 'cus- toms and rnanners of the people in this sectio'n. The best we can hope to do is to learn as we pass along and adapt our ways to the general customs prevailing here.

Naturally, The Long-Bell Lumber Company is investing its money, its time and its e.nergies in this comm'unlity for the making of a profit but we wish to go'on record as saying that in the conduct of our business we shall strive always to recognize fully the rights of others and, furthermore, wherever we have engaged in business it has been a company policy to assist in very way possible to bring a higher plane of living into the community.

A large body of land was necessarily acquired for our op* erations in the Pacific Northwest. The construction of a great many homes and buildings was necessary to provide proper facilities for our own people. As we began to work out our plans we found the location we had selected would lend itself to greater development and provide facilities larger than was required for our own use. There{ore, we con'cluded it was our duty and our desire to provide for a town that woul'd be a desirable place in which many thousands of persons may live and do business. We have planned here for a city that within the next five years should 'have a population of 25,000 and within the next'ten years,' of 50,000 or more.

We have studied other cities and hope to profit by their experience. We called to our assistance and were fortunate in obtaining some of the foremost and best known city planners and builders, so that Longview is planned along most modern lines-providing for reasonable building restrictions, streets and alleys of proper width, the separation of dwelling houses to such an extent as to give an abundance of air and ventilation, storm sewers and sanitary sewers, a waterworks system to supply the best and purest water obtainable, parks boulevards, recreation centers, altogether an ideal setting unsurpassed by any town or 'city in America.

Incidently, in the building of homes for our own employes we are providing them with practi'cally all of the modern appliances found in the best of homes. We expect to make such terms in selling these homes as that most of our own people can and eventually will, we hope, become home owners.

Believing that much of the trouble in the world, especially between employe and employer is brought about because of the lack of prop€r understand'ing of each other, we are (Continued on Page 41)