The spirit in a man'S heart the only thing that really counts.

by many as being merely theoretical are accepted, workable ideas today. And likewise the ideas advjnced todav will be a regular part of every-day business tomorrow. ThL advancement of ideas is what makes our organization one of the most progressive, aggressive, r.irile, thought promot- ing in all the rea,lm of lu,mberdom.

"Some fear to join an association lest their individuality be suppressed. lllhis is not the case with the Western. but rather does it aim to develop individuality among its mejmb'ers and promote any and all ,efforts ioward -improvement of the business. Any new member coming into the_association, therefore, gets the benefit of the e*peiie.rce and wisdom of the others. And I hope that everyone here will feel it his privilege as well as his duty to tike active part in the deliberations. I am sure theri is no problem affecting any of us that cannot be made more easy of solution.if .brought up,fully and frankly for discussion. It is my belief that there is intelligence enou.gh at this meeting to solve any problem of the retail. lumber business if we give to it our careful thought.

udls listed as national advertisers, and before another twelve months have passed the list will probably be increased by a thousand or more. What has this to, do with the retail lumber business? Just this: that dil of those concerns are going to the consumer with their 12,0N or more articles. They are reaching them with t'he m,ost alluring pictures, both of brush and of word and they are selling them a tremendous amount of ,merchandise. Some of the articles are necessities, some oIl them are comforts and_ many are luxuries only. Understand, I am finding no fault with the system, but they are getting ,money f-rom y.our customers and from my customers. They are get- ting money for things that aie not nearly so i,mportanf as " .ho-g,. or garage. or. implement shec, or many, many other things our materials will make.

.

"Thg words "competition" and "competitor" have always been the biggest bugaboos in the ret;il lumber businejs. We have looked upon the man who ran the ,other lumber yard as our only competitor. We have not realized that the automobile man, the ,clothier, the jeweler, the ,life insu,rance agent, the. get-rich-quick artisi, the oil sales,man, all are ou,r competttors tn one way or another. They are all after the funds of our communiiy.

"There are today no less than l2,0CO firms and individ-