Vagabond Editorials

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Pinus Ponderosa, when grown in California, has long been known to the trade as "California White Pine." It is admittedly a Pine. In rnany instances the wood will be found much whiter in color than products of trees that are botanically "true" white Pines; but under the law today it cannot be advertised or sold as "White Pine." The fact that it is white and Pine has nothing to do with the matter.

Get it? Mahogany ,n"JaJ" lo. "r"trn to be botanically Mahogany can be sold as Mahogany. But a wood that IS Pine, and may be white as snow in color, cannot be called white Pine. Ho! Hum!

\ltlhat's to become of the lumber industry if trade names are to give way before botanical designations? In California the common wooden building material is universally known as "Oregon Pine." It has always been called that. But what they call Oregon Pine in California is plain Douglas Fir everywhere else. And, botanically Douglas Fir is NOT a Fir at all-it's a Larch. So this Pine is a Fir, and this Fir is a Larch-and what are we going to do about it? ***

But let's stop talking lumber. Let's talk about other things-the neur "rassling" racket, for instance. It was Barnum who created immortality when he said-"There's a sucker born every minute." He must have been thinking of the present-day crop of fans who throng the arenas to shout wildly at these funny wrestling matches. A veteran wrestling and boxing referee writing in a current magazine calls attention to the obviousness of the quackery that is being continually practiced in these so-called wrestling "contests." For instance, one of the tricks that delights the fans is for one wrestler to pick up the other, hold him high above his head, whirl him around some, and throw him like a sack of sand. This authority calls attention to the fact that no wrestler ever lived big enough and strong enough to do that to any trained athlete, even though he might be only a lightweight. The thing is a gymnastic feat, and he who is lifted has to help a whole lot to make the thing possible. But the fans shout themselves hoarse at the spectacle. ***

Hackenschmidt, the strongest man that ever entered an American wrestling ring, tried in vain to pick up a lightweight wrestler and throw him from him. He found it utterly impossible. Today the arenas are thronged with wild-eyed fans, watching the "bad boys" of the game abuse each other. The pantomime, the groans and grunts, the savage blows, the horrible grimaces, the apparent ferocity, the fights between performer and referee, all the evidences of the actor's rather than the wrestler's art, fill the souls of the gullible with enthusiasm. If genuine, artistic, clever wrestling were resorted to, the fans would shout their disapproval, and walk out. They demand to be faked.

Speaking of fakes, another rich American girl is going to marry another European "Prince." In those little old European countries a "Prince" was any man who used a handkerchief and wore shoes. And, the poor, silly little American morons who have purchased such titles have paid terrific prices for them. Some day we'll have laws against that sort of quackery.

Two hoodlums tried to kidnap a man in California. They didn't succeed in getting him. A California jury has sentenced them to be hanged for the effort. Give California credit. There is one state where the kidnaping racket is over for all time.

Pine Ass'n Officers Re-Elected

All the officers of the Western Pine Association were reelected at the annual meeting of the board of directors of the Association held in San Francisco, February 27 and ?-8.

The officers are: R. R. Macartney, Weyerhaeuser Timber Co., Klamath Falls, Ore., president; J. P. McGoldrick, McGoldrick Lumber Co., Spokane, Wash., first vice-president; George W. York, George E. Breese Lumber Co., Albuquerque, N. M., second vice-president; C. L. Isted, Shevlin-Hixon Co., Bend, Ore., treasurer, and David T. Mason, Portland, Ore., manager.

The meeting was open to all persons in the Western Pine Division, and there was a large attendance.

Other business before the meeting included amendment of articles of incorporation and amendment of byJaws.

Considerable time was devoted to discussion of Code matters, particularly Article X of the Lumber Code, dealing with sustained production and conservation of forest resources.

W. F. BAIRD ON EASTERN TRIP

W. F. Baird, general sales manager, Michigan California Lumber Co., Camino, Calif., was recently in San Francisco on a business trip, and has just left for a six weeks' tour of the Middle West and East to visit the company's sales connections. Mr. Baird said that industrial buying throughout the country has improved, and he looks for further improve,ment with the opening of spring.