Goal -Keepers All!

Bv V. Ernest Field Director Fire Prevention Service Associoted Lumber Mutuols

That characteristic knock-one rap, a slight pause, three and one, another pause, and then two short-meant one of the boys, not a bell-hop nor a maid. I called "Come in" and then remembered that it was one of those automatically locking hotel doors that couldn't be opened from the outside except with a key. So I got up from the desk where I was writing some post-cards to the kids back home and opened the door to jolly old Jerry Anderson.

You know Jerry, I guess. Everybody that has anything to do with the lumber industry knows or should knorv Jerry Anderson. He's a sort of king-fish among the lumbermen of his state and a rather outstanding figure in the industry the whole country over. He's a su,ccessful business man, of course-unless a man is su,ccessful, he's not likely to become a leader in any industry. Ife's as shrewd as they make 'em, square as the day is long, a careful buyer of both merchandise and service, and his genial personality combined with his natural ability makes him a salesman supreme. It's not to be wondered at that he does more business in his community than five or six competitors put together.

Jerry has always been a strong advocate of insurance developed by an industry for its own protection. That's why he has always carried his insurance with the Associated Lumber Mutuals. It's his idea-and it's thoroughly logical both in theory and in practice-that lumbermen who know the needs of the business and who combine that knowledge rvith insurance experience, can develop a more complete and adequate protection for other lumbermen than the best insurance men in the world who do not have that inside contact with the industry. He naturally expects a more sympathetic understanding of the policy-holders' needs both before and after the experience of loss. And he doesn't overlook for a minute the dividends which represent such a substantial saving in insurance cost. It has been my fortune to handle this insurance for him as representative of all the Associated Lumber Mutual Companies.

As I opened the door, Jerry's voice boomed out-

"Hello, young fellow. When I asked the clerk whether Tom Guthrie was registered, I knew what the answer would be."

"Absolutely, Jerry. Mighty glad to see you. I felt sure you'd be in sometime this afternoon too. In fact, I rather expected to have you join me for some entertainment this evening that I don't get back home in California."

"If I didn't know you, Tom, I'd say that sounded queer and I'd be leery of signing up without knowing all the particulars."

"Perfectly safe, Jerry. You can tell your wife all about it when you get home."

"All right, Tom. Count me in. What's it all about?"

"ft's the fastest and wildest of all games and I'll confess that I am completely nuts about it. I never come down here or go anywhere else where they play, that I don't see a game."

"Doesn't sound like ping-pong nor jbckstraws. What is it?"

"Hockey. And after youtve seen a agree with me about its being fast and tiddhdy-winks nor game, if you don't furious, I'll eat my hat." r'!s5-and glorified is the word. We had some of the rudiments of the game back in those kid days when the creek was lrozen over so that we could take our sticks and bat a tin can around the ice. Between the periods, I can. shut my eyes and live again these shinny days of long ago. Those days have gone forever, so far as I am concerned, but I do get a thrill out of the real thing that you'll see tonight."

"Hockey? Heard about it but have never seen a game. It's a sort of a glorified shinny, isn't it?"

"Shinny was a lot of fun, wasn't it? Gosh, the skinned shins and the barked knuckles that I used to have."

"Same here, Jerry-but it was all in the game."

So it all came about that, after a good dinner together, Jerry and I set out for the hockey arena where two of the outstanding teams in one of the Professional Leagues were scheduled to play. The crowds were already beginning to gather and I imagine there were over five thousand people in the building when we took our seats.

"Well, hockey seems to be a good business, at least," remarked Jerry.

"ft is," said L "There will be over ten thousand people here tonight, maybe fifteen thousand, and that does mean good business. You will be surprised to know that star hockey players measure up very well with baseball players when it comes to the way they are s,couted and the salaries paid. I have heard that some of the top-notch players get as much as $40,000.00 or $50,000.00 a year and they pay good salaries all down the line. To my notion, they earn them."

"Great Scott! That is really big business, isn't it? How's come we don't hear more about it back where we come from ?"

"I suppose because we haven't started to play it there. It isn't as universal a game as baseball, but it has gotten to, be almost as big a game in the cities in which it is played. Its popularity is growing rapidly. We'll be having hockey games back in our country before many years."

It's not my purpose to tell you about the game. It must be seen to be appreciated. Besides, I imagine that a lot of the data about face-offs, zones, fouls, penalties, etc. would be like so much Greek to the most of you. Sufiice it to sa1' that before the game was much more than under way, Jerry was ready to agree with me about its being wild and fast. The puck flew from one end of the ring to the other, back and forth from side to side, the players sweeping and dash- ing here and there, passing, carrying, and shooting for the goal cage. The defending players of course dashed about just as madly, endeavoring to block or stop the puck with their feet, their skates or their sticks, and even with their hands and bodies when the puck got into the air, until they succeeded in taking the puck themselves and immediately went on the offensive in a drive to shoot it into the goal cage of their opponents. Both offensive and defensive play was spectacular in the extreme.

The ,crowd which had grown to nearly fifteen thousand, as I had predicted, were wild with enthusiasm, and every grand rush and every spe,ctacular defense of a goal brought shrieks of excited approval. Jerry and I were just as frenzied as anyone else, even though we were not at all concerned over who won the game. The thing that we enjoyed was the speed and the action, and there was plenty of both.

As we walked back to the hotel, Jerry said-

"Tom, that was one of the greatest games I ever saw in my life. I think I'll be as nutty about hockey as you are. If anyone craves action, I'll certainly recommend a hockey game. Whew ! I'll be seeing that puck shooting back and forth in my dreams, and I will be hearing the crack of the sticks and the click of the skates all night long. But, whether I sleep or not, I wouldn't have missed it for anything."

"Well, it's all wonderful, Jerry, but the thing that fascinates me most is the marvelous defensive work of the goal-keepers. He's on the job every minute to stop that puck with his stick, his feet, his skates, his hands and his body-anything to keep that pu,ck from getting past him into the goal cage. Reverting to shop talk, the goal-keeper seems to me to be a real personification of a wide-awake lumberman intent upon protecting his plant from fire. Fire tries in every possible way to score a goal. It passes, it carries, it sneaks, and it shoots, and you've simply got to be on your toes every minute. You've got to block those attacks with every defensive means at your,command. You can't afford to leave a single opening unguarded. You must be on guard every minute against smokers, with matches and cigarettes; against trespassers; again rubbish, dried grass, shavings and sparks; against spontaneous combustion from oily rags and waste; against defective heating pipes or flues; against twisted wires and worn insulation; against carelessness with gasoline, paint, etc. ; and against all those other kinds of carelessness that contribute to the start or the spread of a fire."

"That's a mighty good comparison, Tom. If every man employed in a lumber plant were on his toes against fire as the goal-keeper is against that puck, we wouldn't have many fires."

"And that would mean fewer losses for our Companies to pay."

"And eventually, of course, lower insurance rates and higher dividends."

"Sure. That would all logically follow. You can get some idea as to the possibilities from the fact that over seventy-five per cent of all fires are absolutely preventable. They are the goals that fire registers, because we weren't on the job."

"What we need are goal-keepers. Count on me, Tom, to be a goal-keeper in our plant and I am going to try to make a goal-keeper out of every man on our payroll."

"Our best protection against fire is an invincible defense. Goal-keepers all, will do it."

Stockton Lumber Shipments

A total of 11,8O1,873 feet of lumber moved through the Port of Stockton in 1933, and it is predicted by port authorities that there will be a large increase in the volume of lumber shipments in 1934. Of this total inbound shipments amounted to9,156,19 feet, and outbound shipments to the Atlantic seaboard were 2,645,674 f.eet.

The recent $900,000 bond election carried in Stockton by nine to one. The port improvements to be financed by this issue include the construction of three warehouses, four wharves, transit sheds, and a slip to raise the port's berthing capacity from three to seven ships at one time.

Talks On Argentine Conditions

W. J. Mulligan, president of W. J. Mulligan & Co., San Francisco, largest shippers of Pacific Coast lumber to the Argentine, gave a talk recently to the executive committee of the San Francisco Foreign Trade Association on conditions in the Argentine, particularly with regard to exchange and blocked funds.

srLLY QUESTTON

The policeman's son $ras learning music. "How many beats are there to the bar in this piece of music, Dad?" he asked the old man.

"Fancy asking a policeman a question like that," chimed in the boy's mother. "If you asked your daddy how many bars there are to the beat, he might be able to give you an intelligent answer."

Nautical

A sloop is a craft with a jib and a main, A yawl has a rigger behind, A schooner's a big one with foam on the top, And nowadays easy to find.

The New Believers

By Roselle Montgomery

I say that the magnet foats in space by the power of God. The magnet repels another magnet by the power of God.-Dr. W. R. Whitney.

A contemporary has rightly said that the only deeply religious people of our largely materialistic age are the earnest men of science.-Albert Einstein.

They who have worshipped at one shrine alone, The shrine of truth, they who have long assailed The ancient altars where old faiths prevailed, Begin to sense that Truth and God are one, And grow more humble now, more reverent. For science, challenging the Infinite, Descries, beyond the farthest star, a light That leads to worship and to wonderment.

Let doubts bedim the minds of lesser men Who cannot find God in the books and creedsThese research men derive Him from His deeds; Let earth-bound ones, their eyes upon the sod, Broadcast today the cry, "There is no God"The scientists discover God again.

A Thought

Men who undertake considerable things, even in a regular way, ought to give us ground to presume ability.Burke.

This Guy Told Her

Lady Customer: "I should like to know why the potatoes at the top of that sack I bought from you a day or so ago were so much bigger than the potatoes at the bottom of that sack."

Grocer: "Lady, that's easily explained. You see this variety of potato grows so fast that by the time a sackful is dug the last ones are about twice as big as the first ones that come out of the ground."

His Value

A man's value in his own organization is determined by his ability to carry a slight over-load once in a while and be able to meet the unusual situations that arise.

Eleven Ages Of Man In Menu

Milk.

Milk and bread.

Milk, eggs, bread and spinach.

Oatmeal, bread and butter, green apples, and all-day suckers.

fce cream sodas and hot dogs.

Minute steak, fried potatoes, cofree and apple pie.

Bouillon, roast duck, scalloped potatoes, creamed broccoli, fruit salad, divinity fudge, demi-tasse.

Pate de foie gras, wiener schnitzel, potatoes Parisienne, egg plant a I'opera, demi-tasse and Roquefort cheese.

Soft-boiled eggs, toast and milk.

Crackers and milk.

Milk.

Exercise

The best method a man can use for strengthening his own judgment is to exercise it.