Vagabond Editorials

By JackDionne

They are giving building material away in California. Never since time began could a builder secure his raw materials for construciion purposes, as cheaply as he can today. If lumber were bringing 100 per cent more laid down oq the job than it is bringing in California today, it would still be cheap. It's just plain murder, that's all. And the other materials, such as brick, cement, etc.' are likewise a gift in most of the statc.

Speaking of cement. The lumber dealer recently got a "break" in Northern California. North of the line the lumber dealer's dog has been kicked around always by the cement mandfacturers. They considered and respected him not at,all in their merchandisir\g plans. They never "played" with the lumber dealer. He was just an unnecessary evil that they had to put up with, but would not'co-operate with, nor allow a chance to make a decent profit,on the cement sales (which every dealer has to sell in his line of business whether he wants to or not). * rt would be idle to say ln"l .*1" truck delivery of lumber in California had not come to stay. Everyone knows it has. Its service.gtving possibilities are unlimited. To be able to get exactly what you want at short notice, is a service. And it is a service that is worth money. If you get something better than you were accustomed to, and something that costs the other fellow more to furnish, you should pay for it. The man who furnishes it should collect for that added service and expense. Isn't it a regrettable thing that taken as a whole this newly developing service thing is only being used to further cut the price of lumber? Instead of being used to RAISE the price, which would be the sane and practical thing to do because MORE is being furnished, it looks like the truck deliveries are working the other way. T i""l be the climate !

For the first time some of the Northern California cement mangfacturers have entered upon a policy of recognizing the lunrber dealer, coopenating with him, and giving him a chance to make a little something on his cement sales. So the dealer has a little something to be thanlful for. Credit for the change goes to Arthur Shelby' Vice President and Gengral Manager of Calaveras. One of the other Northern companies has e4tered upon the dealer plan also. Perhaps the germ will sPread.

Everyorle doesn't give away lumber, however, even in these times, and under these conditions. I have seen considerable common lumber sold in Southern California in the last month at prices from 50 to 75 per cent higher than you could buy the same grade for at San Pedro. The answer? It was kiln dried lumber, and it asked and got the price from dry lumber builders.

Doq't believe I ever saw the time when all the lumbermen I meet are thinking so seriously about their business. It's all they talk about regardless of who, what, or where they are. It sur.prises me, the number of experienced, successful, clear-thinking men who have asked me of late"Don't you think this is a passing industry?" Some of the outstanding men of the industry-manufacturers I'm talking about-South and West-have asked me that question, seriously and dolefully.

**rF

Yes, I think it is. But not the way they mean. I think it's a buck-passing industry. And I think it always has been. I'm afraid it always will be. But I'm still hopeful. The lumber industry has not kept up with the Big Parade of Modern Progress, to be sure, and for that reason we see every day something else used where boards always used to be found. "How do you think business is going to be?" has always been the slogan of this industry. "What shall we do to make business good," as a substitute slogan, would have prevented the constant slipping toward the rear that has been so noticeable. ***

Reminds me of the railroad operative who wired division headquarters"'$1usk on Crawford Hill without sand." The Supe wired back-"What are you doing on Crawford Hill without sand?" And the answer came promptly back' 'lslipping, fool, slipping." I wouldn't call the lumber industry a passing industry, really. I'd call it a slipping industry. Slipping back steadily from notch to notch in its march toward the rear. Nothing fundamental about it. Nothing essential. Just the inevitable result of rut-riding, following always the line of least resistance. ***

Wish it were possible to tell some of the things I have learned of late concerning some of the most interesting investigations of a certain big lumber manufacturing firm. For several years this firm has spent a barrel of money. They employed a whole gang of chemists, engineers, scientists. To do what? To do what this sad lumber manufacturing industry of ours should have been doing constantly -cooperatively-for the past twenty yrars. To find out new uses for WOOD. To discot'er new uses for low grade stock, for bark, for fiber, etc. To see what can be done with wood and wood fiber far and apart from the ordinary channels that everyone knows, and that proht no one.

And, while their investr*.,i""" are still comparatively in their infancy, they already know that they can make scores of products, for hundreds of uses, that have never before entered the realms of wood use. Suppose sqne. great central agency of thri lumber industry had been conducting

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