Random Editorial Ramblings

By Jack

A few years ago the Standard Oil Company was looked upon by Mr. Average Man as a fearful octopus of a ma' lignant sort. Today Mr. Average Man drives up to a gaso. line statio4, and The Standard Oil Company comes out and polishes his windsheld. And as a philosopher has wisely remarked, this billion dollar corporation will shine your shoes also, if necessary to get your business. THAT is modern service. THAT is the new idea that has crept into business. The bigger the corporation, the harder it is trying to give the public better service than the othcr fellow. Instead of taking the old price cutting .route to get business, it takes the better service route. They're all doing it. The old compotition is fast going. It was jrurgle competition. The competition of the lion and tho tiger that believed that its competitor must be destroyed. And friends, there's more jungle competition left in the lumber business than in most other industries, and the time has come for the better human service competition to take its place entirely. Surely the change is badly needed in California.

The Millwork Institute of California at its recent spring con;nention at San Jose, took one very constructive and forwardlooking merchandising step. It recommended to its locd branches that they supply the Domestic Arts Departments of the various schools and colleges in their respective territories with properly laid-out built-in kitchen equipment, as well as samples of the woods used by their mills. That's fine advertising and trade promotion work, and well in keeping with the history of the Institute.

And nour the great open season has come to California For the next seven months caravans of touring cars from the north and east will pour into the state of sunshine, and fruit, and fowers, and happiness, in a mighty tide. And the trains will bring their hundreds of thousands seeking the glory that is California It is a golden tide, this wave of humanity that seeks out California. California soon sells itself to them, and they go back, singing the glory of the mountaiqs, the valleys, and the sea. Some of them stay; many of them, every season. And they bring money, and brains, and energy to help build this greater California that is so rapidly developing. Truly, California is,her own best advertis€ment. Everything that the heart of man or woman could desire, may be found within her borders. May the tide swing higher and stronger this season than ever beforg and enhance the prospeiity of California

Only a decade ago it was common practice for the political demagogue to seize every opportunity to raise his voice against the "corporate interests." Those days are gone. Why? Because the common people have themselves

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become the "corporate interests." Today there are twenty million people in the United States who are corporation stockholders. We have ourselves become the corporationg so we can't call them "heartless." And we have learned, as Lewis E. Pierson, President of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States recently said, to understand that "bred into the bone and sinew of every American is the conviction that the price of all accomplishments is the willingness to work together for the common good." ***

There is one functioq of advertising that should never be forgotten or overlooked. When you advertise, you shorn that you are proud of your business, and want to tell people about it. That removes SUSPICION of that business. See? It's the birds that fy in darkness that people are suspicious and afraid of, not the ones that sing on the bough of the front yard tree in the sunlight.

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The first skilled worker in wood that we have any record of was a guy by the name of Bezaleel. Moses got him to build the Tabernacle of the }Iebrews, which was built of gold, and silver, and wood. Exodus says that the Lord filled Bezaleel "with wisdom and skill in timber carving." How about making him the patron saint of the mill work industry?

*** tlrF*

Every lumber manufacturers convention I go to I hear much of that good old song about what the lumber business is "entitled to." This poor business of ours has been living on that mirage of hope ever since it started. We don't get, in this world, what we are entitled to. We get what we grab. Lots of people are entitled to good things, but don't grab them. Others aren't entitled to much, but grab a lot. There's a piemium or1 good grabbing. Of coursg if you are entitled to good things and then show proficiency in grabbing as well, you are doubly fortunate. All the lumber industry needs is more of the latter.

This is going to be a good lumber year. Don't let anyone tell you that itisn't. Things are going to keep right o'n picking up as the year grcy$'s older, and 1928 is going into the record as the exact opposite ol L927. ln 1927 the year opened propitiously, and things got worse every month until the end of the year. 1928 opened with the bad left-over she got Lrom L927, and is improving steadily and generally, and will continue to do so. Watch her ! Lots of evendul things are going to happen as the year progresses, and the tide will be upward. Things in the Pacific Northwest are going to improve greatly. They need to, and they're going to. And when they do, they will improve all through the rest of the industry. It's going to be a working year, and a fighting year, but a good year.