Douglas Fir Price Changes

Washington, D. C., April 18-The increasingly heavy demand of War Agencies, particularly the Army, for Douglas Fir boards and dimension-lumber cut in thicknesses up to 2 inches and usecl for crating and dunnage and in the construction of cantonments and hospitals-led the Office of Price Administratior-r today to increase existing price ceilings on several grades of this lumber in order to stimulate greater production.

At the same time, ceilings on some of the larger sizes, planks and timbers, were, reclucecl to aid in accomplishing this result.

Increased production of boards and dimension will require Douglas Fir sawmills to curtail production of planks and timbers. This will involve a complete reversal of their normal production methods and result in increased costs, OPA declared. Tl.re nerv price ceilings, which will not increase the over-all realization of the industry, have taken these factors into consideration.

The War Production Board have assured OPA that they expect to issue whatever directions are necessary to carry out this production program.

The amendment to the Douglas Fir regulation, which becomes effective April 18, 1944, provides for these changes. However, the amendment is made effective for only ninety days, with a provision that it may be continued if the need for boards and dimension remains urgent and the mills demonstrate an abilitl' to increase their production of these items to meet the requirements.

Cost experience acquired during this ninety-day period will determine whether revision of these prices will be necessary. At present, little data are available on the costs involved in shifting production from planks ancl timbers to boards and dimension.

Changes effected by this action are reflected in another amendment issued by OPA today and .ivhich becomes effective the same date.

The latter action deletes a provision from tl.re regulation covering distribution yard sales of softrvood r,vhich permitted the yards to compute their selling prices on West Coast lumber on the basis of the original size plus costs of resawing or remanufacturing operations performed by them.

Because of the urgent need for boards and dimension, it rvas considered desirable to permit yards to make this. addition so that they rvoulcl use their remanufacturing facilities. Horvever, the increased price differential provided by the other amendment betrveen timbers and boards and dimension, amounting to approximately $6, is considered adequate to cover 'costs of similar operations performed by the distribution yarcl. Deletion of the original provision places distribution yards strictly on an end product pricing basis.

The follorving increases are providecl in the amendment to the Douglas Fir amendment:

1. Select Merchantable, No. 1 and No. 2 boards; $4.50 per thousand board feet, No. 3 and No. 4 boards, $6.50 per thousand board feet.

2. The differential between green and dry boards, increased $1 per thousand board feet on No. 2 and higher grades.

3. Select Structural, No. 1 and No. 2 dimension, $1 per thousand board feet. This increase is smaller because of the larger sizes and because the demand is not so acute as for boards. Hemlock dimension is increased $2 to the same price as Fir. During the present emergency both species can be used interchangeably in dimension and equalization of the price will simplify the sale and shipment of mixed lots of Hemlock and Douglas Fir.

The prices of Select Structural, No. 1 and No. 2, plank and small timbers 3, 4 and 6 inches are redttced $1 per thousand board feet. The prices of heavy timbers are reduced $2 per thousand board feet.

OPA pointed out that before the war the Douglas Fir industry as a whole cut approximately 10 per cent o{ its total production into boards. At present the output is 30 per cent of total production due to wartime clemands and today's action is expected to raise this to at least 5O per cent of total production.

Because of the prior demands of the Army and Navy, only a very limited amount of boards and dimension vvill reach the consuming public.

The changes provided by these two amendments, together with a new supplementary service regulation placing custom milling on a specific dollars-and-cents basis, also effective today, will result in equalizing Douglas Fir prices by making the end product price uniform at the mill and distribution yard levels, OPA declared.

This will reduce the price of some Douglas Fir sold in retail yards and will compensate for increases in boards manufactured by the mills. The net effect of these t'lvo amendments and the custom milling regulation rvill be to balance off against decreases and to prevent any increase in the cost of living.

Amendment No. 7 to Revised Maximum Price Regulation No. 26-Douglas Fir and other West Coast lumbereffective April 18, 1944.

Amendment No. 4 to Second Revised Maximum Price Regulation No. 21S-Distribution Yard Sales of Softu'ood -effective Nfav 3. 1944.

Western-Walker Gets Big Contrcrct

Western-Walker, Los Angeles, has received a ner'v contract for steel joinery work in 34 ships being constructed by the California Shipbuilding Corporation.

As is rvell known, this firm has had contracts during tl-re past several years for the wood joinery, {urniture and carpenter work on hundreds of vessels built by California Shipbuilding Corporation.

Gunning Spikes To Push The Rails Into The Timber

Logging logistics keep the saws run- ' ning. Continuous production by mill and lcrctories demands c continuous supply of logs. Red River extends logging lccilities to provide uninterrupted operation.

*PA['L BI'I{YAIY'S" PRODUCTS

Solt Ponderoecr cnd Sugcr Pine

LI'MBER MOI'I"DING PTWVOOD \IENETIAN BITND STATS

YOU CROSS THAT THRESTOID WIIAT'$ AIEAII FOR Y(IUeilo rfltr?

\y/HEN war markets change to YY pottwar markets, what will your business be like? Ifhat will yourcustomers wanr? I0hat building materials will they prefer? The answers to those questions have a vital beating on yoru tutute.

For many monrhi now, Pon. derosa Pine has been gathering such answers-through natioowide surveys of those who plan tc build romorrow. These surveys show, for example, that ,6.2i% of such prospects want more win. do*,s-83.78% qrant more closets -47.2% want more bedrooms46.4896 want separare dining tooms. Later surveys indicate that among those planning to build in the postwar period, 52% want tradidonal styles-in interiors. Through its national promotion, Ponderosa Pine is taking full advantage of those findings to make 1o*r future more secure. Persistent publiciry is carrying the story of Ponderosa Pine stock windows, doors, frames and woodwork in more than 5O papers throughout the counffy. National ma.gtzine advertising and the 32page idea book "The New Open House" continue .to strengthen and reinforce the preference for wood in general and Ponderosa Pine in particular.

Tie in wirh the program that helps you future! Ve'll gladly give you the results of Ponderosa Pine surveys-help you to take full advantage of tbea.

The

MEMBEN WOOD FCN VENEfItrN'S ASgTf. MEI'IBEN WESTEilI PII{E ISSOCIATTON

€l*.A?u-t

Well, Soldier Boy-So Long. And all the luck

In all the world go with you. And I pray No bullet with your name has yet been struck; Nor any vagrant missile come your way Just marked "to whom it may concern."

Trust in the right, my boy ! Hold your head high !

Chin up ! Eyes bright ! Let's see your boyish grin !

Help keep that starry banner foating high !

See if our foes can take it on the chin! While those at home, boy, pray for your return.

By JCD.

The other day I watched a terrific bit of movie news. It was the destruction by American airmen of the Monte Cassino Monastery, in war torn Cassino in Italy. And as I watched that huge structure crumble, I was reminded of the coat of arms of that famous old monastery. Because the emblem shown on that coat of arms is an oak tree. And the motto that accompanies the coat of a1s15 is-"$uccessa Virescit," which when interpreted into English means: "Even if cut down this tree will grow green again." And as I witnessed the picture of destruction I said to myself : "If it does, it's SOME tree."

According to publisheu t";J, the British have a lot of fun out of their jokes of the moment. They say the whole nation is laughing at these two, one on themselves, the other on the Americans, both slightly sarcastic in tone. The first: Churchill gets a phone call in the middle of the night. The voice on the other end of the wire says: "flello, Winston? This is Joe Stalin ! I'm in Calais ! Corne on over ! It's safe now !" ***

The second bne concerns the fact that the American army is much more generous with decorations for its soldiers than the British Army. A British Tommy comes home from South Africa and finds London filled with American soldiers. A great percentage of them wear decorations, ribbons, or medals of some sort. The Tommy exclaims: "Gor Blimey! Wot an army! Every bloke an tero ltt

A charaateristic American soldier story is that of the Corporal who parked a Jeep on the city street right alongside of a parking meter, then started to walk away without paying any attention to the meter. A cop close by said to him: "IJef, soldier! How about putting a nickel in the parking meter?" The soldier waved to him airly, and said:

"Put one in yourself, chum ! It belong to you as much as it does to me !" * ,.< ,<

The ,salesman I will always love, Is Andrew James Moran; He sold me five new tires the day Before the freeze O"_*i.

An oil man friend of mine handed me a good laugh, telling about a nationally called meeting of the oil industry early in the war's progress, at which oil men from all over the nation were given a lot of advice from government officials. He said Ickes gave them a lecture. Then Leon ffenderson took a turn'at them. Then Biddle laid down the law to them. Just then a bass-voiced g.ry from Wyoming remarked to his neighbor in a whisper that could be heard all over the room: "We should now stand and sing'God Save America."' *x<*

Using a story to drive home a point adroitly, always interests me a lot. The other day I heard an old story used in masterly fashion fqr that purpose. An old Democrat was introducing the Democratic governor of a Democratic state, who was slated to make a speech on Thomas Jefferson. The introducer said: "A man was going through the woods when he met a country boy with a dozen big squirrels on a string, but no gun. The man asked the boy how he killed the squirrels, and the boy said with rocks." The man said: "I'll have to see that," and the boy said: "Find me a squirrel and I'll show you." So they hunted a squirrel, the boy put his left hand in his pocket, pulled out a rock, and knocked the squirrel right smack in the head the first throw. The man said: "Son, you'd make a great southpaw pitcher." The boy said: "What's a southpaw?" and the man said: "A left-handed pitcher." The boy said: "I ain't left-handed, I'm right-handed." The man said: "Then why did you kill that squirrel with your left hand?" and the boy said: "Because when I throw right-handed I tear them to pieces." "And," said the speaker, "our governor has been throwing left-handed so far, but if they don't let the Constitution alone and quit interfering with States' rights, we're going to ask him to start throwing right-handed." I have seldom heard a better illustration, and the crowd, of courserroared. * * :f

In England the government sure plays rough with those who violate the laws covering the use of wood. Recently an old established woodworking firm in London had contracts for building chairs for the government, out of plywood. From the waste and cut-offs that they thus acum- ulated, they made a lot of smaller wooden things such as bread-boards, towel racks, etc. They were arrested, tried and convicted. The firm was fined fifteen hundred pounds. The manager and owner was fined the same amount and also sentenced to two months in jail. The charge was that he had used this material without a license.

a**)k

The birthday of Thomas Jefferson was the thirteenth of April. Millions of Americans gave thought at that time to the memory of this man. To call him great would win a championship in an understatement contest. He was far more than that. I had so many beautiful compliments on my remarks in this space on February 15th about Wash' ington and Lincoln, that I yield to the temptation to talk about Jefferson. He challenged those other two great souls for the high spot in the hall of immortal fame. In a threecornered debate as to which was the greatest, Washington, Lincoln, or Jefferson, the debater who drew Jefferson would have much justification for feeling he had done well in the draw. His published words and works are known to every American student. He has been wel called "the timeless statesman." Every word he said, is true today, especially his words about the danger of concentrated power in a government like ours; and the prolongation of power in the hands of any man or group of men.

>Ft<t<-

Jefferson venerated, resp€cted, and loved Washington; as well he might. But he did not consider Washington an indispensable man, and did not think he should serve more than two terms as President. He felt the same way about himself. More so. Probably no great man ever lived who had in him less love for personal power and glory, than did Jefferson. Even Lincoln could not surpass him there. You see, like Lincoln and Washington, Jefferson had the simple conviction that the great power for good in this world that he manifested and used so freely, flowed not FROM him, but THROUGH him. There is a great difference. And so Jefferson did his great works, yet yearned at all times for retirement to his home and family, and freedom from political entanglements. And as soon as the time came, he dropped the reins of power, and went home as does a bird. Read his own words t * >k ,< we find him writing .";;t";adison on the same subject: "I have now been in the public service four and twenty years. The motion of my blood no longer keeps time with the tumult of the world. It leads me to seek happiness in the lap and love of my family; in the society of my neighbors and my books; in the wholesale occupation of my farm and my affairs; in an interest and affec-

"There are minds that can be pleased by honors and preferments. But I see nothing in them but envy and enmity. I had rather be shut up in a modest cottage with my books, my family, and a few old friends, letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post which any human power can give."

(Continued on Page 10)

(Continued tion in every bud that opens, in every breath that flows around me; in an entire freedom of rest, of motion, of thought; owing account to myself alone of my hours and myactions."

And when James Madison succeeded him as President, he wrote a friend: "Never did a prisoner, released from his chains, feel such relief as I shall, on shaking off the shackles of Power'"

Do you wish to know Jefferson's philosophy about treating "the other fellow" as you go through life? Then read these words written by him to his little daughter Maria, and you have the essence of that soul that men call Thomas Jefferson: "Never be angry with anybody, nor speak hard of them. Try to let everybody's faults be forgotten as you would wish yours to be. Take more pleasure in giving what is best to another than in having it yourself. Then all the world will love you, and I, more than all the world." Friend, if you haven't room for that letter in your scrapbook, you should tear up jn.*OolU.

Would you meet Thomas Jefferson spiritually? Then read these words that he wrote to his closest friend of a lifetime, John Adams, at the time of the death of Adams' wife: "ft is some comfort to us both that the time is not very far distant at which we are to deposit in the same cerement our sorrows and suffering bodies, and to ascAnd in essence to an ecstatic meeting with those we have loved and lost, and whom we shall still love and never lose again.', If your faith needs strengthening, friend, read over again the words of one of the world's greatest thinkers, expressing a faith that I am certain contained not a single fragment of doubt. **

Another great thinker once said that the belief in the immortality of man came into existence when the first mother knelt by the body of her dead baby, and from that great yearning of the human heart to meet again, sprang that belief in a future life. Part of Jefferson's perfect faith in the future life he mentioned may have been built on the memory of his wife, who died very early in his career, leaving him profoundly shocked. It seems to me thlt in all my reading concerning our American great, there is no other love story that even faintly compares with that of Thomas and Martha Jefferson. It bordered on the sublime; soared high toward the Infinite.

One of the most enticing pictures in American political history is that of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams debating between themselves who should write the Declaration of fndependence. All others were eliminated. ft was between these two, and Jefferson stoutly maintained that Adams must do the job. Finally, Adams said: ..I won,t do it. You must. There are three reasons. First, you are a Virginian, and Virginia must take the lead in this; second, I am unpopular personally, and you are the opposite; and third, you can write ten times better than I can." So Jefferson wrote it.

I need not tell you tt "tlrr ln"-*n*"-Uay debate that preceded its adoption in the Congress, Jefferson never spoke a word. No wonder John Adams, who led the fight for the Declaration, called him "the silent member.l.' Jefferson said of Adams: "The great pillar of support to the Declaration of fndependence and its ablest advocate and champion on the foor, was John Adams. He was our Colossus. Not graceful, but always fluent, he yet came out with a power both of thought and expression which moved us from our seats."

What a coincidence trral,;".-a-r men who did most to give us our Independence on the Fourth of July and make that date immortal, both died on the Fourth of July, 1826 ! As Adams died, his last thought was of Jefferson, and he was heard to say with his last breath: "Thomas Jefferson still survives!" But Jefferson had been dead an hour or so. And the last words of Jefferson were: "It is the Fourth of July."

Jefferson was the o"r.:;Jed of men. He approved highly of Dr. Ben Franklin, whose motto was: ,,Never contradict anyone." Rich or poor, peasant or prince, they all liked Jefferson. Ife was truly a gentleman in every way that word can be taken. He was gentle, affable, genial; and courteous to everyone of high or low degree. Although he lived in times in which personal animosities ran riot and quarrels were the order of the day, he was untouched by it. ffe never had an altercation or personal misunderstanding with anyone. He was never challenged in any personal way. I{e never entered into public debates. We find him writing: "Never enter into dispute or argument with another. f never saw an instance of one of two disputants convincing the other by argument." And he did not like or enjoy forid oratory, for we find him expressing his high opinion of "Iogical reasoning and chaste eloquence, disfigured by no gaudy tinsel of rhetoric or declamation." I'm afraid he would not have enjoyed Churchill as much as f do. However, Washington apparently felt the same way, for in a letter written to a youth on the subject of public speaking, Washington said: "A dictatorial style is always accompanied with Utrto"Y' * *

Interpreted spiritually, the last words of John Adams_ "Thomas Jefferson still survives"-117s1.s prophetically true. For so long as men live and think, Thomas Jefferson will survive.