Rehearing of the Philippine Mahogany Case Set for June Znd

Hearings are set to begin in Los Angeles on June 2nd on the complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission against Gillespie Furniture Company, which, in effect, is a reopening of the old Philippine Mahogany case which was decided several years ago. In the old case seven Respondents were ordered to discontinue the use of the name "Philippine Mahogany" as applied to certain woods imported from the Philippines. So much dissatisfaction over the old decision was expressed by numerous other users of Philippine Mahogany that a number of concerns, of which the Gillespie Furniture Company is one, requested the Commission to institute new proceedings which would finally settle the question.

Walter G. Scrim, President of the Philippine, Mahogany Association, when interviewed in connection with the case, stated: "In the old case the Federal Trade Commission found that Philippine Mahogany was not suitable as a cabinet wood. Experience with this wood for the past twenty years has convinced us that this finding is ridiculous. At the present time more than fifty percent of the furniture manufactured in Los Angeles is manufactured from Philippine Mahogany and the great majority of the trim used in new buildings'on the Pacific Coast is Phillippine Mahogany. Philippine Mahogany can be carved, turned, fluted and finished equally as well, if not better, than any of the other cabinet woods. The trade in general feels that these Philippine woods are entitled to be called Philippine Mahogany because of the long established use of the name and because of their general appearance, and that full consideration of the evidence will result in a reversal of the old decision."