The California Retail Lumbermen's Association

By Mrs. J. E. Fraser, Secretary

Mrs, J, E. Fraser

FROM A LITTLE ACORN THE BIG OAK GROWS-

Just so the Qalifornia Retail Lumbe5qngn's Association has !to*r, in the last four years from a little handfut of Wholesalers, Manufacturers and Retailers to a big bucket full of purely Retail Lumber Dealers.

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The compliment being paid me by the California Lumber Merchant to tell the Lumbermen in California somethins about OUR ASSOCIATION in the lirthday Number of tlie BEST OF ALL LUMBER MAGAZINES is surelv appreciated. The California Lumber Merchant has been a loval friend of this Association' ir am proud to be the Secretary o-f such-a progressive Orea;iratibn as the California Relail Lumbermen's Associaiion. It's just four years ago this coming Augu.st that I assbciated inyself with this Association-at that time there wefe a-ottg- the members-Manufacturers,,Wholes-alers, "nd R.t"il.r1-and very few at that. That Fall we had a Convention at San Francisco and decided for the best interest of the Association to eliminate the Wholesalers and Manufacturers and make this a PURELY RETAIL ORGANIZATION-Ihis was done. The Retail lumbermen eviilently believed ,more in a strictly retail organization, sinbe a number of memberships were signed at that first Cohvention. The membership-has increased ever since till now we have over 300 purely-lumber dealers enrolled.

We have prospered financially in proportion-f-our;rears aso we had issefs ol $2.25 with liabilities of $1,500. Today *?h"',r" assets of close to $2,000 with NO LIABILITIES. When the next session of the Legislature opens we will have adequate funds with which to fight adverse legislation.

I have heard it said that Lumbermen were not Progressivb-that is rather amusing, for when I compare them with men in other walks of life-in attending meetings of other Associations-I find just as aggressive and progressive men in. our Association as I find in any other-in fact a little m6re so. It was the Retail Lumbermen who were progressiv'e enough to co-operate with Herbert Hoover in his s.lie*e of-elmination of waste-by this I mean the Grade Certificate-which was endorsed at our last Convention at Ffi:sno, and has since been worked out and is in use by a number of lumbermen. Homes built under the Grade Certificate Plan-of the proper materials, will certainly mean an elimination of waste. A home once properly built will ,last anyone a lifetime, but-if improperly built it lasts only a iew years, and the repairs then will soon amount to .more than the original cost of the home. I am glad to tell you that there ale 33 firms progressive enough to have this Grade Certificate in use in thei.r various yards, some in only one, others with more yards are using it in all or part, just as there is need for it.

Not only do the Lumbermen see the value of the Grade Certificate, but the Finance Organizations. The Califoinia Building-Loan League, at its last Annual Convention at Yosemite, in May, passed a Resolution endorsing the 'Grade

Certificate, and recommending that each one of its me'mbers (which number 110 out of l8O in the state) make it a part of their requirements for a loan. One Building-Loan Association has already incorporated it in the application for a ,loan, making it necessary that a Grade Certificate be furnished. Others will follow, and inasmuch as 7O/o of the homes in California are built through Building & Loan Organizations it is indeed a big factor to have them back of us in this progressive move. In talkipg with a representative of one of a rnanufacttrrers' association the other day, he said: "Mrs. Fraser, that Grade Certificate is going to do more to stabilize the lumber industry than anything else that has happened." I hope he is right, for it surely should be stabilized.

No one watching the achievements of this Association at Sacramento, during the last two sessions of the Legislature, can say that we are not progressive and aggressive. We succeeded in blocking all ,legislation which was detrimental to the best interests of the Retail Lumber Dealerand this coming session we will enter just as strong as we left at the end of the last Session of the legislature-we are having big things to watch in a legislative way this year.

Birthday Greetings to Phil Hart, Jack Diorne and Ed Nlartin the three fathers of the California Lumber Merchant.

W.EST COAST MAN APPOINTED LUMBER TRADE COMMIISSIONER TO THE FAR EAST

Appointment of E. A. Selfridge, Jr., of San Francisco, as American Lumber Trade Commissioner with headquarters at Tokyo, Japan, was announced today by Dr. Julius Klein, Director of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerc'€. Mr. Selfridge is scheduled to arrive on the West Coast in July. He will confer with lumber exporters and organizations regarding a detailed study of the lumber trade and the lumber industry of the Far East with a view to expanding the demands in that region for thd lumber products of the United States.

Lumberman Dies

St. Helens, Ore., May 31.-Joseph Maxfield, 53, prominent lumberman and well acquainted in Portland circles, died suddenly at his home here Saturday noon while at dinner from a heart attack. For the past seven years Maxfield has been in charge of water shipments from the Charles L. McCormick mill here. He is survived by a widow and 15 year old son. Fraternally he was affiliated with the Masons and Elks. Funeral services will be held at 2 o'clock Tuesday from the Episcopal church.

IN NE\,t| BUILDING

The Pacific Coast Commercial Company, Southern California, distributors for the Louisville Veneer Mills, and for other well known manufacturers, have recently ,moved into their new warehouse at 8300 South Alameda Street. Los Angeles.