V.sabond Editorials

By Jack Dionne

Howdy, folks ! It's our Ninth Birthday.

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You don't know how close we came to just forgetting all about the Birthday business. Our pride was all that stopped us. We finally said: "It's our Birthday, an,d we're proud of it, and if we can't put on a big celebration, we'll just put on as big a celebration as we can"

So we have. In the well known words of a well known jazz barrd, leader-"We hope you like it".

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We really ought to call this our "Mournful Number". Then, when the tide turns and we begin riding the crest of the wave again, and the trials and troubles of today are forgotten in the joy of tomorrow, we can get out a '.Rejoicing Number". ***

Don't worry so much about present conditions, and work MORE. These conditions just HAD to come. ft couldn't be otherwise. In all the history of the world, occasional bumps apparently have to come to keep us sane.

,frtt ft's bitter medicine while it lasts, but the doctor says "Take it". t*:t

The fact is that we were not as really prosperous two years ago as we thought we were; and we are not in as bad fix today as we think we are. ***

Quit comparing your volume of business with the highest peak you have known. DON'T be hoping for the return of "normal", and thinking of "normal" in terms of two years ago, when every policeman on the corner, and every chambermaid in the hotels were playing the stock market.

A wise -"rr r"""r,tl, ."il.it", lnr"*" will be normal when we all have jobs, and when the buying power of the dollar has lit somewhere.

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The head of a big department store in Los Angeles burst into print a few days ago with the statement that when you stop to think that a dollar will buy nearly twice as much in Los Angeles today as it would a year ago, the depression doesn't seem so depressed. ,f**

Present conditions give us a splendid chance to look ourselves over, get our perspectives adjusted, take a notch or two in our belts, spit on our hands, and get ready to make people buy more building materials than ever before, by more intelligent and effective merchandising than we ever used before.

And whatever you uo, Jorrl ply C"tifornia short ! Commodore Vanderbilt said-and made himself famous by so saying-that the man who plays the United States short, is a damn fool. trla

Then, how much more of a fool must be that riran who plays short the most blessed and favored of these United States-California ? ;i ,i

For the greatness of California-and of her lumber industry-is AHEAD-not behind. Believe it ! Prepare for it ! Make your definite plans to play a part in the housing of millions of people and their possessions in the next few Years'

For they are coming. The'sunshing the climate, the health, the wealth, the beauty, the charm of California is drawing them from every state and from every district. From Coronado's silvery strand northward to where Shasta rears her snow-clad mane, they will choose their homes.

Every great depre"rror L ;*:r, has been followed by a correspondingly great period of prosperity. All thinkers agree that history will repeat. California has suffered far less with the depression than any other portion of this land'

And when the back-wash comes California will enjoy a tide of business enthusiasm that will make the conditions of l922look like hard times by comparison. It is the business of the lumber industry of California to expect, and to be prepared for that time. ft won't be long.

But don't forget the remark of Edison that "Everything comes to him who waits if he hustles while he's waiting".

Don't just sit still. Self complacency has a strange hold on progress. Work while you wait. Vision without a task, is helpless. A task without vision, is drudgery. But a task with vision means progress.

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