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711W. Olyrrpic Blvd.

tOS ANGEI.ES 15. CALIF.

Telephone PRoopect ll08

GAAGO and BAIL REPNESENTING

St. Paul d Tccomcr Lumber Co. Tqcomcr, Wcstr

Diclonan Lumber Compcny Tqcomc, Wash.

Kcnlen-Dcnric Compcrny Tccomc, Wash.

Vcncouvgr Plyurood 6 Veneer C,o. Vqncouver, Wash"

Tqcomcr Hcrbor Lumber 6 Timber Co. TqcomcL Wa8h"

Clear Fir Scrles Co. Eugrene, Ore.

CdDLunberCo. Roseburg, Ore.

The old gag was that what this country needs is a good fivecent cigar. Lately we heard that what this country needs is a good five cent nickel. The fact is, as every intelligent man knows if he just has the nerve to admit it, is that what this country really needs is a President and a Congress onefourth as much interested in what happens to this country as in what happens to ihemselves in the next election'

When I wrote these vags two weeks ago, President Truman had just done a very brave deed, and I said so. I thought the man had finally decided to let politics go to Hades and come out and do and say the things that he and every other patriot knows should be done and said right now. But I jumped to conclusions too fast. It was just a fash in the pan, and almost instantly he started back-tracking. Right at this time I "hae me doots," as the Scotchman said, that I will ever get another such chance as that last one, to give nl- i nl, o" the back.

Sorta reminded me of the sky-rocket that Senator Barkley, of Kentucky, sent up a few short years back. He had been a steady old political hack all his life, taking orders, running errands, and doing the will of "the boss." One day the situation sent him too close to the garbage line to suit him, and he blew up. Rising in the Senate he made a magnificent speech, declaring his independence and his indignation. He made more headlines in a day than in all hiS long past life put together. It looked like the man had finally found himself and in doing so had discovered a strong, courageous man, The nation shouted praise of his new-found individuality. The next day he had dropped back into the very bottom of the waste-basket of mediocrity; has never been seen since; will never be heard from again. He was a statesman for a day. There was a famous stage play years ago entitled "A Knight for a Day." That was Barkley.

"The evil that men do live after them," wrote William Shakespeare of Stratford. The evil that was done in 1936 and for several years thereafter when the once great, honored, and always honorable Supreme Court of the United States was substituted in piece-meal by a conglomeration o,f politicd selectees-is now coming home to roost. Up to that time that Court had always and inevitably been composed of the finest judicial minds and intellectual giants that this country produced. Since that time no addition to the court has been a man of great and outstanding judicial experience and ability. Hugo Black, whose name now makes the headlines in the turmoil that surrounds the Court, is a good example. With only a very little policecourt experience, and a member of the Ku Klux, he was suddenly elevated to membership in the tribunal that had boasted of legal giants since the Court began. General Hugh Johnson compared the appointment to a man throwing a dead cat on the porch of a neighbor he disliked. And now, after a series of years in which reports of internal dissention leaked out of the tribunal through the medium of the members themselves, we find outselves with a bitterly embroiled group of men on our hands; and no lawyer of ability in this land willing to say a good wo,rd for that once great Court. Time was when every citizen looked upon that Court as his anchor to windward if all else failed What has he now?

And the atom bomb again grabs the headlines. We are advised to scrap our store of bombs and turn the formula over to an international committee created for the purpose. Personally, I wish the bomb had never been discovered. But it has, and it belongs to us. And, since we are the only nation on earth morally fit to possess such a terrible weapon, let us hold tight to it and see that none of the "ism" gangs get a peek at the recipe. We wouldn't use it for any wrong purpose. Not the United States of today, at any rate. Should the Commies and the fellow-travelers come into power it might be different; which is just one more of a thousand good reasons for keeping the rascals out. So far as Russia already knowing the formula, that's out. If they DID, we would get a telegram from "IJncle" Joe Stalin, short and to the point, and the last two words would [g-"es else." You*can be certain of that.

Two of the greatest building booms on record are being staged in two cities where I spend much of my time, Houston and Los Angeles. In Houston the construction effort is limited only by the scarcity of building materids, in spite of which thousands of buildings are under construction, ranging from three-room houses to sky-high business buildings. Were lumber and other materials available in sufficient quantity, the building in Houston would be do,ubled. Los Angeles has a home building boom that staggers the imagination, and the shortages of building material are NOT nearly as apparent here as in Houston. Homes, homes everywhere, ranging from small type vet-

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\fle will be closed lrom June 29th - to - July 7th - inclusive Buck on the job Julv

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(Continued from Page 8) er:rns houses to the most beautiful mansions. Middle price houses, ranging from ten to twenty thousand dollars cost, are so numerous you would wear yourself out trying to count them.

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: In the great building boom of 1923, a record for building permits was established in Los Angeles when in the month of August the permits totaled $22,249,262. That record has been twice exceeded already this year, and will be exceeded more times before 1946 is over. In'*March, 1946, the permits totaled $30,339,308, and then in April they were $23,467,000. The total building permits for the city for the first five mo,nths of the year amount to $109,794,000, and there is every evidence that 1946 records will far surpass the best year of the cityrs previous history.. There is a 'i'yorld of wooden construction, and as I drive about I find the lumber being used to be of much better quality than f had expected, knowing the difficulties being encountered. A huge part of the Fir lumber being used in Los Angeles is being shipped here in the shape of timbers, and cut down to home item size. Remanufacturing is one of the biggest businesses in Los Angeles today. I have seen great piles of Fir timbers as big as 30 by 30, being re-sawn into dimension for home. building. That's some job.

, Builders of homes in Los Angeles are getting much better looking lumber on the average than are builders of homes in Houston. The average quality of the lumber f see going into construction in }fouston is very low. I do not see much wane, and discoloration, and manufacturing defects in the lumber they are using in Los Angeles. I would say that on the whole it is very normal looking lumber, much like what you saw before the war. But in Houston the percentage of bright, wefl manufactured, well seasoned, prewar-looking lumber that you see going into

Opens Ocrkland Office

R. G. Robbins Lumber Co. recently opened a branch office in the Syndicate Building, l44O Broadway, Oakland.

Larry Owen, who lvas formerly with Gorman Lumber Sales, Oakland, is in charge.

construction, is very much in the minority. It is my judgment that the supply of good lumber comes much nearer meeting the detnand in Los Angeles than in Houston. fn both cities the biggest problem is the shortage of flooring,, since that is the shortest item in both Fir and Yellow Pine. In Los Angeles they make flooring out of high grade lumber items of all sorts that runs into a lot of money in most: instances. But they do get a lot of fooring, one way gr another. All this does not mean that material shortages are not holding back construction , in Los Angeles, for everything is terribly scarce, and materials of all kinds are snapped up and placed in construction the moment they arrive. But as between the two cities,with their building booms, Houston suffers for building materials much more than does Los Angeles.

The same contrast ," "r"*r""s seems to apply to both states as well, Texas and California. Both are enjoying a statewide building boo.m. But unquestionably California, is more fortunate in its lumber supply than is Texas. A' world o.f Texas lumber comes from the Black Market; and Black Market lumber is black lumber in most cases. The big mills of the Northwest are shipping a world of lumber and timbers into California, and, while much'of it comes as timbers and has to be remanufactured, it is pretty normal-looking lumber when the carpenter gets it. Muchl of it looks thin-I understand great liberties are taken with standard thicknesses in cutting these big timbers into lum-! ber-but otherwise it looks about like it used to look. In Texas the White Market mill lumber is being carefully manufactured seasoned, and graded, and builders who get it get as good lumber as they ever did before the war. But the demand completely engulfs the product of these mills, while the Black Market products lift their ugly heads every where. There would be a tremendous improvement in the general character rof lumber used in Texas if it were not for OPA.

Buys Trqct oI Timber

Phillip Ross of T os Angeles has bought 8500 acres of timber land, knowri as the Santa Fe tract. near Boonville. Calif. It contains about 26O,000,000 board feet of Redrvood and Fir.

Will Erect Large Building Material Plant Los Angeles Led Nation in

San Francisco, June 25.-A new million dollar asbestos cement products plant will be erected by The Paraffine Companies, Inc., through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Plant Rubber & Asbestos Works. The new factory will adjoin Plant Rubber's existing Redwood City' manufacturing de-.'; partment where :magne$ia insulation products are made. The announcement of the factory expansion was made today by R. H. Shainwald, Pabco's executive vice president, who is also president of Plant Rubber & Asbestos Works, which will operate and manage the plant.

Products to be turned out.by the new plant will include: asbestos cement siding shingles, asbestos roof shingles, corrugated asbestos siding and asbestos lumber o. fiat board.

Construction will start itnmediately, land has been pur' chased, architectural design completed, and approval given by the Civilian Production Agency, because of the essential need of the production for building.needs.

trarly this spring Pabco started a $6,000,000 expansion of its Emeryville linoleum, floor coverings, paint, roofing and building material factory. Included is enlargement of its "Better Housing Laboratory," the company's large research unit. In April Schumacher Wall Board Corporation was merged into The Paraffine Companies, Inc., which furnished an additional line of products, including Schumite wall board and grip lath to the Pabco line. The company also makes refractories, pipe wrappings, coatings and a number of other basic items needed in construction.