lndustry Should Tell Public Extra Reasons for Home Buying Under Current Conditions

It is the duty of everyone in the building industry to make the public understand that its surest protection against the uncertainties of the future is an investment in a home, wrote Henry W. Collins, vice-president of The Celotex Corporation, in a letter to Celotex dealers on June 25th.

. "During the next two or three years," he pointed out, "the national defense program will provide the building industry with a great deal of business. We are all likely to be operating on a near capacity basis.

"While our first duty is to cooperate in building up the nation's defenses, we must not neglect our private markets. For upon home building and commercial construction will depend our bread and butter after the defense needs of the country have been filled.

"There is a possibility that the uncertainties of war, the stock market and the presidential year may cause some prospective buyers to freeze the capital they intended investing. As good Americans and as intelligent business men, we must not allow this to happen. The building industry today has a special obligation to itself and to the public.

"It is our duty to make the public understand that its surest protection against the uncertainties of the future is an investment in a home.

"In carrying this message to the public you will be rendering a service to your country, to your customers and to yourself'. In urging your prospects to build now, you have many sound arguments, among which are these-

1.' A home is perhaps the safest investment a man can make. No matter what may happen to money, stocks and bonds, the real value of a home will persist. It will continue to provide shelter and security.

2. A home is a hedge against inflation. Many financial experts predict that inflation will come. That means that the home sold today for $5,000 should be worth considerably more, and it means higher salaries, which will make the payments easier to meet.

3" Home building costs are probably lower today than they will be at any time in the near future. Most building material plants are running near capacity now. The law of supply and demand will tend to increase prices. Costs today are actually 9/o below the 2O year average.

4. There is a strong probability of a shortage of both skilled labor and materials. The defense program will involve large scale building of industrial plants and houses for workmen. The Government will be forced to build hangars, barracks, office buildings, etc. Even now there is a shortage of building mechanics in many centers.

"I believe you will agree that these are sound and strong reasons why people should build now. I suggest that you discuss them with your banker, your mayor and with your local newspapers. If you can get a sentiment started to "BUILD NOW" in your trading area, you will have rccomplished much.

"Here at Celotex we are hammering away at the job every minute of the day. Our advertising is promoting home ownership and remodeling and their value as investments. Our publicity department is working overtime to get over to the public in every part of the country special advantages of building now ! We are holding meetings at every opportunity to sell these ideas to all trade factors and through them to the public.

"To further the campaign in your community we are preparing a special program of advertising and publicity material for you. Its sole purpose is to help you sell the unique protection offered by home investment to the families in your community."

Home Hishlishts

Americans are paying more attention to their "backyards." There was a time when the area back of the house, in nine out of ten American homes, on almost any street in any community was a collection of woodsheds, stables, burned piles, chicken yards and debris. Within the last ten years there has been a steady growth of the idea that, having paid for the yard, it should perform some service to everyday living during at least three months of the year.

Ju5t as the once wasted attic and basement space inside the house is now being turned to useful purposes, so the land around the residence can be inexpensively rearranged to offer relief from constant interior confinement.

The first requirement for outdoor living quarters is privacy, which is best accomplished with a wood fence. Either the high type or the smaller, less expensive picket types are suitable. Next comes shelter from the sun, which may be in the form of a pergola, an awning-covered terrace of a summer house. Furniture for the garden is economical and can often be built at home.

Here are a few suggestions which may help in the location and planning of your summer living room:

If you want to have the feeling of being right in the garden, build your stone terrace floor level with the surrounding ground. This will not interfere with the lawn mowing. Locate your summer living room where it can be conveniently reached from the kitchen, or provide an outdoor fireplace. Provide the summer living room with some light, movable partitions or wood screens, three-quarter room height, which will permit the family to eat beyond the gaze of passers-by and which, if available in sufficient number, can be used for arranging mid-day and sun-bathing quafters. Have plenty of tables and at least one which is 4tx€.

Of course, you cannot start from scratch and expect to provide perfect summer living quarters in one season because, instead of wall paper, curtains and rugs, the interior decorations are composed of grass, shrubbery, hedges, trees and flowers. Make your start this year with the necessary yard enclosure-the fence. This is equivalent to the walls 'of your normal living room.

If you need suggestions, cost estimates, help with the layout and design, or someone to actually do the job, consult your lumber dealer. He is capable of telling you the best and least expensive method of starting an outdoor living foom.

F. L. Baird Lumber Co. is Pioneer Firm

F. L. Baird Lumber Co., is one of the pioneer business frms of Redwood City, Calif., where they have been op€rating for thirty-two years. For twenty years, the firm was known as Baird Bros., but since then under its present name.

Now associated with Floyd L. Baird in the business are his two sons, Floyd Jr. and Ernest H. Baird. The 'company is equipped not only to supply all types of lumber and building materials but to do modern millwork.

In Keepingr with our PolicT

We now hqve lor immedicte shipnent from our lcrgle warehouse stocft

SIJCED WAINUT PI.HIN OAT ASH

BIRCH ELtvI UIISET.ECTED GIIM HANDWOOD UTII.ITY BOAND

Yq" *,48 x 96 brexpensive Hcndwood Pcnrels'Ior modern home construction and modernizcrtion worlc

Our Choice

There are two kinds of discontent in this world: the discontent that works, and the discontent that wrings its hands. The first gets what it wants, and the second loses what it has. There's no cure for the first but success; and there's no cure at all for the second.

-Gordon Graham.

IN OTHER WORDS, ON FOOT

Superintendent: Did you see a pedestrian pass this way?

Roustabout: No. I've been working here all afternoon and not a thing has come by'cepting one man an'he was walkin'.

OUCH !

She's only a dentist's daughter, but she runs aro'und wittt the worst set in town.

THE MIDNIGHT \VATCH (FIRE)

A rich man in his years of toil, Burnt barrels and barrels of midnight oil; His son now keeps his memory green By burning midnight gasoline. r***.

cirNAnvE FOR MANV ILLs

Always laugh when you can; it is cheap medicine. Merriment is a philosophy not well understood. It is the sunny side of existence.-Lord Byron.

{.18*

DIDN'T MISS A THING

A foreigner wanted to see some typical western mountain scenery, so he hired a car at Denver and told the chauffeur to do the best he could insid.e- of two hours, which, he explained, was his time limit.

It was rather a hair-raising experience, the car careening up hill and down dale at a terrific speed. ffowever, the man-in-a-hurry was satisfied, and congratulated the driver when paying him off.

"But, f say," he remarked, "I'rn'grfraid we must have run over something about an hour ago. I distinctly felt a bump."

"Bump?"..replied the driver. "Bump? Oh, that was the Continental Divide."

*t*

And fhen there was the guy who was so ugly that Frankenstein was picketing his house.

The Old Idea Of A Retail Lumber Yard

One bundle of cypress shingles to sit on, One bushel of clean, sharp sand, to spit on; One piece of siding No. 3, kiln dried, One bundle of lath, with the strings untied; A two by four, and a two by six, A piece of moulding, a dozen bricks; A sack of lime spilled on the floor, A bag of cement to prop the door; A roll of roofing, upside down, A can of paint marked "Leather Brown"; A stair rail covered with dirt and must, A cottage door embalmed in dust; A gable sash wifh the putty out, A can of turps with a leaky spout; One keg of nails and a box of tacks, A can of stain, and a pound of wax; An inside lock with the bolt too tight, A bevelled transom, with crack in the light. These kind sir, with a bottle of ink Are all just now that I can think, Will aid the rag-tail puncher's mind, To dwell on scenes of proper kind.

The New Idea Of A Retail Lumber Yard

A comfy swivel chair to sit in, A polished cuspidor to spit in; A desk, and on each drawer, a label, Some visiting chairs, an attractive table; A neat bookcase, a well oiled floor, "Welcome home builders," over the door; Attractive walls, with tinted ceiling, Paint well used, good taste revealing; "Modern Flomes" upon the wall, In pictures fine, where glances fall; Pictures fine and pictures fair, Plans of buildings everywhere; Make all those who chance to roam, To your office, think of home Building; and your wiles ensnaringMake them think about repairing; Make your office your best "ad," Make the newly weds feel glad; DO THE BUILDING THINKING_SEE_ FOR YOUR WHOLE COMMUNITY.

U. S. Lumber and Log Exports and lmportr

First Five Months, 1940

Total exports of hardwood and softwood lumber (including boards, planks, scantlings, flooring, sawed timber, hewn and sawn railroad ties, box shooks) and logs for the first 5 months of 1940 (January 1 to May 31) totaled 432,754 M board feet as compared with 494,348 M feet for the first 5 mo,nths of 1939, a loss of 12 percent, according to figures just released by the Forest Products Division of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.

Of the total 1940 amount, sawed material (including sawn railroad ties and box shooks) accounted for 378,583 M feet as compared with 421,318 M feet, a loss of 1O percent. On the same basis of comparison, exports of logs and hewn timber (including hewn railroad ties) t,otaled 54,07I M feet as against 73,030 M feet, a loss of 26percent.

In the following paragraphs, the amounts given cover the first 5 months of. 194O. For comparative purposes the figures covering the first 5 months of 1939 are in parenthesis.

Sawn softwood (excluding railroad ties and box shooks) totaled D6,952 M feet (AO,&4). In the sawn softwood group, Douglas fir was the most important species, totaling I7O,D7 M feet (151,L27). Southern pine rvas next in importance, totaling 8i,005 M feet (109,016). Other woods exported in this gr'oup were: spruce, I3,On M feet (4,7ffi); white, ponderosa and sugar pine, 12,345 M feet (13,939) ; redwood,7,97l M teet (5,927); cedar, z,ffiI M leet (2,483); cypress, 1,544M feet (1,552). Of these woods, Douglas fir, spruce, redwood and cedar showed gains.

Sawn hardwoods (Including flooring, and excluding railroad ties and box shooks) totaled 48,558 M feet (110,968). In this group, oak totaled 22,236 M feet (6,787); ash, 5,725 M feet (11,488) ; poplar, 2,147 M feet (7,301) ; red and sap gum, 2,861 M feet (6,836).

Softwood log exports totaled 33,449 M feet (52,237). Hardwood log exports totaled 13,612 M feet (LL,944). In this l,og export group, Douglas fir accounted f.or L7,456 M Ieet (42,M8) ; cottonwood and aspen 8,645 M feet (6,568); Port Orford cedar 419 M feet (888); and Eastern cedar 2,2L4 M feet (l)6). Cottonwood and aspen and Eastern Cedar showed decided increases. Log exports in other segregated species were comparatively small.

In the first 5 months of 194O, hewn railroad ties totaled 7,010 M board feet (8,849) ; sawn railroad ties 7,982 M board f.eet (IL,397); and box shooks 25,191 M board feet (8,309).

Total imports of hardwood and softwood logs and lumber (including cabinet woods, sawn railroad ties, box shooks and empty packing cases) for the first 5 m,onths of 194O totaled 336,3M M feet (349,798) a loss of 4 per cent. Of this amount, logs (hardwood and softwood) accounted for 81,859 M feet (85,391); softwood lumber 2l3,3II M feet (230}ffi); hardwood lumber and sawed cabinet woods 37,531 M f.eet (34,247).

In the softwood lumber group, spruce rvas the most important species imported totaling 100,966 M feet (89,99?).

Imports of fir and hemlock combined totaled 5lOtS M feet (93,469), and imports of pine totaled n,267 M feet (30,352).