Vagabond Editorials

(Continued from Page 6) young man who graduated from college and got some historical organization to send him to Greece to ilo research work. For a year his reports were fat and lifeless. Then one day they got a wildly excited cable from him. He had made, he said, one of the most momentous'discoveries of the age. He had discovered that llomer never really wrote the Iliad. IT WAS ANOTHER GREEK BY THE SAME NAME.

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Said R. B. Goodman to the annual convention of the Northern Hemlock & Hardwood Manufacturers Association the other day: "So far as it (NRA) imposed industrial restraints it retarded recovery. The.imposition by force of law of limitations and restraints neither increases consumer power nor employment. fts effect is to diminish both. The law of supply and demand is just as real as the law of gravitation." *{<* r8,t*

The New Mexico Lumber Institute holding its annual convention at Santa Fe, August 16th and 17th, has issued an interesting looking progriun. (The writer regrets sincerely his inability to accept an urgent invitation to appear on their program). One of the subjects listed for discussion is: "Who the Hell Says the New Deal is a Square Deal?" Another subject is "I{ow to Build a Home Quickly Under the F. H. A.", and there is a foot-note that reads: "All materials delivered on these National Housing Jobs must be tied in RED TAPE." "How to collect or how. to get on relief," is another slated subject.

Henry E. Hardtner died the other day in Louisiana. Few men in the history of the American lumber industry accomplished so much in its behalf. Henry Hardtner was the father of forestry in the South. Inspired by the love of trees and imbued with a kindly and largely unselfish ambition to develop some known facts about Southern Pine and its regrowth, he spent two generations in experimentation-practical experimentation. And, he leaves behind him at Urania, Louisiana, a Pine forest that is easily the most amazing and convincing demonstration in practical forestry that the South, and, f befieve the nation generally, has known. Henry Ffardtner had certain theories about re-growing Southern Pine, and he had the great pleasure and satisfaction of seeing his theories proven beyond any measure of doubt. :F fn a comparatively small forest in Central Louisiana he has accomplished permanent timber supply for a gooil sized sawmill. The Government long ago became interested in his work, and essayed to work with him. Since that time the experiment at Urania has been continuously watched and supervised by Government Foresters. As in a European forest, every tree is numbered, and the growth, development, etc., under various circumstances and conditions, made note of. Because of what Henry Hardtner has done at Urania, we know more about the actual re-growth of Southern Pine than we would ever have known in any other way. And, it is practical, beneficial knowledge.

He discovered at Urania why Long Leaf Yellow Pine, when left to its natural bent, never re-grows Long Leaf, but rather Short Leaf, scrub Oak, and othertrees. And, you can go there and see the proof of the pudding plainly demonstrated. Side by side you can see two acres of second growth Pine. Both are fenced. Both are protected from cattle and fire. On one of these acres there is a fairly heaoy growth of timber. THERE ISN'T A LONG LEAF TR,E,E WITHIN THAT ENCLOSURE. Adjoining it is another acre. IT IS ENTIRELY LONG LEAF. The answer? The second acre where Long Leaf reproduced itself, IS PROTECTED FROM HOGS. The first is not. Strange, isn't it?

Henry Hardtner nro.r"l al"a an" long, succulent "taproot" of the Long Leaf Pine is natural food for the razorback hogs that abound in all So,uthern forests. They pull up the young tree, and eat the thick, fat root, that drives straight down into the ground. When a Long Leaf is five years old it is just a little bit of a shoot above the ground. But in the ground there is a long, juicy root, three to five feet long. The hogs love it. The Sho,rt Leaf Pine sends out a mass of spreading roots in all directions close to the.surface of the ground. They have no food value. So the hogs Iet them grow. This and many other useful and interesting facts about re-growing both Long and Short Leaf Pine Mr. Hardtner proved. The finest thing you can say about any 62n i5-('f{e made the world a better place to live in-he did something for others." Henry Hardtner rendered great service to the industry. llis name will live when many richer men have been forgotten.

Visits Redwood Empire

Walter Peterson, manager of Bakersfield Building Materials Co., Bakersfield, returned August 2 irom a vacation trip with his family to the Redwood Empire.

Thcy Tried lt in Rome, Too

(From J. C. Stobart's Book, "The Grandeur That Was Rome")

"The whole Roman world was being slourly strangled with good intentions. The bureaucracy had grown so highly organized and efficient, so nicely ordered through its various grades of official life, that everybody walked in leading-strings to the music of official proclamations. Paternalism regulated everything with its watchful and benignant eye.

"The triumph of the systern may be seen in the famous Edict of Prices issued by Diocletian in A. D. 301. Here we find scheduled a maximum price for every possible commodity of trade and maximum wage for every kind of service. Death is the penalty for any trader who asks, or any purchaser who pays a higher price. No difference of locality or season is permitted. Trade is forbidden to fluctuate under penalty of death. This delightful scheme, which vvas engraved on stone in every market in Europe, was evidently the product of a highly efficient Board of Trade, which had sat late of nights over the study of statistics and political economy. Benevolent officials of this type swarmed all over the empire, spying and reporting on one another as well as on the general public. Naturally these advances in the direction of more and stronger goverrunent proved no alleviation of the woes which sprang from too much super-rrision."

Lumber Ad Brings Reply From Middlewest

That advertising pays is evidenced by the Builders' Supply House of Nevada City who recently received a letter from a woman in Lauren,ce, Kansas, as a result of their ad in The Nevada City Nugget. In her letter, the woman advises that she is about to sell her house there, would like to locate in Nevada City, and requests information as to what would be the cost to build a small neat home. Fred Conner is manager of the Builders' Supply House at Nevada City.

FHA Loans Show Steady Increase

Washington, D. C., August 2.-A steady increase in insured modernization credit and mortgages selected for appraisal has brought a re,cord month for the Federal Housing Administration.

The volume of business done by this Administration during July totaled fi53,797,335, which is an increase of approximately 250 per cent over March, and the largest single month since the inauguration of the program. Insured modernization credit issued during the month amounted to $21,084,556. Mortgages selected for appraisal with fees paid during the month amounted to $32,712,769.

The r''i'eek ending July 27 also reached a new peak, with fi4,816,126 in modernization and repair notes being insured and $9,030,170 in mortgages selected for appraisal, the total business for the week being fi13,846,296.

Up to August l,288,149 modernization and repair notes had been insured since the start of the program in August, 1934, representing a total amount of $1I3,O77,642. There had been 31,02I mortgages selected for appraisal for a total of. $122,518,711.

At present 41 per cent of all mortgages accepted for insurance under Title II covers the construction of new homes. Figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics July 18 indicated an increase of more than 228 per ,cent in residential constru'ction for June, 1935, over June, 1934.

The above does not in'clude the low cost housing part of the program. Projects representing $15'678,148 have been tentatively accepted and $99,940,374 additional are under consideration.

Two Aviatorsin \(/hite Family

Chas. B. "Brtiz" White, son of C. H. White, vice president and general manager of White Brothers, San Francisco, recently re,ceived his private pilot's license, making him the second aviator in the family. He trained at the Oakland Flying School, Oakland Airport.

Don F. White, Mr. White's eldest son, who works at White Brothers' Oakland yard, graduated from the University of California as Major of the Aviation Unit, R. O. T. C. Don recently became a father, making Mr. C. H. White, a grandfather.