V.sabond Editorials

Bv Jack Dionne

A mighty good sign on the horizon: loans to commercial concerns by our banks have been showing a recent increase. It isn't much-just a sort of leak in the dyk+but it is ttre first sign of that sort in a mighty long time. If that leak ever turns to a genuine stream of credit, you can just get your running shoes on or the chariot of returning prosperity will plumb run over you.

I'm still sitting here watching for the day when the credit jam will break, and when it does there will be the greatest building boom of a certain character this country has ever seen. The dammed up flood of needed building material continues to mount ever higher. And as "Bob" Fitzimmons used to say-"The bigger they are, the harder they fall." You'll hear a roar when this jam breaks.

You can't help marveling at the timeliness of coincidences. The Chicago newspapers have been bitterly attacking the New Deal. So the Government paid off the Chicago school-teachers, whose salaries were far over-due. You don't suppose the teachers told the kids to tell their dads, do you? And the Governor of Maine, running for re-election on the Democratic ticket, asked for votes because he had been instrumental in getting the Government to dump more than a hundred million dollars into Maine. You don't suppose the folks at Washington knew there was an election coming in Maine, do you? Of all the astounding developments of the New Deal, timely coincidences seem the most amazing.

Paul Talbot, writing " ";"", bulletin of United Business Service, which comes out of Boston, Mass., says he saw a letter the other day from a farmer in Massachusetts who had just received $7,50O from the Government for NOT raising 2,000 pigs. The farmer, says Talbot, wanted to know more about this new and profitable business. ***

He wanted to know if it would be advisable to buy or rent a larger farm so that he could NOT raise 5,fiX) pigs or even perhaps 1O,O0O. Or, on the other hand, would it be more profitable to diversify, and instead of devoting his entire efrorts to NOT raising pigs, he might also go in for NOT raising wheat, corn, or cotton. He raised the question as to whether or not New England farms were suitable for NOT raising cotton.

Talbot remarks that these are indeed difficult problems. "Take the problem of the Dakota wheat farmer," he says, "with vast acres at his disposal. Should he enlist the support of eastern capital and go in for NOT raising grain on a really 'big tirire' basis-say in units of 10,000 acres each? The profit possibilities seem to be limited only by the acr€age he agrees not to plant."

"Oi" suggests Talbot, "perhaps the best industrial application would be in the agricultural implement field, for the development of new tools for NOT harvesting crops. For instance a new 'combine' W'ITHOUT a trn foot cutting head for NOT harvesting grains on a large scale; and a Junior Model WITHOUT a three foot cutting head for farms .WITHOUT fifty acres or less."

Personally, I think -"" ,r* tlr. t"tUot deserve a great deal of credit for giving their attention to these problems, and helping the deep thinkers at Washington to get farther along with their experiment. Every citizen should be willing to do his part in times like these. I asked my old sawmill friend, F'rank Bonner, the other day, if he would be willing to do like the hog and cotton and wheat raisers and help bring back prosperity by NOT making lumber at so rnuch a thousand. Frank said he not only would be willing to do it, but he would even go farther than that and make it retroactive for five or ten years. That's what I call the spirit of cooperation ***

Reminds me of the old story of the fapper who climbed up on a stool at the soda fountain and said to the soda jerker-"I want some vanilla ice cream without any chocolate sauce, see?" And the soda jerker s2id-"f'rn sorry, lady, we're all out of chocolate sauce, how about serving you vanilla ice cream without any crushed strawberries? 'We've got those."

"Are we saving the farmer, or abolishing him?" asks an editorial writer. That's easy. We're saving him for today -abolishing him for tomorrow. And who cares about tomorrow?

Abundant statistics with regard to cotton, for instance, show that for every acre we do NOT grow (or-and I

(Continued on Page 8)

Santa Fe Lumber Company to Build Lumber Tcrminal at Stoclcton

Establishment by the Santa Fe Lumber Company, San Francisco, of a wholesale shipside lumber terminal at Stockton, to supply Northwest woods, California Pines and Redwood, to the Central Valley region, and to provide facilities for handling increased intercoastal shipments of Ponderosa and Sugar Pine, was announced recently by A. J. "Gus" Russell, manager of the company.

In a meeting with the Stockton Port Commission on August 30 Mr. Russell executed a lGyear lease on four acres of port land situated just south and east of the new $100,000 ship slip. He announced that construction would start immediately, and that the firm's plans include the building of a $3O,00O all enclosed crane shed and a seven and onehalf ton crane for loading trucks. The crane shed will be 500 feet long and 78 feet wide. It will include offices for the company and will be large enough to house all lumber stocks under cover. The firm expects to have the terminal in operation by January l.

A front page story with a five-column head in the Stockton Daily Record carried the first announ.cement of the new terminal and said in part:

"Mr. Russell is not unfamiliar with Stockton's ambitions and accomplishments as a seaport. He was one of the main speakers at the Civic Auditorium dinner April 1, 1933, together with Governor Rolph, Peter B. Kyne and others, for the official dedication of the new port. The company has made many shipments through the port in both directions, moving Fir and Cedar into the harbor from Washington and Oregon and consigning Northern California Ponderosa Pine outbound on intercoastal ships.

"The terminal will be incorporated separately as Lumber Distributors, Inc. The company has chartered three coastwise lumber ships for its exclusive use and expects to have one in port, loaded with Oregon Fir and Washington Fir and Red Cedar, every two weeks. It will be strictly a wholesale terminal and will distribute to yards in the area bounded by Martinez, Sacramento, Nevada, and Bakersfield Mr. Russell stated. Large stocks will be kept on hand under cover at the terminal at all times for immediate dispatch to any yard in the area on a few minutes notice.

"Santa F6 Lumber Company has been a factor in the wholesale lumber trade on the Pacific Coast for 25 years. It has occupied the same offices in the St. Clair Building, 16 California Street, San Francisco, continuously since 1902, following the fire."

Returns From Washington

D. C. Essley, secretary of Retail Lumber & Building Material Code Authority, San Francisco, was back in his office September 25 after making two trips to Washington, D. C. within a few weeks to attend meetings of the Lumber Code Authority.

He left San Francisco on the first trip on August 7, and a few days after his return to San Francisco left on the second trip September 8. While in the East on the latter trip IVIr. Essley spent two days in New York City.