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The Valley Lumber Company, of which he is the president, general manager, and guiding spirit, has been in the retail lumber business at Fresno continuously for fifty-five years, and during that time has built for itself a reputation for progress, integrity, merchandising ability, and business distinction second to none.

In 1883 two of the giants of the early lumber days of California. F. K. Prescott and C. S. Pierce, created the Prescott & Pierce Lumber Company, and started a retail yard at Fresno, a town then in its infancy. They were strong men were those two, and they carved for themselves a high place in the retail lumber an'nals of the state. Their business was a success from the start, and throughout the time of their active participation in its affairs.

In time the Prescott & Pierce Lumber Company became the Valley Lumber Company. And likewise in time the second generation succeeded the first and F. Dean Prescott, son of F. K. Prescott, succeeded to the management of the business. And he showed that the second generation was no lesser than the first by building the business of the Valley Lumber Company much bigger and stronger than even the first generation had done.

Today and {or lnally years past F'. Dean Prescott, a gentleman of highest merit, 'presides over an institution of like character. The Fresno yard is headquarters for the company, which likewise operates a string of outlying yards in that territory. They are retail lumber merchants in the finest sense of the word. They stock and sell and actually MERCHANDISE everything in the line of building materials which their territory uses. And in addition to the sale of merchandise they likewise sell building service, operating their own roofing and hardwood flooring departments.

The main office at Fresno is a building 150 by 50 feet in size. This is mostly used as a display and sales room for their many lines of building merchandise. Roofing, floorings, wall boards, insulation, builders' hardware, millwork, plywood, plaster board, paint, and other lines, all have room for display in their spacious warehouse. As a matter of fact it has been frequently and truthfully said that the Valley Lumber Company makes a business of furnishing building service rather than just building materials. Their motto is progress, and they live well up to it.

Mr. Prescott has for many years take.n first rank among the retail lumber stalwarts of the State of California, and has likewise in late years identified himself prominently among the best lumber minds of the nation through his front-rank work with the National Retail Lumber Dealers Association. He is ably assisted by one of the most popular lumbermen in the state, W. K. "Billy" Kendrick, who has been with the Valley Lumber Company for trventy-eight years.

National Retailers Have Public Relations Division

Establishment of a public relations division within the National Retail I-umber Dealers Association in Washington was announced by President Don A. Campbell, of Lebanon, Ky., following con{irmation of the m.ove by the association's Executive, Committee.

The division, creation of which was originally authorized at the May convention of the lumber dealers' association in Washington, will be under direction of Vincent Tutching, former director of newspaper publicity for the Federal Housing Administration, and for many years real estate editor of the Washington Evening Star and more recently of the Washington Herald-Times.

Mr. Tutching is also head of Publicity Associates, public relations organization which handled the "Certigrade Home" publicity campaign nationally for the Red Cedar Shingle Bureau, Seattle, as well as other national publicity drives for national building associations and manufacturers.

Immediate plans of the newly created public relations division call for active participation in the "modernize for winter" campaign in which the lumber dealers' association is collaborating with FHA, organized labor, chambers of commerce, civic and fraternal grou'ps and other associations in the building industry. The association is taking the lead in this drive, timing it to tie in with the Administration's recovery campaign slated to get under way immediately following labor day to stimulate employment during the winter months.

Plans of the public relations division call for a longrange program of educational and publicity activity, utilizing 'newspapers, magazines and other media. It will be the objective of the association to acquaint the public with opportunities for building small homes at prices within reach of wage-earners representing approximately 70 per cent of the population, built according to conve.ntional methods, by local labor, using local materials, and financed through the Federal Housing Administration.

The department will seek to clarify misunderstandings concerning building costs, by uncovering from authentic sources true figures and publicizing them through the press.

Special effort will be made to educate the public on the Federal Housing Administration program, including all of its features, both under Title I, the Property Improvement Plan, and Title II, the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Plan.

The part the local lumber dealer or building supply man can play in the building picture will be stressed. The prospective home builder will be directed to him for information regarding FHA or other forms of financing, information regarding the kind of a home to build, assistance in planning the home, furnishing plans, specifications and giving up-to-date data on newly developed building materials and equipment.

With this newly created division as a foundation-stone, the lumber group hopes eventually to coordinate the public relations and promotional activity of the entire industry.