Vagabond Editorials

By Jack Dionne

The lumber industry has become accustomed to mourning the wooden siding business as something irretrievably lost<omethir^g to be listed with the mustache cup, the horse-hair sofa, and the Dodo Bird- Whereas in the old days most modest homes, as well as the majority of large orr"r, -"." sided with wood, today stucco has shoved wood ofi the siding map, and brick veneer has taken second rank, with wooden siding given the distance fag, too far behind to count. And the lumber industry, after struggling vainly for a series of years, has finally decided that there is nothing to be done about it, and accepted the siding business as hopelessly lost. * * r.

And the only trouble is that no new ideas have been created and invested in the wood siding business' The good' ' old fashioned wooden siding of well known kind and character does not appeal to the builder of homes as does stucco and brick, et al, yet it doesn't seem to have occurred to the lumber industry that possibly something NEW and DIFFERENT and MORE ATTRACTIVE might be done with wood for siding purposes. That is, until recently' I rejoice to report that in the last few months I have seen some new ideas injected into the wooden siding business that shoutd bring iesults. But the wooden siding business will not come back until we get away entirely from the accepted siding patterns of yesteryear, and create new things' new patterns, new apPearances' etc., that will meet the competition of other materials by appealing to the eyes and minds ofthebuildingpublicsoforcefullyastocreateadesirefor possession.

The average manufacturer of lumber bemoans with tears in his eyes the pa.ssing of the wooden siding business, yet not onq in a thousand has ever given a single thought to recovering that business by rejuvenation' No better illustration oi th" general attitude of the lumber industry towards its own affairs could be offered than the almost complete surrender of the siding business' The building public is a fickle jade. Show them exteriors of wood that catch their eye and attract their admiration, and that business would slide back to wood as easily as it slid away from it. But, like all the good things of the world, it won't just happen. Just another of the innumerable oPPortunities for a great engineering, research, and architectural department somewhere back of this great industry to dig up live things to helP the industry'

Let's talk for a moment about creating business' I saw a marvelous effort of that kind the other evening that greatly impressed me. I saw a car Pass a corner on a well known boulevard, and saw a man on a motorcycl'e shoot out from ttre corner, overtake tte car, stop it, and converse with the driver. In a minute or so the car drove on, and the motorcycle man returned to his Post on the corner. He wasn't a cop in uniform, but was dressed in white. ty curiosity was aroused, so I took time off to watch. Witbin five minutes anottrer car lnssed, and the same thing haP pened. Soon the young man in the white suit returned' In twenty minutes he made four stops of that kind, staying three or four minutes with each car he stopped.

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I moved up the sidewalk to qfrere I could overhear the conversation of the nert car he stoPPd, and sure enorlthr he grabbed one and shoved him over to the curb right dong side of me. And what do you suPltosc that motorcycle man said. His manner was good and his grin was friendln and he said-"Mister, one of your headlights is out' and it's tch dollars fine in this town you Lno'nt tq drive witb only one headlight, and I'm a headlight ertt€f,t and would like to fi: it for you right now." And the drivcr, relieved to 6nd he was not pinched, but was being ofiered a senicc, said"Sure, go ahead," in two or three minutes his ligbts were both working, and tte man in white went back to his post' He stays at that post every night frorn dark to midnight, and he is doing a wholesde busin€ss in fi:ing headlights' He carries a little "Ht" on his motorcycle, and be 6xes'em quick' * r r

Every single Penny be is taki-g in that way is created out of whole cloth. And he is doing a wonderful business every niEht. It reguires initiative, and brains, and ingenuity to do what he is doing, but he is pcrforming a great service, helping the public generalln improving traftc conditions, "tta nintit g in a nice incorne. IS THERE A THOUGHT FOR YOU ANYWHERE THERE, Mr. Lumber Merchant?

The other day I bumped into a lumber friend of mine' He was'wearing a conspicuously handsome new suit of clothes, and was driving a bright and shining D3F Glr--an expensive one. I had rieason to Lnow that thc Past year has been a bad one in his businesq and that he basn't made a dime in that time. So I asked the reason' particularly concerning the new car.

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