Ways of Shingle Opponents are Mysterious and Sinister says Peter B. Kyne

Peter B. Kyne, California writer, who hae cndcarcd him' rclf to the American public with hia gtorics of -"C"ppY Rickc," haa emcrgcd fro-m fiction to dcfend one of the aolid and traditional indugtrics of California. Beforc Kync waa a writer hc waa a lumberman. He hag put thc romance of that buginesa, with hia love of thc forcat and the outdoore, into many of his stories. The man who wrote "The Valley of thc Giante" knows thc big trce of California. He wag one of the 6ret to sente thi rubtle attack on the shingle indurtry in the State Houaing Act to be voted on November 7th and was among thc 6rst to voice an emphatic Protcst. What Pcter B. Kyne thinks of the "Shingle Bill" is set forth in the following charactcriatic article from his pen.

By Peter B. Kyne

There be three things that interest me profouudly. Yea, four. The way of a man with a maid, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of an eagle in the air and the way 9f th9 ingenious person who framed the State Housing Act,-familiarly known as the "shingle BiII", No.5 on the ballot at the November election, and then slipped the infamous bill past the noses of the lumber interests of California, through both houses of the I-:egislature and. up to Governor Stephens for his signature. Wherefore, we are saddled with the expense of a referend.um election on the State Housnig Act. -

Somebody has referred to this bilI as-"a woodpile wrapped around a Nigger. " At any rate, the clause that outliws the use of shingles for roofs is cunningly tueked away in a wilderness of verbiage that seems fairly to clrip with pity for the misinformed who use shingles and thus subject themselves to a hitherto unsuspected fire risk. Under the slogan of Safety First, the State Housing Act would'-not only render building more expensive, but it would', by vicious legislation, outlaw the manufacturers of shingles and sub' stilute patent rofing, alleging as an excuse for sueh men' dacity, that ffre risks are thereby greatly red'uced.

ThL'question is: Are they? Not so you'd notice it' Shin' gles are made from two singularly non-inflammable woods, iedwood and red cedar. Neither of these woods contain the slighest percentage of resinous products and. experience has demonstratecl that they are extremely slow to ignite from such chance sparks as may fall upon them from an adjacent conflagration. On the roof of Fort Humboldt redwood shingles seventy years old may still be found in an excellent state of preservation.

The shingle industry is one of the oldest in California. Millions of dollars are invested in it, thousands of people draw their sustenance from it. It is a cheap, popular, d.urable and time-honored rooffng material, popular with the masses and never before spoken of d.isrespectfully, not even by firemen ! The State Immigration and Ilousing Commission has hastened.to its defense by publicly repudiating the State Housing Act when their attention was called to the pious hypocrisy of the alleged intent of the bill.

If competition is the life of trade, it would seem the part of wisd.om, if not common justice, to preserve the modest shingle yet a little longer an<l not relegate it to the limbo of forgotten things at (I suspect) the behest of some extremely adroit competitors.

Down wid' em!

OKLAEOM/A, DEALER OPENS YARD IN L. A.

William Bowbell, formerly a retail lumber operator in Oklahoma, has opened. a yard at 1025 Minton street, Los Angeles, just off of Santa Monica Boulevard. He will do business under the name of the Bowbell Liumber & Material Company.

SHINGI,E MEN MEET DECEMBER, 7 AND 8

The annual meeting of the Shingle Branch of the 'West Coast l-.rumbermen's Association will be heltl at Seattle, Wash., Thursday and Friday, December 7 and 8. This or-' ganization comprises most of the important manufactureis of red cedar shingles in the Northwest. Jack Dionne, publisher of THE CAIJIFORNIA ITUMBER MERCHANT, is named as one of the speakers on the program.

Sugar