Random Editorial Ramblings

By Jack Dionne

Built-in ironing boards ! Have you ever stopped to think what a mighty important industry the manufacture and distribution of that one original wooden article has become? In the old days the ironing board was balanced between tables and chairs, and stood in the corner or the closet between times. Or, it stood on folding legs. Neither was convenient or very practical.

Today we make ,rror" ln"l a million folding, scientific, built-in ironing boards annually, and the business continues to increase in size. They are ready to be set into the wall of the old home, or the new, the flat or the apartment. There should be at least two in every home for ready use. They are salable to the occupants of every old dwelling of any sort. This has become a great industry, using worlds of shop lumber, makes a fine sideline for the lumber dealer, and a wonderful utility for every dwelling. ***

If you want to help the lumber industry, just seek other building thoughts of this sort. It is THAT sort of seeking that must enliven this industry, if it is to be enlivened. A few new ideas of that sort would do more for the industry than any other sort of trade extension work will ever accomplish. Advertising and pushing just WOOD is both inane and impractical. The consumer is interested only in his own needs. Show him your wood in the shape of something that he NEEDS or WANTS, and he'll buy it. But it's the article, the function, that he pays for, not the material. Boosting the MATERIAL to build things with, doesn't pay-CANNOT pay. Sell him an ARTICLE, an IDEA, and throw in the material.

Let me tetl you tt i, r BJ".J t.,l',uur-"r, interestetl in the welfare of the industry, would do well to boost and assist in every way the merchandising campaigns of the many reliable concerns now manufacturing and merchandising these built-ins of all sorts, made of wood. These things furnish the home and apartment dwellers of the land with newer and better conveniences, they put wood where virood was never used before, and make millions of friends for wooden things. Into every corner of the kitchen, the pantry, the breakfast room, the diniag room, the bathroom, the library, the sleeping rooms and the closets, go these intelligently created and scientifically arranged wooden things to make people n"lntl.. .

They replace bare walls, dust-gathering corners, and wasted space of all sorts, and, by their splendid usefulness they confer untold blessings on mankind. The old-timey hole-in-the-wall closet becomes the attractive repository of man's possessions, clever drawers, hat-racks, hangers, etc., etc., etc. Boost these things, Mr. Lumber Manufacturer ! And while boosting them, offer a prayer that more thinking men may come along and translate the lumber you try so lumberingly to sell as raw materials, into other shapes a4d forms that help humans to live better and more abundantly, and which they will trade their cash and credit for, as they never will do for boards and planks. The way to get orders for wood, is to develop more and better ways for USING it, and when you sell it, sell the THING it is made into, and not the material. That way lies prosperity.

In the death of Frank Fish, of Chicago, the famous Secretary qf the National Hardwood Association, organized lumber lost one of its most potent and powerful characters. Frank Fish led, drove, herded, and bossed that great industry for many years, with his own power and vision. He was a diplomat, a ring general, an organizer,'and a fighter. And he kept his crowd always lined up, holding his powerful association literally in the hollow of his hand. He and the late John Rhodes, of New Orleans, were easily the two outstanding characters of lumber manufacturing history, and now both have crossed the River.

You California lumbe;"J .J" rugt."ting a useful opportunity in not educating your townspeople, wherever you may be located, concerning your great timber and lumber producing state. I find the business men of California generally interested but almost entirely ignorant of what a great timber and lumber state California is. When you get a chance, talk to your service clubs about it. See that your Iocal newspapers publish your remarks. Most people think California a lumber consuming state, and little more.

It will interest the people of YOUR town to know that California has the greatest reserve of commercial virgin softwood timber of any state except Oregon, and that so much more valuable are our Pines and Redwoods that the California forests are really of greater monetary value even than those of Oregon. Tell them that California has more timber reserves than Washington, and is cutting it only about one-fourth as fast as is Washington. Tell them that contrasted with production, California has a lot more timber than even Oregon. Tell them that California has more valuable commercial standing timber left today than the great lumber producing Southern States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama combined.

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The termite (or white ant) problem is being successfully aaacked through the use of treated lumber for sills, girders and underpi*irg. McCormick's scientific study of the problem, over a period of /€sr places us in a favorable position to help you solve this vexatious problem in your own locality.

The McCormick treating plant at St. Ffelens, Ore., is trhoroughly equipped to take care of :rny cnso-