The Retail Lumber and Buildins Material Code

"A stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world" was the way President Roosevelt described the country in his inaugural address on March 4, 1933.

"The desperate business situation"' These were the words used by a group of independent economists describing conditions early in that year.

Nearly all the people were weary, anxious, uncertain. -Tb9 great depressibn had aifecied every man, woman, and child. Millions of wo-rkers in industry could find nothing to do' Indeed, lccordin-g to reliable estimates, i2,000,000 to 15,000;000 were idle. Thousands of others were on part time at low wages. Thousands of young people who never had jobs were eager for their first chance to earn iheir livins, but they did not find it easy to get started. Men with families wiie given preference. States and Cities are breaking their backs, t:rying io pay the cost of unemployment relief.

As 'time rient 6n. between 1929 and. March 1933, competition between individuals and organization became more keen, wages were reduced. Prices were cui. In many plants the quality of the products suffered. Sometimes wages and prices were cut more than would have been necessary. Unscrupulous men took advantage- of honest and public-spirited men. Industrial standards created during decades had to be abandoned.

"Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance . plenty ", the President had said in the inaugural. Dis- is at our doorstep", inaugural. _ Dtstress and plenty-the combination of the two stirred the minds and plent plenty-the comDlnatron ot tne ano the hearts of the people. Every community had those who wanted to do nothing, jusi lel things drift, just trust to "the natural forces." jusi just Just let thrngs Just to But their number had been decreasing rapidly.

"I have changed my mind. I believe we ought to try something new and vigorous." Many of us heard friends say it-or perhap5 we said it ourselves. "ACtion and action now"-the words of the President expressed the demands of the people. They wanted Recovery, and also a trial of new methods to achieve greater security in the future. The human cost of the old methods had been too great.

- Congress, in the first sentence of the National Industrial Recovery Ait, approved by President Roosevelt on June 16, 1933, described the situation Cs follows: A National emergency productive of wide-spread unemployment and dis-organization of industry, which buidens interstate and foreign commerce, affects the public ivelfare, and undermines the standards of living of the American people, is hereby declared to exist.

- In Section I bf Title I of the Act, congress further declared its policy to be-To remove obstructions to the free flow of interstate ind foreign commerce which tend to diminish the amount thereof ; and to piovide for the Generat Welfare by promoting the organization of industry for the purpose of cooperative action among trade groups. To induce and maintain united action of labor and management under adequate governmental sanctions and supervision. To etiminate unfair compelitive practices. To promote the fullest utilization of present productive capacity of industries. To avoid undue restriction-of prodlction (except as may be temporarily required). To increase the consumption of industrial and aglicultural products by increasing purchasing power. To reduce and relieve unemqloyment. To imorove standards of labor. and otherwise to rehabilitate industry and io conserve natural resources.

The NRA is one of the governmental agencies engaged in the battle against a great depression. It is also a venture in human cooperation. It asks groups within industry to. work together as never before. The NRA tries fully to harness and direct the power that lies in groups of men, in order to attain both recovery and reconstruction.

The NRA aims to carry on economic planning in "A lJnique and American way." It asks industry to take steps to govern itself, with government guidance and supervision. Planning in industry is not new in the United States. Every business man has to plan within his own establishment. Various trade associations have functioned for a long time.

The new etement is that planning has now begun on a wide scale -that individuats and organizations shall cooperate in dealing with the large and important matters which affect their lives.

"The abundant life" is the aim of the program, the President has said. In practical and immediate terms, he put the purpose as fotlows: "The law I have just signed was passed to put people back to work-to let ihem buy more of the products oT the farm and factories and start business at a living rate again,"

What does this mean in terms of John Doe, who works in a factory which makes shoesf The aim is to give him higher wages and shorter hours. He can Shen buy more good food, or put his home into better repair, or send his boy to an institution of learn- ing. But this does not help John Doe alone. If he- cal're-pair his home he assists a carpenter, who in turn assists the lumberman, who in turn buys a new radio, and so on. If the wages of John Doe are raised,- something has been done to the whole economic structure. For' we are dependent upon one another. We are our brother's keeper. There are -others perhaps equally important. Destructive and a.i."cv in lhe way men and groups of men treai each other is beine esiabtished. Mutual aid is bCine exalted among men. These aiirs are being sought by ftexible ntethods. "New constitutions" are being writ-ten in--dustry by industry and varying conditions are reflected in them, "We are content to be judged by the enemies we have made. 'When vou hear somebodv iav that we do not need NRA or would have gotten just as far dut of the depression withoul it, or that it should' now -be abandoned, it \touLt be a good thing to ask what that person was saying in 1928, 1929, or even on-March 4, 1933. On that date, business-wai shipwrecked'and rtras yelling for a raft, and when the government gave them the raft the sole idea of these few individuals-is to kick everybody else ofi while they remain in saiety. Undoubtedly, had the government been,willing to let b'usiness have everything it'wanted and paid no attention either to labor or to the cons.tmetl some people would have been able to make more money. But that would nbt have lifted us out of the depression. Ifnemployment had to be gotten rid of as far as possible; the farmer had to be given a chance to set back to a place where he coutd buy something' And that is what 1he Government agencies entrusted with the task predatory practices aie being wiped out -and,fair competition is beine fostired. New rules o[ ttte same are being drawn' Greater ing fostired. game are being Grealer have been trying to bring about.

Years aqo business men said. ago said. "We can correct competitive abuses by agreement if we can merely get free frqm the restrictions of the Anti-'Trust Laws. We are cipible of self-regulation." Said business, "By voluntary compliance if the government will just gjve us a chanci." Then -the government gave them the chance. It not only removed restrictionl of Anti-Trust Laws, but it made- the businesi man's fair-trade-practice agreement a Federal Law, signed and approved by the Presldent. Business would have spent -millions or dbllars merely to have been relieved of Anti-Trust restrictions and asked nothing more. But now the business man wants. the-govern-ment to call out the militia to throw his unruly competitor into jail. And he is complaining because the government has authorized an assessment of one-haliof one per cent of his sales for enforcement of fair practice agreements. This, my dear friends, is one queer wortd.

This new act was accepted by industry as the Utopia, because -it not only exempted us from the Anti-Trust Laws, but set up certain trade practi which industries had been unable to agree ur owed industries to write their own Codes and and set under trade practrces on whrch had Deen unaDle the old deal and allowed industries to write their own therein fair trade practices of which a violation would be in violation of a Federal Law. This certainly lvas a new deal for the lumber industry because the necessary information which became mandatorv on the part of the government to secure, necessitated the retail lumber induitry to really study their condition and to analyze costs and selling prices because any provisions written in a code could not be gu;ss work, but must- bi proven and sustained by fact. I know thlt most of you gentlemen present are not interestqd -in ,sta- tistics. Neverthelesi, thire are some appalling figures compited by the government, which in my opinion are extremely interestin-g- and shou'id be given some serioui thbught. In 192! the volume of business sold -bv 23,798 retailers amounted to $875,0Q0-00O., Last _ve-ar the number-of establishments-fell from 23,798 ro 21,251. And the total volume of these yards equalled sales for 1933 of $157,00-0'000-. -a decrease in volume of -businesi of $718,000,000, or 18% of 1923. This appalting drop was brought about through the {rop in consumption oi'lumbJr, which duringihe past five yeals has fallCn from 37 billion leet ln 1929 to 26 million feet in 1930, less t}:,an 12 billion feet in 1932 or a total decline in the rate of consumption of 70/o. A century ago

The Average

of this-riecline the average consumption of lumber per capita was 500 feet annually, 1933 apprbximately 100 feet annually per capita. Of course, a part of this'riecline of lirmber is due to th-e Jubstitution of other materials.

Nevertheless, the leaders of the industry worked I think you will agree with me after analyzing- these statistics that this industry did need more than a code to eliminate chaos in a year's time. Nevertheless, ditigently to design a Code of Fair Competition.covering the entire Uniied States with its many conflicting merchandise problems. Dur' ins Iuly of last year a public hearing was held in Washington, D. C. July public Washington, D. C. ani sreat enthusiasm was expressed by alt lumbermen because they consdientiouslv fett that we have a Santa Claus in Washington" and great all because consdientiously Cljrus Washin conscientiously felt Uljtus Washington After many inxious months of waiting the Code was signecl by the President, October 3, 1933. President Roosevelt was the Moses to lead the tired and hungry lumbermen into the promised land. The Code became effective bv the President's Order October 13. 1933, and ap,flroxfunat€ly ten days later up popped the devil. We found that a few wholesalers and contractors were instrumental in placing a Stay Order against Article 3 insofar as Article 3 was ap- plicable to carload shipments to contractors and consumers. This stay order is still in effect and at the present time we have been unable to present a plan to the Government to lift or ctarify his order in so far as it affects direct carload shipments. I expect to discuss this matter later on in this talk and for the present will move on to o_ur first- Modal Order giving us for the 6rst time in the history of the lumber industry. a minimum cost protection price kno'wn is a Modal Cost Protection orice.

(Mr. Essley's article will be continueil in the Nooember IS issue\

Holmes Eureka Air Program

Holmes Eureka Lumber Co., San Francisco, is sponsoring a radio program over station KTAB, every Tuesday at 8:15 p.m. On this broadcast they are giving facts about the Federal Housing Act, as well as information about their own Redwood products, and the public is urged to consult the retail lumber dealer.

WARREN INNES

'Warren Innes, secretary of the Redwood Split Products Association, Eureka, died Sunday, October 14, of a heart attack, while on a hunting trip in the Briceland district of Southern Humboldt County.

Mr. Innes was born in Alameda 47 years ago. He had spent the last 27 years of his life in Humboldt County, and had been engaged in the split Redwood industry during most of his business career.

He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Florence Innes, two sons, Alexander and Robert, and a twin brother, \Malter B. Innes of Berkeley.

Hole Sa Le

lY. R. CHAMBIRTIN & C().

Calilornia Salcg Agentr for

Polson Lumber & Shingle Co.

Floquiam, Warh.

Andenon a Middl*on Lumber Co.

Aberdeen, Vach.

Prouty Lumber & Box Company lTerrenton, Oregon

Operatiry Steamers lV. R. Chamberlin, Jr.

Crictet Staawood Barbare C. Phyllie

LOS AI\TGELES HEAD OFFICE OAKLAND ut Se;lilhth st rth-Fho1 Fir: Brds. tn[!ft IrH

PoRTL/|ND ru rriltclrco SEATTLE lfr Railmy E:chuge Bldg. DOugb! S{20 Pior No. t Bndray Zl5f

of Quality

Pmrnc Murum lloon Go.

Home Office TACOMA, ITASHINGTON

Branches

Chicago St. Paul Brooklyn

Alhambra Kans City

Northern

California Distributors