Riddiford Sees Continuation of present Heavy Demand for Lumber

A distinctly optimistic view of the lumber market-from the standpoint of the man who has lumber to sell-was p,resented. by Henry Riddifcrd, the sage and philos,opher ol the Los _Angeles Lumber Exchange a1 the ricent meetins of the Souithern Ca,lifornia Retaii Lumber Dealers' Asl sociation.

-IIe pointed out the present steady demand for lumber in a-l! parts of the country and predicted a continuation of this demand until the fiist of the year with an ,even greater call for lumber with the approach of early Spring. "

"The rail movement," hi- said, ,,may bi consid''ered the backbone and barometer of the market.- Eight or ten weeks ago when there were_ rumors.of a comple-te tie-up oi ttre railroads and the strike situation otherwise looked' serious there was a grand scramble to get stock in ,transi,t with the thought in mind that the cars would move very slowlv and p.robably get hung up en route and that when they did'reach the diver,ting point the scarcity of lumber would make them goo{. lr-ol9rty, but the unexpected happened and, practical- ly all of these cars went through in iecord time with the result that the buyer discovered one day that everybody was trying ,t,o sell him tra_nsits and he sat tight and -the prices on transits began to drop. For a time th-e situation lboked