Co-operation in The West Coast Forest Industries

By J. D. Teonant, Presidilrt of the lVest Coast Lumbemen's Association Paper read before the Pacific loggi"g Congrece, Seattle, Waeh.

t. D. Tentnnt

It is not often that in the selection of a subject for the basis of a talk of this kind that one is so fortunate as to have assigned a subject which is so full of possibilities as the one i'hich youi President has assigned to me. For had he left it to my own choosing, I am certain that I could not have selected one that is more fitting, more timely, or more necessary for reasons which I am sure most of you understand.

In addressing oneself to the subject of cooperation within the industry, one has a wide field of possibilities. I feel very much like the prohibition advocate who was addressing an audience on the evils of liquor traffic, while he himself had imbibed perhaps not too wisely, but too well, said in opening his remarks, "I am going to be able to give you a good talk today for the reason that I am full of my subject."

In this day of rapid and almost revolutionary changes in our economic and commercial processes, it seems almost axiomatic rto say business and communities must have a broad vision of organization, courage of group action and close interplay of team work if they are to meet successfully all tire iew conditions. It has been said and not without foundation that the lumber industry is made up largely of individualists. This situation was true a few yeals -ago of all our larger industries but we all know that larticu6rly since the world war this condition has changed very rapidly.

In the old days, many lines of business were built up around one man or one organization and due to the fact that this particular person or this particular organization had been proud of their accomplishments they were loath to have any so-called interference with thiir business. They felt that they were equal to any occasion that might arise. We find in this day of fast changing conditions that institutions that had a record of individual management of more than 10O years are now finding it necessary or advisable to eliminate very largely the personal and individual element and to co-operate with their neighbors in the same line of business. We find this in the larger banking institutions. We find this in the steel industry. We find it in the textile industry, and perhaps the most outstanding in dustry that has learned the worthwhileness of cooperation has been the automotive industry. In the earlier days of this industry there were many different kinds and makes of automobiles that were being manufactured and put on the market throush the individual efiort of the oarticular through indi effort particular organization manufacturing them. But it took the creation of the great General Motors Corporation, which was merely the consolidation of many individual units into one group whereby group action could be had, to make the automotive industry what it is today.

We find the same tendencv in the new and verv fast developing aeronautic industry. We find that our own federal government has been working for years to bring about what might be termed group action on the part of our various transportation systems.

I have said that the lumber industry is made up very largely of individualists and this was, d6ubtless, occaiionei !y the way in which the industry was developed. In his line, the logger began in a small way with perhaps a team or two of cattle or of horses, and as a rule began logging on a contract basis for some small mill man who was beginning in the same 'ri/ay as himself. With lots of hard work and self-denial, he was able to accumulate enough money to buy a small tract of timber of perhaps a section, or- two; and in the course of years, by his own individual effort, he thus became a power to himielf. Many mitl men have in their lines madi sfmilar progress and -this under the old order of things was whaf might be expected, but as I have said heretofore, this was before the introduction of this thing called mass production. Mass production perhaps had its origin with the advent of the world war and during that period we learned to do things in a larger way. It wai about this same time that the word efticiency began to be used frequently and at this same time the efiiciency engineer came on the scere. fn a recent conversation with the head of one of the largest transportation systems serving the West Coast, he told me !!at tlrgy were able to do tfie same things today successfully-which they found a failure twenty years ag5.

It is unnecessary for me to review for you the trend of development of the lumber industry which we all know began on the East Coast of America and gradually followed westward the trend of population. In the gradual development of our industrial activities we have constantly pushed on to bigger and better means of accomplishing the desired result and while this has had its advantages, it has also not been without its evils. No nation since the world began has altered its social and economic structure as rapidly as has the United States during the last quarter of a century. We have changed from a nation that was preponderantly agricultural to a nation whose major attention is now directed to industry. A nation which has won its way to industrial leadership by the stimulating of production and which has enlisted the aid of science and invention to benefit the efficiency of industrial progress has a new task before it. It must prove that production is its servant and not its master. It must Drove that it can control the machine that it has created. -Tust as it substituted electricity for steam in our march toward mass production, it should be willing to substitute scientific system of cooperation, of far-sighted balancing of production and consumption for the elementary team play which we have found so serviceable in the past.

The first step in this direition has already been taken in conscious cooperation and had as its result the improved facilities in transportation and distribution. We all know what has taken place in the improvement of transportation !n the country today as compared with the system that was in effect ten or twenty years ago. We have-found that our transportation systems have adopted an entirely new policy o.f dealing with the general public. The day of "the pub- lic be damned" as a policy bi the transporiation sysfems of our country is past and now we find the organizaiion in charge of these great transportation systemJ doing their utmost to cooperate with their customers. And this change in their policies was necessary because it was either improve their service or die.

To meet the challenge of unbalanced produciion we sh-all need the conscientious and considered leam play of all of those in a position to aid the development oi tlieir industry and above all, we must have a widespread understand- ing that to meet the problems of this new day we must broadly cooperate .with every group, and eveiy industry must conscie_ntiously relate its expansion and development Lo tlS growth and stabilization of the industry as a whole. Dealing with the lumber industry, some rapid strides have been made in this direction during the pait two or three years. In the old days, it was a battle between species or between producing regions and very often a battle between lpecies in the same region. The lumber industry has found that in order to meet this new condition of which I have heretofore spoken, it is necessary for group action on the part of the lumber industry. and I feJl thit I can say in all _sincerity that a much beiier feeling exists today between those in the industry than existed even two or three years ago. No longer do the operators of the socalled Carolina Pine districts of the Atlintic Coast feel that they have lgthjng in common with their neighbor, South- ern.Pine. No longer does the southern pine producer, who until a comparatively few years ago heli the center of the stage in the way of maximum production of softwood lum-

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