Recommends Competitive Bidding Between Building Materials in Federal Building Program

John L. JVestrum, representative of The Red River Lumber Co. at Minneapolis, Minn., through the courtesy of, Congressman James M. Mead, chairman of the committee on post offices and roads of the House of Representatives, whi,ch was authorized to conduct an investigation of Federal building materials and payment of ar,chitects, has been furnished a report of the,committee's investigation. In a letter to "The California Lumber Merchant", Mr. Westrum enclosed a copy of the following letter he wrote to one of the company's customers giving the conclusions of the committee:

'

"First, as to the payment of fees to architects:

"1. That, pending the enactment of legislation on this subject, the committee recommends that in the selection of architects for all high cost and monumental buildings the architects be selected by competition.

"2. That the Government follow as closely as possible the custom adhered to by many public utilities and commer,cial enterprises, that of erecting buildings of reasonable uniform construction, eliminating as far as possible surplus decorative features.

"3. That the practice engaged in by certain ar,chitects of in,cluding in the plans ancl specifications for monumental buildings certain materials to the discrimination of other materials for the sole purpose of increasing the award be discontinued, and in each instance alternate bids for materials be included in each specification submitted.

"4. That, in the construction of the smaller'type of buildings, architects employed by the Government should have exclusive charge of these undertakings, except in a period of depression when large numbers of architects are out of employment. In the excepted cases we believe preference should be given the local architects whenever possible. We do not, however, recommend that selection of local architects be the permanent policy of the Treasury Department, and we reaffirm, when normal conditions return, that the architects employed by the Government have complete charge of the plans, designs and specifications for smaller type buildings. materials, in fairness to all materials, and in view of the importance of the Federal Building Program to local industries, the committee therefore recommends that plans and specifications should provide, whenever possible, for the use of alternate materials, and for the use of local materials where suitable.

"You will probably re,call that, as chairman of the trade extension committee of the local lumbermen's group here, I was directed to go to Washington to testify before the Hon.. Ferry K. Heath, then Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, also Judge Wetmore, supervising architect, pertaining to the discrimination of wood in the Federal building program. I think you will recall that "instead of pro.viding for bids on alternate materials, the usual practice of the Treasury Department was to prepare designs and spe,cifications for single material. For example, in larger projects especially, they specified windows, doors and interior trim of materials other than wood, thus excluding from competition a material of known quality and suitability. In addition to being discriminatory, this practice deprived the taxpaying public of the benefits of competitive bidding between materials and is causing needless and oftentimes extravagant expenditure of public funds."

"The climax of this investigation really took place in Chicago when we appeared before the Congressional cornmittee, and, as a result of this hearing, Congressman Mead submitted his report to the House of Representatives of the United States, and it is my sincere hope that, as a result of the work of our local committee, which has had the cooperation of lumbermen and sash and door operators throughout the entire country, the result will be noticeable as far as the attitude of the Federal Government is concerned in the use of wood produ,cts on Government projects that are now under construction and that they contemplate building in the future."

Looks Over Lumber Conditions On Pacific Coast

James McGrenera, in charge of lumber purchases for

"5. That the plans and specifications for lower cost the Santa Fe Railway with headquarters in Chicago, I11., buildings provide for uniform constru'ction and for alter- lvas a recent West Coast visitor where he was looking over nate bids for materials to be used in said construction. lumber conditions in California and the Northwest.

"Second, as to their ,conclusions as to their findings affecting Building Materials:

"The Federal building progtam was adopted with the idea of providing employment and utilizing American products; therefore, there should be equal opportunity among the building trades to compete for this business by exercising a reasonable range of choice in the use of materials whi,ch have been proved suitable. The committee believes that the alternate in,clusion of materials in plans and specifications will spread employment opportunities at the same time result in savings to the government where cheaper materials can be used without disadvantage.. In view of the economy possible through competitive bidding between

COLLEGE PAPER REP.RINTS INTERESTING PHOTOGRAPH

'Who remembers when l. H. (lim) Prentice of Los Angeles, Southern California representative for the Bloedel Donovan Lumber Mills, was one of the Northwest's leading football players? Jim used to play guard on the Seattle All Stars. "The Seattlite," one of the University of Washington publications, in its October, 1934, issue reprints a photograph of the Seattle All Stars which was taken in BA2. The All Stars beat the Seattle High School wonder team that year by a score of. 74, but were defeated by the strong University of Washington varsity squad.

Hogan Lumber Co. Incorporates

The business of the T. P. Hogan Company at Second and Alice Streets, Oakland, Calif.; 'consisting of a waterfront terminal lumber yard, sash and door, and millwork factory, has recently been in'corporated. The partnership of T. P. Hogan, Jr., and John R. Anderson has been terminatecl, and the Hogan Lumber Company with an authorized ,capital of 9250;000 has been formed. Of this amount $200,00O has been subscribed.

The officers of the'company are T. P. Hogan, Jr., president; John R. Anderson, vice president, and G. H. Pierce, se'cretary. These together with T. P. Hogan, Sr., and M. B. Carter form the board of directors.

Established in 1888 by T. P. Hogan, Sr., this is Oakland's oldest yard. The plant has been operated continuously for 46 years, serving the building industry and taking a prominent part in the upbuilding of the East Bay district. It has also enjoyed a large wholesale business in lumber, sash and doors, panels and millwork, serving the retail yards of Northern California.

The Hogan Lumber Company occupies a ground area of 10 acres in a splendid central location, very close to the Oakland downtou'n business district. It has a dock with 500 feet water frontage on the Oakland Estuary. The dock is equipped with an electric ,crane and other up-to-date lumber handling equipment.

The plant is ideally located for making prompt shipments to all parts of Northern California, with shipping facilities over the Southern Pacific, Santa Fe and Western Pacific railroads, and the Sacramento and San Joaquin River steamers. Deliveries of jobbing orders are often made with the company's trucks, and many country dealers pick up their orders with their own trucks.

Under the new setup, with additional capital in the business, and with their experienced personnel in all departments, the H'ogan Lumber Company feels ready for the upswing in business that they believe is due to ,come in the near future.