ANNOUNCES that, efiective December l, lg3r, it will take over all of the assets-mills, timberlands, log' ging equipment, etc.-and retain all salesmen and selling connections of Pacific Sptuce Corporation and C' D' j"frr.r" Lrr-b." Company, which companies will be dissolved and go out of business. The transfer of these !rop"rti., will cause rro irra"r",rprion of production or shipments; Present lumber orders of the old companies will be owned and execurea Ui c. D. Johnson Lumber Corporation. rt assures its large clientele of cus' tomers that the quality of the products of these facilities will be fully maintained. Your inquiries and orders will receive the same courteous attention at the former address in Portland, Oregon, and by our branch sales o6ces at z1o California Street, San Francisco, and 601 Petroleum-Secutities Building, Los Angeles, California, and by our selling connections located in all parts of the Rocky Mountain, Middle lfestern, and Eastern territories.
Oficers:
C. D. Johnson, President
Dean Johnson, First Vice-President and General Manager.
E. E. Johnsono Second Vice-President, Secretary-Treasuter
J. F. Markham, Assistant Secretary.
--
MILLS-Toledo, Oregon. Capacity 47 M feet per hour, largest in Oregon, of combined kiln-dried and green lumber. over 50 years' supply virgin timber.
CARGO AND RAIL SHIPMENT$-\U(/eekly sailings to california ports
-packaged lumber, stowed even lengths and widths. Over 60 million feet
h",r" b.Jn shipped up to date this year tail and cargo to the California trade alone, all from our own mills and manufacture'
f Wholesale trode solicited-Let I t us haee Yout inquiries J
Immediate teletype service between branch ofrces, head ofrce and mills available at all times penaining to customers' orders and shipments.
BRANCH SALES OFFICES
Los Angeles
San Francisco
A. B. Griswold Mgr.
Newhall Bldg, 260 California St. Phone GArfield 625E
R. T. Gheen' Mgt.
A. J. Hetherington
Pet. Sec. Bldg"
Phone PRospect 1165
714 \ffest Olympic Blvd. - Los Angeles - Telephone PRospect O229
In a decision recently handed down, the Federal Trade Commission prohibits the use of the term "Extra Clear" in connection with the sale or offering for sale in interstate commerce of any shingles, unless such shingles are free from defects and blemishes, including sapwood content. The Commission held that the use of the term is considered unfair,competition.
The Commission's opinion stated: "The consuming public attaches and has long attached a definite meaning to the term 'Clear'as applied to shingles, to-wit, that the product is without defect or blemish not only free from defects and blemishes, but an especially high or superlative grade of 'clear' shingles . . . There are on the market Red Cedar Shingles which conform to the public's understanding of what constitutes a 'clear' shingle which are competitive with so-called 'extra-clear' shingles . Through the misleading and deceptive ,character of said trade name, some retailers and many consumers purchase 'extra 'clear' shingles in the belief they are buying often at a lower price, a 'clear,'a first-class shingle. Competitors sell 'Number Two' shingles, which are of a quality similar and are sold at prices approximate to the quality and prices of so-called 'bxtra-clear' shingles."
The fine program and the good work of the attendance committee brought out another full house at the monthly dinner meeting of East Bay Hoo Hoo Club No. 39 at Hotel Coit, Oakland, Monday evening, November 18.
Sydney Snow, big game hunter, of Oakland, held the crowd for an hour and a half with his talk on African native customs and his personal experiences in Zululand, Samaliland and Ethiopia. The talk was illustrated with motion pictures of an elephant hunt.
Professor Emanuel Fritz discussed the subject of "Water in Wood," with special reference to uneven shrinkage.
Earle Johnson, entertainment committee chairman, introduced the speakers.
President Gordon Pierce announ,ced that Miland Grant has again been appointed chairman of the committee handling the distribution of Christmas kegs to needy East Bay families.
Three Thanksgiving turkeys were given away in a prize drawing.
T. P. Hogan, Jr., president, Hogan Lumber Company, Oakland, recently spent a few days at the Union Lumber Company's operations at Fort Bragg. He made the trip with E. L. Green, vice president in charge of sales for the Union Lumber Company.
*Advertircments appear in alternate ieeue.
Bookrtaver-Burns Lumber Co. -- - ------ --'-''--19
Brookmire, Inc.
Booth-Kelly Lumber Co. ---------------- -------- ----------lt
Buctcley Lunber Dealere' Supply Co.--------------19
California Builderr Supply Co.----------------------19
€alifornia Panel & Veneer Co. --------------------19
California Redwood Arsociation
Celotex Company, The ----Chamberlin & Co., W- R. ---------------------------- 9
Crossett Vestern ComPanY
Dolbeer Ef Carson Lumber C.o- -----------/----------19
Elliott Bay Salee Co. ----- ----- ------ -17
Ewauna Box Co. ----------------------11
Forryth Hatdwood Co. - -- --- -- -------------*-------19
Gorman, George W. ----- ----------------------------19
HalL Jamec L. --------.-------- --------
Hemnond & Litde River Redwood Co.
Iacortcetod udcr ttc lmr ol Callfonte J. C. DhnD., Pnr. ud Trcar.; J. E. Mard!, Vlc:-Prrr PubD.hd thc let eld lsth of ..ch noth at !lt-lt-2e Centnl Bulldlry, lltt Wrst Stxth Strt t, La Algcl€., oal- TcLntoa, Vrlad&r 1506 Ert r.d u Sccoad-clerc nattcr Scptcobcr 6, lW rt ttc Pct o6loc at Lor Aatchl C.lttmi+ rnd.r Act of Mrfth !. ffD.
Subrcription Pricc, $Zll0 pcr Ycer Singlc Copicr, 25 centr ctcL. LOS ANGELES, CAL, DECEMBER
New business reported to the Vest Coast Lumberments Association for tte week ended November 16 by 2OL mills was 95,721P73 feet againrt a productio'n of. 971176rl02 f.e.eg end shipments of. 9Or572rE27 Leet. Curent sales were under production by 1.5 per cent, and shipmente by 6.8 per cent. A group of. 2Ol identical mills whose records are complete fot both periods show total orders f.* 1935 to date ac ?$45226rW0 feet coanpared with 2r92rr913rqto feet for the game pedod in 1934r a gain of 24.7 pet cat. Unfilled orders at these mills stood at t29r4lrr694 feet, approximately 2r000r00o feet over the week before. Aggregate inventories of these mille are 27 Wt cent less t{ran at this time
tf*;
The Western Pine Association for the weelc ended Novcmber 16, 116 mills repoting, gave orders 45rO7OrOW feet, shipllnents 45r774r(X)O feet, and production 57r479rOOO feet. Ordera werc 21.5 per cent below production, and 1.5 pet cent belorv shipmentr. Shipments werc 20.7 per cent below production. Orders on hand at the end o;! rl" week totaled !57,879,0@ f.eet,
The Cdifornia Redwood Association for the same week reported production from 15 mills as 813281000 feet, shipments 7rO7OrCnllO feeg and new business 6594rOOO feet. Otders o'tr
I wish to su,bscribe for your paper for a yeat. I have been a reader of it from its very beginning but as I am not now working in a lumber yard, I miss the paper so much I want to become a subscriber.
H. F. Duncan, Reno, Nevada.hand at the end of the week totaled 3O,799,OAO f.eet. 15 identicd mills reported production 14 per cent greater and new business 4 per cent less than t?" *. same week last year.
The thrcatened nation-wide longshoremen's strike as a tesult of the hot cargo controversy in the Gulf of Mexico poltr is causing much concern. An arbitration board has been ap pointed by Secretary of Laboc Frances Perkins and it is thought that the dispute will bc peacefully settled. Many deders submitting bids on the larger bills are making them subject to stdk6 and lockouts.
The lumber demand continues fair, and many of the whole. salers report that their sales during November were good. Prices on commons at the mills are firming up. The market on Fir uppers is strong and VG* iterns are Bcarce.
Cargo anivals at Los Angeles harbor for the week ended November 23 totaled,l2r5r7ro00 feet as compared with t6r467r Ofi) feet fo,r the previous week.
Califomia cargo freight rates to Poc San Luis and all portc sour:h will be increased 50 cents per M board feet, efiective lanuary 2,19t6.
With business up to the end of October just double that of the same period last year, Ray B. Cox, vice president and general manager of Peerless Built-in-Fixture Co., Berkeley, is optimistic regarding prospects for next year. He says they are looking for a nice incredse of business in the Pacific Northwest. .They are employing five salesmen.
Emergencies arise. A cudtomer demands delivery at thejob in a hurry. Perhaps a very small order. No Tatter;-service ie what counis. ThiHammond dtan is to-help the dealer, always. Other orders call for millions of feet of Redwood ludber. When .iltt it be delivered? Shipping dates are highly respeCted by the Hammond organization.They are met with nodern equipment-latge lcale operations. And th; vadt Stands cif Hammond acrezrge in Red#od timber is"you" "ssrirrrr"" of a la,6ting source of supply.
"Money," said a capitalist to me the other day, "is a drug on the market." But it's hard to get, fellers; it's hard to get the drug' * * r.
THIS is genuine. True as gospel. This gentleman showed me that he had a gob of money on call in New York for which he is getting the magnificent interest return of THREF-SIXTEENTHS OF ONE PER CENT. Get it? This ,rnan has so much surplus money on hand he loans it on call for that interest rate. *rt*
And I thought of all the homes that money would build' and all the men it would put to work, and the fine rate of interest it would pay invested in first mortgages, and the entire safety with which it could be invested in that fashion. ***
I thought of the banks piled high with money-higher than ever in their history in many places-the owners of which would rather have it put away in storage than invest it in mortgages on needed and honest buildings; and I wondered when this dam of needed money is going to break. ***
Jesse H. Jones told the American Bankers' Association convention in New Orleans the other day that the average banker today wouldn't loan ten dollars with a twenty dollar bill for security.
!t:t*
I've said many critical things about the bankers in the past five years, but I dgn't think the above charge is quite true. It IS undoubtedly true that the money is piled high in these banks and you can't borrow it, but it isn't the bankers that are afraid to lend; it's the people who own the money and have it on deposit that are to blame. ***
I asked that man who has a lot of money out at threesixteenths of one per cent interest why such things could be when millions of buildings are needed in this country and the investment in mortgages would be an entirely safe one; safer than ever before, I believe. And he uttered one word: "INFLATION." Still the fear of what happened in Germany. ***
Which isn't even logical, to my mind. If you had a million dollars in the bank today and wild infation came, that money would become worthless. But if you had that
money invested in first mortgages on good homes or good real estate, with notes due several years hence, YOU WOULD HAVE THE BEST SECURITY ON EARTH. Because in case of inflation, the only values that would remain would be REAL PROPERTY. When the trouble passed the good home and the good land would still stand there. Money fortunes would be wiped away, but not REAL fortunes. *t+
If there were just some way to get the people of this country who have idle money on hand to realize that the safest thing they can do with it is INVEST IT IN REAL PROPERTY, we would put more people to work in a month than the entire work relief effort with billions of government money behind it has put to work yet. But how to spread the conviction? That's the question.
**'k
I should think the bankers of the country would be busy advising their depositors today to make such REAL investments. The banks are over-burdened with money. They don't want it, don't want to pay interest on it. I wonder if we couldn't get the American Bankers' Association to sponsor a program of national scope, advising owners of surplus money to buy first mortgages on good homes with it. ***
And if we could get the people who own these surplus billions to invest it intelligently in real property right now, they would by that very act be taking the most definite steps to make inflation impossible. Get that building boom going; put millions of people to work on REAL construction; take the fear out of men and out of money' and boy ! We'd be going to town.
Things are undoubtedly showing improvement. Worlds of money is fying round. This is the time to get that unemployment problem reduced to a minimum. All it needs is for the surplus money owners of this country to "get right."
The danger is that we have not reduced the unemployment and relief rolls half as fast as we had hoped with the government billions going into circulation, and if we spend all that money and still have the huge unemployment and relief problems of today-things wouldn't be so hot. And profitable and safe investment of the surplus private money
Individual effort on the part of the lumber folks everywhere, is the first step. And then, if we can spread the news abroad throughout this land that first mortgages, wisely placed upon honestly built homes, are the best of investments, we'll soon win a hill climbing contest.
This COULD be a big winter for the lumber business. If we start picking up all the slack we've lost, neither ice nor snow could stop a big building volume.
The old saying that "Business is what you make it" was far from true for several years past. There was no interest in building, there was nothing to build with, and inertia grabbed the lumber industry and threw it for a series of hard falls. But those days have passed. It seems that opportunity again knocks. Building COULD be created once again by intelligent effort.
One of the interesting features of the State retailers' convention at the Hotel San Diego, San Diego, on November 6-8 were the exhibits whi,ch attracted the attention of the delegates. The companies having exhibits were the Pioneer-Flintkote Company; West Coast Lumbermen's Association; Red Cedar S,hingle Bureau; Wood Conversion Co.; El Rey Products Co., and Paraffine Companies, Inc.
of the country today would answer all questions, solve all problems, and eliminate all dangers.
*t<*
Announcement of continued bank deposit increases is NOT a sign of good. Greatly reduced deposits and greatly increased loans would be infinitely better. Advertise the fact that there is money available everywhere in this land for building paper investment, and we will be getting somewhere.
**>B
My personal opinion-and it isn't worth a dime-is that we aren't in the least danger of infation, and that the continued frightened aspect of money owners is all that could bring about trouble. In fighting a ghost, they create one. Which is often the case with we bipeds.
***
It seems to me there is indication of voluminous sort that people are again thinking BUILDING. Every impression I get from voluminous reading testifies to that fact. And f must reiterate what I have said continually in this column for five straight years; BUILDING IS THE WAY OUT. The auto industry is doing a tremendous job; other industries are taking up portions of the burden; but the industry-and the only one-that can put our idle money and our idle men to work in greatest volume from now on, is BUILDING.
use:
Of special interest to the lumber world and to the people of Oregon is the announcement by the newly organized C. D. Johnson Lumber Corporation of the termination of the Receivership of the C. D. Johnson Lumber Company and its parent institution, the Pacific Spru'ce Corporation, and the taking over by the C. D. Johnson Lumber Corporation of all the properties and business of these well known institutions as of December 1, 1935.
The management of the new corporation will be: C. D. Johnson, President; Dean Johnson, 1st Vice President and General Manager; E. E. Johnson. 2nd Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer; and J. F. Markham, Assistant Secretary. Its Board of Directors will consist of H. B. Ifewes, Jeanerette, Louisiana; E. James Kock, New Orleans, Louisiana; Henry F. Chaney, Portland, Oregon; Mansell P. Griffiths, Seattle, Washington; G. R. Birkelund, Chicago, Illinois; C. D. Johnson, Portland, Oregon and Dean Johnson. Toledo. Oregon.
The C. D. Johnson Ltumber Corporation will have the largest rated capacity of any combination rail and cargo mill in the State of Oregon and, in fact, is one of the largest lumbering operations in the Northwest.
One of the outstanding accomplishm,ents of this fight against depression is that during the several years of Receivership, resulting in a constructively planned reorganization of the properties, that the properties have been in continuous operation and have been maintained and improved, its trained personnel kept intact and its leadership in the constant improvement of its products and service carried on.
Mr. C. D. Johnson states that one of the principal objectives during the years of ,planning, in which lumber sales were at their lowest ebb, rvas to maintain employment for approximately one thousand men on its payrolls and to maintain and improve its service to its customers.
The formation of the C. D. Johnson Lumber Corporation will insure continued employment for its personnel, with prospects of increase as the building industry revives.
It will also insure a continuous supply of its well known products manufactured from one of the largest and finest forests of Olld Growth Yellow Douglas Fir, Sitka Spruce and Hemlock in the United States.
In taking over the properties there will be no interruption in production or in shipments and all lumber orders of the old company (which will be dissolved) will be executed by the new corporation.
The C. D. Johnson Lumber Corporation will maintain its head office at 1330 American Bank Building, Portland, Oregon; with branch sales offices at 26O Californid Street, San Francisco and at 6O1 Petroleum Se,curities Building. Los Angeles, California. In the United States and in the United Kingdom it will retain the same sales connections as were maintained by the old company.
The C. D. Johnson Lumber Corporation will have ample cash working capital and will have no bonded indebtedness. None of its securities will be offered to the public and no financing will be needed. The transfer to the C. D.
Johnson Lumber Corporation insures one of the most soundly financed low cost lumber manufacturing concerns in the Northwest, backed by over a fifty-year supply of virgin timber, and equipped with every facility for the manufacture and refinement of seasoned Fir and Spruce lumber.
The management states it is now producing at the rate of 120,000 M feet per annum and stands ready to go into its maximum production of 180,000 M feet per annum as the building industry revives, pledging itself at all times to maintain the high quality of its produ,cts and service and to improve same as new methods for betterment are found.
They have always spe'cialized in the California water market and will be continuously in that market so far as their water shipments are concerned. Their lumber shipments to California to date this year total over 6O million feet, both rail and .cargo, from their own mill.
Colonel Wm. P. Gray died November 9, 1935 at the St. Lukes Hospital in San Francisco, following an illness of ten weeks. He was born September 22, 1870, in Round Bottom, Marshall County, West Virginia.
He came to Palo Alto in Mry, 1897. It was here he started in the hardware and lumber business with his cousin, J. F. Parkinson. In 1900, Col. Gray, with his brother, G. F. Gray of Moundsville, West Virginia, Jormed what was known as the Virginia Timber and Lumber Company, with a mill located on Kings Mountain. This was continued until the fall of 1906. From 1906 to 1910 he was with the Pacific Hardware and Steel Company in San Francisco. In November, 1.910, Col. Gray and Z. T. Thorning bought out the interest of his brother, G. F. Gray, and K. H. List, in the Redwood City Lumber Company, and formed the Gray-Thorning.Lumber Co.
He leaves a widow, Mrs. Isabelle Gray of Palo Alto, a son, Lindsey T. Gray of Redwood City, a daughter, Mrs. Richard Moule of San Francis'co, a brother, G. F. Gray, and two sisters, Mrs. Annie Gatts and Miss Mary Gray of Moundsville, West Virginia.
Arthur Trvohy of the Twohy Lttmber Co., Los Angeles, is the lumber industry's only moving picture star. He recently completed three weeks' work at the 20th CenturyFox studio in the picture which Jane Withers is to star, and based on Booth Tarkington's story of Indiana, "Gentle Julia." He also appears in "Broadway Melody of 1936," and "Ah ! Wilderness." Arthur's hobby is collecting antique automobiles of which he has a large number. Whenever the movies want to use old autos, they have to call on Arthur.
Ziel & Company, importers of hardwoods, of 16 California Street, San Francisco, recently moved to larger quarters in the same building.
President Roosevelt announced the text of the Canadian Re'cipro'cal Trade Treaty on November 77 which calls for a 50/o reduction in the import duty and excise tax on Canadian lumber brought into the United States. The treaty becomes effective January 1; 1936, and will remain in for,ce until December 31, 1938, and indefinitely thereafter unless six months' notice of intention to terminate it is given by either party.
The imports of lumber from Canada in 1929 were more than $37,000,000 in value. Lumber entered free prior to 1930. In that year a duty of $1.00 per thousand board feet was imposed on lumber of the major softwood species, and by the Revenue Act of 7932 a tax of $3.0O was imposed on all lumber, additional to the duty. As a result of this action, and of the reduced demand for lumber during the depression, imports of Douglas Fir nearly ceased, though considerable quantities of other softwood lumber continued to enter. In the case of Douglas Fir and Western hemlock 250,000,000 board feet will be allowed to enter at the redu,ced rate.
The concessions rnade to Canada on lumber products undelthe new agreement are as follows :
Douglas fir and Western hemlock, per M feet. Old rate $4.00; new rate $2.00. Reduced duty to appll' to no more than 250,000,000 board feet per calendar year. Imports in excess of this quota must pay the old rate.
Spru,ce, pine, Eastern hemlock, larch and fir other than Douglas fir. per M feet. Old rate $4.00; new rate $2.00. Other softwood and hardwood, not spe,cifically provided for, if not balsa or teak, per I\4 feet. Old rate $3.00; new rate $1.50.
Flooring of maple (except Japanese maple), bir,ch and beech. Old rate 8/o ad valorem ; new rate 4% aa valorem.
Shingles are on the free list but importations are limited to 25/o of the United States ,consumption. Among the other forest p.roducts- bound on the free list are wood pulp, logs, round timber, firewood, lath, etc. (excluding,cabinet wood), posts, poles, pickets, palings, hoops and staves.
Wilson Compton, secreta,ry-manager of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association, iJsued a protest on the new lumber tariff and excise duty reductions on lumber. His statement appears in this issu6.
Col. W. B. Greeley, secretary-manag.er of the West Coast Lumbermen's Association, in a statement given out at Seattle, Wgsh., said that Oregon and Washington lumbermen were "duml:founded" by the 5O% tarifi and excise tax redu,ction.
"I.t appears to be the most inconsistent policy by the administration," he says.
"IJnder the dire,ct pressure of the administration, West Coast lumbermen have been led step by step until the industry is todal' paying the highest average wage of any industry in the United States. at the same time hours have been reduced from 48 to 40 hours.
_ "By.the treaty, the administration has exposed the West Coast lumber industry to severe competition from another country produ,cing identi,cal items of lumber manufacture butpaying its labor 3O/o less in wages and employing u'orkers substantially longer hours.
__''The quota of 250,000,000 board feet of Douglas fir and Western hemlock allowed to be imported at $2.00 per thousand feet tempers the blow very lightly."
Emphatic protest on behalf of the Southern pine industrv against those portions of the agreement efiecting a 5O/o 16duction in import duties and excise tax on Canadian lumber brought into the United States wps voiced in a statement issued by H. C. Berkes, secretary-manager of the Sout!ern Pine Association.
Washington, Nov. 18.-"Glittering phrases about stimulating "sound and healthy trade" do not ,con'ceal the fact that ln the Trade Treaty with Canada the forest produ'cts industries and their employees have been sacrificed for the promised benefits to other industries or other interests reiarded as more "deserving". The fifty per cent general ieduction of tariffs on all lumber is a stunning blow not only to the promising tide of recovery in the forest products industries but also to the tens of thousands of employees awaiting an opportunity for reemplol'ment. The consequenceJ are the most destructive in the Pacific Northwest only because Washington and Oregon are more compleiely dependent upon forest products than are the tNortheastein and Lake States, where produ'cts are similarly affected.
"In British Columbia the minimum wage in sawmills is 35c an hour. In Washington and Oregon, 50c. In British Columbia average wages are 44c for a 48 hour week; in Washington and Oregon, 63c for a 40 hour week. British Columbia, not subject to the same restrictive shipping laws, has an advantage over Washington and Oregon in the cost of ocean transp'ortation averaging more than $2 p9r thousand feet of lumber. It has a tariff preferential in British Empire markets sufficient at least to have practically excluded American lumber. It imposes a 25 per cent tariffl-now reduced to 20 per cent,-on all dressed lumber imported from the United States, a higher tarifi_ rate than his ever been imposed by the United S'tates on Canadian lumber.
"British Columbia produces the same species of lumber as Washington and Oregon. In the United States are scores of mills and logging camps unable to operate and tens of thousands of men unable to find employment because of inadeguate demand for their products. Nearly twothirds of the lumbdr producing capacity of Washington and Oregon is now idle. Nevertheless the Government, in the present Canadian treaty, seeks deliberately to turn over to Canadian competitors scarcely a stone's throw distant, an annual market for a quarter billion feet of fire and hemlock lumber. This is e,conomi,c nonsense. The grounds trpon which it is sought to be justified are as fallacious as the results themselves are destructive.
"Nor is there any substantial reciprocity. There is no substantial opening of Canadian markets to American woods; no break in the vicious svstem of preferential tarifis in the British Empire by virtue of which Canadian lumber has virtually eradicated Ameri,can lumber from many of its former principal foreign markets; no safeguard against automatic extension of lumber tariff redu'ctions to other lumber exporting countries rvhich, like Russia, are known to have the ambition and the purpose, none too secret although not broadcast, of penetrating the American market with Russian lumber eventually to the extent of billions of feet.
"To describe as an act of good neighborliness a transaction which deliberately sacrifices one industry and those dependent on it for livelihood for the benefit of other indnstries is lacking in candor. Good neighborliness at ho'me, although perhaps less spectacular, is just as important as good neighborliness abroad. The tens of thousands of persons who are dependent for a livelihood upon the lumber and timber products industries whi'ch heretofore have been vigorously seeking to maintain the higher wage and labor stindards, conservation progress and security of employ-
ment urged upon them by the Government, are dumbfounded by this eviden,ce of the willingness of the Government, through use of its discretionary powers under the Trade Agreements Act, to deprive these industries of the principal protection for these higher industrial standards. The force of the blow is not lessened by the obvious fact that these industries have been sacrificed for concessions alleged to be of greater value to other groups ambitious for further extensions of their products into foreign markets. fncreased international commerce bought by these means is purchased at a high price.
"The lumber industry in the course of hearings and negotiations with respect to the Canadian Trade Treaty during the past eight months proposed to the Government a definite plan which, if it had been adopted, would have eventually disposed of the troublesome lumber tariff issue as between the United States and Canada on a fair permanent basis. Canada has an exportable surplus of lumber and timber products of a number of species scarce in the United States. The United States similarly has an exportable surplus of timber produ'cts of species scarce or non-existent in Canada. ft was proposed that these surpluses be mutually exchanged for scarcities; that for this purpose import tariffs be substantiaily redu'ced; and that as to still other species in great surplus in both countries, reasonable tariff protections to domestic markets be maintained in both directions.
"Such a poli'cy, if followed, would have opened the u'ay for great increases in the volume of the international trade in lumber and timber produ'cts. Such foreign competition could have been reasonably absorbed without destructive effect. Instead of that the Government has now deliberately opened the American market to surplus production in Canada of fir and hemlock lumber to be transoorted in millions of feet into American markets past idle American sawmills whose hundreds of employees are hungry for employment in manufacture of identical woods in this country.
"Over 2ffi,m workers normally dependent on the lumber industry are still without fheir''crlstomary employment. The volume of lumber production is less than onehalf. of. 1929. Lumber prices at the sawmills are still 20 per cent below pre-depression levels. The ,claim that the treaty will enlarge the opportunities for foreign commerce and the sale of surplus production finds a cold reception in the lumber industry in which only this year has there been substantial recovery from the effects of almost continuous over-production for a decade past. Even more chilling is the claim that the treaty means 'reempl,oyment of idle workers' when half of its normal employees are on relief rolls or eking out an existence in odd and temporary employments. No industry has gven more vigorous and whole-hearted support to the Administration program for increased wages and shorter hours; or its appeal for greater progress in forest conseivation and toward the establishment of permanent sour'ces of forest-industry employment.
"The lumber industry during the past several months has frankly laid its facts before the Agencies of the Government responsible for negotiating the foreign trade agreements. In the interest of constructive restorations of foreign trade it affirmatively recommended extensive reductions in tariffs on many of its own products, with comparable reductions in Canadian tariffs, and the sound rea-
sons, in public as well as industry interest, for these recommendations.
"It is now made clear that these facts finally have been ignored. The Government was given the opportunity for the first time in this century of establishing, with the cooperation of the industry itself, a sound basis for a permanent disposal of the difficult problem of inter-national trade in lumber and timber products as between the United States and Canada. Instead of using the opportunity, the Government has now plunged the matter into even deeper controversy and in so doing has denied itself the willing cooperation of the Ameri,can lumber industry at large and has committed itself, temporarily at least, to a policy in conflict with the policies of its own prin'cipal recovery and conseryatron agen'cles.
"As yet the full significance of this action to retard recovery in a major industry, or to for,ce it, in the face of governmentally-fostered foreign competition, to resort to the gradual destruction of the higher labor-employmentconservation standards whi,ch it has gradually been building up, has not been fully developed. Needless to say, the industry along with others in similar cir,cumstances, will examine the constitutionality of the Trade Agreements Act."
Announcement is made by J. H. Baxter & Co., San Francisco, that Howard Jayne, formerly of Portland, is now handling for them the introduction of lumber pressuretr.eated with zinc chloride and creosote for underpinning in home construction.
This company is making a special effort to put all this business through retail lumber yards. They have stocks of ,creosoted lumber at their Alameda vard.
Franklin W. Trower, 28, former Oakland sports writer and student of the University of California, passed away at his home in Oakland, November 9, after an illness of more than a year.
Mr. Trower was the only son of Frank W. Trower, well known San Francis,co wholesale lumberman. After leaving the university he was in the lumber business for some time, having worked in the West Oregon Lumber Co., Linnton, Ore.; The Red River Lumber Co., Westwood, Calif., and the Quincy Lumber Co., Quincy, Calif.
For two years he was on the staff of the Oakland Tribune, and later, prior to his illness, was secretaly of the Northern California Roofers' Association.
He is survived by his father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Frank W. Trower; his widow, a son. Donald, 6, and one sister, Elizabeth Blake Trower, all of Oakland.
Services were held at the Grant D. Miller chapel, Oakland, November 12, conducted by Rev. T. T. Giffen, pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church.
PORTL.AND LUMBERMAN VISITS S. F.
Myron C. Woodard, president, Westport Lumber Co. and Silver Falls Timber Co., Portland, was recently in San Francisco on business.
GEORGE GERLINGER VISITS S. F.
George T. Gerlinger, president of the Willamette Valley Lumber Co., Dallas, Ore., was a San Francis,co visitor around the middle of November.
Consistently soft-textured, double-end trimmed, ond Continuous assures the
correctfy manufactured, accurately machined , properly kiln-dried, smoothly uniformly graded, E\flAUNA KLAMAIH PINE certoinlv lS the onswer. yedr-round operdtion with ample modern dry-kiln cdpdcity/ dealer of dependable shipments of stroight or mixed cars.
Address DeliveredBefore the Annual Convention of the Colifornia Retoil
Lumbermen's Association at San Diego, November 6,7 dnd B, 1935
Mr. Chairman-Fellow Lumbermen and Friends:
I have been asked by the Program Committee to say a few words on "The New Cost of Doing Business." A discussion of the new cost of doing business, I think, calls for a discussion also of the qld cost of doing business. I have never had any experience in the
lumber business in Northern California, and istics which I lumber in Calttornia, and any statlstlcs whlch may have relate to the lumber business in Southern 'California. Ifowever, I should judge that the conditions have been and are quite similar, and that any remarks will apply in the main to the whole State.
It is evident from observance alone, and available statistics will prove that the cost of doing business has greatly increased in the last nine or ten years. During the depression our expenses may have decreased some in dollar volume, but have increased greatly in percentage. During the past six or seven months due to wage and salary increases and other such causes, they have been rising rapidly again in Dollar volume. What is the cause of the increasing cost of doing business in the last nine or ten years, and even before this time? Government regulations and requirements and taxes (city, county, state and federal) are the cause of some of it, especially so in the past year or two, but the main reasons, I think, can be laid directly at the door of the lumber industry itself. A great portion of it is due to unregulated competition-progress you may say in business service but costly just the same.
My first experience in the lumber business began in the summer of 1904 for the Nofziger Bros. Lumber Co. at Eighth and Main streets, Los Angeles, which in 1905 became the Consolidated Lumber Co. This company at that time was one of the largest companies in the city, doing probably the largest business; and yet they did not have one single outside salesman. Any one who wanted to buy lumber came to the office to buy it. It was considered very bad practice to ever go to see the customer, as we were told "it put you on the wrong foot." No service men were sent to the job during the course of construction, but instead the contractor came down and talked to the shipping clerk or telephoned him. Finish was all Round Edge, and finish bills were loaded right out of the shed; Sash and Doors were all standard sizes and kinds and loaded right out of stock. Along about 1907 a certain large lumber company started operations in Los Angeles and put on the streets of that city many salesmen, and from that point on our troubles in the rising cost of doing business began. Shortly thereafter all companies put salesmen on the streets. In Los Angeles today, if an owner took out a permit for a house, he would probably have fifteen lumber salesmen at his home tomorrow, In those days billing and estimating was done by hand and recorded in the old time press. The pr1c9 llts were viry simple, without the minute break-down of today. The Big B-oss wad the only one who had an automobile-the salesmen and collectors riding bicycles or driving the now famous "horse and buggy." Deliveries were made with horse and wagon prior to 1910 or 1911and along about that time trucks began to be employed. Trucks increased our field operations, made it possible to better serve customers, and changed our whole mode of doing business; but if you are simply considering the expense of doing business-in view of the extravagant service they brought about, I would say that they increased our cost of doing business.
Our methods of doing business went along in about the same way until after the war in about 1920. About this time a cafe man on Broadway in Los Angeles started an innovation-a smart trade getting idea, by giving a "second cup of coffee free." It was something new, and it is a positive fact that lines of people actually stood on Broadway outside the cafe waiting to get in. His competitors soon had to follow suit, and very soon the second cup of coffee simply became an added cost of doing business to all cafe men' Various lumber dealers, not to be outdone, began giving free cups of coffee in the form of plan service. As time went on, dealers and their salesmen. in their desire to do something the other fellow didn't do and secure a trade advantage, began taking ofi the contractor's Sash and Door list and then even taking ofr his lumber list-a Dractice that was unheard of and frowned upon in the good old days. Then the dealers and their salesmen began to tell the owner and contractor how much prettier the house would be with new "fandangled" mouldings and casings, and the lumber dealer, to keep abreast of competltion, soon made all these fancy mouldings and casings without set-up charges.
As-each innovation became known, all dealers had to do likewise.
No one had any trade advantage and each one's cost of doing business was gradually creeping up. To gain a sales advantage, certain dealers began giving what we called "hand spanked" finish-finish so smooth that the carpenter does nothing but nail and fit it in the building. Then soon after this followed the "shot gun delivery service" with which you are all familiar, and which has added so materially to our expenses. Then about 1928-1929 the "Free Financing Service" followed, when the owner wouldn't buy from a lumber company unless your salesman had arranged the financing of his building for him, unless you had agreed to wait titl the last loan payment for your money, had agreed to forego filing a lien (usually worthless) or had agreed to take your account out in second and third trust deeds, or had agreed to wait till he sold his building. This was the most expensive "free cup of coffee" the lumber dealer ever gave, and if he didn't give it, he didn't do business. A recital of these competitive abuses and practices could be carried on indefinitely-all of them adding to the cost of doing business. Some of them progressive business services, no doubt, but all costing money, and gross profit statistics will show that the lumber dealer gave them free.
It is well at this point, I think, to give you a few actual statistics on the cost of doing business. The industry has no uniform system of accounting, and the statistics which I will give you must of necessity be in accordance with the particular method of handling cosis with which I am familiar, The company with which I am connected considers as "cost of doing business" all expenses from the "top of the pile or warehouse out, and the money collected." We consider all items having to do with getting the goods into the pile or warehouse as purchases, such as-freight or incoming cartage, milling, wharfage and piling labor. We charge all mill expenses such as men's tirne, power, belts, etc., to the mill account, and then credit the mill with the work doue each month and debit lumber purchases with like amount. The resulting debit or credit on the mill account is an addition or deduction to the .cost of doing business. We charge all cartage expenses such as truck drivers, tires, gas, etc., to a cartage account, and then credit cartage with the amount of cartage earned. The resulting debit or credit to the cartage account is an addition or deduction to the "cost of doing business." Cartage is not in this manner credited to any commodity account, and therefore in our opinion, gives a truer picture of the gross profit on each item.
With this explanation I will give you a few actual figures I have compiled on the cost of doing business, and will then give you a few actual figures to show the amount of gross profit which our industry has been able to obtain. To take figures for any short period of six months or even one year is often misleading, and in order to get a fairer average, I took a period of time ending December 1, 1934, in which was sold and delivered many millions of dollars worth of lumber and merchandise, at retail, and found the cost of doing business from the top of the pile or warehouse out amounted to l7%\% of sales, exclusive of any charged off accounts. I deducted the charged off accounts, as this is a factor which would vary so greatly between periods and yards. During the period under consideration, I think that we are safe in assuming that all dealers would lose at least l/o on Retail Sales. Therefore, the cost of doing business for the period under discussion was l8%%. Just as a matter of interest, I might say that taxes in this period amounted to lrl% on Sales, depreciation lrlVc, insurance f ol l7o, stationary l/i of l/o, telepbone fu of. l/o, outgoing labor 4rlVo and, salaries 7/a,Vo.
I then took the first group of sales just mentioned and broke it down into two divisions approximately of equal periods of time. The 6rst division which we shall call Division A, took in the period before and after the boom year of 1923. The total sales of this Division A amounted to a goodly number of million dollars worth of lumber and merchandise at retail, and I found that the cost of doing business from the top of the pile or warehouse out amounted to 132/10% of sales, exclusive of any charged ofi accounts. Assuming that the amount of charged off accounts during this period was lVo, woald, make the cost of doing business 14-2/10y'o. As a matter of interest, taxes in this period amounted to l/1%, depreciation ft of. l/o, oltgoing labor 4%% and, salafies Sr/aVo.
I then took the second division of the first group, which we shall call Division B ending with December 31, 1934. This division does not include any boom years, but it did have several good years, and of course, the depression years. In my opinion, it represents on the average about what we can expect over the next several years.
The total sales of Division B amounted to a goodly number of million dollars at retail, and I found that the cost of doing business from the top of the pile or warehouse out amounted to 22/a7o on Sales, exclusive of any charged off accounts. Hoping that there might be some lumber dealer some place who has held his charged ofi accounts in this division to l/o,I added lEo to 22%,% which made 23j(/o as the cost of doing business in this period. Taxes you will notice in this division now represented 2l/10/o of Sales, depreciation ?tlVo due to increased buildings and equipment purchased in boom years, outgoing labor 4/a,/o and salaries l0/aVo. Just to recap these figures--on the first group of sales the expense was L9%Voi on the first half of them they were 142/10% and on the last half of them they were 23%Vo.
There has been much discussion among lumbermen as to the cost ' of getting lumber from the top of the pile on the job and the money collected. In the Division B Sales just mentioned, which period ended Dec. 31, 1934, there were delivered a few hundred millio'ns of feet of lumber. The only practical way that I know of is to give lumber that proportion of the cost of doing business, that its sales bear to the total of Lumber and Merchandise. During this period lumber sales were 59Vo and merchandise was 4lVo of the total. Giving lumber 59Vo of. the expense, which expense included 1% of Sales for charged off accounts, made the cost per M. to put the lumber on the job $8.61. As a matter of interest, we took a longer period with double the footage and the average was $8.45 per M. The year 1935 to date shows $8,74 per M, so I think it is safe to say that it costs just about $8.50 per M to put lumber from the top
of the pile on the job and collect the ntoney.
Although the cost of doing business was 23fu,/o in the Division B flgures ending Dec. 31, 1934, actual statistics will show that for the past three years, due to decreased volume of sales, they have beerr right at 30%Vo. A11 of us who have been through this period know tle impossibility of reducing expenses below a certain point. Certain fixed expenses, such as taxes, depreciation, salaries of employees, etc., went on just the same. Dollar expenses are now daily increasing. Our cornpany recently, along with other companies, put into efiect a wage increase, which increased wages on ihe average aboat 25Vo. Otrr expenses are lurther increased by the time and t half system at the harbor for overtime. Salaries are on the increase, although not in the same proportion as wages. All commodities having to do with expense, such as stationery, etc., are higher. The piice lists in efiect make it much more expensive to fi.gule tickets. The cash discount system, although a fine thing, makes it more expensive in figuring and handling tickets----especially so on credit memorandums, etc. We are in favor of the Sales Tax,
These items that we have on hand fo'r immediate shipment or PickuP at ouf werehouse:
f W" .r" also manufactur€rs of a[ I f it"-r of special and detai[ millwork I
Vholecalets and Jobbers ffir
OFFICE, MILL, YARD AND DOCKS
2rd & Alice Str OAKLAND Glencoun 6&il
but it certainly makes a lot of work to collect it and report it and to handle the complicated and difiicult questions that arise in its execution, We have one man who does nothing but compile the sales tax report from the tickets and records after the tax has been figured. Without exaggeration, it takes just twice as long to figure customers' tickets as it did three years ago. The new State Truck Regulations make more trouble and expense, and the State Cartage Tax on sales made outside of incorporated limits will make a lot more trouble and expense. If you happen to have any service falling under the State R. R. Commission. the reDorts necessarv to make out are unending. To operate our wharf at-Wilmington nlecessitates a financial and statistical report containing 22 large pages, the most exhaustive report I have ever made out. Added to all the State reports and regulations, I understand the Federal Government will soon have employment tax reports on each employeer for us to keep, and the payroll deduction to make and remit after the first of the year.
City, County, State and National taxes will increase in dollar volumethere can be no question about that. The relief and emefgency expenditures of all governmental divisions must eventually be paid for in increased taxes. In the writer's opinion there is little or nothing that can be done about reducing the dollar volume of expense. The percentage of expense will naturally reduce from its present level with increased volume of sales, but in my opinion, considering the extraordinary addition of dollar expense at present and to come, and considering the reasonable'expectancy of sales in the next four or five years, the industry on the average cannot expect to reduce the cost of doing business belon' ZiVo to 24/o on Sales. If this is somewhere near the proper percentage of expense expectancy, what is the gross margin of profit expectancy?
In considering the gross margin of profit on lumber and merchandise it is naturally necessary to state what is considered cost of goods. Cost o,f goods is taken here to mean the original invoice cost plus freight, wharfage, in-coming cartage, milling, and piling on the pile. The sales price of the goods is the price F. O. B. yard, the cartage to the job being credited to cartage account. A simple illustration would be the purchase of 2x4s for $20.00 per M, wharfage $1.32, freight $1.00, piling on pile 68c, or a total purchase of $23.00; if goods are sold for $30.00, the gross profit would be $30.00 into 7.00 or 23-l/3%.
The industry has had no combined statistics on the subject of gross margin of profit. It is my opinion that the percentages I will now give you represent the gross margin of profit for the lumber industry in Southern California in the various periods, The average gross margin of profit on lumber and merchandise in Southern California has been between 23 and 24% on sales for years. One year will vary from another, but in my opinion, almost any combination of years will show the gross profit'to be between 23 and 24Vo on Sales. It is my opinion that the gross profit for the industry for the period covered by the group of sales first mentioned in this discussion would be Z3.6Vo; that in the period covered by Dlivision A sales would be 23.4%; that in the period ending December 31,
(Continued on Page 20)
Booth'Kelly Douglae Fir, ttre Association grade and trade mark certify to your customers the quality of ttre stock you handle. Builders guit gueeeing about what they'rc buying, and buy where they know what tfiey'rc getting.
SUGENE ORE:
Crcneral Saler Office: Eugene, Ore.
Mills: Wendling, Ore., Springfield, Ore.
CALTFORNIA REPRESENTATIVES
Northcrn Crliforair
Hill & Morton, Inc.
Dcnniron St. Whuf
Orhlead ANdovcr 1077
Southcrn Qliforuir
E. J. Stantoa & Soo zt50 E. 3tth st., Lor Argclcr AXridgo 92U
The young man with the bad town for a week, and as soon as girl up on the telephone. When
stammer had been out of he got home he called.his she answered, he said:
"Hello k-k-k-kid ! I'll b-b-bet you k-k-can't gu-gu-guess who this is."
Lumbermen's Post No. 403, American I-egion, will hold a Hi-Jinks, Friday evening, December 13, 1935, at ll47 South Towne Ave. (near San Pedro and Twelfth Streets), Los Angeles. Dinner will be served at 7:15 P. M. A five pie,ce orchestra will furnish music and a fine entertainment prog'ram is being arranged. The committee states that plenty of automobile parking space rvill be available' Ti'ckets are $1.75 each.
The committee arranging for the party includes Ed Biggs, IJnion Lumber Company; Carl S'chrieber, Northwestern I\ utual Fire Assn.; Andrew Foster, California Portland Cemer,t Co., and Hans Westberg, Certain-teed Products Corp.
Russell T. Gheen of Los Angeles, Southern California manager for the C. D. Johnson Lumber Corporation, will return December 1 after a month's trip in the East. He met Mrs. Gheen at Chi,cago where she had been visiting relatives, and from there they went on to Philadelphia where they visited with Mr. Gheen's mother for a few weeks.
Harrison Clark, secretary of the Douglas Fir Plywood Association, Tacoma, has returned from a business trip to California.
George A. Ulett, general manager of Smith Wood-Products, Inc., manufacturers of Port Orford Cedar, Coquille, Ore., tecently called at the offi'ce of James L. Hall, San Francisco, California representative of his company, on his way home from a quickly made 9,000-mile automobile trip to the Atlantic Coast and return.
Mr. Ulett was very much impressed with the rapidly increasing use in the East of Port Orford Cedar for making screen doors, and for factory floors. Screen door manufacturers say that the high impact resistance and resiliency of this wood enable it to stand the continual banging and still hold paint.
H. R. Neel, sales manager of Sugar and Ponderosa Pine sales for the California Door Company, Diamond Springs, re,cently spent three days calling on the trade in Southern California with Glenn Fogelman, manager of the California Door Company, Los Angeles. Mr. Neel and Mr. Fogelman paid a visit to the California Pacific fnternational Exposition while in San Diego.
Grover C. Gearhart, of the Manufacturers Hardwood Lumber Co., Los Angeles, recently made a business trip to the Imperial Valley.
SPECIES NORIHERN
J. H. Bloedel of Seattle, Wash., president of the Bloedel Donovan Lumber Mills at Bellingham, Wash., and Bloedel, Stewart & Welsh, Ltd., of Vancouver, B. C., was a visitor at the company's Los Angeles offi,ce on November 22 where he conferred with J. H. P'rentice, the company's Southern California representative. Mr. Bloedel only spent the day in Los Angeles leaving that evening for Honolulu to attend the congress of the United States Chamber of Commerce to be held there on November 27. Mrs. Bloedel is accompanying him on the trip.
When interviewed by a representative of this paper as to what effect the new Canadian tariff will have on the American lumber markets, Mr. Bloedel smilingly remarked: "We are ruined ! But we have been ruined so many times, I guess it won't hurt us to get ruined once more."
In discussing the question, he said: "Our ,company operates lumber and shingle mills both in the Northwest and British Columbia and naturally we are ve'ry much interested. The normal annual lumber consumption in this country in the pre-depression days approximated 35 billion board feet. Under the new agreement, Canada will be allowed to ship into this'country a total of 250,000,00O board feet per year at the redu'ced tariff which is about two thirds of one per'cent of the yearly normal lumber consumption in the United States.
"The shingle manufacturers will gain a special advantage by the new agreement as Canadian shingle shipments will be limited to 25 per cent of the 'consumption in the United States. The quota on shingle shipments was put into effect under the NRA but when that 'ivas abandoned the quota was also eliminatecl. Many of the lumber manufacturers operate shingle mills so they will also receive this benefit. The shingle manufacturers are h"ppy over this arrangement and have openly so expressed themselves.
"The new Canadian tariff will have very little effect on the California market, in fact, it will be almost negligible. What effect it will have on the other lumber markets in the country, if any, will probably be the rail market in the Mississippi Valley and on the Atlantic Coast."
Jerome C. Gripper died at his h,ome in Pasadena on October 29 following an illness of several months. He was associated with the lumber business in Los Angeles for many years and was widely known in hardwood lumber circles. He was a member of the firm of Gripper & Haglind, who represent several Southern hardwood mills in the Southern California territory, and also operates a lumber forwarding business with docks at Long Beach and San Pedro.
He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Fanny Parks .Gripper; two daughters, Mrs. John T. Sullivan and Mrs. Robert O. Schad, and one son, John Gripper, all of Pasadena. Funeral services were held November 1 at the chapel of Turner & Stevens Co.. Pasadena. and interment was in Mountain View Cemetery, Altadena.
Pressure tteated lumber lor the homeoJ Dr. John L. Pomeroy at Brentwood
I HB Owens-Parks Lumber Co. of Los Angeles sold the lumber pressure treated with Reilly Transparent Penetrating Creosote used ln the home of Dr. John L. Pomeroy, Los Angeles County health officer, in Brentwood. Many lumber merchants are finding wider markets by stocking Reilly-treated wood. You too will increase the scope of your business lf you carry lumber treated with Reilly Transparent Penetratinp, Creosote, the ideal protective agent against structural pests. Lumber treated with Reilly Transparent Penetrating Creosote is paintable and practically unchanged in color. The treated wood presents no health hazard and is pleasant to handle. It makes possible the use of lumber in many places where structural pest dang,er prohibits the employment of untreated wood. Many lumber dealers also stock Reilly Transparent Penetrating Creosote in one, five and fifty-five gallon containers. It is easily applied by spray or brush and has no unpleasant odor. It can be obtained at important Pacific Coast centers. Write us for prices and llterature.
I20l Architects Bldg. Los Angeleso Calif.
455 Central Bldg. Seattle, Wash.
This alrpe0ts on piece oJ lum pre88urc withReilly Imrent Penetrat ing Creosote.
I have to live with myself, and so I want to be fit for myself to know; f want to be able as days go by Always to look myself straight in the eye. I don't want to stand, with the setting sun, And hate myself for the things I've done. I want to go out with my head erect; I want to deserve all men's resPect; But here in the struggle for fame and pelf I want to be able to like myself.
I don't want to look at myself and know That I'm bluster and bluff and empty show. I never can fool myself, and so Whatever happens I want to be Self-respecting and conscience free.
-Author Unknown.
A very nice old lady had a few granddaughter. say to her
ttMy dear," said she, ttl wish would do something r me. I wish you would me never to use two words. One is swell and bther is lousy. Would you promise me that?"
"'Why, sure, words?"
f' said the girl. "What are the
D REASONS
A young man tvho to have a drink, declined quit drinking; and third, he had just had a couple of drinks and couldn't carry any more.
It is certain that 80 per cent of. all.worry)l(g is perfectly futile, and of course, it is worse than\fqlle, it is harmful; it is a canker eating at the roots of hKppiness. The complexion of the general life of the community would change, faces and voices would brighten, paradise itself would be anticipated, if all perfectly futile, silly, and obnoxious worrying could be abolished.
The golf beginner, after numerous "whiffs" the ball, got all mad and shouted: "I'll stay herelqliil I hit this ball." But the old Scotch caddy said:
"Weel, then, ye can get some ither laddie to haud yer sticks, for this is ma bath nicht."
Officer: t'What's your name?" \ a-
Defendant: "John Smith." lr/
Officer: "Come on; come on; don't givelKe any of that; what's your real name?"
Defendant: "Well then, just put me down as William Shakespeare."
OfEcer: "That's better. Don't try to fool rne with that Smith stuff, see?"
It isn't your position that makes you happy;[2(Vo.r" disposition.
He: "You are driving rne to the poorhouse."
"She: "No, you'll have to walk. The finance company took the car."
Chris. M. Wininger Manager and Sole Owner Tclephone Glencourt a29tWHITE PINE, SUGAR PINE, REDWOOD, OREGON PINE, PLYWOOD PANELS,
"Not the cheapest---Just the bcst"
WHOLESALE LUMBER PRODUCTS Room 415 Pacific Building Oakland, California
The increased interest in boat building both by professional boat builders and by amateurs all over California during the last six months is an indication of the lessening of the depression tension in the opinion of C. Harry White, vice president and general manager of White Br,others, hardwood dealers, of San Francisco and Oakland.
"The interest being shown in the building of small boats by amateur builders in back yards in the San Francisco Bay area, the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys, in fact all over the State, is remarkable," Mr. White said. "The boats range from the smallest rowboat to 6Gfoot ,cruisers. California can truly be said to be becoming boat-minded. The professional boat builders are also busy."
White Brothers have specialized in boat building materials for magy years, in hardwoods for keels, bent ribs, and deck and interior finish of teak, Philippine mahogany and other woods. They do a large business in the great yachting centers of the San Francisco Bay district and Southern California, and enjoy a coastwide business in boat building woods.
'Warner Brothers have made a one-reel short subject using 1,000 feet of the film of the California Redwood Association's new talking picture. This short is entitled "Tall Timber." It gives some very fine shots of Redwood timber and scenes of Redwood manufacturing operations, and will be released shortly after the first of next year. This picture has considerable advertising value, and presents an opportunity to dealers to tie in with the theater advertising to their own advantage. Dealers can check up with theaters showing Warner Brothers' pictures for release dates in their towns.
The retail lumber dealers of the metropolitan Los Angeles area met at the Hotel Rosslyn, Los Angeles, Tuesday evening, November 19. 139 dealers attended the meetittg. Kenneth Smith, secretary of the Lumber and Allied Produ,cts Institute, Los Angeles, presided.
E. C. Parker, Patten-Blinn Lumber Co., Los Angeles, addressed the meeting on "New Costs of Doing Business," whi,ch subject he discussed at the State retailers' convention and which appears elsewhere in this issue.
W. B. Greeley, secretary-manager of the West Coast Lumbermen's Association, Seattle, was also a speaker. He stated the manufacturer was going to spend some money to create business for the retail dealers, also he emphasized that the West Coast Lumbermen's Association was committed to do everything they possibly can to,cooperate with the retailers in maintaining orderly distribution of lumber, and that they have subscribed to the distribution statement endorsed by the National Lumber Manufacturers Association, National-American Wholesale Lumber Association, fnc., and National Retail Lumber Dealers Association.
For all SUBFLOORINGS, this amazing -BIG TIMBER-lumber saves youf cugtomef
20% in footage
LOO% in sanding
60% in labor
Gives l0% more insulation and insures greater PROFITS to you.
LUMBER
Chanbclln & C-' W. R., tth Flc, FiII Bldg.'.....'......DOqlar 5rf0
Do&c I Cano llnbr Co, 7t lf,lrchrDt E:chugc Btdt.. .Suttd z'lta
Gccae W. Cpm oio Same St. ....'..............Dour|u l3Et
Haf,, Jru L, ...........'... r'02r Mt[. Blds, .."...."........'SUftcr r$5
Hanrnud & Litde Rivcr Rcdtood Co.'
tlO gurooc SL ......'.. ......'.'..DOudrt tltl
Holncc Errclc hmber Co.-
f505 Ffnildrl Ccater Bldg...'...GArficld ll2l
C. D. Johm hmb* Cc'
Zag Ci6qafa Sb..t..:......,.....GArfic|d ll5t
MacDddd & Hmingtm Ltd. t3 Caliirnla Strcit................GArfieId t3l!
McGornlck. Chr& R.. Lunbcr CG, fir Mrikot Stnci'.....'...........DOud$ 256f
Mo6! M|ll & Lrmb:r Co, 523 Mrr&rt St!.ct .....'...........EXbrok 0r?it
LUMBER
Prcific Lunbcr Cc. Iac
10 BulL Street....................GArGrH lrtr
Rrd RJvlr hnbcr Cc, tl5 Mor&od: Bldt........,.....,GAricld 0e22
Sutr Fr Lubcr Gc, fl Cdffmir gt!ct............KElnt 20lta
Schrfcr Bn Lrnbrr & ShfrIlb Co.' rAt Fffc 81ds.......................SUtt r rnr
Shcvlln Ptnc Salcc ColGO Mordnoc& Blds. ......,....KEerlry Tlll
Sud&n I ChrtstGn$n' tlC Senrmr StlGGt...........,....GArtfield 21,tr
TIlw Lunbcr Ca' lL Mar.ket StnFt....................SUttGr 0l2a
Uniol Lmbcr Co.' Clockc Butldirl ..Sutter at?a
Wadllng-Nathu Co, ua MukGt Str.Gt .............,....SUtter l8G
E, K. Wood Lubbcr Co. I Dron StrGGt....................KEany 3?lc
W*crhreua S&r Cc itr cdironl Strcei...............GArfiekl o7{
LUMBER
Hill & Mcto, lnc., ---O-iiun 3t- Ufurf ........'...ANdovtr lfll
Homn Lunbcr CmPun ---aa -e .lti"c Strictr-..... -... .... GL:acourt $'r
Pynmld Lmber Sahl Cc' - ''ru -p*lfi. -S"itdlo8 .....'.....GLencdrt tl2tt
E. K. Wod Lunbc Cc, -' -F;ce;d"kT rcnr str...'........Frottvela rrr
LUMBER
HARDWOOD9
HARI'Wq)DS AIID PANEI.S
Forryth Hardrood Cc, t55 Beyrhon BtvA ...............ATrrtc U3l
Whitc BrotheE,Fiftb ed Bro StrGGtt .........SUftor l3.(l
SAITH_DOORI!-PLYu'OOD
BucHcy Imber Dorlon'Suply Cmprny, Ul SuttGtr BuitrlsS..................Sutkr Xa3
Nioolri Dd SrL. Co' t|5 fttb Strcat ..........,.........Ml..too ttL
Orcfon-Warbingtm Plynood Co, 55 New MotgmoT 3bat...,...GAridd ltl3
Wholcr-Orjood Sda Corymdon, 3ea5 ltth 3t ......................VA|,atr|r Zlr
CREOSOTIED LUMEER_POLES'-PILING. TIES
HaX, Jms L, ............... r02t MllL Btds. .............,....,SUttrr ltt5
McCmldr, Chu. R. Lunbcr Co., r|tl Mrrket Stret..................DOuStu 25O
Elliott Bey Sabr Co., ltzl Brodray ....Hlgate 2ll?
Cdtfmtr Builderr Suggly Co., tlf ,tt Avouc ..............,..,ANdcc rr!!
Wcrtcn Dc & Srlh Co., 5th & Cyprsr Sti ........,,....LAL..1& ltaa
Strrblc Herdn'od Cct 3$t Flr.t Srrtst.. :..............T|Emp!ob4r 55tl
Whitc Brothsc' 30 High Street ..,'.'............ANdow lt0c
Bookrtrvcr-Bunr Lumber Co.' -:sso di.-U.t of C;oumcru Bldg"'PRocDcct |Zlf
Chrnbcrlia & Cc, 1\f. R-' ---31|- ti'o.- XUtf Ss..-... .,... .....TUc&er l{ll
Dolbccr & Cuso Luber Go.
- -lzr- s[ctt Eul.lins'.... .'.'. :... ....VAndite al'z
Hmond & LlttL Rivcr Rcdwood Co.' -- fo'r S". Bmdrry .........'....'PRcFGtOil
Hemnlngr, E. Tlf, --sa57 -s; rtn 5t. ................RIcLuod Zzll
LUMBER
Pattm-Blhn tubcr Co' sar E. 5rh st. :.............vArdikc zl2l
Rcd Rlvc LrnbGt Co' ?@ E. Sln[o .CEnturY a07l
Suta Fs Lumbar Co- 3rr Ftturcid Cmter Bldg.......VAndikc llTl
Schafe Bn Lunbcr & Shirsh Co.' tA W. M. C,uhrd Blatt."....'.TRinitvrZlr
Sbevlin Plne Saler Co'
Rcilly Tar & Chentcal Corl. rir w. iftf strect...l...........,Mururl rot
HARDWOODS
sra!td|, E. J., & So, zdi0 Eut ltth Str.ct,...........CErturt rtlt
SAIIH-DOORS-MILLWORK
PAI\IEI.S AND PLYWOOD
Buckley Lumbr Dealcn' Suppty Co' siit Pctrolm Smnitio Bldl....PRcpect ttsl
Hohes Eunka lrnbd Co.
'"Ei:7fi*it"h|t...tt- -gHc.' ........Mutud trsl
Hovc, A. L.- ----tta's- l:'Brca Avc. .'.....'...'....YOrk lllt
C. D. John:ur lmbcr Cc, |0t Pctroleum Smrities Bldg..'.PRcpcd fft6
Ilwrcncc-Pbltpc Ltnb.r Co - "dn-i"itrfi--ffiiau.]' gnr.. PRocpcct E
MrDoald & BcrrcEm, IE?ilt Prrnlm Scanritic Bl&...PRapcd 7r!|
MlGDo-ld & Hringtd, Lt&, 5f Patrolcun Scgiticc Blds.'..PRo.D.cn 5Ff
McCmldc Ch& R- lmbcr Cq- tu W-t tth SL ..................TRinitv 5zr
Pecfrc Luuboc Cc' frs
Ii lo. L. Bnr Avc. ................Y(H. llll
32E Petroleu Scuriti* Bl&1. PRdFCt CCrs
Suddo & Cbrlrtoo" Gl Bald ot Tn& Bldt. ..'..'.'TRitritv tt14
Unln Lulbcr 6. ta W. M. Guland Bldc...........TRiniV ztz
W€n.llin'-Nattu Co.. tr 5a k Brcr'Arc. .'..'.........YOrLrrat
E. K. Wood l,nrnbcr Co, {?|l Srnt! Fa Aw. ..............JEfreno llll
Wcvcrham Sdcr Co- 'f,|t Prtolan Scqriti6 B&t...PRaPct 55Ea
CREOSOTED LUMBER-POLEI}-PILINGT!ES
McCmlclc, Chr.. R.' Luobcr Co.' rU Wart xh St. .........,......TRhltr sE|r
Crlilmia Pul & Vcw Ca.
t55 Sc Alancde 9L..........'.....TRiritt Ct
Elliott Bar isata Co,
SCf Pitrolm Scctriticr Bldg...PRo.D.ct lttl
Kchl, Jno. W.- & Sol
351! So Myerr St ,.....,.........ANrc|ur Otl
Orcsd-Wrrhinsto Plyrood Co.' irr Wct Nintb Str.t .............TUcL.r l|tf
Pulfic Mutud Dc Co, CACtol tU tl2l ttYotriutor Ava (Alhrubn)
R.d Riw Ltnbcr Co'
?@ E. Shuto ..CEntrt tftt
Wbcctcr-Orgood Salcr Ccaca$oo, 2r$ Sacraneato SL .,....'........TUcL.r ||l
(Continued from Page 13)
1934, and called Division B, it would be 23.9y'o, lr is my bpiniom that the industry's figures could be compiled for the boom years ot 1920 to 1924 lnclusive, and that they *ould be 23.2y'o; and that then the industry could take the figures for the depression years of 1930 to 1934 and the gross profrt would be 24.2Vo. Irrespective of the fact that the sales in the five-year period from l93O to 1934 were only 40 to 4sqo of what they were in the period trom.l920 to 1924, and the percentage of cost of doing business was Zll5 times what it was in 1920 ro 1924, yet the gross profit on sales would remain practically the same. Proper cost accounting could certainly change this sort of a condition if there coutd be cooperation on the part of all dealers in the industry. The period from January l,1932, to May 31, 1933, was the most destructive price and gross profit time that Southern California has ever had; the monthly gross profit statistics of that period are appalling. The pre-code and code period from June 1, 1933, to December 31, 1934, was the highest gross profit period Southern California ever had, and yet if the industry added the two periods together from January l, L932, to December 31, 1934, the gross profit would be 23.lVo.
So unless there is a decided change of method in the industry' 23 to 24Vo' on Sales is what you can expect for gFoss margin of profit, and my opinion is that expenses on the average Ior several years to come witl be 23 to 24Vo of. Sales. Well, you ask, what is there to do about it? The only answer to that question is that the industry must simply stick a pin in itself and raise its sights on the pricing of its goods. Statistics show that, except for the period from January l, 1932, to May 31, 1933, lumber has of itself carried a sufficient margin to pay its proportion of the expenses and have a profit left over. But the lumbel dealer today is selling proportionally less and less lumber and- more items other than lumber. Twerrty years ago the ordinary lumber dealer sotd abott 90Vo lumber and, l0Vo items other than lumber. This has gradually increased until in the last five years 55o/o ol our sales has been lumber and 45% commodities other than lumber. In the old days commodities other than lumber were considered a sideline, and whatever the gross profit obtained was just that much more than he would have had if he hadn't sold it. And in spite of the fact that these commodities are now 45 to SOVI of the yards' business, the mode of thought is etill the same. Twenty years ago we used to sell Sash and Doors on a margin of l0Vo on Sales, and today the most any lumber dealer can expect or hope for is l5%, and with breakage arid errors, he's lucky to make that. Statistics on many hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of Sash and Door Sales at retail cvver a certain period shows a gross profit of 15,6% on Sales, and these goods were all bought in carload lots and larger than carfoad. Statistics on many hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of Cement, Lime and Plaster and such masonary materials at retail show a gross profit of li.lVo on Sales. Roofing was once a very profitabte item for lumber dealers, but it is falling into the same category with the items just mentioned, and on many hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of Sales at retail over a certain period, the pross profit on it has been l8.l%. The statistics on Hardwood Flooring are so terrible I don't eren want to discuss them. There are a few items left upon which there is a {air profit, such as wallboards and certain hardware items, and now that I have advertised this fact, I suppose they will follow suit. Statistics on a total of several millions of dollars' worth of all commodities other than lumber over a certain period shows a gross piofit of l87o even, and in that same period thi cost of doing business was 24/o.
But, someone answers, the "turnover" on some of these commodity items is three, four and fir'e times a year. The answer to that is that if you are selling a commodity that turns a hundred
times in ono year, and when the end of the year comes and your gross profit on Sales is 18% and your cost of doing business on Sales ii 24qo, yov are just 6% on Sales out of luck. I would not stand here and say theie is nothing to "turnover" because there is. But there is a whole lot of fallacious ideas concerning it. Where most of the confusion of thought concerning it comes in is that so many made the error of considering increased volume of sales and rate - of turnovelrs synonymous. For instance, Cement, Lime and Plaster and such masonry materials may have a rate of turnover of ten times in one year, but that does not mean that your sales of the commodity have increased ten times; your volume of sales on the other hand remains just the same, irrespbctive of rate of turnover. The only important expense factors to be considered in figuring "turnover" is the interest on the money invested in, the year's avirage stock, the taxes and insurance on such stock, the interest, taxes and insurance on the land and buildings used, the depreciation on the buildings used; all other expenses are practically the same, and just a little simple arithmetic using these factors will show you that on the same volume of sales, if you have or cafl obtain the caoital. vou are dollars dhead to sell lumber that bears 25y'o gtoss prbnt iria turns once in one year, than to sell a commodity that bears l2rl7o gross profit and turns 100 times in one year. However, if the percentage of gross profit on sales is,greater-than- the percbntage of expense on sales then the rate of turnover does have in imporlant effect on the rate of net return on'net capital invested.
Theh there is the familiar reason for selling a commdity at practically no profit, because "you don't touch it." A good example of that is placing a $200.00 order for Roll Roofing with a manufacturer or jobbir and telling them to deliver it direct to the job and making S to l0% gross profit. You can judge for yourself the meager saving this would be to you over taking it out of your own stock and handling it yourself. Any dealer knows that it- costs him just as much in time, effort, loss of accounts and practically all other exDenses to sell .commodities other than lumber, and there is no quesiion that commodity sales simply must bear a percentage of profit in keeping with the expense of doing business.
Persbnallly, I was and still am a firm believer in the principle and efficacy of the Lumber Codes. Statistics of our industry and not theory or sentiment have forced me tb believe in them. Actual records on lumber, based on the average cost per M' method, and eliminating the erroneous results caused by inventory price "writeuos" and i'write-downs" at end of each year will show that in the piriod from January l,1932, to lvIay 31, 1933, the gross.profit on Sales of lumber in Southern California was right at 7rA76 over on the pile cost. Other commodity items were about in the same category, especiallj' Sash and Doors. When you consider that the averige-expinse frbm the pile out was somewhere around 307o-on Sale-s, if is e-asy enough to see that thc industry was destroying itsetf. Using exactly the same basis and method, the g199s profit on lumb-er in the pre-code and code period from June 1, 1933, to December 31, 1934. i,as 4-1,/3 times what it was in previous period, and gross orofit on commodities other than lumber was greatly increased. A rcreat deal of the credit for the operation of the Code in our diviiion is due to the broadminded, intelligent and resourceful management on the part of its executive heads. And what is happening since the Codes became inefiective nine months ago? Statistics show that the margin of gross profit is on a steady slide down hilt. Using the same method exactly as explained before, the gross profit on lumber for the nine months ending September 30, 1935, is just 26y'o less on lumber than it was for the same period in 1934 which means that our sales this year on lumber must be 35/o more than tast year to make the same .gtoss profit in dollars. If the Codes
had been declared constitutional, the enforcement of them could then have been better maintained; in time objectionable features of them could have been eliminated, and with experience; the administration of them would have been much smoother. My personal opinion is now that some such modified and simplified- system or obficv. with an abeyance of the Anti-Trust laws, will have to be iut i-nio efiect befor-e our industry can bc stabilized for over a few months at a time and our investments made secure. In the meantime. the only hope that I can see is for those of us of the 904lo to cooDerate to tlie fullest with our local trade association, which local tiade association is in turn cooperating with and receiving advice from some larger association which has the facilities to obtain and disseminate information. These associations can, through iofluence and constant eftort, abate some of the competitive abuses which increase our expenses. All lumber dealers. should be willin-g to prepare and send to a proper. body-facts -relative to gross- profit maici;s and exDenses. so that the stabilization committee of these assoiiations can- have ihe facts upon which to base a proper stabilization olan. If ever there was an industry which needs the help of " proper trade association, it is the lumber dealer, selling lumber and cbmmodities which are difficult to cost at any time, due to re-manufacturing problems, mixing oJ difierent priced lots, etc. Many of us havlng a long lumber estimate, or sash and door estimati thrown on our deski by a salesman, and not knowing what the real cost of the bill really is, are prone to say: Well, if so-and-so can sell it for less than my figure, I can' too.
It is encouraging to note that trade associations are taking a more active interest in the cost of doing business. The Los Angeles Lumber and Allied Products Institute, under its able management, has in the Dast few months been hammering on costs and could do a lot more-if dealers could be made to realize how important it is for some central group to have combinedrstatistics so that stabilization orograms cin be planned to take care of changing volume levels'an-d costs of operition. Various associations are also emphasizine the need of standard trade practices and trying to restrict com;etitive abuses. The California Retail Lumbermen's Association is to be commended on its policy and action whereby sales and costs of doing business of cooperating yards are to. be sent to Dunn & Bradstreet and by them compiled and returned to us' There is no more important function that this association can perform- than to constantly stress and reiterate. the importance of his subject, and take all iteps necessary to assist and cooperate in the se-curing of such information by some competent body, so that the whole industry can actually benefit by the facts so obtained.
The Western Pine Association of Portland, Ore., has issued a leaflet which describes the condition of buildings at Helena, Mont., in the area recently damaged by earthquake shocks. The photographs show the splendid performance of wood frame buildings during the earthquakes.
The leaflet says: ".It is difiicult to estimate with any degree of accuracy the total damage done, but some facts are painfully self-evident to the most casual of visitors. A {ew hours spent in driving or walking through the hardest hit areas would show most strikingly the fine perforrnance of frame construction in comparison with all types of building. No stru,ctural damage to any frame house can be seen. Generally, the damage, if. any, is limited to the loss of chimneys and minor roof injury due to impact of the falling, unreinforced brick flues. On the other hand, other types of building show clearly, and in case after case, the agony of geing shaken, not to-but by-their foundations."
Northwest lumbermen who were recent visitors to San Francisco, and who attended the Big Game between Stanford and California at Palo Alto, November 23, included the following: G. A. Kingsley, West Oregon Lumber Co.., Linnton, Ore.; H. W. Aldrich and H. B. Cooper, Aldrich-Cooper Lumber Co., Portland; Harold Miller, Stimson Lumber Co., Forest Grove, Ore., and Clay Brown, M & M Plywood Co., Portland.
IAGOTA,' WASEINGION
SAN FRANCISCO OFFICB
3(H5 Nineteenth St.
LOS ANGELBS OFFICB
2l5il Sacrarnento St
7tS Flooa, Alerlse-CoomcEd.l Bl&. 310 Srlrrooc Stlca
Srn Fnncirco
AGBNTS
Ancdcra Mitl Co.
Hoquirn Lumbrr & Shinrlc Co. Hulbcrt Mill Cr.Vilhpe Hrr$or Luobct Milb
STBAMBRS
Bdar
Senitrn
Tritridd Brrbce Crtl
Dorctby C.rhill Edlr Chrirtcnron
Abcdeclr, Vuh. Hoquirn, Vuh. Abcrdaco, Ve6. Rrynolrd; \Prrh.
Jenc Chrircoroa
Anaic Ghrircaron
Bdwia Chrilaron
Crthcrina G. Sudd.il Blouoc Chricooa Chdr €hrhoron
Brorch Olltcct
LOS AI\GELES
610 BoGd of Tndc Buitdilg
SEATTLE N.do..l Bot of Cmorro Bldg.
PORTI"AT{D 20Oll6ryBltr
Young man with generd lumber experience-retail or wholesale. Btimator, bill and detail millwork; grade lumber; do anything around retail office; selling experience, etc. Knorrs building material business. Has had California experience. Address California Lurmbed Merdhant' Boo< C-575.
Chicago, Ill.-Reorganization of Celotex was completed on November 6th when the business and properties of the old company were taken over by the new 'company, The Celotex Corporation.
The reorganization was consummated under the plan approved by a majority of stockholders, security holders and creditors, and confirmed by Judge John P. Nields in the Delaware United States district court. Celotex is one of the first large companies to be reorganized. under se'ction 77-8.
Directors of the new corporation are W. W. Colpitts, E. J. Costigan, B. G. Dahlberg, John G. Getz, Jr., Wallace Groves, Walter S. Mack, Jr., James W. Marshall, C' G. Muench, T. B. Munroe, W. B. Nichols, and H'enry A. Verdelin.
The executive committee is composed of Wallace Groves, chairman, W. W. Colpitts; B. G. Dahlberg; John G. Getz, Jr.; Walter S. Mack, Jr., and T. B. Munroe.
B. G. Dahlberg is president; T. B.Munroe and C. G. Muench, vice-presidents; C. G. Rhodes, secretary, and W. W. Rogerson, treasurer.
"There will be no change in the fundamental Celotex merchandising poli'cy towar'd its dealers," declares President Dahlberg. "We feel, just as we did when Celotex was founded, that our job is not finished when our products are delivered to the dealers, but only when they are sold to the ultimate consumer.
"With a readjusted capital structure and a sound financial setup, the 'company is in a position to expand its merchandise organization, its advertising, its sales promotion activities and the facilities of its plant to make the most of every advance in general business.
"Celotex sales have mounted steadily this year, refle,cting not only the rising tide of business, but also the advances in other industries where the company's products are being used more and more extensivelY.
"We are looking forward to substantial increases in residential building in 1936 over this year. With 150,000 to 300,000 new home units in prospect, there will be a big market for Celotex in new construction as well as in modetnizing."
Do you want to buy an outstanding retail lumber yard near Los Angeles? Nsrrer before offered fm sale. Shows handsome profit for the last four years. Will require about $16,000. Twohy Lumber Company, 549 Petroleum Securities Bldg., Los Angeles. Telephone PRospect 87'16.
Durell LeBreton, formerly representative in the San Joaquin Valley territory for the Coos Bay Lumber Co., is now in charge of the ,company's office at 'Oakland. Howard Page, who has been connected with their Oakland office for the past few years, will represent the ,company in the San Joaquin Valley.
Harry E. Clay, Flooring Manager of E. L. Bruce Company, Memphis, Tenn., died on November 4, 1935 after an illness of about four weeks. I{e was 47 years of age. Ironically, his death was caused by a piece of wood, the material to which he had devoted his life's work. In some manner a splinter entered his body and became lodged. This led to septus poisoning which rapidly spread and ,could not be thrown off, despite a strong' ,constitution and a valient fight for life.
Mr. Clay was preparing to leave Memphis on a trip to contact the trade in the Middle West and East when taken ill. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Ethel Pearl Horton Clay; his mother, Mrs. S. A. Clay of Mansfield, Mo. ; and his sister, Mrs. Dan L. Wells, Springfield, Mo.
Mr. Clay was born in Marshfield, Mo. He first entered the lumber business in 1923, joining the E. L. Bruce Company at Little Rock in the capacity of Warehouse Superintendent. In l926.he was transferred to the Memphis Office of E. L. Bruce Company and shortly thereafter was made Flooring Sales Manager, which position he held at the time of his death. It was under the management of Mr. Clay that the Flooring Sales Division of that company attained sales records that have never been approached by any other concern in its field. He was a tireless association worker, and took a particularly prominent part in the activities of the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers' Association.
His pleasant disposition, his ready wit, and his unfailing ,courtesy made him loved and admired by all who knew him.
Nearly 300 of the Grandest Stories Ever Told. "ljiggo" Stories, Scandinavian Stories, French Stories; Scotch - EnglishItalian - Hebrew - Indian- Drunk - Political - Rural-MountainGoofy - Stammering- And EveryOther Successful Story Jack Dionne has ever told. What a book! What a gift (Christmas or any other time)! What a world of laughs! A treasure house for public speakers! Send for your guota NOW!
$2.00 per copy.
(Clip and Mail)
Jaok Dionne, C,alifornia Lumber Merchant, 318 Central Buildins' 108 Wed Sixth Street' Lor .Angels, California"
Enclosed find ( ) Dollap for which pleare eend rne portpaid ( ) copier of yorr new Book of Dialect Storieq "Lotsa" Fun.
Nanre
Addrea:
Where No. 3, 4 and 5 commons are acceptable there are many places where rr-16" thickness will work as well as the 25-32" (nominal inch S2S). There is only 3-3Z,,difference in thickness but an important difierence in price.
CALIFORNIA PINE (soft ponderosa) is manufactured by Red River in 11-16" SlS, SlSlE, and run ro partern H or NI.
tror SHEATHING, SUB-ROOFS, TEMPORARY INCLOSURES and INDUSTRIAL CRATING these rL-L6 commons are giving satisfactory service. These thinner commons provide, ata lower price, the desirable qualities of CALIFORNIA PINElight weight, eas1, non-splitting nailing and quick, sawlng that reduces construction costs.
DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS are finding many outlets for this item where a low price is essential and easy-working adnantager are desirable.