Vagabond Editorials

Bv JacL Dionne

I would like to confine my thoughts, as I start these vagabondings today, to that grand little fourJiner of Frank Stanton's:

"The world that we're a-livin' in Is mighty hard to beat; You git a thorn with wery roseBut ain't the roses sweet?" ***

But I've just finished reading a dozen newspapers from various parts of the country and, instead of the four-liner that comes most trippingly to my tongue, is this one by Butler:

"Authority intoxicatesAnd makes mere sots of magistratesThe fumes of it invade the brainAnd make men giddy, proud and vain." ***

I've been reading about what's going on in Washington, mostly. And I read what President William Green, of the American Federation of Labor, said yesterday in the Capital City about the National Labor Relations Board. He said he was opposed to the proposed wage and hour bill which Mr. Roosevelt asked Congress to pass because, he said, recent experiences with the National Labor Relations Board have convinced the Federation "it is no longer safe" to permit a governmental board "of that kind" to decide vital matters.

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The fact is, that all thinking men in this country had come to that conclusion long before Mr. Green did. I've just finished reading what Carl Crow, of Portland, Oregon, has to say about the recent hearing of the National Labor Relations Board, in Portland. It would almost require asbestos print paper to stand the heat that Mr. Crow put on that Board. He said, in part: "The National Labor Relations Board is as Russian as caviar, and needs only a firing squad to close the last link in the chain to Communism and Fascism." ***

And concerning the hearing, Mr. Crow says: "Witnesses called in defense of the position of I. E. U. (Industrial Employes Unio,n is an independent union of mill and woods workers in the Pacific Northwest) are treated like criminals on trial, without being shown as much courtesy as is af- forded a stew bum in police court. The A. F. of L., having recently withdrawn from the case, the C. I. O. attorney continues to sit right alongside the NLRB prosecutor, and they carry on whispered conferences, obviously as colleagues collaborating for a common cause." And much else, says Mr. Crow. Did someone say it couldn't happen here? *r8*

I have been highly amused at my own efforts to keep down "depression" talk by soft-pedaling present conditions in my recent vagabonds. I thought the less said the better. And now all the news and publicity agencies in the country are trigtr-tighting and headJighting just one vital subject today, and that is the present business slump. They are all asking and trying to answer the same question, namely: Is this just a temporary dip, or is it the beginning of another depression? One man's guess is just as good as another's.

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A stupendous array of facts are daily offered to demonstrate and illustrate the fix in which we find ourselves. The thing started about the middle of August when the stock market began to slip, and it has been going down ever since. Today American owners of listed stocks are worth more than twenty-five billions of dollars less than they were in August. Just a small matter of twenty-five billions ! That business could do anything in the face of such a battering but slow down to a walk, was not to be expected. And that's where business is today-just barely walking. And that means ALL business. Steel, the common measuring stick of business in this country, is back to about the 1935 level of sales volume. Car-loadings, etc., are miles ofr.

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The special called session of CongresS serves as a mighty loud speaker for the business situation, for it looks as if half the people who have gone to Washington are crying aloud like John. the Baptist in the wilderness, and asking what is going to be done to help business. The army of business talkers seems to be abs,ut evenly divided between those who are asking what can be done, and those who are trying to answer. * *

I am reminded of the Western man who heird a terrible squealing in his back yard one day, and called out to his

Chinese cook to know what all the noise was about. The Chink answered: "Butcher killee piggee; piggee no likee." That's what's going on today. Business has taken a terrific nose-dive and, with the exception of the New Deal bosses, everyone seems to want something done about it. Mr. Roosevelt in his message to Congress suggested a mild and unimportant modification of the surplus and capital gains taxes. Many others at Washington are loudly demanding the entire repeal of those recent laws. You would think, to hear the emphasis they put on this particular thought, that it would pull business out of the dumps, and send it rushing out into the highways and by-ways to hire a lot of unemployed, just to show their appreciation. And I would quote the words of that versatile columnist, Westbrook Pegler, and say, "Nuts to that stuff."

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I can tell you that it is going to take something more than the repeal of those two punitive laws that were rushed through Congress with all the might and power of the administration behind them, to awaken business from its present lethargy. Because they are only one of the numerous trip-hammers that have been slamming business on the head until they finally knocked it flat on its face. And they are not the most important of the slammers by any means. I think Chairman O'Connor, of the House Rules Committee, just about covered the entire trouble when he said:

"The trouble is that no one in this country gives a thought to the five million employers. We are picking on them, abusing them, and snooping on them. Yet the only place anybody can get a REAL job is from a private employer."

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H. I. Phillips, writing for the Associated Newspapers on the subject, "That Fiend, the Employer," says in rhyme: "Oh, the rattlesnake has good points, And the white shark isn't bad; Even polecats have their virtues, As have buzzards, too, my lad; But employers ! Why, they're nothing ! They're the lowest of the low, As must be apparent, dearie, If you own a radio !"

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The employer has been continually beaten over the head for the past several years with the Wagner Act, the NLRB, the sit-down strike, higher wages, shorter hours, reduced efficiency, loss of authority over his own business, regulation, and the continual threat of more of same, continually mounting and pyramiding taxation, punitive taxes, blame for troubles created by the philosophy of scarcity, and with which he had nothing to do, bureaucratic bothers of all sorts, an unknown and unreliable money situation and, on top of these and many other things, continual criticism and harassment.

At present we are taking a census of the unemployed men and women of this country. If it were possible to take a correct census of the unemployed MONEY and the unemployed but valuable BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES going begging all over this country, it would be found that the latter would completely swallow up the former, if put to work. From my own experience I can name a number of business opportunities of importance that would employ a tremendous number of men, that are just as dead as Napoleon at the present time, because their authors are sitting and waiting. For what? For the time when they will consider it wise to take good money and expose it to the present day hazards of business, labor, control, taxes, harassments of all sorts.

BUsrNEss wrLL "JJI;E ro Acr AccoRDING TO THE FEARS OF BUSINESS MEN. WHEN CONDITIONS DEVELOP THAT AFFORD BUSI. NESS MEN A SENSE OF SECURITY, OF' CONFIDENCE; WHEN THE CONTINUAL BITTER AT. TACKS ON BUSINESS AND BUSINESS MEN CEASE; WHEN THOSE IN AUTHORITY LEARN WHAT ALL MEN OF ORDINARY INTELLIGENCE KNOW NAMELY: THAT FRIGHTENED CAPITALISTS WON'T INVEST AND JITTERY EMPLOYERS WON'T EMPLOY, THEN FEAR WILL DISAPPEAR AND BUSINESS WILL IMPROVE. AND THE IMPROVEMENT WILL BE IN EXACT RATIO TO THE FEAR REDUCTION. AND VICE VERSA. KEEP ON THE PRESSURE AND YOU LOWER THE BUSI. NESS TEMPO. ***

Today, on top of all the other harassments that have kept the business men of this country somewhat jittery, even during their best business periods in the past two years, came along more legislative threats. The administration asked for a wage and hour law. More control. Another NLRB only worse, if such a thing could be. More prying into business affairs. More snooping. More trouble.

Also there is asked governmental reorganization. More centralized control of business and citizenship. A crop control law is demanded. More control over a great group of our population. Control<ontrol-control ! Taxes ! Taxes ! Taxes! Is it any wonder business became ill? The minds behind the businesses became jittery. That's all on earth that happened. And, Presto! ***

Now the question is, are we going to do the plain and sensible thing and take the shackles and the fears off of business, and give it a chance to "increase and multiply;" or, are we going to pursue the same course we have been pursuing, sweeping along toward more control, more regulation, more taxes, more fears, more jitters, and more depression? Senator Vandenberg, of Michigan, offers a series of suggestions for helping business out of its present slump, and at the top of his list of suggestions is THIS one: "An end to governmental 'hymns of hate' and bitter attacks on business which have created a jittery state of mind among business men."

The Houston Post (Democratic), sums up the situation very nicely, when it says: "Nothing is to be gained by denying that the country is again facing a serious situation. There is good reason to believe that the trouble can be speedily cured if sane, constructive measures are taken promptly." Right ! All on earth we have to do to give us a boom winter is to take the pressure off of moneyowners and employers. And all we have to do to dig us into plenty of trouble, is to keep the pressure on business. Which road shall we take?

Al Hart Visits California

Al Hart, of the Hart Mill Company, Raymond, lVas in Los Angeles last week on a business trip. His company is represented in Southern California by Tacoma Lumber Sales, Los Angeles. Mr. Hart attended the big game between California and Stanford, at Palo Alto, November 20.

Lumbermen's Mid -I(/inter Hi-Jlnks to be Bigger and Better than Ever

The Lumbermen's Mid-Winter Hi-Jinks is going to be bigger and better than ever and will be held Friday evening, December 17, 1937, at the Club de Paree, 2312 West 7th Street (opposite Westlake Park), Los Angeles. The party is sponsored by Lumbermen's Post No. 4O3 of the American Legion. Dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m.

A fine entertainment program has been arranged {or and two complete shows will be put on during the evening. Among the entertainers who will appear during the dinner hour are: Bernice Lynn, one of Los Angeles' finest tap dancers, who was recently held over for eight weeks by popular demand at the Biltmore Bowl; Johnson and Worth, hand balancing team dressed as sailors, who will present their funny act, "Two Gobs of Giggles;" Cantu, the magician, and a group of five beautiful girls in specialty numbers.

The second show will follow the dinner. Joan Manners will put on her hill billy act; IVlcCormick, the ventriloquist, who will be remembered by those attending the last HiJinks, is on the program again by special request; and the concluding number will be specialty acts by a group of well known girl entertainers.

A four-piece orchestra will render music during the dinner hour and for the entertainment prog'rams.

Tickets are $3 apiece and include dinner and the two floor shows. Tickets can be secured from members of Lumbermen's Post, by calling Milton Taenzer, American Hardwood Co., PRospect 4235, or Ed Biggs, E. K. Wood Lumber Co., JEfferson 3111.

New Technical Bulletin On Douglas Fir Plywood

A new technical bulletin entitled, "Sheathing and Subflooring of Douglas Fir Plywood," has been published by the Douglas Fir Plywood Association, Tacoma, Wash.

The eight-page bulletin contains complete information, with photographs, drawings and charts, on the use of the giant fir plywood panels for residence and industrial construction. Rigidity values, deflection tables, nailing schedules, and short-form specifications, are included.

Copies of the bulletin are available to builders,, contractors, engineers, architects, and dealers, from the Douglas Fir Plywood Association, Tacoma, Wash.

WITH ANGLO-CALIFORNIA LUMBER

Percy 'Winsor, formerly with the W. E. Cooper Co., is now with Anglo-California Lumber Co., geles, as salesman.

Observes 27th Anniversary

California

Soft Ponderosa LUMBER . MOULDING

PINES

Sugar Pine PLYVOOD

Continuous year round production. Kiln dried or air dried lumber. Straight cars or mixed cars of lumber and plywood products.

Lumber Los An-

The San Joaquin Lumber Company of Stockton, org.an_ ized in 1910 by the late Robert Inglis, observed its twentyseventh anniversary on November 16. Officers of the company are: Dan Schroebel, president; Newton Rutherford, vice-president, and Dewey Bowen, secretary. The annual report states the company has enjoyed a good year.

MILL, FACTORIES AND GENERAL SALES

LOS ANGELES

Sales Ofice: 715 Vestern Pacific Bldg, 1031 So. Broadway

Varehouse: L. C. L. Vholecale, 7O2 E. Slauson Ave.

SAN FRANCISCO

Saler Ofice: 315 Motradnoc& Building