Where we stand on the R E DWOOD STRIKE

\Torkers in the Redwood industry have been on strike more than ten months. It has been said that that's too long to drag out any strike. We agree. We also agree that the workers, the public, the Union and the Companies each have basic rights which all must recognize.

r$7e believe, as the result of many meetings with Union representatives since the start of the strike, that the Union and the Companies are in substantial agreement on all issues except tn'o, which ate concerned with UNION SECURITY and with STATUS OF PRESENT EMPLOYEES.

WHY WIDEN THE BREACH? ve have been informed that the Brotherhood of Caroenters & Joiners is sending representatives into the Redwood area, from the Northwest, in an effort to make the strike more effective against the major mills; and to compel new and smaller mills to accept Union Shop and other demands, or be shut down. It is regrettable that these outiide men are being sent in foithe purpose of prolonging the strike, instead of negotiating a settlement.

WHERE WE STAND. It is important that the Brotherhood, the public and our new and old employees, clearly understand the position of the struck companies on the only two issues on which there is real disagreement. Here, then, is our position: l. UNION SECURITY. The employers will agree upon a Union Security provision which Ieaves each employee free to make his own decision as to Union membershio He will have freedom to choose for himself whether to join or not to join the Union. If he joins, he will have further freedom of choice to remain a member of the Union, or resign, if he cares to, at the end of any contract year.

2. STATUS OF PRESENT EXIPLOYEES. union representatives have stated that as a condition of settling the strike, the employers must agree to restore all stiking employees to the same iobs held by them before the strike. lYe cannot agree to a ploposal ,bd, preten, inployees sball be d.itcbaryed or traxslerred when the strike is settled.

'Where jobs have already been filled, we will not discharge or transfer employees on such jobs, so long as these employees continue to perform their duties satisfactorily; and so long as such jobs are necessary to the continued operation of the Companies' business.

Redwood

The employers will, however, agree that if jobs are still unhlled when the strike is settled, striking employees will be given preference in the flling of such jobs. Extreme shortages of lumber and the enormous demand are such as to make it practically certain that all striking employees will find- jobs with the Companies where they worked uR to the day of the strike; or within the Redwood industry. If the strike is settled soon, many men now on strike will find their old jobs open and ready for them to take over.

WHAT ABOUT THESE RIGHTS? The Brotherhood of Carpenters must assume the responsibility of seeing to it that its representatives, local strike leaders, pickets and all those participating in the strike conduct themselves in a lawful manner and recognize fully the basic rights of others. For example: l. fhe righr of every mcn to work, if ond whcn ond where he derires, without inferference or coercion; ond to loin or nol loin lhe Union ar hc rce: 01.

2. Tha righr of cmployerr lo ccrly on lhcir oporolioni withoul inlerference, rubiecr only lo peocc. ful ond lowful pickctinE.

3, Ihe right of the public to enioy peocc in the communily ond to purchcse ond u:c ruch produd: cr lhcy dctirc.

These rights of the individual workers, the employers and the public are as basic and elemental as the right of the Union to carry on peaceful picketing. Yet, the strike is prolonged while Union leaders seek to abolish these rights.

'We stand ready now, as we have been at all times in the past, to negotiate a fair settlement of the strike. Meanwhile, in the interests of the Redwood lumber industry and to help supply the critical need for lumber, we shall cootinue to operate and to employ men without discrimination as to membership or non-membership in the Union.

On this beautiful sun-kissed Thanksgiving Day, it is one sweetly solemn thought that throughout this year we have used the Army for nothing more serious than battling Notre Dame.

The best gag of .r," iorrrlr,. i, u"irrg kicked back and forth across the airways. It says that Margaret Truman showed up at the Metropolitan Opera House the other night.She did not go to see the opera; she just dropped in to see if they could use another piano player.

Talk about opportunitl r tlr." lrrr,,,"r, ! He has dropped about as far in popular and political esteem as any top man in our history. And yet, he has the chance right now to pull himself out of the cellar and even to the top of the heap. All he would have to do would be handle John L. Lewis. And when I say handle, I mean handle. Handle him just like Lewis handles the public.

He might even be .r.l,.uLru]ru"r,,; something he has as much chance for right now as a lamb in a lion's cage. The American people would rally solidly behind any m:rnlike effort to put an end to the power of Lewis and every other man whose words and acts interfere with the public welfare. Will the little man from Missouri rise to the opportunity? We have had many Presidents who could and would have handled this situation with the speed of lightning and the roar of thunder. Think what Teddy Roosevelt would do in a case like this. He would simply say"No man is greater than the law, or above the reach of an enraged public. Let's go!" Anyone knows that it could be done. But it takes intestinal fortitude backed by herioc action. Has Harry got 'em?

Thought r might *rrr.*onr*r."J.r" " picture of the lumber situation as it is today, but I find that about as easy

RETNEIUIBER ! ! !

as explaining Einstein's theory of relativity. I can't offer a very general or clear picture of the lumber situation that results from the termination of OPA controls. I can see lots of trees, but can't outline the forest yet. Most surveyors of the situation feel that *same way.

The lumber industry reminds me of the fix the people of a thoroughly bombed city 'must be in, the morning after the bombs drop. Everyone in the business is busily engaged in trying to get his bearings and dig himself out. The fog resulting frorn the long stretch of regulations and restrictions does not clear away in a hurry. Each thiaking man in the lumber bu.siness is surveying his own situation, and doing the best he can to get it lined up with the industry generally, and back into normal thinking and doing. * * ,r

All of a sudden price controls were entirely lifted. But there remained in effect the improvised laws and rules covering priorities and directives. The Government can still tell a lumber manufacturer where he must distribute a large part of his production; but can no longer tell him what he can charge for it. The CPA can issue a directive to a mill, commanding the shipment of a certain amount of lumber to certain parties, but the mill can put any price on the stuff it pleases. Just how much power still remains in a directive under such conditions, remains to be seen- From where I sit, it looks like*a small*zero mark.

The Government can still issue priority orders to the mills telling them what percentages of their production must be distributed in various directions; but again the mill can nullify any orders it does not approve of by putting its own price on them. * *

The minute price ceilings were terminated, a wild scramble for lumber began. For two or three days and nights ' (Continued on Page 10)

The fqte of the lumber qnd building moteriol mqrkets for o long time to come msy depend on how much sound iudgment is used TODAY by those who mcrke the prices on these mcrteriqls. With reckless bid' ding going on, regrettable heighrs mqy develop. But don't forget for cr moment thqf wild prices will cer' toinly bring wild reoctioni thot whqt goes upr comes downi thot lhe higher it goes, the horder it folls; that Gommon sense is bodly needed, ond thql c perpendiculor rise in prices is certqin to be followed by o per' pendiculor drop before too long. Sonity is vitol ot o fime when ofiers far nbove cll price lists qre on every hond.

(Continued from Pagc 6) following the release, the telephone and telegraph services were swamped by prospective and hopeful lumber buyers. I am told that throughout the land the sales heads for big lumber concerns had to virtually go into hiding to evade the clamorous efrorts of lumber buyers to get to them, and get a promise of lumber.

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I have personally seen innumerable telegrams and mail sent to lumber salesmen, offering to buy lumber, any lumber, and ask no questions as to price. This, I believe, was common practice for a few days. "The ceilings are past, we want to get back into business like in old days, please advise how many cars or trucks of lumber you can sell us. The price you make is the price we will cheerfully pay." The buyers market had suddenly become even stronger than at any previous time. It was a ticklish situation, in which wild buyers and gamblers put a severe strain on the good intentions of some lumber salesmen who had hoped and promised to keep their prices within bounds.

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This might be well said right here, however, that the highest prices I have seen offered for lumber since the controls were lifted were lower than I have seen paid innu,merable times for sorry and inferior lumber under the Black Market of recent months.

To put the thing tersely, some salesmen undoubtedly fell for the bait of high price offers, thus establishing precedents that are scattered but reflect against the industry generally. It was human nature that such a thing should be. The average lumberman of my acquaintance, however, has stood his ground well. As the head of one big lumber manufacturing concern said: "Not one of the solid buyers and customers we know, has made us any wild offers. That sort came from less known and less reliable sources; men gambling on the market."

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The lumber manufacturers of my acquaintance got busy getting out new price lists. All of them increased their prices over recent OPA levels. The amount of increase varied. It must be remembered that no flat horizontal price increase was practical, because OPA confusion in price making had gotten the relationship between the various lumber items all topsy-turvy. One of the first things lumber manufacturers wanted to do was get proper price relationship between various items, reestablished, just as they used to be, or as near that as possible.

For example, I have in mind one single item of Yellow Pine lumber. Under OPA this item could be dressed one way, and take a ceiling price of $66.75, for use in home finishing. Or it could be run through a machine another way, and take a price of $S3.SO. Or it could be machined in still another fashion, and take an OPA price of $97. Get it? This is one of the things the mills kicked hardest about all the time OPA was fixing ceilings. Now the mills want to get the proper relationship between the various items and grades of lumber so that such infamy as just mentioned above would be impossible. That is one of the things the mill men are trying to work out with their new price lists. It can't be done in a day, and it v.rill be some little time before the proper equilibrium is restored. r asked one Yellow J"". *:""facturer what he was basing his new price list on, and he said he was trying to figure to get as much for his stumpage as he can sell it ' for in the open market today, and that he asks no more. Few Yellow Pine mills in the last two years have shown as much pro6t as they could get by simply selling their timber instead of cutting it. They think they are entitled to that.

Not having available the price situations that prevail throughout the industry, let me use one species as an example of what's going on: Yellow Pine, which plays a dominant part in t|grWhole industry. I have before me the new price list of a large manufacturer of Yellow Pine, with a reputation generdtions old for keeping its feet on the ground. I compared those prices with the Yellotv Pine prices that prevailed in the spring of. 1921, at which time the postwar demand had gotten in its work, and prices were higher thari they had ever been before.

Clear finish and flooring in the spring of. l92L were, according to my figures, $30 a thousand higher than they are on this price list of today. Shiplap and boards were $5 and $10 higher than they are right now. The entire list on this new price set-up, is about 20o/o lower than during the high tide that followed World War One. Yellow Pine stumpage today is from TWO TO THREE TIMES AS HIGH as it was then. Labor wages in the Yellow Pine mills today are at least THREE TIMES as high as they were in the spring of. 192t. All other costs of making lumber are enormously higher today than they were then.

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What is going to happen to lumber prices in the next month or so, I would not even hazard. a guess. Right now the pressure is terrific, with all yards and sheds and warehouses empty, and a stupendous building program sitting on the doorstep. But whatever happens in the immediate future, I have no doubt that it will soon readjust itself. With worlds of partly finished buildings to be found all over the land, there are plenty of buyers who will pay any price; which makes it hard on folks who w6uld like to hold to a sensible price level.

It seems reasonable .n; ;"t. will be an immediate increase in the production of good lumber. ft is already very noticeable that the thousands and thousands of eager lumber buyers so plainly in evidence, no longer are interested in badly made, badly seasoned, badly qualified lumber such as the Black Market has specialized in. The lumber yards and lumber buyers are eager, but they want good lumber, and they are turning down the other kind. The day of the sickening Black Market quality lumber is already gone. So the mills, thousands and thousands of them, that have been specializing in that sort of stuff, must fold up or make decent lumber. I believe that after the first of the coming year there will be a rapid increase in the production of good lumber from one end of the country to the other. with the law of ""ontJ"ri J"*"r,a back on the job, r confidently expect to see a heavy decline in what up to now has seemed to be an insatiable demand for homes and other buildings; especially homes. We hear and read so much about the terrific demand for G.I. homes, but the retail lumber dealers I talk to tell me that only a small part of the people who come howling to them for homes are G.I.'s, and that the G.I. demand is heavily inflated. Always when necessities are scarce, a cry goes up that seems to reach the skies, demanding those scarce articles. But when the supply returns, a whole lot of that pressure proves to be phony. As I quoted a friend saying recentlyt "Thousands demand ten rooms and a bath who never had more than two rooms and a path," and the ten room demand will subside very quickly when supply comes back. r have watched .rr. ""rlpig,i or rvrr. Wilson wyatt as closely as possible, and have tried to judge it with an open mind. And I can come to but one conclusion, which is that his operations have unquestionably impeded rather than assisted building, and that we would be far better supplied with homes and every other sort of building to- day if controls had been taken off last January and the professional building industry allowed to go to work to solve the building problem in normal and sensible fashion. I think Mr. Wyatt has created nothing but building con. fusion, produced nothing bu,t impractical building plans. The quicker the Government gets Mr. Wyatt back into civilian life and removes the controls on building, the sooner we will get our problems really solved. As Kipling said: "And now we know they could ne.rrer know horv, and never could understand." I think Mr. Wyatt means well. But I also recall with what substance the roadway to hell is paved; good intentions. Remember?

To every thinking member of the lumber industry wherever located, a wise suggestion would be to plan and act carefully every step you go in these difficult times, and, as Mr. Shakespeare wrote: "Awake your senses that you may the better judge."

And, speaking of homes (facetiously, of course), the Optimist said to the Pessimist: "Home is the best place after all"; and the Pessimist replied-"Yes, after all the joints are closed."

New Lumber Yard In Northridge

The Harris Lumber Co., a new building materials firm, has been opened at 18431 Parthenia Street, Northridge. R. C. Harris, and his son, Ross Harris, are the owners. Last sunr,mer they purchased the property, 150 by 150 feet in size, installed asphalt paving and remodeled the existing building.