January 10, 1921 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



19 



Lumber Unites to Revive Building 



Mass Meeting Results in Call to Other Elements of Building Industry 



to Join in Nation-Wide Effort 



The tremendous financial resources and vast dynamic energy of 

 the entire lumber industry of the United States, from the Atlantic 

 to the Pacific and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, was, 

 in effect, united and launched upon the task of cutting away the 

 barriers that are stagnating the building operations of the country, 

 and denying proper housing to a multitude of the Nation's people, 

 at a mass meeting held in Chicago on Jan. 5 and 6. Made up of the 

 representatives of every region in the country producing construc- 

 tion lumber, this meeting comprised participants speaking for more 

 tlian eight billion feet of production annually, substantially one- 

 half of the production represented in the National Lumber Manu- 

 facturers' Association. 



The movement started at this meeting is one of the most signifi- 

 cant, powerful and determined efforts yet begun to breathe new 

 life into the long-sleeping building industry and stimulate it to 

 normal activity. 



The impelling force of the movement is the hope that the indus- 

 tries, including labor, producing the other building commodities 

 may find it possible to return their values to lc\'els consistent with 



to "call upon all other industries, and labor, which furnish the 

 essential elements entering into the costs of construction, to join 

 with us in contributing their just part toward the resuscitation of 

 the activity of this needful industry." 



This resolution stated in addition that "to this end, the producers 

 of lumber pledge themselves, and invite the cooperation of all other 

 essential industries * * * amj ^11 those who are interested in 

 reaching a practicable solution of the Nation's housing problem, 

 and in promoting the happiness, peace and comfort, and the profit- 

 able employment of the American people." 



The mass meeting "therefore request(ed) the National Lumber 

 Manufacturers' Association to call, through its executive officers, 

 a conference of these essential industries for the 21st and 22nd of 

 Januar}', 1921, at Chicago, 111., to the end that these and the related 

 problems of finance, transportation, taxation and the restoration 

 of public confidence may be properly considered, and ways and 

 means devised for attaining the end sought, namely, the revival 

 of the building industries of the United States. 



The essential industries referred to are the leading producers of 



The Call of All Interested Forces to the Task of Reviving Building 



WHEREAS, There is a pressing national need for the revival 

 of building activity, so that the people may have adequate and 

 suitable homes, and that necessary industries may be able to 

 secure the facilities essential to their eiRcient operation; and 



WHEREAS, The prompt restoration of normal processes in 

 the production and distribution of commodities and the early 

 resumption of building require that a basis of building costs 

 be reached in the reasonable permanence of which the public 

 will have confidence; and 



WHEREAS, The resumption of normal building activity 

 may not be expected until the prices of commodities entering 

 into the cost of construction shall be publicly imderstood and 

 the reasons therefor; and 



WHEREAS, An important factor, which eoncerns every 

 community in our country, is that of labor; and 



WHEREAS, We believe in the dignity of labor, as no coun- 

 try on earth has ever had prosperity, long continued, where 

 labor has been discriminated against, or where it has not 

 received a just reward; and we believe that, although it must 

 have its proper reward, it must, if building activity is to be 



successfully revived, accept, in njost localities, less than its 

 present wage scales. 



THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, At this mass meeting 

 representing the producers of lumber throughout the country, 

 that "in our judgment, to the end that construction activity 

 may be resumed, and the needs of the people be supplied on a 

 fair, just and stable basis, all construction industries, and labor 

 in the building trades, should recognize the deflation which has 

 taken place, and should place their respective activities upon a 

 basis consistent with the public interest in the revival of build- 

 ing activity. ' ' 



We, therefore, call upon aU other industries, and labor, which 

 furnish the essential elements entering into the costs of con- 

 struction, to join with us in contributing their just part toward 

 the resuscitation of the activity of this needful industry. 



To this end, the producers of lumber pledge themselves, and 

 invite the cooperation of all other essential industries, referred 

 to in this resolution, and of aU those who are interested in 

 reaching a practicable solution of the Nation's housing problem 

 and in promoting the happiness, peace and comfort and the 

 profitable employment of the American people. 



the present prices of lumber, to the end that public confidence may 

 be restored in the matter of building. Thus it is hoped that the 

 great pent up demand for buildings may be released, and all the 

 elements of housing construction set in motion. 



The life germ of the campaign is the fact that lumber prices 

 have reached a level which no longer .stands in the way of the most 

 conservative building investment, but rather offers every encour- 

 agement to it. Lumber is right, and the question is, "Can other 

 prices be set right and can the public be advised of this?" 



The members of the mass meeting adopted a resolution in which 

 they declared it to be the sense of the meeting that "all construc- 

 tion industries, and labor in the building trades, should recognize 

 the deflation which has taken place, and should place their respect- 

 ive activities upon a basis consistent with the public interest in the 

 revival of building activity. ' ' 



Consistent with this resolution the mass meeting further resolved 



brick, structural steel, cement, lime, sand, plumbing, stone and 

 granite, glass, paint, clay products, etc. 



Another resolution recorded the recognition by the lumber pro- 

 ducers of the indispensable need of the cooperation of the whole- 

 sale and retail branches of the lumber industry if their plan for 

 reviving building is to be successfully prosecuted. This resolution 

 recommended, therefore, "that in all of our deliberations and 

 undertakings, connected with the revival of building activity, 

 representatives of these two branches of the industry be invited 

 to participate." This recommendation was prefaced by the fol- 

 lowing: "Realizing the importance of the wholesale and retail 

 branches of the lumber industry in the efficient distribution of 

 oiir products and feeling that any plans for the promotion of build- 

 ing industry will be incomplete and lack in results without their 

 cooperation, we recommend, etc." 



The stagnation of building was treated throughout the period of 



