Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-07-15
HOME BUILDING
ASSOCIATION
SELLS LUMBER R
Loss Here About 25 Per
Cent On Purchase Price,
Says Manager

Lumber shipped@to Grand Forks
during the fall of21920. by the North
Dakota Home Building association IL
being sold to asxlocal lumber dealer
under the direction of J.. b. Adame,
manager Of the home building asso-
citation. The lumber being sold
amounts to aboutsthree. carloads. ac-
cording to MI. Adams.
This action is being taken, Mr..
Adams states because 1t Is cheaper to
sell h e lumber here, even at a. lower
price than was paid for it, than to
to carry 1t as the property OF
the home building association, which
would involve either shipping 1t to
some other point in the state or res
piling it and keeping 1t here for an
n Indefinite period.
Mr.. Adams said Thursday that he
was unable to state definitely at this
time just what the loss on the lumber
would be-, but that it would. probably
be somewhere in the neighborhood Of
$1,000, a loss Of about Is percent on
n original purchase price paid by the
state in 1920.
He pointed out that. all concerns
which had carried lumber over from
last year were being forced to take
a loss, owing to the drop in lumber
prices which had taken place during
the last six or seven months. This ap-
plies to the large purchases made by
the home building association.
The home building association has
some $4,000 worth of lumber at var
ious yards in the state, all of which
will be sold, Mr.. Adams said.
The lumber now here was sent to
Grand Forks at the time when the
formation of a home builders unit
was expected to take place,in this city,
1T is explained.
The policy Of accommodating large
stocks of lumber In advance, which
was adopted by the home building as
s~octaticn at the time it began work,
has been abandoned, and from now on
the association will follow the plan
OF; buying what lumber It requires for
local dealers as the need arises, the
original plan having found to be i'm
practicable.
Although the state will thus lose the
advantage Of buying On a large scale,
Mr.. Adams expressed the belief that
this would be offset to a large extent
by the fact that through cash pay
ments and placing stable orders with
Individual dealers it would be able to
obtain a highly favorable rate.
The buying under the plain original
oPS~ A0 ShAN, hou Oo41lSu Ill
the tieing up Of large amounts of mon
ey and was also responsible for the
present losses which the state is oblig-
ed to take as a result Of the drop in
the price of lumber. .
1t was B. F. Pollard. former pur-
chasing agent Of the home building
association, who was responsible for
the purchase of the large quantities
Of lumber which must now be dispos-
ed of mostly at a loss, according to
Mr. Adams. Even Robert Blakemore,
who "a the manager Of the assocda-
ton at the time. had no idea of what
large amounts Of lumber Mr.. Pollard
was purchasing.
Mr.. Adams took charge of the at
fairs Of the home building association
in November. 1920, and at nce put a
stop to the large purchases Of lum-
Der, he stated. Shortly after, this Pol
fard's connection. with the association
was severed. This was at the time Mr.,
Blakemore, who had been manager
since the formation Of the association,
became too i'll to attend to his duties,
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