Masonry Magazine April 1994 Page. 5
FROM THE PRESIDENT
President, Mason Contractors Association of America
By L. C. PARDUE, JR.
Thanks to each and every one of you for giving me the opportunity to become your president. Thanks, too, to my family who have endured me through the years, my father who was a member of MCAA for many years before I became involved, and a few members of my home chapter in Portland, who seldom get to sit in the front. And a special thanks to my wife Linda, without whose support I wouldn't be standing here today.
As I sat down to prepare this report, my eyes were drawn to our old grandfather clock, watched, it reminded me of the old saying about the pendulum always swinging the other way. I'm here to tell you that the pendulum has not only started to swing in our direction but is gaining speed at an alarming rate.
I come from Portland, Oregon way out in the great, "wet" Northwest. I guess that makes me a hay seed, although we no longer ride horses or deliver brick in wagons. We don't have a large population, but we have a great deal of empty land. On much of that empty land there once stood old growth forests, so dense that you couldn't see ths sun at high noon. The northwest-Oregon and Washington is the largest producer of lumber in the world.
I remember, as a child, watching log trucks by the hundreds cascading down the mountains with one log per truck. You can't buy lumber today that matches what came out of the mills in those days. The few logs I see on the roads today would have been pushed into the slash piles and burned. Mills wouldn't take them. During the past ten to twenty years. untold numbers of paper and wood mills have been closed, never to re-open. Entire towns, whose sole existence was the local mill, are now empty and deserted.
Once the mighty Columbia River, which runs through the middle of the Northwest, had incredible salmon runs. In our infinite wisdom, we built great dams to harness the awesome power of the river and turn it into electricity. At each dam along the river you would find huge aluminum plants that used the excess power to produce their lightweight gold. It was cheap, excess power-use it or lose it. The Northwest was one of the largest producers of aluminum in the world. The majority of those plants are now closed.
What has caused this decay? About twenty years ago, along came our modern day Johnny Appleseeds, the environmentalists, and they began planting the seeds of discontent. Save the trees, save the salmon. With the help of the spotted owl, they've all but stopped logging in the richest timber country in the world. With the decline of the salmon run, they've reduced power generation from the dams on one of our country's mightiest rivers.
What, you ask, does all of this have to do with the masonry industry? The price of lumber continues to rise. Our renewable resources can't keep up with the demand. Alternative materials must be found to replace the wood used in construction. The NCMA (National Concrete Masonry Association) theme this year is "Get back to basics with concrete block." Housing starts are up from