Celebrating 100 years - 30

are opposed," wrote F. Stuart Fitzpatrick in
A Study of Business Men's Associations
(1925), "have their separate organizations."
Fitzpatrick mentions CPIA in his book.
National associations have as their goal
"to get government agencies to let separate
sub-contracts in connection with public
works construction," he said. Trade associations streamlined the government's chain
of commanded to control building projects.
Herbert Hoover, as secretary of commerce and later as president, "[made] the
trade association movement one of the
major building blocks in his plan to give
the federal government a responsible role
in guiding the American economy," says
Encyclopedia of American Economic
History. Hoover expanded the Commerce
Department fourfold over eight years. He
wanted trade associations, employers and
labor to cooperate. The result? Trade associations flourished in the 1920s.
This was true in plastering. Before CPIA's
1920 convention in Detroit, the Master
Plasterers' Association of Indianapolis wanted
to form the Contracting Plasterers of the
State of Indiana. This new state association
would affiliate with CPIA. Plastering contractors organized themselves and looked to
CPIA for international focus and leadership.
Gypsum wallboard. In 1926, National
Gypsum Company began producing a
gypsum wallboard unlike any at the time.
30

It was stronger, lighter and less brittle than
the wallboard from other manufacturers.
But, would it find a market? Back then,
carpenters didn't like gypsum wallboard,
which they felt chipped and was heavy.
Furthermore, the supply networks were
notorious for resisting change. New products had to prove their value, which is why
National Gypsum favored a show-and-tell
approach to selling its board.
One day, the story goes, an eager National
Gypsum salesman called on a Niagara Falls
building materials dealer. He brought along
two sawhorses, a pile of sash weights and
wallboard. He placed the wallboard on the
sawhorses and threw sash weights on top of
them. National Gypsum's wallboard held
two to three times as many sash weights as
other boards. Gold Bond-named after a
certificate offering $5,000 to anyone who
could prove its claims untrue-changed
the industry. It made gypsum wallboard
a bona fide alternative to lath and plaster
construction. Contracting plasterers had to
consider that wallboard "substitutes" now
had merit.

AWCI: ACTION

CPIA distinguished itself early in its history.
CPIA officials nurtured healthy employer-union relations, received top industry
posts, sponsored testing programs and
issued industry specifications.

U.S. President Warren G.
Harding, a Republican,
was pro-business.
Republicans controlled
the White House
during the 1920s.

CPIA supports the journeymen. In 1922,
union plasterers wanted employers to side
with them in the fight against general
contractors.
"Why should the General Contractor or
Master Builder, as he is called, step into the
breach between employer and employe[e]s
when an agreement is about to be terminated, and destroy the good feeling that
may have existed between them for years?"
asked The Plasterer.
GCs wanted to push subcontractors,
those represented by CPIA, out of the
bidding picture. The contracting plasterer
needed to "act and co-operate with the men
he employs," said The Plasterer. It added:
"Mutual interests demand a closer affilia-

Opposite page,
left to right
The Saturday Evening
Post celebrates "The
Flapper." (1922) Charles
Lindbergh flies from
New York to Paris
nonstop. (1927) Crowds
gather at the New York
Stock Exchange on
Black Tuesday. (1929)
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Celebrating 100 years
