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HARDWOOD RECORD 



September 25, 1919 



The Opportunity to Secure Fair Treatment 



qpHB QUESTION OF TAXATION of forest lands has been a 

 subject for agitation in tlie ranks of lumbermen for a good 

 many years. It, of course, never before assumed such an important 

 position in the administration of the lumber business as it does 

 under present income tax laws, but it has always been a subject on 

 which lumbermen were not in agreement with tax authorities. 

 Seemingly in the past there has been very little opportunity of cor- 

 recting wrong methods of taxation, and if these unfair and incor- 

 rect habits of reckoning are to be maintained under the present 

 schedule of taxation, the result is going to be very serious for those 

 having money invested in lumber operations. 



Evidently it now rests with the lumbermen as to whether or not 

 they will be able to work out a basis of taxation equable and fair 

 in all particulars. The Internal Eevenue Department has during 

 the past month sought and received the earnest and active assist- 

 ance and cooperation of well-informed tax experts in the lumber 

 fraternity, most of them responsible operators themselves. The 

 result of numerous conferences between these lumber representa- 

 tives and the Internal Bevenue Department has been the making 

 of a set of questions now presented to the lumber industry in a 

 questionnaire. This, as has been announced in frequent issues in 

 the past, will be the basis for numerous meetings to be carried 

 out on a definite itinerary between revenue department officials, 

 who will cover all of the lumber producing fields and all lumbermen 

 interested in thus assisting themselves in tlie respective territories 

 visited. The itinerary will cover the entire manufacturing indus- 

 try and gives an opportunity for presenting the lumbermen's case 

 before the federal authorities in a way not only taking care of 

 present circumstances, but providing for the working out of a basis 

 of taxation for all time to come. 



In the past, and as matters stand today, the most unjust tax bur- 

 'd'eli is lis'uiilly encountered under the state and county administra- 

 tions. It is fair to assume that an equable system worked out in 

 connection with federal taxation will offer a basis for arriving at 

 a more workable and fair system in connection with local and state 

 taxation also. 



Thus every lumber manufacturer who really is interested in see- 

 ing his tax problems solved on a basis fair to him is bound to 

 attend the meeting between the lumbermen and the tax depart- 

 ment representative which is scheduled for his particular district. 

 The itinerary of the department rein-esentative is published in this 

 issue of Hardwood Eecord and has been given general prominence 

 since issued a week or so ago. Anyone not sufficiently interested 

 in his own affairs to make a point of attending the meeting in his 

 district has no grounds to stand on in the future in complaining 

 of unjust tax administration. 



Peace Time Patriotism 



DURING THE WAR days men 's sjjirits were aroused to a pitch, 

 making easy the performance of things never before con- 

 sidered possible. It is a justifiable statement though that the 

 present reconstruction period finds the country faced with a menace 

 far more real than that which existed while our armies were fight- 

 ing abroad. Responsible citizens today are just as much morally 

 bound to respect the dictates of patriotism as they were before 

 peace was signed to continue to govern themselves accordingly. 



Thus today the big problem before the country is increaesd pro- 

 duction and shipments. The question of increasing production is 

 one with so many angles and such radical influences to combat, 

 that it is susceptible to but gradual solution. The question of 

 speeding up shipments, though, is confronted with more workable 

 conditions and with circumstances many of which are under the 

 immediate control of the will of individual men. 



During the war a saving of hundreds of thousands of freight 

 cars was effected through a country-wide response to the appeal to 

 load-to-capacity. The necessity for the continuance of that prac- 

 tice exists today just as indisputably as it did during the war 

 period. Yet shippers have been letting themselves grow lax since 

 the propaganda for heavy loading has ceased. 



Shippers of lumber who load light on carload orders should remem- 

 ber that unless these orders were taken way back in January or 

 February, they were accepted on a price basis that would normally 

 have been very unsatisfactory and at figures which at the time 

 represented their best idea of a fair market price. In loading out 

 these orders it must be remembered that a car shortage is not the 

 result of any one fii-m's car requirements, but the aggregate. Also 

 that relief from car shortage would come not from any one man's 

 making a conscientious effort to conserve car space and speed up 

 car movement, but of the aggregate effort in that direction. 



In the interest of industry and to add that much assistance to 

 efforts to extract the country from the muddle in which it now 

 finds itself, every shipper is morally bound just as strongly now 

 to observe all measures of economy in loading and moving freight 

 cars as he was during the strenuous war days of a year or two ago. 



The Price Question 



THERE ARE TWO FACTORS affecting present market condi- 

 tions in lumber; one is the scarcity of cars, which is decreasing 

 normal production and the delivery of building material; the other 

 is the present demand of the labor leaders that they take the place 

 of stockholders and managers of business and run it to suit them- 

 selves. Notwithstanding the stocks on hand in lumber yards, rep- 

 resenting a small available amount of material for delivery in 

 thirty, sixty or ninety days, at the same time the sun is shining 

 brightly and outside of the labor and car shortage conditions there 

 is little reason for apprehending any radical drop in the market. 

 Hardwood Record thinks this is the time to work and keep in 

 touch with customers and help work out their needs, and while it 

 may be true that the order book does not show the same activity 

 as when consumers were buying lumber at any price, because neces- 

 sity forced them to get these supplies to carry out their orders, yet 

 the present shipments and demand indicate a good healthy market. 



We always have in our midst men who are not sold ahead and 

 who get weak-kneed, and this is one of the times when the barome- 

 ter should be studied closely and actions in selling stock not depend 

 on how you feel today, but rather on studious consideration of 

 every order that comes in, and make the price accordingly. But 

 if men depend entirely on their impulses as to what they will quote 

 todaj', there is an opportunity for prices which may lead us down 

 to the cost dead line again. It has happened before. Let us pre- 

 vent any precipitate action because somebody said "boo," or 

 because a bunch of consumers sold their manufactured product on 

 the basis of valuation thirty days ago, and therefore would not 

 hesitate to scare a weak-kneed salesman or sawmill operator into 

 making a twenty-dollar cut in price. For heaven 's sake let us be 

 guided by sane considerations rather than intemperate desires to 

 take to the woods and get the order at whatever the consumer will 

 pay. 



Hardwoods are not being produced at over sixty-five per cent of 

 normal demand. Labor is of less account and is willing to do less 

 for an advanced wage. We may have a temporary depression on 

 account of this labor situation, but in most cases stock on hand 

 with manufacturers does not warrant taking on any cheap busi- 

 ness, or tend to lead valuations downward. Not that we don 't 

 think that prices in some cases are too high, but even if they are, 

 use a little eommonsense and not utilize football methods in order 

 to get the order first so as to meet the temporary quietude that 

 may come with the influence of the big steel strike. While the next 

 sixty days is a critical period, if things should stop there will be 

 enough retarding influences to prevent any increase in the produc- 

 tion of material. Therefore be reminded that the retailer of every- 

 thing in use is busier than for five years, and that the consumption 

 of lumber may be postponed in some lines, as when the season 

 or something else interferes, yet you can put it down in black and 

 white that within the next five years more lumber will be consumed 

 than in twice the period in former times. If you don 't think that 

 statement has some authenticity just look at your own backyard 

 and see how many people are looking for houses and paying 

 premiums for flat leases in your community. 



