July 111. I<t21 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



News from the National Capital 



The permanent tariff bill, six months in preparation lias been 

 submitted to the House by the Ways and Means Committee, and 

 althougli tlio name of no nation except the United States is 

 mentioned, many of the provisions are aimed directly at Canacbi, 

 particularly with reference to lumber, wood pulp and print paper. 



The bill expressed the desire of the committee that President 

 Harding proceed with negotiation to remove restrictions put upon 

 exportation of lumber and lumber products by the Dominion and 

 various provincial governments of Canada and provides for re- 

 taliatory action if the negotiations are not successful. 



The fourth schedule is devoted to wood and its manufactures, 

 and the principal duties are as follows: 



On timhcr, hewn, sided, or squared, otherwise thun by sawing and 

 round timber, one-half a cent a cubic foot. 



Logs of fir. spruce. Western luinlocli. $1 per 1.000 board feet. It is 

 provided that such logs may In- impcu-ted free from any country that has 

 "not at any time during the I'J months immediately preceding the 

 importation in to the fnited States ni.iintained any embargo, prohibition 

 or other restrictions," upon importations to the United States. 



Shingles. 50 cents a 1,000. 



Furniture, 25 per cent ad valorem. 



One Of the most important provisions of the bill is that for 

 levying the proposed duties on the basis of American valuation. 

 The extent to which this provision will operate to increase the 

 rates over those proposed in the Payne law, is one of the principal 

 elements of difficulty in any effort to compare the two. 



The provision for American valuation is provided in the bill's 

 definition of the word "value." The word is defined as meaning 

 '"the price on the date of exportation of the imported merchan- 

 dise at which comparable and competitive products of the United 

 States were ordinarily sold or freely offered for sale in the usual 



wholesale quantities to all purchasers in the ordinary 



course of trade, including all costs, charges and expenses in the 

 principal markets of the United States." 



If the value cannot be determined to the satisfaction of tlic 

 appraising officer on this basis, the value of the imported mer- 

 chandise for sale in the United States shall be taken as the value 

 for the calculation for the duty. In determining the value for 

 sale, appraisers are authorized to take into consideration the sell- 

 ing price or cost of production of comparable products of the 

 United States, not sold in usual wholesale (piantities or not sold 

 or freely offered for sale in the ordinary course of trade, and the 

 selling price of comparalilc imports, or the selling price or market 

 value or cost of production of the imported merchandise in the 

 foreign country. 



Appraising officers are instructed to keep always in mind "the 

 legislative intention that duties ad valorem shall be assessed upon 

 the fair market value of the imported merchandise of the United 

 States. ' ' The bill provides that no pretended or fictitious sale 

 shall be held to establish the value "nor shall a value substan- 



tially raised or lowered at the time of exportation otherwise than 

 in the ordinary course of trade, be deemed to be such value." 



The duties of the bill apply to all articles when imported from 

 any foreign country into the United States or any of its posses- 

 sions, except the Philippines, the Virgin Islands and the Islands 

 of Guam and Tutuila. The customary provisions are made for 

 Cuban reciprocity and for free admission of Philippine products. 



The Fordney bill ;s expected to yield between $500,000,000 and 

 $600,000,000 in revenue annually. 



An increase in the lumber output, due to seasonal causes, was 

 reported during May, but orders in all cases have not kept pace 

 with the larger output, the Federal Reserve Board states in its 

 survey of business conditions for June. Since June 1, yellow pine 

 sales have fallen below current productions as the ilemand for 

 lumber for structural purposes steadily has fallen off. 



Building operations during May show decreases from April in 

 some districts, but in the majority of the Districts increases arc 

 shown, the Board reports. As a whole, building has continued 

 steady from April to May this year, in the face of a large drop 

 last year, and thus has not been affected by seasonal developments. 

 # « 4( * * * 



The opening gun of the Department of Justice in its campaign 

 against associations operating under the open price plan, which 

 involves the exchange between members of statistics which enable 

 them to regulate production and prices as a unit, was fired on 

 June 30, when suit was filed by the Government in New York 

 against the Cement Manufacturers' Protective Association. 



As in the Hardwood case which is now pending in the United 

 States Supreme Court, the Government asks the dissolution of the 

 association or any other organization of similar character, and, 

 according to a statement issued by Attorney General Dougherty, 

 indicates that the Government may seek a preliminary in.iunction 

 pending final hearing in the case. 



The statement of the Attorney General, in which he refers to 

 the "open-price" plan, sa.ys: 



The Cement Manufacturers' Protective Association is organized along 

 the lines of what has come to be generally known as the "Eddy plan" 

 the "new competition" "open price plan" and "open c^mipetition plan." 

 The forms of these plans vary in minor details, but the outstanding and 

 fundamental principle of all is the exchange between mcmliers of compre- 

 hensive statistical data which enables each to know what his com- 

 petitor is doing. 



For some time past the investigation of every coiiiplaint of alleged 

 violation of the Sherman .\nti-Trust Act invariably has led to the door 

 of one of these associations. The memltcrs. of the Association adopt a 

 constitution and fill their minutes with disclaimers of any intention to 

 violate the law. As soon as the .\ssociatifin l)eg1ns to function properly, 

 the price of the commodity in which its members are interested begins 

 to advance and the customary signs of competition begin to disappear. 



Memphis Is Quiet After Good June 



The Memphis hardwood market is suffering, to a slight extent, 

 from the summer dullness incident to this particular season. De- 

 mand is slowing down somewhat and it is not anticipated that Julv 

 will be a month of large activity. Much encouragement, however, 

 is extracted from the fact that the total of June sales was the 

 largest for any month since the depression of last fall made its 

 appearance. Business was confined largely to firsts and seconds, 

 selects and No. 1 common, with a fair sprinkling of orders for No. 

 2 common in oak and gum. The lower grades did not move very 



freely though toward the end of the month there were fair trans- 

 actions in No. 3 common gum, which went to box makers and 

 miscellaneous consumers. Manufacturers of flooring and interior 

 trim were by far the heaviest liuyers during the month. There 

 was some increase in demand from furniture manufacturers while 

 wholesalers increased their purchases to a moderate extent. The 

 buying was almost completely at a standstill and there is very little 

 railroads were, and still are, conspicuous bj' their absence. Export 

 (Continued on page 24) 



