26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



February 25, 1922 



News from the National Capital 



Government Issues Price Statistics 



In view of the Supreme Court's action in forbidding the Amer- 

 ican Hardwood Manufacturers' Association to make use of an 

 open price exchange system of information on the lumber mar- 

 ket, the following statement, issued by the Department of Com- 

 merce, the first of the sort since the decision, is of interest: 



The attached sheets give an average of the prices at which actual sales 

 of lumber at the mills are reported to have been made. The reports have 

 been obtained by the Bureau of the Census directly from the mills. The 

 number of quotations available differ rather widely for different species 

 and grades, but no average is given which does not include quotations from 

 at least three different mills. Each price given is a simple average obtained 

 by dividing the sum of the quotations by their number. For the softwoods, 

 the number of quotations used range as follows : 



Southern pine, 7 to 22 ; Northern pine, 3 to 10 ; Douglas flr, 3 to 10 ; 

 red cypress, 4 to 8 ; hemlocli, 4 to 15. 



Ilardwood prices are those from Northern mills only. The majority 

 of these mills arc located in Wisconsin and Michigan. A number of reports 

 were received from Southern and Eastern mills for earlier years and cer- 

 tain months of 1921, but comparatively few reports have been received 

 for recent months, and they have not been Included in this tabulation. 



The number of quotations on hardwood species range as follows : 



Ash, 3 to 8 ; unselected birch, 5 to 18 ; hard maple, 4 to 15 ; soft maple, 

 3 to 7 : soft elm, 4 to 10 ; rock elm, 3 to 6 ; plain red oak, 3 to 7 ; bass- 

 wood, 4 to 14. 



All quotations are based on the average price per 1,000 board feet, 

 f. o. b. mill. Tables of prices are added. 



Trade Commission Strikes Westerners 



The Federal Trade Commission has sunt to Congress the fourth 

 of a series of reports dealing with the lumber industry, with particu- 

 lar reference to the Western Pine Manufacturers' Association of 

 Portland, Ore., which was referred to in previous reports alleging 

 existence of practices in restraint of trade on the part of various 

 organized groups of lumber manufacturers. 



The Commission states that the present report is based upon docu- 

 mentarj' evidence secured from the files of the Western Pine Manu- 

 facturers' Association and its more prominent members. The Com- 

 mission alleges that the association was organized and conducted 

 for the primary purpose of agreeing on prices of lumber sold in Mid- 

 dle West markets by manufacturers in Idaho, Western Montana, 

 Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon. 



The report of the Commission says in par.t: 



The activities of the association in advancing prices by concerted action 

 were contemporaneous with a steadily rising price level between 1915 and 

 1920. Notwithstanding price reductions from the peak of the runaway 

 markets of 1919-20, ranging as high as 88 per cent on the lower grades, 

 most of the present prevailing quotations are far in advance of war time 

 levels and none touch prewar levels. 



On upper grades of Idaho white pine present quotations are substantially 

 higher than those prevailing at the peak of the runaway market In Feb- 

 ruary, 1920. The price advances made by prominent members of the 

 Western Pine Manufacturers' Association during the runaway market of 

 1919 were characterized by the more conservative members and manu- 

 facturers as "radical," "Incredible" and "tremendous." The president of 

 the association referred to them as "anarchistic," and the secretary 

 warned that "they were inviting an effort to nationalize the luml>€r 

 industry soon." 



In referring to price maintenance, the report says: 

 In periods of depression, the association members have resorted to con- 

 certed regulation of production for the purpose of maintaining the prices 

 arrived at through concerted action, and as a basis for recurring cycles of 

 increased prices when demand springs up again. In the fall of 1921 prices 

 were again advanced on the basis of depleted stocks brought about by a 

 reduction of over 50 per cent below normal In the 1921 output. Notwith- 

 standing a nation-wide housing shortage, members estimate that their 

 production for 1922 will not be over 50 to 60 per cent of their 1921 produc- 

 tion, and there is trade talk of another runaway market. 



In conclusion the report states that there has been active coopera- 

 tion between the Western Pine Manufacturers' Association and the 

 West Coast Lumbermen's Association, with the purpose and efEect 

 of harmonious action on prices and production. 



New Partners Admitted to Love, Boyd & Co. 



Under date of February 15, Love, Boyd & Co. of Nashville, Tenn., 

 announce that Thomas R. LeSueur and John W. Love, Jr., have been ad- 

 mitted to partnership in that firm. Both of these gentlemen are well 

 known wherever hardwood lumber is a factor, and each has a long and 

 valuable experience behind him. 



Mr. Le Sueur was formerly with Love, Boyd & Co., for about ten years^ 

 prior to allying himself with John B. Ransom & Co. of Nashville. Tenn. 

 He started as a stenographer and was afterwards bookkeeper and general 

 office man. He had been associated with John B. Ransom & Co. for about 

 eleven years as sales manager and assistant to the president, and in that 

 connection has established a notable record. 



J. W. Love, Jr., son of the senior Mr. Love, one of the principals in 

 Love, Boyd & Co., has been prominently and actively with the company 

 so long as to thoroughly establish his contact. 



J. W. Love, Sr., and Junior will continue to live In New York as at 

 present and handle the eastern office, while the Nashville end of the busi- 

 ness will be handled by Hamilton Love and Mr. Le Sueur. 



Ten-Dollar Penalty Ordered Removed 



The $10 a day per car penalty charge on lumber and forest products 

 held for reconsignment beyond the 48-hour free period has been ordered 

 removed by the Interstate Commerce Commission in a decision on the long 

 litigation which resulted from the American Wholesale Lumber Association 

 petitioning for a removal of the charge with reparations for payments by 

 Us members under the operation of the penalty rule. The commission found 

 that the charge was unreasonable under the present condition of large 

 surplus car supply, but found no fault with the principle of the charge, 

 holding that the carriers were Justified in penalizing delay In transporta- 

 tion of a commodity, because they are not organized for the storage of 

 commodities, hut for their transportation. It held that the charge was 

 reasonable at the time it was Instituted. "It should be clearly understood," 

 the ruling said, "that our approval of the elimination of the charge at 

 this time is based solely on existing conditions and is not to be construed 

 an an Inhibition on the carriers to publish penalty charges in the future 

 If and when conditions warrant." In the nature of the decision the door 

 was closed to the granting of reparations. 



The opinion of the commission also passes upon reductions proposed by 

 the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis railroad In reconsignment charges on 

 lumber, which are found not Justifled and the suspended schedules are 

 ordered canceled on or before March 13, the date on which the carriers 

 in general are ordered to remove the $10 penalty charge. That carrier 

 proposed to cancel the $5 reconsignment charge on lumber when Instruc- 

 tions are received prior to arrival of car, and to reduce the charge from^ 

 $7 to $3 when Instructions are received after arrival of the car. 



Attention is directed to the tariff of the Toledo, St. Louis & Western 

 railroad, effective Sept. 6, 1921, by which that company made its charge 

 for reconsignment of lumber at Junction points .$3 irrespective of whether 

 the Instructions were received prior or subsequent to arrival of car, but 

 it Is stated that the lawfulness of that tariff is not an issue in this pro- 

 ceedings. 



Old Sawmill Is Burned 



After having stood since 1878, the building and sawmill near Columbus, 

 Ind., owned by Charles Taylor, was destroyed by Are. The fire was of 

 unknown origin and the loss Is estimated at more than $10,000. 



Wagon Maker Dies 



Charles Luther Olds, 66 years old, Fort Wayne, Ind., died recently at 

 his home from paralysis. Mr. Olds was active in the management of the 

 Olds Wagon & Wheel Works of Fort Wayne as well as being Interested 

 In many Industries in Northern Indiana. 



January, 1922, Building Permits Exceed Same Month of 1921 by 

 125 Percent 



It was naturally expected from the way in which construction activity 

 and contemplated activity kept up and even Increased in volume during 

 the late months of 1921 that 1922 would be ushered in with a good start. 



Actual returns for January give more optimistic coloring than the most 

 sanguine expectations, and as far as building permit Issues go, January, 

 1922, stands a record-breaker, far outstripping any previous first month 

 since 1914 and probably before. 



Before real figures are considered it will pay to look at the expectations 

 upon which the figures are based. Without going into unnecessary detail, 

 It may be said that the labor situation is, on the whole, favorable. There 

 Is a big gain In efficiency brought about by the same economic conditions 

 which have forced wage scales down to much lower average levels thani 



