HARDWOOD RECORD 



27 



wi' raise from 40 to SO per (.■•nt of next .viiirV •'X|M-ii<lliiirfN hy dlroct taxoR 

 upon the people, or tii round duiiiIjitk from s to 9 lilllloii <lolliin<. I do 

 not believe that we shoulil now collocl from the pi^jple liy liixeH nny money 

 that we are loiiniiii; to our nllles. They are exiH'eteil to pay that and the 

 InlereBt upon It. It U estimated that we will loan to our nllleii this com- 



hlllli'ii, and our total expenditures, 

 re estimated to lie 'J-t' billion dollars 

 t n billion dollars 'of money In the 

 le liiiKlness miiu that wanlK lo borrow 



InR tlscal year from billion to 

 Ini'ludlDg our loans to our allies, 

 for this coming year. There Is 

 fnlted Stat.s. It looks to me that the bus 

 money Is koIu); lo have <lim< ulty In iImIiiu , 



Address by Joseph E. Davies 



At the conclusion of Mr. Fordn 'V '.s 

 address, tho chairman introducicl 

 Joseph E. Davies, formerly chnirmnn 

 of the Federal Trade Commission, and 

 now counsel for the National Bureau 

 of Wholesale Lumber Distributers. 

 The speaker ventured a prophetic pro- 

 diction of future changes in business, 

 politics and society, basing it upon 

 tendencies which are at work now and 

 are shaping events which are about to 

 take place. Tho chauges foreseen are 

 not all full of promise, but some are 

 of a threatening aspect. He con- 

 tinued: 



Great powers that are tending towards 

 socialism are being born Into the world 

 with tremendous rapidity anil It will re- 

 <iulre all the wisdom, capacity and ability 

 of our great people to preserve our great 

 country after this war as a democracy an<l 

 prevent the tendencies of socialism from 

 thwarting the purposes of our forefathers. 

 And In this situation there was projected 

 the Idea a year ago that prices had to be 

 controlled. How? Costs had to be deter- 

 mined. How? By the Federal Trade Com- 

 mission ; prices were then fixed. How ? On the basis of 

 tlon and reasonable profit. 



We went through the steel industry and ascertained what the cost of 

 production was. We went through the zinc and copper and flour Indus- 

 tries similarly and gave our costs about production to the president, and 

 the National Council of Defense say that prices might be reasonably con- 

 trolled for the welfare of the general piililli-. and In that connection the 

 lumber Industry, as one of the great lii.iiistries of the country, was re- 





of produc 



quired to bear its share for the public good. It was my pleasure and 

 privilege to hear Chairman Buruch of the War Industries Board say last 

 week that there was no group of men In the Dnited States with whom 

 he had come In contact who had more patriotically or generously served 

 In their country's cause during the first year of the war than the repre- 

 sentative lumbermen of the United States. 



This Industry peculiarly has responsibilities and obligations, because 

 lumber Is needed In the prosecution of this war. The lumber Industry Is 

 desirous of having the government get that lumber as cheaply as any 

 other commoillty Is furnished by any other group of men. The lumlier 

 Industry Is also interested In seeing to It 

 that the prices of lumber are stabilized as 

 much as possible and that the burdens are 

 distributed on all branches of- the Indus- 

 try. 



There Is another reason why there Is a 

 peculiar responsibility on the lumber In- 

 dustry and that Is because the lumber In- 

 dustry Is one of the great, natural 

 resources of the country ; and there Is a 

 natural tendency In the. world today to 

 hove governments take over business, and 

 the first things that they look to are the 

 natural resources of the country, after the 

 railroads hove been taken over. There- 

 fore the responsibility resides with the 

 lumber industry and the intelligence In 

 the lumber Industry to so accommodate 

 their purposes and plans as to best aid 

 the government In this great crisis, and 

 at the same time preserve Individualism 

 and freedom and democracy In the lumber 

 Industry after the war has gone by, and 

 the way that that best can be done, In my 

 Judgment, Is by wholehearted co-operation, 

 with the agencies of government control- 

 ling the great raw resources of the country. 

 It will Interest you to know that, some- 

 thing over a year ago, when the Presi- 

 dent of the United States came to the 

 6W1«t«H Federal Trade Commission and suggested 

 that we look into the cost of steel, in order that the prices of steel might 

 be fixed, that it was in his mind that he did not want nny price-fixing 

 agency created that would be of a permanent character, because he did 

 not want a permanent body in government to have price fixing powers, 

 but wanted only that agency to exercise a price-fixing power which was 

 temporary in its character and which, after the war, and the emergency 

 had subsided, would fade away as the necessity fell away, so that we 

 nilKlit resume tlie niirmal and ordinary course of industry. 



JUKDEN, ilEMriilS, DIUECTOR 



I.N.NATI, DIRECTOR 



PAYSOX SMITH, MINNEAPOLIS, DIRECTOR 



