24 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



make an mvestigation. This was done and the actual findings of the 

 committee published in pamphlet form for the exclusive and confidential 

 use of its members, and the report deals conclusively with the facts made 

 available at that time. 



With reference to a statement of the vehicle representatives that 

 the differences between their list of prices which they reeommeuded 

 be paid for hardwood material, and ths prices which they furnished 

 the government as constituting their costs were accounted for by 

 the cost of putting grass green lumber into a partially dry state, 

 Mr. MeClure called attention to certain facts which he stated he 

 believed, in the absence of additional evidence to the contrary, 

 warranted the attitude and report of the hardwood committee, 

 these facts being as follows: 



First — The confidential price list or recommended list contained prices 

 on 1" F.\S oak, 6" and up wide, six months or older, $65 ; 1" FAS oak. 

 10" and up wide, six months or older, $70. Mr. McCIure contended that 

 this age stock In this thickness would constitute partially dry material, 

 and called attention to the fact that these two items in the list furnished 

 the government as representing costs were shown, respectively, at .$80 and 

 $S5 : 



Second — The confidential or recommended list showed pine bottoms 1x4 

 and 6", 12' long, at $42.50, and the same item on the cost list furnished 

 the government, .$05. Mr. McClure contended that this material was al- 

 ways shipped in a dry state, and was never purchased in any other con- 

 dition, so that there would be no cost to the wagon manufacturers in 

 putting this material into a dry condition ; 



Third — Prices shown in the confidential or recommended list for 1" 

 gum box boards, 8 to 12" wide, were $41 ; 13 to 17" wide, $46.50, while 

 the prices used in the price list to the government were, respectively, 

 $52.50 and $57.50. Mr. McClure contended that these items were also 

 shipped in a dry or partially dry condition, and that It was reasonable to 

 assume that the prices contained in the confidential or recommended list 

 were intended to apply on material shipped in the usual or customary con- 

 dition, and that this was confirmed by the fact that no differential was 

 shown in the confidential or recommended list between dry and green, as 

 was done on many other items. 



Mr. MeClure further stated that in his judgment the facts to 

 which he had called attention warranted the report of the hard- 

 wood committee, of which he was a member, but that he and the 

 fellow members of his committee were open to conviction, and 

 would be glad to fully and fairly consider any further facts that 

 the vehicle representatives could present in explanation of the dis- 

 crepancies that appeared from the information at hand. 

 Mr. Dulweber then made the following statement: 

 That the lumbermen felt that the arbitrary fixing of maximum prices 

 on their product by any class of consumers thereof was unfair, and that 

 prices should be controlled eijtirely by laws of supply and demand, and 

 Individual agreements between the parties interested ; 



Further, that if it was believed necessary In the existing emergency to 

 stabilize prices In order to better serve our government, the lumbermen, 

 as the producers of the material, should have been consulted and have 

 had an opportunity to show what, in their judgment, was a fair and rea- 

 sonable price ; 



That the prices contained in the confidential or recommended list were 

 maximum prices, and that if the lumbermen were to be deprived of any 

 voice in the determination of these prices, the fair thing to have done 

 would have been to adopt the maximum prices prevailing at that time 

 for sales in considerable quantities ; that this had not been done ; that 

 some of the larger members of the National Implement and Vehicle As- 

 sociation had voluntarily, prior to the compilation of the confidential oi 

 recommended list, paid prices considerably in excess of the prices con- 

 tained in said list ; that subsequent to these purchases and prior to the 

 compilation of the list, the cost of lumber production had increased, and 

 that, therefore, the prices in the list should have been higher than the 

 basis of these sales, rather than lower. 



Colonel Wood stated that the prices on lumber recommended by 

 the Woodstock committee had been approved by him for the Quar- 

 termaster 's Department, and that he had advised manufacturers 

 who had contracted with the government to supply army wagons 

 that they should not pay more for lumber than was recommended 

 by this committee; that he did this because he knew that the 

 prices of the government for vehicles were such that there would 

 not be an adequate margin of profit to the manufacturers if more 

 were paid for Woodstock, and that unless these Woodstock prices 

 could be realized the government would be obliged to pay higher 

 prices for its vehicles. 



Members of the Vehicle Association made the following state- 

 ments: 



That the Woodstock committee had never, other than to Indicate the 

 approval of recommended prices by Colonel Wood, stated to manufac- 

 turers of army vehicles that Woodstock prices so recommended were gov- 

 ernment-fixed prices, and that if government wagon suppliers, in procur- 

 ing lumber, made any more positive statement in reference to the gov- 

 ernment fixing prices, it was without the advice of the Woodstock com- 

 mittee ; that while the Woodstock committee did make every effort to glv» 

 publicity to its recommended prices for lumber and the approval thereof 

 by the Quartermaster's Department, they did not seek to convey any false 

 impression as to the character of government price fixing ; 



That at the Chicago meeting between the Woodstock committee and the 

 Southern Hardwood Kmergency Bureau, the Woodstock committee did not 

 refuse the offer of the lumbermen to sell lumber at the prices which the 

 wagon manufacturers had Included in their estimated cost to the govern- 

 ment, but it did enter into a negotiation with the lumbermen to ascertain 

 what a fair price for lumber should be, but this did not result in a satis- 

 factory conclusion : 



That the refusal of the Woodstock committee to furnish the lumbermen 

 with any of the details requested, was only because of the fact that the 

 committee considered these details as of a confidential government nature ; 



That the committee did not recommend to any firm or firms supplying 

 the government with wagons or parts therefor that the contracts for the 

 purchase of lumber be cancelled, and that they have never assumed the 

 authority to interfere in any way with existing contracts between manu- 

 facturers of army vehicles and suppliers of materials therefor ; 



That the Woodstock com^ttee, in making its recommendation with ref- 

 erence to prices on matermls had paid most particular attention to the 

 prices on those classes of materials which were largely used in the manu- 

 facture of army wagons and that it was possible that there might be 

 some discrepancies in the price of materials, which, while covered in 

 the recommended price list, were only bought in nominal quantities for 

 wagon production ; 



That very little 1" oak is used in government wagons, most of the oak 

 being 2>/." and thicker; 



That some of the apparent discrepancies in price between the recom- 

 mended list and those in the estimated cost sheets of some of the sup- 

 pliers of government wagons were accounted for by changes in specifica- 

 tions and method of construction as compared with those at first anti- 

 cipated, and while some of the suppliers of government wagons figured 

 their box board estimated costs on gum as low as $45, others used figures 

 on box boards as high as $57.50 because poplar or cottonwood was used ; 



That there are only a few of the contractors for army vehicles and 

 parts therefor who are members of the National Implement and Vehicle 

 Association, and many of the statements referred to by Mr. Jurden were 

 not made by members of the association ; 



That it was probably because of a mi.sunderstanding of many of these 

 facts that wrong conclusions were reached by the lumbermen. 



Messrs. Brantingham and Todd submitted the detail costs of the 

 escort wagons which have already been built for the government 

 by their respective companies and which were examined by repre- 

 sentatives of the lumbermen. These cost sheets showed that instead 

 of the manufacturers profiteering upon the business in question, 

 the wagons had been produced at an actual loss. 



After a full discussion of the various points brought out by the 

 representatives of both industries and the submission of further 

 facts, figures, and cost statements by different members of the 

 National Implement and Vehicle Association, the conclusion was 

 reached that misunderstandings had previously existed, due to lack 

 of information furnished the hardwood committee, and after due 

 consideration, the following resolution was offered and seconded by 

 the hardwood lumber representatives: 



Whereas, A special committee of the American Hardwood Manufac- 

 turers' Association, Memphis, Tenn., hereinafter referred to as the hard- 

 wood committee, under date of March 28, 1918, issued a "report of com- 

 mittees Investigating matters in connection with army and vehicle pur- 

 chasing committee ;" and 



Wheheas, The representatives of the four leading hardwood lumber 

 associations of the United States, I. e., the American Hardwood Manu- 

 facturers' Association, National Hardwood Lumber Association, Hardwood 

 -Manufacturers' Association of the United States, and the Northern Hard- 

 wood Emergency Bureau, at a meeting held this date at Chicago, con- 

 ferred with a special committee of the National Implement and Vehicle 

 Association regarding the matters brought out in said report ; and 



Whereas, Said hardwood committee's report indicates that the makers 

 thereof were not supplied with full facts and figures in connection with 

 the basis of hardwood lumber prices used in the wagon and vehicle com- 

 mittee's recommendations entering into the finished cost estimates of 

 animal-drawn army vehicles and parts thereof ; and 



Whereas, There has been presented to the representatives present in- 

 formation that develops conclusively the following facts : 



First, That a fair price f. o. b. Chicago for 24 mouths dry oak in Octobcr 

 and November, 1917, was approximately as follows : 



