594 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



the annual business meeting of the National Lumber Manufacturers' 

 Association. The most interesting features of this were the reports by 

 Dr. Wilson Compton, Secretary-Manager of the Association, by R. B. 

 Goodman, head of the recently established Bureau of Economics, and 

 by Gen. L. C. Boyle, counsel for the association. 



Dr. Compton's comprehensive report reviews in detail the activities 

 of the association during the past year and is worth reading in toto 

 by those who are interested in knowing just what the association is 

 doing. The objects of the association are formulated in a creed consist- 

 ing of nine articles, which are summarized by Dr. Compton in the single 

 phrase : "To represent the common interest of the lumber industry in 

 national affairs." In many respects both the creed and the report as 

 a whole are more interesting because of their omissions than because 

 o'f their contents. It is disappointing, as well as surprising, that Dr. 

 Compton, whose experience in the Bureau of Corporations and the 

 Federal Trade Commission should have given him a thorough knowl- 

 edge of the weakness of the lumber industry from the productive end, 

 should have seen fit to ignore this end entirely in his report. In spite 

 of his silence, one cannot believe that he is ignorant of the importance 

 of such fundamental problems as fire protection, methods of maintain- 

 ing forest productivity, classification of forest lands, relations between 

 employer and employee, establishment of permanent forest communi- 

 ties, etc. 



The new Bureau of Lumber Economics, established at the request of 

 the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, is now collecting and sending 

 each week to members of subscribing associations the most complete 

 obtainable statement of the current production and movement of lum- 

 ber, the volume of orders received, the relation of current supply to 

 current demand, and the relation of all to the normal. In addition, it 

 has just started to issue a monthly graphic chart of lumber movement 

 and a special comparative graphic summary showing the change from 

 month to month in fundamental business conditions and in immediate 

 business prospects- Activities of this sort should be most helpful in 

 giving the lumbermen of the country the basic facts regarding the 

 volume and movement of their business. The Bureau also plans, at 

 the request of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, to secure the 

 basic economic information concerning costs, prices, and values of 

 timber properties, wastage of assets, depreciation of improvements, 

 volume of reserves of stumpage, and the methods of valuation of 

 timber properties which are necessary to the wise and fair administra- 

 tion of the laws. 



