REVIEWS 743 



annually ; another in New York disposes of 200 million feet a year, this 

 representing the product of eleven southern mills. While the con- 

 centration of marketing of lumber is still far from complete, the report 

 speaks of the movement as "undoubtedly the most pronounced feature 

 of concentration in the lumber industry from the standpoint of ten- 

 dencies in its development and bearing upon the interests of con- 

 sumers." 



Other features of the general reorganization include activities of 

 trade associations. These include the movement for the adoption of 

 uniform accounting systems, the development of trade-marks and 

 guarantee of quality of lumber products, the distribution of informa- 

 tion regarding current industrial conditions, the preparation and distri- 

 bution among members of associations of prices received in lumber 

 sales, and so on. 



All of this tends to give the industry greater cohesion. and makes 

 for general industrial strength and efficiency. All along the line this 

 means an increasing tendency to concentration and group action. An 

 individualistic, unorganized (often disorganized) industry is rapidly 

 becoming a highly organized industry. With the intensified organiza- 

 tion of any industry many elements of competition lose force or are 

 subject to possible control. The blocking up of unorganized timber 

 tracts into operating units, the financial strengthening of the industry, 

 the education of the different operators to conduct their business in 

 light of full information regarding existing stocks, current prices, 

 probable demands, general business conditions and the like, contribute 

 to this, quite aside from concentration in ownership and in manu- 

 facture and marketing. That this presents increasing possibilities for 

 centralized or group control that could be used to the public injury 

 goes without saying. These possibilities are pointed out in the Capper 

 Report and at the same time there are shown the influences that tend 

 to continue the industry on a competitive basis, such as the large num- 

 ber of small sawmills, the heavy carrying charges that prevent sub- 

 stantial curtailment of production, and the existence of large bodies 

 of Government timber in the West. 



Naturally the factors tending to concentration are accentuated bv 

 forest dei)letion. This is esj)ecially the case with the control of high- 

 quality timber. In a region like the South the large bodies of virgin 

 timber are already organized in connection with existing plants. As 

 one operation after another is cut out the number of concerns owning 

 the remaining timber is reduced. In but a few years the remaining 

 high grade softwood timber in the East will be in the hands of a few 



