Current Literature 601 



of Wood Technology. The author has wisely included the 

 elementary mechanics of materials in general, at the same time 

 avoiding all unnecessary technical language and descriptions. 



But the book is more than merely a text. It is a valuable 

 reference work inasmuch as it brings together in concise form data 

 from a great many more or less inaccessible publications, sifts the 

 essentials from out a bewildering mass of details and presents 

 them in easily understood language. 



It remains for the author to write, as a corollary to his two pre- 

 vious books, a third dealing with the technical uses of wood: such 

 as paper pulp, wood distillates, etc. That Professor Record is 

 admirably fitted for this task no one who has read his present 

 work will deny. 



A. B. R. 



The Lumber Industry, Part IV . Conditions in production and 

 wholesale distribution including wholesale prices. Department of 

 Commerce, Bureau of Corporations. Washington, D. C. April 

 21, 1914. Pp. 933. 



Some years ago Congress directed the Bureau of Corporations 

 to make an investigation of the limiber industry for the purpose 

 of ascertaining whether or not there existed a "lumber trust" 

 for the control of limiber production and sales. After the expendi- 

 ture of a large sum of money and the lapse of several years' time, 

 three volumes, in four parts, have been printed and distributed. 

 The first three parts in two volumes deal with the standing timber 

 of the country and its ownership; also the tendency toward 

 concentration of large areas of lands into comparatively few hands. 



Part IV, dealing with conditions in production and wholesale 

 distribution, including wholesale prices, is by far the most 

 voluminous and contains a severe arraignment of the lumber 

 industry, especially in certain sections of the country. 



It is believed that the avowed intention of Congress in creating 

 the Bureau of Corporations and at different times charging it with 

 the investigation of certain large industries, was to provide an 

 agent which not alone would point out any transgression of the 

 Sherman Act, but also would pave the way to needed reforms 

 which would place the industry on a sound basis and enable it to 

 carrv on its business affairs in conformitv with existing laws. 



