146 Forestry Quarterly 



An elaborate article on the timber trade 

 German conditions in Germany for the year 1914 



Wood is of interest in fixing the ante-bellum mar- 



Trade ket prices. In the introduction the writer 



refers to the world war "which proper 

 feeling in antagonism with reason had a thousand times declared 

 an impossibility, and which Germany for more than 40 years, 

 often under most difficult conditions, had prevented." "Both 

 Austria and Germany, during these 44 years, since the Franco- 

 Prussian war have shown that they wished to develop the energies 

 of their people in peaceful economic competition." The commer- 

 cial envy of Great Britain over the German competition in the 

 world market is recognized as the ultimate cause of the war. 

 This competition is also found in the wood-working industries, 

 which in Great Britain employ over 250,000 people, with an annual 

 product worth over $115 million, which is all consumed at home, 

 together with $7 million import, while Germany, producing in 

 part its raw material, employs 685,000 workers and exports 

 $40 million alone of furniture and woodenware. 



It appears that the year 1914, as it was, began with a depression 

 in the market, and the wood industry even before the outbreak 

 of the war was at low ebb. The war, of course, stopped all work 

 for export, but the needs of the military departments helped over 

 the trouble, a careful distribution of orders being inaugurated. 



During the 20 years from 1895 to 1914, prices for log material 

 have increased a round 20 per cent. This is for rafting timber, 

 which rose from 16 cents to 19.5 cents per cubic foot. For pine 

 boards in the five years up to 1913, the rise had been up to 40 

 per cent according to sizes, but in the war year prices dropped 

 nearly 10 per cent. 



It is interesting to note how prices vary with the size : e. g. pine, 

 16 foot mill run boards f. o. b. mill of 

 widths 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 inches 



brought in 1914 26 27 27.6 27 27.5 26 38 cents per cubic foot 

 in 1909 19 20 21 21 22 21,6 24 " " " " 



These prices would make the average prices per M feet board 

 measure run from $18 for 6 inch to less than $22 for 12 inch 

 boards, over 20 per cent higher than the small size material. 

 Such prices come near enough to our own. 



Das Wirischaftsjahr 1914. Centralblatt fur das gesammte Porstwesen, 

 January-February, March-April, 1915, pp. 000-000, 149-157. 



