PUBLIC AUCTION. 455 



they are absolutely worthless. It must not, however, be for- 

 gotten, that royalties also possess the character of prices fixed 

 by authority, and thus often exercise an influence on market 

 prices that is not always justifiable. 



(b) Sale to the highest Bidder. 



The next mode of sale to be discussed is, when a purchaser 

 offers his wares for sale to the highest bidder in the presence 

 of a larger or smaller number of purchasers. The charac- 

 teristics of this method are, that the price is fixed by the 

 purchasers, and the wares, i.e., the forest produce, is divided 

 among the consumers according to their own requirements 

 and without direct interference on the part of the forest 

 owner. 



Sale to the highest bidder may be effected by public auction 

 or sealed tender. 



i. Sale lj Fublir 





(a) General Account. Public auction-sales may be con- 

 ducted either by the purchasers out-bidding one another, or by 

 putting up each sale-lot at a prohibitively high figure, a public 

 crier then calling out at regular intervals successive reductions 

 by a fixed sum of this figure for any lot, until one of the 

 purchasers signifies his acceptance of the lot at the last figure 

 proclaimed by the crier. This latter mode of sale is termed a 

 Dutch auction, and in case two or more purchasers accept a 

 lot simultaneously, it is put-up for sale to the highest bidder 

 among them. 



Sale by successively increased bids is the common mode of 

 auction-sale in Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Switzer- 

 land, etc., whilst Dutch auctions for forest produce prevail in 

 France, Belgium, Holland, Alsace and Lorraine. 



Dutch auctions for forest produce are employed generally 

 only in the case of valuable timber sold in large lots, and when 

 only a few purchasers are present who are men of means ; they 

 are preferred in Alsace. Wherever wood is sold in small lots 

 to a number of small purchasers such a method would be out 

 of place, for the following reasons : it takes much more time 

 than when purchasers outbid one another ; where there are a 



