



I. SOURCES AND CHARACTER OF LUMBER PRICES. 

 ^ '5?-otations from the Trade 



Quotations for many kinds of lumber are carried in the trade 

 papers; but-:.there is grave doubt as to the reliability of most of 

 the-se figures, 



t 



An exhaustive study of lumber prices both in central markets 

 and at mills over a period cf years ending in 1910 was made a few .. 

 y.ears ago for the Bureau of Corporations by Messrs. David L. Wing 

 and John M. Gries, After these men had obtained a large collec- 

 tion of prices from the books of saw mills and dealers, they com- 

 pared their figures with the market quotations given in the trade 

 papers. One of these papers, the COMMERCIAL BULLETIN of Boston, 

 they found making reports that agreed closely with their own re- 

 sults. All the other trade papers were unreliable in varying de- 

 grees. 



Accordingly, in tilie following bulletin no quotations from the 

 trade papers are given excepting the somewhat limited range of 

 fig-ores for New England lumber carried by the above-named Boston 

 Jour?ial , 



2 1 Quotations from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Federal Trade 



Ccinr.ission 



At our request, the Federal Trade Commission got one of their 

 agents to collect a few quotations for the Price Section. We have 

 also obtained two series from the Eureau of Labor Statistics; but 

 for the reasons given above we have not used the quotations they 

 accept from ..the New York LUMBER TRADE JOURNAL, 



3, The Forest Service Prices. 



Most of the material here presented comes from the Forest Ser- 

 vice. Since the second quarter of 1913 this bureau has been obtain- 

 ing reports of "average prices f ,o,b. ndll" on a great variejrja of 

 lumber from mills scattered over the important producing sections. 

 The averages are given as covering the threeMsonilis preceding the 

 date of each report, When substantially all the reports are in, the 

 Forest Service compiles a separate mimeographed bulletin for each 

 important type of lumber in each large producing area. In these 

 bxilletins each mill is represented by a number, so that the reports 

 from a given enterprise can be fcrllcwred .For example , there is a 

 ''Yellow Bir.e' 1 bulletin, issued July 23, i915, covering the states . 

 of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, and Arkansas, carrying 

 reports from 36 mills, and shewing average prices during April, 

 May. and June 4f 14 different grades of yellow pine, classified as 

 (W.I.B.-359-2) 



