SELLING LUMBER 13 



facturers representing practically one-half of the entire production 

 of Yellow Pine, and the information secured from them is repre- 

 sentative. If we had them all, we would have accurate informa- 

 tion. There are many thousands of feet of lumber produced of 

 which we have no information whatever, and we can only judge 

 from the information that we have as to what the situation as 

 a whole may be, and our judgment in that direction may be more 

 or less wrong, because it is not full and complete. 



The next thought was to educate ourselves as to what it costs 

 to produce our lumber on a system of uniform method of ac- 

 counting. We entered into that campaign, and today we have 

 some eighty companies which are accounting their costs on a 

 uniform basis, and we know to that extent what the cost of pro- 

 duction is. But that is simply the initial step. We must go 

 further. We do not all use the same charges. For instance, in 

 our cost of stumpage, our stumpage charges range from $2 to $7 

 per thousand. We know that $2 is not enough, and our judgment 

 is that $7 is nearer right than $2, because we cannot replace our 

 stumpage at a value which is very much less than the latter 

 figure ; and those who have bought their stumpage in the last four 

 or five years at values ranging from $4.50 to $5.50, find them- 

 selves confronted today with a cost of practically $7. Then there A Start 

 is the question of overrun and the method of measurement. Our 

 stumpage account shows that our overrun ranges from 5 to 58^ ing Methods 

 per cent. We have reason to believe that 5 per cent is not correct, 

 and that 58^ per cent is not correct, either; but that the aver- 

 age yield in board measure over log scale is approximately 19 

 per cent. So it is out of line, as between 5 per cent and 58 per 

 cent, showing a difference, at the same charge for stumpage 

 (using $6.00 as a basis) of $1.50 per thousand in the finished cost 

 of manufacture; and yet it is merely a question of method of 

 measuring your stumpage. There is no such difference in the 

 actual cost of the finished product. We hope to succeed in our 

 effort to bring about, first, a uniform charge for stumpage; and 

 second, a uniform method of measuring our stumpage, so that 

 we may be able to have something approaching or approximating 

 accurate cost in that direction. 



After we have secured that, the next question that confronts 

 us is the question of taking into our costs our proper fixed 

 charges : interest on our investment, taxes, insurance, sales, the 



