Some Specific Effects of Regional Depletion on 



Prices 



Regional forest exhaustion, with constantly increas- 

 ing distance between forest and market, gives rise to 

 many accessory conditions vitally affecting the price 

 of lumber to the consumer. Among the more im- 

 portant are : 



Opportunities for speculation in lumber prices by 

 both producers and distributors tend to increase as 

 the distance between forest and market becomes 

 greater and as a species of lumber becomes scarcer. 

 Curing the 8 or ]0 months preceding March, 1920, 

 much speculation entered the trade in markets far 

 removed from the producing regions. The common 

 use of the reconsignmeiit privilege, for example, by 

 which cars of lumber are shipped prior to sale, the 

 shipper or wholesaler, as the case may be, relying 

 upon favorable sale while the lumber is in transit or 

 when it reaches, a consignment point, was a fruit- 

 ful source of speculation. These cars were often held 

 for bid prices and served to intensify the auction 

 market and to lift prices. 



During the past year demurrage charges on transit 

 cars amounting to $100 and $200 per car were not 

 uncommon. The records of transit cars at the Minne- 

 sota transfer alone show that during the period Octo- 

 ber, 1919, to March, 1920, 3,000 cars were held with- 

 out disposition for an aggregate period of 17,453 days 

 and average of 5.8 days per car and incurred 

 accrued demurrage and penalty charges amounting to 

 a total of $76,529. 



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