1^4 TIMBER VALUATION 



Economic pressure on timberland holders to meet carrying 



charges by cutting even at a low profit. 

 Increased productivity of labor. 

 Deflation of currency. 



Striking a balance between these two sets of factors is difficult. 

 It involves forecasting the probable course of prices after the 

 greatest war in history with the world facing a timber famine 

 due to overcutting in the past. Stumpage prices seem bound to 

 go up. The cost of production in Europe is $io to $15 per M 

 for softwoods and $20 to $30 for hardwoods. These seem to be 

 what the United States will have to come to. The softwood 

 stumpage prices have already been attained in the northeast. 

 Lumber prices are a different problem. They need not neces- 

 sarily go up along with stumpage prices. In fact European pre- 

 war prices would indicate that increased efficiency of manufac- 

 ture and distribution may keep them from going much higher 

 than they are now. Certainly there is every prospect of a tem- 

 porary falling off when the peak of general commodity prices is 

 reached. But on the other hand the times are apparently past 

 when softwood lumber of even medium grade can be purchased 

 for less than $50 per M or clear hardwood for less than $100. 



Logging Costs for Lumber. — The difficult and complex sub- 

 ject of logging and milHng costs must necessarily be considered 

 briefly, at least, because a knowledge of stumpage prices is a 

 prime essential in determining timber values. Stumpage prices 

 in turn are dependent upon the difference between sale values and 

 costs. Needless to say the subject is so complex that a full dis- 

 cussion of the various phases must be left to such special treatises 

 as Bryant's " Logging." What is needed here is merely a bird's- 

 eye view and a comparative notion of costs under different topo- 

 graphic and forest type conditions. 



Since lumber is the most important single product of the forest 

 its manufacture will be considered in detail. For other products 

 Jike cord wood, tanbark, poles, etc., it will be sufficient to merely 

 point out the ways in which their handling differs from that of 

 lumber. 



