940 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Of the conservation feature of the existing situation 

 this same pubhcation says: 



"Emphasis was laid on the fact that existing con- 

 ditions are the foe of conservation, since manu- 

 facturers are absolutely unable to manufacture a 

 considerable portion of the tree at a profit, and it 

 must be left in the woods to rot. It was pointed out 

 that the southern pine manufacturers are able to 

 utilize only 70 per cent of the timber on any given 

 tract, with the result that the remaining ;50 per cent 

 is absolutely wasted." 



Even more optimistic in tone is the comment of the 

 wide-awake Southern Lumberman, for it says: 



"That the lumber industry is standing on the 

 threshold of a new era of governmental aid and co- 

 operation seems a safe prediction as a result of the 

 hearing afforded the lumbermen by the Federal 

 Trade Commission in Chicago. This belief has a 

 firm foundation in the friendly spirit of cooperation 

 exhibited by the Commisson in its conduct of the 

 hearing, and its manifest desire to be of real help to 

 the industry. 



"It is a source of extreme gratification and relief 

 to note such an attitude on the part of a govern- 

 mental commission. It is a relief to feel that in 

 the future the industry may proceed without the 

 constant fear of being heckled and investigated by 

 inquisitorial bodies as has been so unfortunately 

 the case in recent years. That the lumbermen were 

 confident of being met in the friendly manner in 

 which they were received was apparent from the 

 frank and open nature of their statements and their 

 determination, as expressed by one of them, to 'lay 

 their cards on the table, face up.' " 



How helpful the Forest Service may be to the lumber- 

 men, and how much they need its help the Hardwood 

 Record, of Chicago, tells in stating that the lumbermen 

 at the Chicago hearing lacked, in many instances, positive 

 information, this being particularly noticeable when they 

 were called upon to reply to some leading questions. 



"At first thought," says the Hardwood Record, 

 "the compilation of this information appears to be 

 too gigantic and complicated a task to seem practical, 

 but it is within the lumbermen's power to have the 

 task performed without any effort or expenditure 

 on their part if they will but embrace an opportunity 

 that is now offered which can be broadened if they 

 will but make it known that they wish it to be. We 

 refer to the present investigation of lumber and 

 lumber markets as being carried on by the Federal 

 Forest Service. This investigation as originally 

 planned was to have covered the eijtire lumber in- 

 dustry in all of its departments from the stump to 

 the finished article made from wood and to embrace 

 all woods. Due, however, to the fact that no one is 

 particularly or directly interested in seeing that each 

 wood is given its fair share of attention, and inas- 

 much as it seems to be expedient to cut down the 

 scope of the investigation on account of insufficient 

 appropriation, the Forest Service officials in charge 

 of the work eliminated the investigation of many of 

 the important woods and are now dealing only with 

 a limited territory and in a rather limited way. The 



point is that if the lumbermen would make it known 

 to the Forest Service that they urgently desire that 

 the investigation be made comprehensive of all in- 

 dustries affiliated with the lumber industry, and all 

 industries directly dependent upon the lumber indus- 

 try, the Service would be able to secure without 

 undue trouble sufficient funds from other sources to 

 make this study one of real importance while it is 

 being done, rather than of merely casual importance 

 in a general way and of no direct importance as far 

 as its being representative of the entire industry is 

 concerned." 



Original ideas are to be expected in the Lumber World 

 Reviczv, of Chicago, and here is what appears anent the * 

 hearing : 



"It would only be a begging of the question for 

 either the Federal Trade Commission or the lumber- 

 men to now bring up in real earnest the plea that 

 neither party to the arrangement had understood* the 

 purpose or the cause which brought this event to 

 pass. 



"It has come directly to us first by careful atten- 

 tion to all the proceedings and by another source of 

 information of a perfectly legitimate character of 

 which all well-regulated newspapers avail them- 

 selves that the Commission's purpose was to dis- 

 cuss the conditions which surround only the foreign 

 lumber trade of the United States. 



"Whether or not the lumber manufacturer under- 

 stood just what the Commission wanted, it is very 

 sure now that when the Commission sorts out the 

 information that it secured, classifies and weighs it 

 all, it will find itself in possession of facts that it 

 could have little dreamed might exist concerning 

 any great industry in this 'land of the free and home 

 of" the brave.' " 



Warning the lumbermen not to depend too much on 

 the ability of the Federal Trade Commission to alleviate 

 the present situation, the American Lumberman, of 

 Chicago, says: 



"Its powers, of course, are not so fully defined as 

 they will be later. But they do not nor will they 

 later include the right to negative or render inef- 

 fective any statute now in existence relating to com- 

 binations 'in restraint of trade ;' neither can the 

 Commission run counter to decisions of the federal 

 courts construing those statutes. Consequently to 

 see how the Commission can render first-aid to the 

 lumber industry at this time is rather difficult, par- 

 ticularly as most manufacturers are of the opinion 

 that curtailment of production is the only remedy in 

 sight. Certainly the laws of the United States as 

 they stand today have not yet been construed as per- 

 mitting any sort of agreement or understanding 

 among producers that will result in curtailment, nor 

 would it seem to be in the power of the Trade Com- 

 mission to .sanction such agreement or under- 

 standing." 



When the Commission will make a report it is im- 

 possible to say. A mass of evidence has been collected 

 and it will take some time to digest it, but the lumber- 

 men are hoping that the report will be ready for presen- 

 tation to Congress early in the coming session. 



