l82 TIMBER VALUATION 



be remembered that most articles necessary to the prosecution 

 of the War rose even more rapidly than lumber. Balson (Eco- 

 nomics of the Lumber Industry, U. S. Department of Labor, 1919) 

 found, for example, that more lumber could be bought with a 

 dollar in 1919 than farm products as compared with 1914. Farm 

 products advanced during the War so tlxat a dollar would only 

 buy 46 cents'worth while 58 cents' worth of lumber could be pur- 

 chased for the same amount. 



In fact the slowness with which lumber advanced during the 

 War was one of the reasons why there was an advance immedi- 

 ately after the removal of war restrictions. Other factors which 

 gave impetus to this upward tendency were subnormal supplies 

 of logs, no surplus of lumber at the mills, short stocks of lumber 

 in the retail yards, and inability of the railroads to handle ship- 

 ments rapidly with depreciated rolling stock and inefficient labor. 

 Although the country had responded nobly to all war demands 

 it must be remembered that all efforts had been concentrated on 

 the production of war material. Other supplies were neglected. 

 Repairs on buildings were postponed. Every energy was directed 

 with feverish intensity toward the German overthrow. The 

 reaction after the Armistice was sudden and complete. It was 

 only slowly that the routine of peace was resumed. But lum- 

 ber was in great demand almost immediately to meet the need for 

 accumulated repairs and to make up for the home building which 

 had been abandoned during the War. This demand found all 

 departments of the lumber business short on raw material with 

 employees loathe to turn at once from fighting Germans to felling 

 trees. Added to our own needs were those of our Allies. France 

 and Belgium were in especial need of lumber for reconstruction 

 and drew on us for hardwoods in large quantities. The price 

 of oak and ash jumped at once, with other hardwoods following 

 sympathetically. To show the exact effect of this in a few con- 

 crete cases take oak, ash and maple in the Boston wholesale mar- 

 ket. Below are given the prices per M at the end of 1915, 1918, 

 and 1919 with the rise in per cent for each year after 191 5: 



