RESULTS OF OUR FOREST POLICY 341 



of business are due chiefly to ignorance or misinformation as to actual 

 market conditions, and as to costs of manufacturing and marketing. 

 Accurate knowledge of these matters is assumed to be a sufficient 

 remedy. The Southern Pine Association was recently considering an 

 extension of its work so as to place it upon an open price basis. The 

 Western Pine Manufacturers have a department known as the "infor- 

 mation bureau" which has carried on open price work since 1912. 

 Perhaps the most notable example of open price associations is the 

 Hardwood Manufacturers' Association of America. Originally merely 

 a trade association, it has recently adopted the open price plan in its 

 entirety and began operating under it March 1, 1917. It is intended 

 that eventually all hardwoods shall be included, but in the beginning 

 its operation is to be confined to oak, the lumber most commonly 

 produced by its members.^ 



It is not to be assumed that all the price list committees, informa- 

 tion bureaus, etc., are suggestive of "open price" associations. In 

 many instances such agencies have tried to fix an artificial price level. 

 The price lists have often represented nothing like the prevailing 

 market.® 



OTHER EFFORTS TO FIX PRICES 



It has long been a common practice among lumber manufacturers 

 to try to effect concerted curtailment of production in order to influ- 

 ence prices. Sometimes an agreement to curtail the output has been 

 circulated among the members of an association, perhaps also among 

 manufacturers who were not members. In other instances, resolutions 

 to curtail have been adopted by associations at their meetings. 



Since the associations have become more fearful of government 

 prosecution, they have largely abandoned these practices, but have 

 tried other means of accomplishing the same results. Trade papers 

 have been influenced to proclaim the benefits of a reduced output, 

 association secretaries have issued reports showing the extent of 

 curtailment and urging all members to reduce their output. In some 

 instances, the curtailment campaign has been directed by some asso- 



8 "Open Price Associations," by Professor H. R. Tosdal; American Economic 

 Review, June, 1917, 331-334: Am. LumbermMn, Dec. 22, 1917, 26, 46; Feb. 15, 

 1917, 16. 



» "Lumber Industry," IV, 79, 93, 416. 



