348 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



shadowed by a desire to convict. Some of the statements of fact were 

 inaccurate, and the tone of the decision was more like that of an 

 attorney for the prosecution than that of a judge or court dispas- 

 sionately weighing the merits of the suit. Lumbermen generally deny 

 that there was any justice in the decision.^^ 



While efforts at price fixing have generally been futile, there is 

 evidence that such efforts have sometimes had an appreciable in- 

 fluence. The following excerpts from lumber journals tend to support 

 this conclusion: 



"The market broke very rapidly after the price agreement went 

 off in March."" 



"There is a stubborn rumor that the yellow pine manufacturers 

 intend to advance their prices at an early date, and many of the yards 

 are hurrying to place their orders before this advance shall become 

 effective.'"^ 



"The price list which went into effect October 15 is meeting with 

 high favor, although some of the wholesalers report inability to secure 

 some of the figures named. It has had the effect, however, of greatly 

 increasing the actual selling price."^® 



"All of the items are in poor supply at initial points and while the 

 new list may not be maintained at the start, it will mean an advance 

 in actual selling prices about equal to the advances ordered."'" 



"The recent price lists of the Georgia Sawmill Association and the 

 Southern Lumber Manufacturers' Association are being strictly ad- 

 hered to, and yellow pine is to-day one of the strongest features."'^ 



"The solid front that the mill operators are maintaining in their 

 insistence on firm prices at the December advance renders the picking 

 up of lumber at concessions in prices next to an impossibility."'^ 



"There is not much revival of demand, but the trade is in good 

 shape and dealers say that prices are holding firm, though they do 



26 Proceedings, Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the National Lumber Manufac- 

 turers' Association, 31, 32. 



27 Kansas City news in St. Louis Lumberman, May 15, 1904, 37. 



28 St. Louis news in Am. Lumberman, Aug. 26, 1905, 67. 



29 St. Louis news in Am. Lumberman, Nov. 5, 1904, 61. 



30 St. Louis news in Am. Lumberman, Jan. 14, 1905. 



31 New York news in N. Y. Lumber Trade Journal, Apr. 15, 1902, 22. 

 ^2 Am. Lumberman, Jan. 13, 1906, 69. 



