RESULTS OF OUR FOREST POLICY 363 



suggested the following general remedies : first, adequate capital, 

 better financial backing, and better methods of accounting ;^^ second, 

 more efficient equipment and technical methods; third, better mer- 

 chandizing of the product ; and fourth, a more efficient and economical 

 use of raw material. The details of these recommendations lie outside 

 the scope of this work, but it is interesting to note that the report 

 advocated the publication of current prices — actual prices, not list 

 rates or quotations ; recommended a better adjustment of the lumber 

 cut to demand, not through curtailment by joint agreement, but 

 through curtailment by the operators individually, each following 

 the policy dictated by his own costs, available markets, and other 

 business circumstances — whatever that may mean — and even ap- 

 proved of the selling agency in domestic trade, and of some form of co- 

 operative selling organization for foreign trade. 



This report was not off the press before the conditions it deplored 

 were completely changed, and the lumber industry was again enjoy- 

 ing one of the greatest "booms" in its history. At this time (1919), 

 this "boom" is still on, and there is no present necessity for lavishing 

 sympathy on the lumbermen. The suggestions for promoting stability 

 in the industry are still pertinent, however, for the lumber industry, 

 like the steel industry, has always tended to be either "prince or 

 pauper." 



Regarding the waste of lumber, it may be said that waste will pre- 

 vail as long as timber has a low value, unless the government adopts 

 a policy of supervising the cut on private lands. Probably the govern- 

 ment will do this ultimately, and it can hardly do it too soon, but it 

 will take some time to educate lumbermen and the public generally 

 to the necessity for such a step. 



GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF LUMBER PRICES 



Government regulation of lumber prices has been advocated, on the 

 one hand by lumbermen, on the ground that it would probably assure 

 them a better price than they have usually received under a regime of 

 competition, and on the other hand by certain publicists, notably by 

 President Charles Van Hise of the University of Wisconsin, on the 

 ground that such a policy would permit lumbermen to enjoy the 



51 Am. Lumberman, Jan. 1, 1916, 26; Jan. 29, 1916, 1; Apr. 8, 1916, 26, 



