TIMBER DEPLETION, PRICES, EXPORTS, AND OWNERSHIP. 



67 



stock denuded lands, leading to permanent forest Industries 

 widely distributed over the country, and tending toward small 

 rather than large operating units. 



No information has been obtained to justify a conclusion 

 that the tendencies toward a closer knit organization of the 

 lumber industry and various forms of concentration have led, 

 up to the present time, to actual monopolistic conditions of 

 general scope. It has been impossible in the limited time avail- 

 able for this investigation to make a study of that phase of the 

 situation. The particular facts which it is believed are clear 

 are that the lumber industry in the regions where the principal 

 supplies of timber remain is growing away from the loose, un- 

 organized, and highly competitive conditions which prevailed in 

 1914; that while during the past 10 years there has been no 



material change in the concentration of ownership of standing 

 timber, the effects of concentration will become more apparent 

 as time goes on, particularly in respect to products of high 

 quality ; that the financial weaknesses which hitherto have 

 tended to keep the lumber manufacturing industry in a highly 

 competitive condition are to some extent disappearing; and 

 that the lumber industry in the regions of large forest resources 

 is in a process of partial reorganization into larger units of 

 production and marketing. In other words, some of the factors 

 tending to make this industry highly competitive are changing 

 into conditions more favorable to closer control. The necessity 

 for the steady liquidation of timber investments and the still 

 enormous number of operating units are inherent factors un- 

 favorable to close control. 



