20 TIMBER BONDS 



timber cruising firms knew nothing about bonds 

 and they were very jealous of their knowledge 

 of timber. The bond dealers and bankers found 

 it next to impossible to get the real facts and 

 give themselves and the timberman a fair deal. 

 The result was that the timberman usually suf- 

 fered through the unwillingness of the timber 

 expert to advise the banker fully on the tech- 

 nical questions regarding stumpage. 



The first timber bond was written about ten 

 years ago and the situation explained above 

 continued for several years. Then the most re- 

 liable timber bond dealers commenced organiz- 

 ing their own force of experts and some wealthy 

 lumber operators also entered the timber bond 

 business. This partially relieved the situation, 

 which was further helped by the rise of a few 

 very expert cruising firms who adopted the 

 broad policj^ of fully advising the bond buyers 

 on every phase of stumpage values and logging. 

 These cruisers, however, are not familiar with 

 commercial life, as they are professional woods- 

 men. Neither do they understand the creation 

 of a bond issue. Thus, the average bond house 

 and banker was unable to get satisfactory ad- 

 vice on timber bonds until some two years ago. 

 About that time a couple of men who thor- 

 oughly understand stumpage, timber values and 

 the lumber business, and who are experts in 

 industrial bonds, entered the field as underwrit- 

 ers. Their policy is to analyze and report on 

 issues through every phase of their creation. 



