54 



TIMBER DEPLETIOSr, PRICES, EXPORTS, AND OWNERSHIP. 



380 



360 



2<0 



320 



20C 



leo 



/60 



MO 



^/20 

 ^OO 



80 



60 



'io 



30 



C/ior/- Show/ngr Perceni-a'g'e Increases in 

 Transporfot/on C^c?r^es^ Cost of Lu/?7ber Shocks to 

 Pefai/ers^ fPefai/ Operai-/n^ E^xpense^, an of Ay&ra^e 

 /Pefcf// Lumber Prices. 



CScfsec/ on ayeraffe va/Ue^ per M f^eef as Gho^vn 

 by count ri/ c/ords in M/nnesoi^a one/ Dakofas.) 



A/ofe- h-'ercento^e jncrease 

 -Figured on J90^ va/ues 

 as a jbase. 



i 



0^7 



'%2B0 



^260 



3-fO 



300 



fao 



I60 



KO 



220 



/90S /30e /307 /308 /909 /9/0 /3// J3J^ /3/3 /5/^ /9/S /5/6 J9/7 /9/a /SI9 



- Years - 



Fig. 20. 



Several of the largest companies operating both mills and 

 ^retail yards, for example, sought to stabilize prices on their 

 own responsibility, and their efforts unquestionably had a far- 

 reaching effect in breaking the rising prices and bringing about 

 a slight decUne, ranging from $1 to $10 per thousand, according 

 to grade. Many lumbermen admit that prices went so high that 

 demand was automatically checked. There is ample evidence 

 throughout the Middle West that lumber prices reached a point 

 which aroused public indignation in many communities, and 

 that this feeling, combined with a widely advertised announce- 

 ment of one of the largest producing and distributing com- 

 panies that it proposed to stabilize prices on the basis of its 



January list, resulted in a sharp falUng off in buying. An 

 extract from the announcement issued by this company late in 

 February reads as follows: 



The Interests comprising the group have come to recognize that this 

 condition of the lumber market is Injurious to the public and to the 

 industry generally; that the uncertainty even more than the price level 

 is demoralizing and results in enhanced cost of building and discour- 

 ages construction, and that unless something is done to check the 

 ^'i!.Tu "''^ *'"'^"^ ^'"^"'«'' ^""^ frequent and irregular advances 



which have no relation to costs of production the situation will become 

 stall more deplorable. « 



The intent of the company to stabilize prices was construed 

 by the public and the press as a cut in prices, and buyers quite 



