FIITH NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS 391 



The lumbermen are engaged in their business for the purpose of making a 

 living, and as much of a fortune besides as possible. To this extent they are not 

 unlike any other class of business men. Their business from the first has pro- 

 ceeded along the easiest possible lines. Ours has been a wood-using nation. 

 Lumbermen have engaged in the business for supplying the demand, and to realize 

 therefrom the largest net returns to themselves. 



The values of standing timber in this country are almost universally fixed by 

 the prices from lumber, for, obviously, standing timber is worth no more than 

 can be realized from its manufacture. Timber must constantly increase in value, 

 or it cannot be held for investment. The carrying charges, which include 

 interest on the original investment, annual taxes and cost of protection, are 

 constantly increasing, so that the average tract of timber must double in value 

 at least every seven years, or it will represent a loss. The public should 

 know that timber prices do not set the price of lumber. It is fixed by the demand 

 that exists for it, the quantity of any certain species and grade available, as well 

 as the general commercial and business conditions which affect the prices of all 

 other staple commodities. Few articles of general utility fluctuate in value as 

 widely as does lumber. There is no trust or combination which fixes the whole- 

 sale price of lumber. The manufacturing end of the business is represented by 

 many thousands of mills, and all of the different producing sections of the coun- 

 try are in keen competition with each other. The impossibility of bringing about 

 any thing like a concerted action among the number of individuals engaged in 

 business to the extent of fixing a uniform wholesale price is apparent to anyone. 



The value of standing timber does not fluctuate as do the values of lumber, 

 simply because timber is not bought and sold in small quantities, and the general 

 tendency of the price of lumber, over a period of years, is upward. A manu- 

 facturer is obliged to buy a quantity of timber sufficient to stock his mill for a 

 number of years. He would not be justified in putting the amount of money into 

 the necessary equipment without doing so. 



Because trees are a slow growing crop, and are being cut in America faster 

 than they are reproducing themselves, it is of course inevitable that timber prices 

 will continue to advance. While lumber will fluctuate, its general tendency will 

 be upward, and timber values will follow. Higher prices mean closer utilization 

 of the raw material. Operators in the Northern Lake States originally cut the 

 white pine only, as there was no demand for anything else. As values advanced 

 they were able to sell the lumber from Norway pine, and today many species of 

 timber formerly considered worthless are cut. Lumbermen use every portion of 

 the raw material from which a profit can be obtained. They generally have all 

 of their own money invested in their operations, and all the money they can safely 

 borrow, and conduct their operations with as much regard to economy as any 

 class of manufacturers. They resent the criticism that they have wasted and 

 looted the Nation's timber resources. Men are not in the habit of destroying 

 material which can be sold even for the cost of handling. If there has been any 

 waste of forest material in America, the public must share its full responsibility, 

 for lumbermen have sold everything the public would buy. 



