Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-04-26

Minneapolis retail prices for lumber, Mr..
Prince said they weye identical, Aud II
proof, he gsye the published list Of dealers
here and manufacturers there, but which arc
too lengthy for reproduction here, and even /
the published st. Paul prices we1e cut under
by dealers here according to his own option
So far, In fact, from ring being formed, it
to ascertain his neighbours prices,
and they were all in point
of fact, Just as dependent In this city upon
the manufactures as ell country yards are.
Then much ado had been made about the
country markets being supplied from other
than Minnesota sources. This, too, was
easily explicable, as railroad management
interfered. Take, for instance. the Winona
and st. Peter railroad. It commanded the
traffic Of tho section through which it
passed, and had direct connection |
with the Wisconsin or other |
easter sources of lumber supply. Like !
every other road, It Disseminated in favor
Of long haul against a short one. What
was the consequences? The Winona d st. |
Peter road would rather haul lumber from
Winona, the connecting point with the east,
than it would make competing rates from
NduhhtO, WuoI0 LILO OA1uueSVlh AuAAUV1
tide would join it, SO that st. Paul could
advantage, and, hence, eastern lumber
got in. This was the wheel within the
wheel that drove Minnesota lumber out of
the country districts of the State, and the
cause was not the result of builing ring.
M'cAINE BROS. 4 BARTEAU
were next visited in their Office in the Volks-
zeitung building. Here the reporter was
again met with the unqualified denial that
any lumber ring existed in st. Paul for
the purpose of keeping up prices. Ageneral
conversation followed, which was substan-
TALLY as follows: While all the lumber
dealers in the State would agree that to ask
such prices for lumber would drive the
trade from Minnesota to Chicago, and neces-
sarily check building operations throughout
the State, ''or,'' to quote the Pioneer Press,
sssweep them from the wide market which
has heretofore been their exclusive
feld,; it would be greater calamity
than to the public generally, and all might
rest assured that they had little to fear in
!: that destruction. Any class of men, who
had as successfully contended with de-
pressed business as that of lumber had been
. during the past year, was shrewd enough to
: see that no present gain would compensate
for such state of affairs, and, if it existed,
| or was likely to exist, they would all be
: thankful to anybody who would point 1t
J out in season. But had the Pioneer
Press proved all this2 Assertion would
not prove it. Quoting Chicago wholesale
prices side by side with Minneapolis retail
prices would not. Beside. any dealer could
buy lumber from $1.5O to So per thousand
less that the quoted Minneapolis prices, and
this all dealers knew, but, perhaps, the
} general public did not. Another point must
J be taken into account. The Chicago
grades of lumber were admitted to be
from 81 to So poorer than those Oh
Minneapolis. If this were so, the rise had
not been so outrageous as represented, and
: did not amount to any 60 or Is per cent.
as stated, and, taking all grades of lumber
5 sales of Minneapolis would prove the ris'
and this only on common grades of lumber
And, now, what was the necessity for thi
; rise? The short stocks of lumber every
/ where; in Minneapolis only 100000 nov
as against ITO 900 900 last year this time
the fact that only one-h half the crop of log
cut last year, had been cut this
!. the half crop had cost the lumbermen twic
I as much per thousand as they would hav
4 cost, had they cut as full stock as the yea
i before; and these logs, if they all reach tn
: booms, were necessarily of very poo
quality. as lumbermen had cut log
! this winter anywhere where the
: could get short haul, regardless
f of quality. The uncertainty of driving
: also kept up the price, and, whatever may b
said of the prospect for driving
facts did not warrant the state
ments that all the logs were comm
in. From Maine to Minnesota, lumberin
y had been failure during the past winter
T. and in many sections of the lumberin
:. districts. logs on small streams had bee
= abandoned, as hopeless of reaching tn
y. booms this season. And, when all was sale
:, ~ these same high prices had prevailed hereto
y fore; for instance, in 1871, when the sam
,, circumstances prevailed, and when til
- prices were even higher than now. AS t
= Chicago lumber reaching Minnesota,
~ should be remembered that city had an
= number of competing inlets and outlets, a
:, of which tended to reduce the price of til
g lumber arriving there, as well as that SCI
= out thence.
- This closed the interviews of the aftel
~. ~ noon, and the public is left to judge if, a.
= cording to the veracious morning dead -aliv
~ there exists in st. Paul Gigantic and sou
% less combination which has caused the in
:. - mense and uncalled for advance in the pric,
~ of lumber