The morning news., 1889-02-17
AN EXCHANGE, NOT A TRUST.
Nine Firms that Cut $4,000, 900 Feet
OF lumber AnnnallY.

OF Lumber Annually.
A member of the Southern Pine Exchange,
whose attention was brought to the state
ment in Philadelphia paper that "the
movement has assumed the form Of a
trust, said yesterday that there is nothing
further from the fact.
you might as well call the Cotton EK-
change or the Board of Trade trust as TO
call the Southern Pine Exchange a trust"
he said. "As matter Of fact, the people Of
the north expressed their surprise to
me on recent visit there, that
some action had not been taken
sooner by the manufacturers Of southern
pine, species Of wood always in demand,
Tor which there is no ready substitute, and
the price Of which has ruled lower than it
should have ruled"
The gentleman went on TO state why the
Southern Pine Exchange has been organized.
The lumber manufacturers were in suicidal
competition with each other, often furnish
ing lumber at cost and sometimes below
cost. He cited the fact that sometimes it
was better policy TO keep the mills run
plng, and the force organized in slack times
father than close down, let the working
force scatter, and either be at tho expense
Of feeding the live stock in idleness or sell
ing it off aud running the risk Of starting
up with unskllled hands and new stock.
Under tie loose and ruinous policy Of
selling lumber at any price to
keep the mills going, manufacturers were
at the mercy OF buyers AID underbid each
other on orders. BY the present plan, which
the gentleman said is experimental, this
suicidal policy has been done away with,
and the lumber is sold ut a fair price.
The gentleman, who represents one OF the
largest firms in the exchange, said that the
individuality OF all the firms in the Piue EX-
change is maintained, and therefore, as
there is no parent company there can be no
trust. He was even more pronounced. He
said that it is neither the desire
nor the intention Of the Pine Exchange
to place fictitious value upon
the products of the southern lumber
mills, and it would be impractcable to un-
dertSke to do so, and impossible to ca ~
out such movement. Representing one
of the largest firms in the exchange, he
would oppose it if proposed
Stillwell, Milen a. Co., aud the Hilton &
Dodge Co., or either Of them, he said, have
not combined with lesser firms to break
down transportation prices or to unduly
advance the price of southern pine lumber
The firms named combined with other man
ufacturers Of pine lumber In Georgia and
Florida, who have what is known us rail
road mills TO protect themselves, get roa-
sonable prices for their products and be
enabled to conduct their business prOttdbly,
which was not always possible under tho
cut-rate plan which obtained along the
Georgia aud Florida coast
Are the South Carolina mills members
| Of the exchangeN
No overtureS, he said had been made to
| the South Carolina mills, who are hardly
considered competitors Of the mills along
the Georgia and Florida coast as the South
Carolina pine is not so valuable as Georgia
pine, and does not co nmand us good prices
by reason of its inferiority.
How about the mills on the gulf
coastin
They are not competitors of the railroad
mills" was the reply. The big mills in the
neighborhood Of Pensacola, on Pensacola
bay, Perdido bay and the Escambia river,
are known as water mills, which saw what
is known as random" lumber for coast
wise and foreign export, and there is no
pre.ent necessity to invite them to join the
exchange, a thev are not competitors Of
the railroad mills. 1t may be after awhile
that it will be necessary to them tl be in
cuded in some such organization as the ex-
change, as the denudlng Of the southern
pi forests is going on rapidly. The rail
road mills cannot afford TO waste material
for raNdOm lengths as the water mills do
"What southern pine manufs cturers com
pose the Pine Exchange, and what is their
annual cutg'
"An approximate estimate of the output
Of each Of tho individual firms is about as
follows: