Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-05-13
Dealers and Manufacturers Cooperate
ia Securing Needed Data-Bursau
starts investigation and Will AS
\ .en,ble All the Evidence Fir.t-sis
Labors Before Department.

conceived notions of any sort as to the
existence or the non-existense Of a
trust. It IS not going TO PREJUDICE the
case, or any phase OF 1t. A full consid-
Grafton will be given all the various in
terests, and in the final report which
the bureau OF corporations will make
to the president the facts as aster-
tanned will be set forth without preju-
dice. \
This view OF the Investigation is in1-
pprtant, for at the time OF the passage
Of the Kittridge resolution In the sem
ate, and in speeches made before that
body In its support, the change was
made that there was a lumber trust.
that it was the most ubiquitous trust In
the country, and that the passage Of
the pending resolution would be all
that was necessary TO take the lid off
and expose its nefartous operations to
the gaze Of the whole country.
II Now. it is possible that there is q
trust and that 1t Is everything which,
Senator Nttredge and this supporters
have said it was. But the bureau Of
corporations Is not beginning its. In
vestISations with any preconceived nov
tions Of that sort All that the bureau
Is trying to get is a fair statement Of
the condition Of the industry. Its re-
port will be exhaustive and convincing.
No such inquiry into the lumber in
dustry has ever before been made, ex-
cepting In Germany, where the forest
laws have been for many yearslin sue
cessful operation, and where the gov
eminent many years ago was COM
PEELED to assert its prerogative in order
TO prevent the complete disappearance
Of Its forest supplies. The lumber In
terests Of the country are now familiar
with the attitude which has been as
summed BY the bureau OF corporations,
and the result is that they are lending
whatever assistance they can to bring
about an investigation that will fully
comply with the .'Anate resolution.
With a fair start Of this sort, 1t is
besieveu-rifat the bureau will have
ready access to all books and papers
and to such other information as the
lumbermen OF the country possess The
dLfvestiga ton Is SO big an undertaking
that 1t is very probable the report will
not be ready for congress at the next
session It is probable, however, that
preliminary report may be made to
the president next winter concerning
some one or more phases Of the ques-
ton But even this much cannot be
determined In advance Of the beginning
of the field work. Is
The bureau OF q corporations has
eighty, men whom II can detail for
purposes Of investigation. It ought to
have 500, for this number easily could
he used, and to good purpose, in the
work which the bureau has on hand.
Lumber is only a part OF this work.
In ALL ten great inquiries are going on,
and while lumber is, In some respects,
the most difficult Of them all, only a
small part OF the bureaus working
force can be detailed to look after it.
Since the passage OF the Kittredge
resolution the. bureau has been going
thru the customary educational stage.
Two men were detailed to secure all
available data bearing on the lumber
Industry, and their work is still un-
finished These men are getting to-
gether information from the census bu-
reau, the forestry service, from trade
journals, and from all other available
sources. The Information thus secured
is being sorted and arranged by sub
jects, and later ont these subjects will
( be taken up by various field agents,
who will be compelled to master the
details Of the lumber question so far
as this may be possible as the. result
OF study of this kind. During the
summer, or after this study has been
completed, the field work will begin.
Men representing the bureau will. trav-
ell all over the country in search OF In
formation. They will visit all the great
lumber markets, and in addition to
this they will go into the mills and the
big woods.
The bureau officials are thus already
Impressed with the fact that in the
lumber investigation they will be taken
practically to every corner of the
United States. No other investigation
has been as diffuse as this one. In
the case OF all the others there mas
been some one central point from which
the affairs Of the industry in question
were managed, but with lumber there
is no such central point. The beef
trust. the steel trust, the tobacco trust,
the harvester trust, ao-called ;all these
have central offices, and the work or
inquiring into their affairs has been
comparatively concentrated. Not SO
with lumber The yellow pine is in one
section of the country, the white pine IS
in another. In still other places are
fir, cypress, red cedar, the hard woods
and the pulp mills
At present the bureau, is especially
interested in the question Of stumpage.
In studying it the bureau goes back to
the sources of supply, and this controls
prices and future operations. With a
knowledge of the stumpage areas, the
bureau will be at the heart OF the lum-
Der business. There never has been
any satisfactory census Of the stump
age in this country, and none will be
undertaken now, but the stumpage In
quiry will probably go farther than
any census report has yet gone. and
present figures which will be accepted
by everybody as basis for future es-
Inmates.
The bureau is also paying particular
attention to the economic features of
the lumber industry. 1t will require in
80 prices. the cost Of manufacture, the