The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-04-11
CLAIMS tn THERE IS S
No TRUST IN
LUMBER
Lumberman Says Prices Have
Advanced No More Than in
Other Lines.

AAcuI tAe stories OF Jumper
trust" which have been published in
the various papers of the northwest,
a lumber man today stated emphati-
cally There is no such thing as
lumber trust. l have had occasion to
travel much to the head of the lakes
and to the twin cities and know
whereof l speak. There are some
26,S4O manufacturers of lumber in the
United States as close as have been
able to figure. and at least those do
Ing business in Minnesota tributary
to North Dakota, are independent of
each other.
The reason for the advance in the
price of lumber is the steadily de-
creasing supply of raw material.
There is only one crop OF lumber for
1t takes 100 years for a pine tree to
grow.
'The demand for lumber is also
rapidly increasing, and there seems to
be no way to make the supply equal
the demand. The cost of getting out
the product has increased greatly,
owing to the high price of labor.
Wages in the woods and mills have
almost doubled during the last ten
years."
Compares Price.
Statistics which were recently COM
piled by business man of Cedar
Rapids. Iowa, Of good standing and
repute, show that as compared with
other Iowa commodities the price of
lumber is not high.
The staple products OF Iowa are
shown to be oats, corn, cattle and
hogs. Computing from the daily mar
ket record of prices the comparative
value of corn alone for the year 1867
and 1867 shows an average increase
of 100 per cent. On all the four prin-
cipal products of Iowa the average
price in 1906 was an advance of 74A
per cent over the average price in
1896.
Based on the lumber quotations of
the milling companies in Cedar Rap
ids, Iowa. the average advance on ten
items of dimension stuff, including
pine boards, flooring. cedar shingles,
doors, windows, plate glass, ETC., was
only 66A per cent.
AS matter of fact, the advance on
dimension lumber has been Sc per
cent and on pine boards only &c 2-3
per cent.
The dimension stuff includes hem
lock, which is much used today as it
makes sitter building. holds nails
better and is freer from vermin
Lumber Cheap as Ever.
George w. Hotchkiss. widely
known lumber veteran of Chicago,
ILL.,, who made an investigation of the
lev, hor to-, &h1 I'll Fnn
that lumber is as cheap now as then.
In the American Lumberman, Mr..
Hotchkiss says: while lumber is no
doubt higher as compared with aver
age prices of past decades. it is in
teresting to note that it is no higher
today than it was in 1872, when the
high price was not attributed to COM
bines and associations. l have be-
fore me as l write the original of a
bill of lumber sold by dealer at
Decatur, ILL.,, in July. 1872, and l find
flooring quoted at $45 per thousand
for white pine, a price fully third
higher than more desirable No. 2
maple flooring is selling for today. l
find shingles billed at SIS. which is as
high as the best shingles bring today.
find lath billed at SIS, about the same
as today; and the list as a whole dis
closes that. at time when there was
no thought of exhausting forests and
no public turmoil over lumber trusts,
lumber sold on its merits and in ac-
cordance with legitimate demand at
as high average prices as are asked
today. But there was then no cry of
the robber lumber barons; the fact
was recognized that there were more
buyers than boards. have had a
Photographic reproduction made of the
bill of lumber above referred to, from
which any person may make his own
o0r,v,o