Arizona republican., 1908-05-17
MORE ABOUT LUMBER
 FOR PHOENIX TRADE
Mont Anderson Says the Prices Are All Right Now and the House Building Should Continue.

Hhohl AHderSOn or the Buckeye L. aber Iard, better known in his advertising as the Independent com pany. has been heard from again. He noted an interview in an after noon paper that stated a number of facts but which, he said had an ap- parent motive that was quite amus- Ing to those who were informed about conditions. It inspired him to the writing of another address to the people, as follows:
 That Phoenix is now being favor ed with right prices on lumber is undoubtedly true. but the trust yards are selling lumber at right prices. more because they were forced to do so by the Independent company, than by reason of the panic" elsewhere. It is true that there has been a fall Of Sl in the price of lumber on the coast. during the last six weeks and there was some previous decrease in prices. but there has been no such a lowering of wholesale rates in the last year as the decrease made in re- tail rates in Phoenix since last fall l The panic which left big yards on | the coast overstocked, may be respon- sible for the cut in wholesale prices. |
 
 should be credited with the major l part of the cut in retail prices. The l people seem to appreciate that fact as instanced by the growing patron l age of the Buckeye company.
 Tt would appear that the trust l yards which have been driven to sell lumber at a right price, are seeking merely to save their faces by credit | ing their reductions to a panic, rath- | CT than to open an legitimate local | competition. Be that as it may the | people have secured the benefit and | am glad of it. Lumber prices in | Phoenix are now lower than at any | other point in the territory so far as l can learn and at prevailing prices | there is only a fair and legitimate | profit in most lines.
 Tt is quite possible that the ideas | recently given publicity are intended | as an intimation of a possible Hum Der fight" to be inaugurated by the | trust yards, but I hardly think so Such a plan could only be disastrous to the city in the long run. The | Buckeye yard has conducted a fight | for right prices and has won it and | would prefer to see lumber sold at | right prices from now on, though | should a wholesale cutting of prices be indulged in I have no doubt the | Buckeye can keep up it's end, but as mentioned above it would result dis astrously not only to all the yards | but to the people, except the very few who chanced to buy while the cut was at it's deepest, and attention is | now called to the fact that the people may note that if a fight follows it will be the trust yards that do the fighting The Buckeye will try al- ways ot meet competition at right | prices or at any other when sale is made but in the event of an un warranted cut it will merely let the other fellow fill the order at loss. I have no hesitancy in announcing that my purpose Is not philanthropic. I am selling lumber to make some money but I only ask a legitimate profit The outrageous prices for merly charged by the trust yards was my opportunity and I seized it. sold lumber at fair profit as expect to continue to do, made friends and incidentally made as much mon ey as I should reasonably expect to do on the capital invested.
 Tt is the history of lumber fights. or similar contests in any line where a combination exists on one side that the purpose of them is usually to cripple a competitor or destroy him, even at great expense to the trust then with a clear field, under one pretext or another. raise prices to point where the losses can be quickly recovered. Should that be under taken here the Buckeye yard has no a. -fr~nx not care to do business for fun any more than a trust yard does, and the more when the public will derive no lasting benefit The conditions of prosperity here now are all that could be desired and with present prices at q fair profit only, Phoenix should en- joy a continuous building pooih lOi some years to come.
 'I am further moved to suspect the plannine of a throat cutting cam paign in respect ,of prices, by incl dents that have occurred recently though as I said before l hope my suspicions are not to be borne out. A well known local politician and al legged trust buster" whom have heard denouncing the great corpora lions and business combinations, both in public and in private, ana to whom I was sympathetically inclined by reason of his theoretical de- fense of the people and his hostile at titude toward unlawful corporations affords a case in point. He applied at the Buckeye yard for lumber quo tations which he secured admitting that the price was reasonable. Then he went to a trust yard and the proprietor agreed, upon certain con ditions, to ship the lumber to him at a profit of fifty cents per 1000 feet,