Bisbee daily review., 1909-04-07
LUMBER PRICE RECORD WORK
 IN TERRITORY
Transferred From Denver Headquarters to Albuquer- que-Form Letters Already Sent Cut to Co-operators

ALBUQUERQUE, N. M., Apr'l G. The wholesale lumber price record work for Forest Service District No. 3, including Arizona. Arkansas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma which former ly has been handled by the district headquarters at Denver has been transferred to the headquarters ia this city. Form letters have been sent out to co-operators for the first time and returns up to the present indicate that the work in the South west will be put on just as satisfac- tory a basis as it is in other sections of the United States.
 During the past ten months the Forest Service has been compiling a monthly record Of wholesale prices of the principal grades of lumber. in the leading markets of the country. In making a compilation of a cont nuou record of the selling prices of lum- Der the government is filling a dis tinct gap in the information available upon the lumber industry-a gap wh oh does not exist in any other great industry. In all important fields of business and commerce where raw materials are produced and handled, with the exception of the lumber in- dustry, there are detailed statistics upon production, consumption and prices. In almost any leading news paper, there are quoted the current selling pTices of live stock, cereals, products cf pig iron. corper silver, re troleum, and other mineral products.
 The lumber industry. ranking fourth among the industries of the country. has not even had annual statistics of prcducticn until the last three years. Up to the present time. neither the Groducers nor the consumers of lum- Der could get any authentic and gen. eral statement of the prices fer which the leading grades have re- gently sold In the great centers of distribution.
 Prices asked fer lumber are not compiled by the Forest Service. All that it does is to compile as best it can, through the help of co-operators in every section of the country. a rec crd of what lumber has actually sold for. Several representative whole, saleTs in each market report to the Service at the end of each month the average high and low prices re. ceived by them during the month. These reports are combined in a sin gle statement for each market.
 Tn the selection of grades reported upon and of the firms from which reports are received. every effort is made and caution exercised to get sales that are representative. The co-operators upon whose reports the record Is based voluntarily report their actual sales in the same man ner that the lumber manufacturers voluntarily report their annual pro duction to the Bureau of the Census and the Forest Service. The manu lecturers report their information promptly and accurately and few pieces of cooperative work done by the government are more appreciated by them than this.
 The success of the work in other markets of the country is sure to have similar results in the Southwest Heretofore. reports on wholesale lum. Der prices have been available fer only a few markets of states in this section. Officers of the Forest Ser. vice at Albuquerque think that this territory cffers an excellent field for the work and with the voluntary CO operation of operators in th's dis trict 1t promises many future bene- fits to all who take part in it.