The Washington times., 1911-05-20

lumbermen. It's headquarters has al
ways been at Minneapolis. and its an
nuai convention used to be-in the good
old days before folks got suspicious
famous social functions. Lumbermen
came from. many States. and the news
papers were wont to print highly Hum
mated Josh stories about the big times
the Concatenated Congregation of Hoo
Hoes had. telling stories and tapping up
Numm's Extra.
The Orders Secret Work.
The ritual-eh. thai was terrific
secret: none but a lunherman in good
standing might know anything about it..
OF be permitted to invade the sacred
precincts while the sessions were on.
The secret work of the Masonic Order
was as open a book as the ten best
sellers compared to the incantations
surrounding the inner secrets Of the
Concatenated Hoo Hoos. 1t was popu-
larly supposed-and the nation was sed-
ulously cultivated-that these conven-
tions were gigantic revels of bacchana-
Ian magnifcence.
Now. IL the Government sleuths are
not all avry, the Hoo Hoos didn't meet
to soak up booze at all; they got to-
gether to plug up their price lists, di-
vide territory, arrange automatic
schemes for maintaining prices, cutting
out competitors, and skinning the ulti-
mate consumer. In those good old days
of the primal glories of the Hoo Hoo,
Mr. Ultimate Consumer had not yet got
wise to his own soathood. He didn'
know that he carried the sack. He
looked. admired. and wondered, while
the Hoo Hoos put over that beautiful
bunk about being social gathering.
That, anyhow, Is the way some of the
Government investigators regard the
thing. and II is promised that there, will
be a judicial investigation of the secret
workings of the Hoo Hoo ritual calcu-
lated to make all the hair stand straight
up on the black cat that is the emblem
of :he order.
Directed From the Top.
Some of the investigators, in short,
believe that the whole fabric and
scheme of organization Is directed from
the top; that the dealers are organized
to carry out the policies imposed by
the great timber owners and manu-
facturers. The big manufacturers and
owners are wont to blame all the
trouble on the organizations Of the re-
tailers. They say that when the re-
tail association blacklists a particular
dealer for price cutting, and demands
that his supplies be cut of. why, there
just isn't anything the manufacturer
can do but comply. 1t is fact borne
out by much testimony gathered by
the officials, that the dealer who cuts
prices is liable to have his supplies
topped of and be forced out of business.
Some of the methods by which local
combinations operate are highly inter-
esting. In one country town was found
the case Of two lumber yards: supposed,
ly in active competition. Each yard
had two price lists, and all Potentfal
Yard No: / got all patrons whose names
began with A, c, e. G. and 50 on al,
ternately through the alphabet Yard
No. got those whose names began
with the other letters.
How the Scheme Worked.
If a customer named Anderson came
to yard No. 1, he got standard prices
on his bill of lumber. II then. inno-
Gently supposing there was competi-
ton, he went over to yard No. and
asked for figures, he was given higher
bid. His initial A made him the agreed
customer Of No; L and ,,oo No. It;s vas sn;te re-.
of the higher price he still preferred to
buy at No ., there was no recourse; ;
No. . got the business, but it didn't
often happen.
on the other hand, II man named
Brown went to yard No. l for figures,
he got an estimate made up from the
higher list; his trade belonged to No. .,
and No. ! must force II back to No. 2
by making the higher figures. II the
customer went then for figures to No.
2, he got the lower estimates, and usu
ally bought there. He thought he was
getting competition; but in fact, each
yard knew in every case the exact fig
ures the other would make.