Arizona republican., 1912-04-06
In Fact, Manufacturers Association Itself De- mands the Utmost
 Publicity. I
PROCEEDING IS
 UNUSUAL ONE
Company Asserts Its Busi- ness Will Be Injured if There Should Be
 More Delay. ;
f1SSOtiatcd Press DiSbdtchl

O.- mand upon President Taft for publi- cation of conclusions of the depart men: of commerce and labor upon it's investigation of the lumber manufac- turing business, ordered by congress in 1906. was made public today by the national lumber manufacturers association, with other correspondence between President Taft and the sec retary of the department of com merce anu labor.
 This somewhat unusual attitude on the part Of great manufacturing in dustry is in the form of a petition which sets forth that the delay in reporting the findings of the depart ment has tended to confirm the pub lie in the opinion that a Humber trust exists in the manufacturing side of the lumber business. and has greatly accentuated the attacks upon that industry.
 We representing many citizens of the United States. who are entitled to justice at the hands of the govern ment. and to that justice which is dOubly admirable if prompt. says the
 
 public at fhe earliest possible mo- ment the whole conclusion of the de partment of commerce and laObr as to the principal question put to it by the congressional resolution. that the people of thiS country may no longer have to depend for their opinion as to the lumber producing industry upon insinuations. unverified charges. suspicion or prejudice"
 On receipt of the statement and pc titiOn of the lumber men, President Taft referred the complaint to Secre- tary NaGel. who furnished the Pres iIent with a reply. This reply states the position of the administration in the matter. The lumber manufactur- CTS. upon receiving the letter from the secretary of commerce, made an- other appeal to President Taft, say ing:
 We, hope. MT President. notwith- standing the present attitude of the administration. as expressed by the honorable secretary. that you wilt promote the prompt justice asked for by body of the citizenship now. s* they verily believe. misunderstood and grievously maligned."
 In the petition. reference is made to the fact that while the department Of commerce and labor made public Feb. 13. 1911, partial report on the lum- Der industry. it related only to the private ownership of standing timber in the United States. and advanced only one of the reasons for the al legged high price of lumber; that this partial report ignored the request of congress to report particularly as to the existence of combinations, etc. in restraint of trade and therefore failed to give the lumber producers the yer dict which they asked for at con ference with the president, Secretary Nagel. and Commissioner Smith in Washington. January F, 1910.
 Prices of lumber at the mills, says the petition. advanced during the seven years from 1899 to 1906. about thirty-eight per cent. This corresponded with the advance in other commodities which enter so greatly into the cost of lumber. an1 in part to the increased values of stumpage.
 Prices to the consumer in some sections of the country remote from lumber producing sections, advanced probably in still greater proportion due in part to the exhaustion of near supplies making necessary the pay ment of greatly increased transporta- tion charges.
 Notwithstanding these sufficient reasons it is charged and seems to have been commonly believed that the increase in prices at the mills was due to the existence Of control ling combinations or agreements com monly known as trusts anu that fhe lumber trust was and is an oppres- sive entity"
 The petition then says that respon- sive to public charges congress adopt ed resolutions for an investigation of the lumber business. Attention is particularly called to the fact that tho resolutions required that the inves:i- gation should be conducted with "thc particular object" of ascertaining the existence of any combination. con tract in restraint of commerce.
 The petition says further that while the effect of those resolutions was in furious to 5he lumber industry, the investigation was welcomed by lum Der producers who had long been restive under the loose unfnunded and ignorant charges made against them" and that every assistance to the in- vestigation was given.
 With this active and hearty CO.,