Bisbee daily review., 1912-04-06
LUMBER CONPANYS DEMAND
 UPON PRESIDENT |S UNUSUAL
Information Result of Investigation Made by Com Depsrtemn Is SOught-Interestng Cores pOndence Follows.

WASHINGTON, April 5.--Its de-
 mand upon President Taft for publica- ton of conclusions of the department of commerce and labor upon it's inves- tigation of the lumber manufacturing bushes, ordered by congress in 1906, was made public today by the National Lumber Manufacturers association, with other correspondence between President Taft and the secretary ol commerce and labor.
 This somewhat unusual attitude cn the part of a great manufacturing in- dustry is in the form of a petition which sets forth that the delay in re- porting the findings of the department has tended to confirm the public in the opinion that lumber trust exists in the manufacturing side of the lumber business, and has greatly accentuated the attacks upon that in- dustry.
 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 memorial, petition you have made public at the earliest possible moment the whole conclusion of the department of commerce and labor as to the principal question put to it by the congressional resolutions, that the people of this country may no longer have to depend for their opin- ion as to the lumber producing indus try upon insinuations, unverifiei charges, suspicion or prejudice" On receipt of the statement and pe- tition of the lumber men, President Taft referred the complaint to Secre tary Nagel, who furnished the presb dent 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 will promote the prompt justice asked for by body of the citizenship now. as they verily believe, misunderstood and grieyously maligned.'
 In the petition, reference is made to the fact that while the department of commerce and lator made public February 13, 1911, partial report on the lumber industry, it related only to the private ownership Of standing timber in the United States, and ad- vanced only one of the reasons for the alleged high price Of lumber; that this partial report ignored yhe re quest of congress to report particular Al. -srut4 ,f haf 1Ts sfNrNC etc, in restraint of trade and there fore failed to give the lumber produc- CTS the verdict which lucy asked for at a conference with the president, Secretary Nagel, and Commissioners Smith in Washington, January 12, 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 cores bonded with the advance in other con melodies which enter SC greatly into the cost of lumbe-, a2d in part to the increased values of stumpage.
 Prices to the consumer in some sections, advanced probably ill stlh greater proportion due in part tc the exhaustion of near supplies, making necessary the payment of greatly in- e aased transportation 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 controlling combinations or agreements common ly known as trusts and that the lumber trust was and is an cppress- i've entity.
 The petition then says that respon- sive to public charges congress adopt ed resolutions for an investigation O. the lumber business. Attention is par ticularly called to the fact that the required that the investl- gation should be conducted with the particular object" of ascertaining the existence of any combination, con spiracy, trust, agreement or contract in restraint of commerce.