Arizona republican., 1913-01-20

time that such timber shall be actually cut
 In the summary of the report prev iously published, the then commis- sioner of corporations. Herbert Knox Smith. set forth that the Southern Pa cific company is the greatest private holder of timber in the United States, controlling 1060OO. .000 ,000 feet, the Weyerhaeuser Timber company. with 96. 900. 900 GOO feet, the second largest. and the Northern Pacific Railroad company. with 36. 1000, GOO. 900 feet, the third. Going further in detail the full report declares that the following five interests control in the aggregate 102.- 00O. .000, ,000 feet of timber, practically all located in the Pacific northwest: Companies controlled by Charles A. Smith of Minneapolis. Thomas E. Wal [ ker of Minneapolis: concerns in which N P Wheeler and w. F. Wheeler of Endeavor. Pa are the chief stock holders; companies in which the A. B. Hammond company. of New Jersey is the principal interest. Sand the timber i interests of the Chicago, Milwaukee & i Puget Sound Railway company (sub- i sdiary to the Cchicago, Milwaukee X 1 St Paul Railway company.
 After enormous sales. the commis- i sioner points out that the Southern Pacific. the Northern Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka X Santa Fe own to- | gether 3,500,000 acres of timbered and nOntimbered lands, an area as large | as England.
 1 The Amalgamated Copper company i Mir. COnant adds, owns owe. 1000, 900 acres of timber land and more than l 100,0O0 acres of nontim bered land, all ] in Montana, and Thomas B. Walker 1 personally owns 76000O acres in Cali | fornia.
 Despite the great increase in stump age values in recent years, COmmis- 1 sioner Conant foresees d growing rise i in prices because of the diminished i lumber supply and increasing popula- 1 tiOn. Mir Conant takes sharp issue i with suggestions, amounting, he says, 1 to almost propaganda at the present l time. that the price of stumpage should | equal the cost of growing trees. The ! idea, he adds seems incredible when it | is considered that standing timber is the free gift of nature, requiring from scores to hundreds of years for it's growth. The proposal, brought forth in the name of conservation and seized upon by some lumbermen, he contin- ues, lis a proposal deliberately to ! hasten the evil which conservation ought to moderate-the evil of excess sive prices" Taken in connection
 with the increasing concentration oi
 timber control, he says, the proposi-
 ton is d matter of grave concern tC the consumer of lumber.
 In advocating an extension of gov : ernment ownership of forest lands, the
 commissioner points to the fact that
 there is d distinguishing characteristic
 of standing timber as cOntrasted wtf
 such mineral resources as iron ore
 coal and petroleum. in that no labol
 is required to discover it.
 Discussing means of increasing tho
 governments ownership of timber
 lands, Mir. Conant suggests, if pendins
 forfeiture suits are successful,
 searching investigation to determin,
 whether there has been such non. fulfillment of the various condition.
 attached to the Northern Pacific ant
 other grants as would give congress
 just and legal cause to seek furthe
 forfetures
 It is clear concludes the report tha
 there has been lavish dissipation O
 standing timber and other natural re
 sources of the national domain ant
 that the beneficiaries of this policy to'
 frequently have been not actual set
 tiers. but capitalists, who have beel
 able to take advantage of Legislation
 CT its faulty administration and thu
 accumulate vast holdings of timbe
 land at enormous profit
 Subsequent parts of the lumber in
 vestigatiOn to be submitted by tn
 bureau of corporations will treat 0
 concentration of ownership in particu
 lar areas, and costs prices and com
 petitive conditions.