Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1913-05-22

Now Offered.
The forest service has just begun to
advertise the twelfth large lot Of ma
tional forest timber offered for sale
within the past nine months. Alto
gether it has advertised since July l.,
1912, the beginning of the present fiscal
year, about $500. OOO. 900 feet and has
closed contracts for the sale of 1.70O.-
100000 feet. The latest advertised sale
is Of approximately 100000 feet Of
saw timber in the Rainier national
forest. about thirty-tive miles from
! Tacoma.
In Offering national forest timber for
sale the government first makes an es-
innate of the quantity of timber on an
area which would naturally form a
single logging unit and which offers
attractive opportunities for the lumber
men. The probable cost Of logging
and manufacturing by a capable lum-
herman is then estimated. On the basis
Of these estimates. combined with the
figures for market values and freight
charges. the timber is appraised and
then advertised for sale. with the ap-
praised value as a minimum price.
Low Price so Cents Per Thousand.
The minimum prices set for the Raj
nier timber vary from so cents to $1.5O
per thousand feet. according to the
kind Of timber. These are stumpage
prices-that is. the purchaser buys the
trees on the stump and does all the
logging. but pays according to the
board foot measure Of the logs. The
facturer Il liberal profit on the basis
that numbering involves Il good deal Of
business risk. and the minimum stump
age prices are fixed accordingly. Often.
however. competitive bids raise the
price above the advertised minimum.
One Of the provisions Of the con-
tract which the successful bidder for
the Rainier timber will enter into will
be that if market prices advance ma
terially the governments chief forester
may. after the sale has run three
years. require a reasonable readjust-
ment Of the stumpage prices up to an
added so cents per 1000.
To Prevent Loss to Government.
The object of this stipulation is to
prevent loss to the government-that
is. to the public-and an undue profit
to the purchaser through long term
contracts entered into on a rising mar
ket. Provision against such specula-
tive profits is regarded as especially
necessary in view of the long term
sales now sometimes made to get pur-
chasers for large bodies of inaccessible
timber.
For the Rainier sale the cutting
period allowed is only five years, since
the quantity Of timber involved-ap-
proximately 100000 board feet-does
not call for an extended operation.
One national forest sale made this
year was for 100000. 900 board feet.
and the purchasers were allowed a
cutting period of twenty-five years. be-
sides a preliminary two years in which
to build a railroad. Usually purchas-
ers must begin operating the year of
purchase and cut a stipulated amount
each year.
Benefit to Public the Object.
The latter provision is simply an ex-
ample Of a fundamental principle that
is applied in all national forest timber
sales. The primary object is described
as being not profit for the government.
but benefit to the public. Nowhere is
the policy a strictly commercial one.
The conditions of cutting are care
fully prescribed from the standpoint
of present as we'll as future needs.
The highest bid for the contract may
be rejected and is rejected if it ap-
pears that to give the bidder the con-
tract would tend to facilitate timber
monopoly and so subject the consumer
to a hardship. In other words. the
government foresters consider that
they should not only make the forests
grow as fast as possible. but also make
them as useful as possible to the pub
lie.