Great Falls daily tribune., 1919-02-02
to him thru the carpenter or contrac
Trade o efnitions.

Trade Definitions.
In the large cities retail lumber deal
ers often do both a retail and wholesale
business, and the line between the two
classes is not clear cut. Any definition
Of the retail trade must be appleu
broadly. and in practice is modified by
local competitive conditions and In com
pliance with the ethics or customs of tne
trade. The retail trade Of today con-
tains four principal types of distributing
organizations: The individual retail yard,
the line ward. the farmers cooperative
and stock company, and the catalogue
house The individual yard IS the Oldest
type of organization, and III TINS class
ification, companies operating On bfaHch
yard at a second town or several yards
in town, as is often done in large cities,
have been classed as single yard oper-
ators, and are termed individual yards.
Certain organizations MAINTAIN
line or chain of lumber yards at differ
ent points thruout a given region. Some
Of the stronger companies in the middle
west operate from 10 to 100 yards. Oth-
ers maintain but three or four yards.
Companies operating three or more yards
are classed as line yard concerns
Farmers Cooperative Yards.
1.-THE Farmers stock company as
paratiyely recent organization, however
these companies are more and more on
the increase, and in certain regions are
becoming important factors. Co-opefa-
tive or stock companies In TINS class, are
restricted almost uniformly to asflcul-
tural sections, the movement centerlng In
Iowa and Nebraska, where there are
more than 100 farmers retail YARDS.
The farmers yard is closely related to
the marketing Of grain. there being over
1000 cooperative grain companies ~
the United States, it is safe to say that
10 per cent of these companies operate
retail lumber yards IN connection Win
the grain business.
The above three branches Of retail
distribution of lumber, constitute about
% per cent of the retail lumber sales IN
the United States, involving the opera
tions of A. 600 retail plants. and distrib-
uting ~ 600, 100000 board feet Of lumber
annually.
Mail Order Lumber Trade.
THE catalogue or mail order house
is also comparatively new in the retail
/ lumber field, but owing to it, broad and
far reaching facilities in this field, 1t mas
made itself felt in the retail lumber trade,
especially in the middlewest. There are
| two types 0f organizations iii this branch.
Inc tIie 3tllIS tllt - man 'I 'tti
which sells everything, such as the Sears
Roebuck company, and the second the
mill mail order house, which does its own
cutting and manufacturing. and sells dl-
rect to the consuming trade.
Much has been said about our rapidly
disappearing forests, our wdstefull manu-
featuring methods. and our excessive
consumption Of lumber All is true in a
great degree There are many features
/ VI y 4+ ty4
I we'll to analyze in q brief way the i'm
portant factors in these respects.
with total resource in forest Pre-
i duets Of twenty eight hundred billion
/ feet, and with an annual consumption Of
/ about 10000, ,0NN 0N0 feet, we would
4 have less than 10D years supply of
4 this material within our own limits, IL
/ the ratio was to remain constant On
/ this basis We can compare lumber with
4 coal and iron. Our supply of these latter
4 products can be definitely determined,
and according TO our annual consumption
/ Of them, based over period If 20
\ years and allowing for increased popula-
! ton our own supply will be exhausted
within the 100 year period. Notwith-
/ standing the fact that there are many
I substitute materials and means covering
! the use of coal and iron. our annual
consumption is on the heavy increase
| from year to year. In lumber We have
| a similar equation To consider.
Use and Waste of Lumber
BASED on the total figures Of our tn
tai acreage under forests. of 54i,00000f
acres. we are cutting annually about
! ~ cubic feet Of lumber per acre. and
there il only being replaced by annual
growth about j. cubic feet per acre
While this replacement shows consider
able proportion, about 30 per cent. still
We are working IN capital in constantly
using more than IL being replaced. This
has been partially brought about in re-
cent years by our over production Of lum-
| her. An over production has made Z
ridiculously cheap product, and the cheap