, 1921-06-30
SWAN SONG or BUREAUCRACY

constructive policies of Herbert
, Hoover of the Department of Com
merCe. the Federal Trade Commits
sion makes one final bid for its
existence by an attack on what it
terms the Pacific Coast Lumber
Trust.
The West Coast Lumbermen's
Association is the one organization
that makes public weekly and daily
the facts of production. shipments,
orders for future delivery. prices.
operating costs and all the underly-
ing facts of the vests greatest en-
plOying industry.
These statements are sen to all
managers of sawmills and logging
camps, to all wholesale and retail
dealers and to The newspapers gener
ally. as well as to interested govern
ment departments. and the Trade
Commission calls these the methods
of a trust to reduce production.
This Trade Commission for the
past eight years has pursued de-
structive methods towards western
industries. and has never conducted
an investigation h was worth a
penny to the consumer but was al
ways ii detriment to employment Of
labor or investment of capital.
It nov claims that by merely Civ
ing out all the information possible
the lumbermen are violating the fair
trade statute and their position is
that a business man should go
blindfOlded and sell his product
without advice of collective economic
conditions about the industry.
For generations the Department
of Agriculture has supplied farmers,
fruit growers and live stock men
with exactly the same character OF
information about their products
that is complied by the West Coast
Lumbermen's organization and ex-
drtlv for the same purpose.
The more or less socialistic FEEDER
al Trade Commission. backed by
Clifford Pinchot, IL making this figh'
as a preliminary to what they cal
naturalization of Inc lumber in
dustry. logging operations and for
estry in general. and all know wha
that would mean.
1t would mean substituting al
army of red tape officials holding
jobs for life. impractical Missionaries
and theoretical highbrows with col
lege diplomas. conducting an in
dustry that can only be handled by
llpSp WHO nave ShlIltu lHtlT tADcIl
ence in the hard knocks school.
Carrying on an educational cam
paign to extend the demand and the
market for western lumber products
backing a national housing campaign
and meeting the competition of
cheaper lumber from the South at
lower freight rates. the West Coast
association has never fixed prices.
On top of all those handicaps tn"
lumber and timber products must
compete with steel. clay, paper, rub
Der. copper, asbestos. stone II &C.
ment products in all lines of build
ing and structural work. and there is
no possibility of forming IA trust to
control lumber prices.
Due to war conditions lumber
prices in 1920 were 300 per cent
higher than in 1915. but from 1913
to 1915 the industry was stagger-
ing under a depression that was
| ruinous. and for 81 months of this
period 80 per ccnt of the SawmiliS of
the northwest were idle for lack of
markets and lumber sold far below
cost of production.
The Federal Trade Commission ig-
nOres all those facts in its report to
Congress and its anxiety to make a
hOWlng to justify its continuation
on the payrolls. and fails to state
any facts that enter into operating
costs in the production of lumber.
The industry paid common labor
$l.75 in 1915 and $500 in 1920.
Labor is 60 per cent of manufacture
ing cost. 1t also fails to show hat
with all the high prices of 1920. due
to high manufacturing costs and
lack Of transportation. the North
west industry earned but 81 per
cent on its investment. The Trade
Commission report states that pres
ent prices are more than double 1915
prices. This is not true. The pres
ent average sales price of lumber at
the mill is but IS per cent higher
than in 1915 and is being produced
at a loss Of from s. Ia 81 per thou
sand.