Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-09-15
The Wherefores II, the Fail Of
Lumber Prices

"HE price of lumber at the mills is lower
today, according to the National Lum-
Der Manufacturers Association, than
at any time since 1914, "and is within very
small margin of pre-war figures" the slight
excess of the present being ascribed to in
creased costs of labor, equipment and taxes.
Prices in the New York market are repre-
sented as being from thirty to seventy-five
per cent lower than in September, 1920.
This accounts partly for the revival of
building activities reported from nearly all
regions of America. The shortage of dwell
ings, caused by the curtailment of private
construction during the war period, would
have been considerably relieved long ere this
had not the costs of material been so high
as to support the general belief that de-
cline, soon or late, was inevitable. That ex-
pectation has been fulfilled above what was
commonly reckoned. Down, down, down have
come prices of building necessaries, so that
tn conservative have ceased hanging back in
hopes of large declines yet to follow.
The effects, already evident in populous
centers where the need for more houses is
pressing, probably will be seen in wide-reach-
ing Developments. Owners of vacant home
sites will deem it advisable, in not few in
stances, to go forward with their deferred
plans, and the reflex from this activity can
hardly fail to energiZe the real estate market,
as we'll as to provide employment for many.
The increased amount of improvements and
repairs alone should add measurably to the
rising tide of business.
In the background of discussion on this
and related matters looms the ever and all
important question of forest waste. Abundant
timber, reckless cutting, uncontrolled fires,
dimuntion and then exhaustion of supply
such has the record been in region after re-
gion, as tn center of lumber production
moved from New England to the Alleghenies,
to the Lake States, Othe South, and as it
now swings threateningly toward the giant
woodlands of the Pacific slope. That bourne
reached what next? These conditions go to
explain the recent statement of the lumber
manufacturers that freight is the largest sin
gle item of cost in reaching the consumer"
The East thus pays millions of dollars which
need never have been added to it's lumber
bills had it duly conserved it's forests, instead
of leaving them prey to greed and ignorance
and fire. Three-fifths of our original timber
supply is gone, and each year we take an ad-
ditional tWenty-siX billion cubic feet from the
forests, while only some six billion are re-
produced. The results of this improvident
course are seen in soil-wasting floods, in in
jury to the very vitals of agriculture, and in
multiplied increases in the costs of every ne
cessity into which wood enters, from
princes palaces" to poor mems cottages"
The markedly lower lumber prices with
which we now are fortuned as result partly
of deflation from war times and partly of a
readjustment of transport rates, are exceed
ingly welcome, and doubtless will speed build
ing activities. Be it remembered, however,
that unless the basic problem of forest con-
servation and forest restitution be rightly
dealt with, by the nation and the states, we
can expect no permanent relief in high build
ing costs and no escape from the manifold
PENALTIES of forest destruction.