Evening star., 1925-02-22
WAR ON ANTITRUST
LAWS IS LOOMING
lumbermen Urged to Con-
serve Timber, But Are Kept
From Working in Unison.
By HARDEN COLFAx.

By HARDEN COLFAX.
Agitation for a general overhauling
of the Federal antitrust laws is fast
approaching fever heat in the lumber
industry. Undoubtedly the present
dissatisfaction will head up in a
clean-cut fight in Congress to amend
the law. AS yet the industry, with
past prosecutions still fresh in mind.
has taken no formal action, but such
action and the ensuing fight for
amendment appear to be just around
the corner.
Other industries. too. have caught
the infection to some extent, with the
result that antitrust revival meet
ings have been held recently at nu-
merous places throughout the United
States. The coal industry. at present
low in spirits and prosperity, is talk
ing about the subject. To lesser
degree various manufacturing indus
tries have taken the subject up
Movement May Spread.
Thus with the push a fair bpeeze
of effort, the fires aroused in the lum-
her industry may easily spread to
many other enterprises in the coun-
try. Already the Chamber of Com
1nerce of the United States, one of the
dominant trade organizations of the
nation, is on record as favoring modi-
ncation of the law. Indications are
that tho subject soon will become
live one again with the chamber and
similar institutions.
What the lumbermen say they can
understand is this:
The forest service, branch or the
Federal Government, whose maximum
effort is to conserve the timber sup
ply, is daily urging the lumber In
dustry to cut no more trees than are
absolutely essential to meet the build
ing and other demands for lumber
The Federal Trade Commission. an
other branch of the Government. tells
the lumber industry that it may not
combine to restrict output. The At
torney General, as the Federal prose-
Cutor, stands watchful and ready to
send to the penitentiary any members
of the industry who get together to
determine how much lumber shall be
cut.
Wonder at Status.
Now where ask leading exponents
of the industry. do the lumbermen get
oft? There are 10000 lumber mills
in the United States, engaged, for
the most part, in hot competition.
Acting independently, these mills
cannot under any circumstances, re-
strict lumber production. Acting in
unison, they become lawbreakers
They can't obey both the forest serv-
ice and the Federal Trade Commits
sion. They can take their choice; and
the choice thus far has been to saw
wood as they see fit.
AS a result. the Governments con-
servation policy favored by the in
dustry itself, it being shot to pieces
hut no lumberman is going to jail.
The present movements is for the
purpose of reconciling the variant
Federal mandates SO that they may
all be obeyed. At least, that is what
the leading lumbermen assert. Sec
retary Robert Allen of the West
Coast Lumbermen's Association one
of the outSpoken advocates of the
antitrust law amendments, told his
organization at its recent annual
convention in Seattle, that thousand
of acres of timber had been cut un-
necessarily in his section last season
because present laws forbid producers
to combine to restrict production. On
the Pacific coast, at present the sub
ject is an extremely live one with
increasing pressure being exerted by
the public for conservation.
Clearing Houses Banned.
Several years ago the hardwood
lumber manufacturers planned a
clearing house of information as to
output, prices and demand and the
Government squelched the effort by
indicting the promoters. The case was
upheld in the Supreme Court and not
only the lumber industry, but many
other industries which had ventured
timidly along the same pathway i'm
mediately were seized with semi
panic and ran to cover, abandoning
rhe idea Among them was the soft
coal industry.
1t was brought out at the trial
that the hardwood producers scheme,
without modification, contained the
makjngs of an old time trust in its
most Objectionable form. Some of the
officials letters and some of the
somewhat crude practices were espe-
Cially condemned by the court. No
body in the lumber industry today
would seriously consider -patterning &
their contemplated attempt to con-
serve lumber after the lines of this
abortiVe plan. But almost everybody
in the industry is wrought up to the
conviction that either conservation or
the antitrust law must go by the
boards soon.
Take No Chances.
On the Pacific coast public senti-
ment is said by the lumber industry
to be overwhelming in favor of 60
ing fve-day week in the interest
of conservation. Many factors in the
industry would lige to adopt the
idea, but they won't do it if COM
petitors go ahead on a six-day basis.
And there is not a man of the lot, this
correspondent is advised, who isn't
afraid to write another producer on
the subject. A letter of that sort, an
agreement among two or three pro-
ducers to adopt the five-day week, is
a penitentiary offense. as the lumber
mems lawyers read the statutes, and
nobody in the industry is going to
take a chance.
In the meantime, the industry
travels from a feast to q famine and
back again. \ fair market inevitably
spells overproduction and that in
evitably is followed by shutdowns.
And shutdowns are followed by a
scarcity of lumber that again leads
TO a fair market and overproduction.
A parallel condition, in many re-
spectS, is found in the coal industry.
And while all this is going on, the
funds to preach conservation to ears
that are deafened by sound emanat-
ing from the Federal Trade Commits
sion and the Department of Justice.
The three of them are giving the
lumber industry a life of excitement
that promises. sensational develop
ments soon.
Copyright, 1921
STATI0NERS TO CONVENE