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Show IDAHO MEN IN LUMBER 'TRUST' Price Combine Charged in Report of Federal Trade Commission WASHINGTON Feb. 15 Lumber manufacturers man-ufacturers of L'nho. western Montana and eastern Oreron "have onmnlzod and conducted the Western Pine Monufactur-"' Monufactur-"' aasoeiatlon for the primary purpose Of "ffreetnr on the prices of their lum-ber lum-ber th- foderal trade commission declared de-clared today In submitting to oonjrraea the fourth of a .-ertr-jt r,f reports dcalnrr wlUl the lumber industr-. ' The activities of the sjteoclatlon In i advancing prices by concerted action n ..nt. mr-oraeoun with k steadily rls- inr. price lerel between i9i." nnd 1920". :h.- ie.,.rt fiy.-rterl .-;.; t : 1 r that In perlo-ls d-presrlon iiicmln i of the association arted in concert t.. regulate prouurllon , so aa to maintain prices. 1 The association has a separate orgnnl-! orgnnl-! nation In Montana which fixes prlcr 1 within the state. the commission also 1 charged, nnd "there has been active co-OD co-OD ration between the Western Pine Manufacturers association and the West ''ciM Lumbermen's asnocbitlon 1th the Mirths of effecting harmonious action on prices and production." Tho conclusions submitted In the re-, re-, report were declared to he based on 1 documentary evidence -.ecu red from the ille.s of tin compan'.' and its tnore prominent promi-nent membort' ' ' It should bo underntood." the commission com-mission said 'that tills rather detailed presentation Is far from exhausting the documentary evidence In the commission's "FACTS" PRESENTED Other "ultimate conclualona of fact" Contained In the summnry of the report published b the commission include: "KotWithatanding price reductlonn from the peak of the runnwav mnrket of 1919-1920. 1919-1920. rang-ing as high a.s Ss f r cent on the lower grades, most of the present prevailing Quotations nr fur ln advance of war time levels and none touch pre- wr lei ela "Th'- price advances made by prominent promi-nent member! o( ihe Western Pino Mtuiu-factur Mtuiu-factur rs' as BOt lat ion during the runaway market f 1919 were cho racterlr.ed by the more conservative membera aa "rtjieal-cy' "rtjieal-cy' Incredible,' 'anxl tremendous.' . . When piicei hni reached their pek in Februao'. 19 and demand wim wavering, waver-ing, an aderilsing campaign was proposed pro-posed to stimulate It. DURING DEPRESSION "In periods of depAtanon the association associa-tion membsrs have resorted to concerted regulation of production for tho puroosi of maintaining the prices arrived at through concerted action, and as a liasls for recurring cycles of increased price i when demand springs up again. In the j fall of 1921 prices were again advanced I on the basis of depleted stocks brought bout b a rductlon of over 6o per rem below normal In the 1921 output Not - 1 w-lthstajidlng u nation-wide housing shortage nu nir.ers estimate mm up ir production for 1922 will not be oer B0 to OO per cent of their 19Z1 production and there Is tmd- talk of another runaway market. "Approximately 80 per cent of the lumber lum-ber output of their territory i In the hands of members of tho Western Pln.i Manufacturers' usaoclatlton. Slno the ownership of standing Umber In this territory ter-ritory is In the hands of a relatively few stronp concerns, most of which are incni-bera incni-bera Ol the association, the power of the aesoclatlon over the market for Its gooda Will aim Oat inevitably increase unloas restrained by judicial action. BUREAU MAINTAIN tJD "The association membera have been prominent In the maintenance Of a box bureau, through which prices ot boxes and l-ox material have been flved by concerted con-certed action. Th" tprlces so fixed have p. . p. . ,j i r c . t h ug.- uOfi the fruit grow-iig grow-iig indiMtr-. of thi so . alieri pa I and ein-p ein-p i rd mountain states a.i v.ell u.s upon the meat packing ltiduslr centered at Chicago. "In order to make the uniform prices promulgated by the asBOClStiton effective not onlv at point of shipment, but at destination, des-tination, tho members have adopted a common freight busing point This fre-nuentlv fre-nuentlv Involves additions to mill prices .. ..n ta lit ,. rl .1 1 ri rUv in ene anuie n unrum calculated freight "As an mjunct to malnlenance of tini-fonn tini-fonn ptioSa, tho Western l'lne Manufac-lurcrs' Manufac-lurcrs' association has endeavored to standardize the discounts from the official offi-cial prices which Its members allow wholesalers row mil retail conc erns have been given the advantage of these i wholesalers' concessions." DECLARED "BUNK " i POP.TI.ANL. Feb 15 KxecutUes of 'the A eslern Pine Manutaeturers' association associa-tion In Cortland characterised the report I of the federal trado commission to eon-I eon-I gresa today as "one of tha periodical outbursts" out-bursts" from the commission "ft Is the limit of inaccuracy," cotn- men ted A. W. Cooper, secretarv -manager i( the Western Pint Monuf.o turers" usso elation "Thif report Is full of misstate. mcnt of fact and conclusions based thereon Members of tho association Will be disgusted with this outburst of bunk from the federal ccmmlslon as they have been With similar effusions from that uourcc It la true that lumber monufac-1 monufac-1 turors are endeavoring to standardize tlze of lumber and that Is all." |