316 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE,

ative organizations for handling the export trade of a number of manpfacturers
 have been attempted from time to time, as, for example,
the Cargo Pool in Douglas fir in 1902-1904, which was considered to
have had a large measure of success while it existed. At the present
time the Redwood Export Co. is the only organization of this kind
which is in active operation.
The Redwood Export Co., formed in 1912, is incorporated with a
nominal capital stock of $6,000, all of which is held by four companies.
 These four companies, whose total capitalization is
$20,000,000, manufacture in their five mills about one-half of the
cut of California redwood. The exports of redwood form about oneeighth
 of the total cut, and the Redwood Export Co. controls about
80 per cent of these exports. It acts as a selling agency for exports
only, doing no domestic business. In addition to handling the export
business of its members it makes sales, on a commission basis, for
nearly all the outside companies in the redwood industry, the commission
 charged being 1} per cent. Orders to its members are distributed
 according to agreed proportions, each member's quota being
determined by the particular conditions under which his “mill is
operated.
The work of the Redwood Export Co. is stated to have been successful
 and to have resulted in a benefit to the whole redwood industry.
 Profits of the company have been used in further development
 of foreign markets. Since the organization of the company in
1912, exports of redwood have increased over 50 per cent. The
smaller mills have been enabled to participate to a greater extent in
foreign. trade. Prior to the formation of the company it was customary
 to assemble at San Francisco Bay the shipments from the
individual mills and to reship from there. The material exported—ties
and rough clear lumber—formed a minor part of the output of each
mill, and no single mill was in a position to furnish full cargo lots.
The present cooperation insures the prompt filling of large orders and
prevents demurrage charges on. account of delays in loading. It is
claimed for the Redwood Export Co. that its activities have resulted
in a greater stability of prices, and that this in turn has induced the
foreign merchants to carry larger stocks. As a result, demand has
been steadied and charter engagements facilitated.
As has already been stated, Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania
form the principal foreign markets for redwood. In the year ending
June 30, 1914, they took about 50,000,000 feet of that wood. The
control of the channels of distribution for lumber in those countries
by the powerful buying combinations of retail merchants has already
been mentioned. In the case of fir lumber, which is the wood most
largely imported, the great bargaining power thus afforded to the
Australasians has been used to play one American manufacturer