318 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE.

A company has been organized at Mobile, Ala., under the name of
the Lumber Exporters’ Line. It has a capital of $100,000, and will
“harter steamships to carry southern hardwoods to the principal ports
of Europe. Eleven southern lumber companies with an aggregate
capital of $5,000,000 are represented. The reason given for the formation
 of the line is the inability of southern hardwood lumbermen to
transport their products profitably to European markets since the
war.
In addition to the companies already organized, export selling combinations
 for the purpose of promoting trade in pitch pine, North Carolina
 pine, and a number of other woods, are being advocated by manufacturers.
 Most of these are along the general lines of the Douglas
Fir Exploitation &amp; Export Co., and are confronted by the same questions
 concerning the legality of the proposed organization and activities.
 Until this doubt is removed there is little prospect of further
cooperation of lumber producers along such lines.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF PROPOSED EXPORT COMBINATIONS OF
LUMBER PRODUCERS.

Many of the arguments for and against the proposed lumber export
sombinations apply also to other lines of exports. Only their bearing
on the particular conditions existing in the lumber industry will be
considered here. -Apart from the possible legal restrictions which
may be held to exist against such proposed activities, it has been
questioned whether monopolistic power would not be acquired by
such combinations that would or could be used to the detriment of
the producers who remained outside of them, and, also, to the detriment
 of the domestic consumer. It is advisable to examine the bearing
 of such objections on the actual conditions in the lumber industry
 before the advantages sought by the proposed combination are
considered.
"The possibility that the combinations would have a detrimental
effect on the interests of the domestic consumer is based on the
assumption that the price he would have to pay for his lumber would
be unduly raised, through the lessening of the available domestic
supply through exportation. That is the only way that these combinations,
 which concern themselves solely with the export business,
could affect his interests adversely. The facts regarding the conditions
 under which the lumber industry exists in the United States
do not support this assumption. More than nine-tenthis of the lumber
annually cut goes into domestic consumption. All but a relatively
small portion of the mills in the industry are so located that it will
never be practicable for them to export any considerable part of their
product. These mills must continue to depend on the domestic
demand for the consumption of their output. Furthermore, of the
mills which are so located that it is practicable for them to export