394 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE,

port combination to establish a planing mill in order to secure the
best results in creating a local consumption of its lumber. It may be
not only necessary to distribute samples of wood, but even in some
cases to subsidize the construction of sample houses in order to furnish
practical object lessons of the desirability of using American lumber.
In addition to the ocular proof afforded through the use of the lumber,
 it is planned to spread information by means of suitably prepared
advertising literature, by the distribution of properly prepared buildng
 plans, and by information to prospective consumers given personally
 through fully qualified agents.
An ¢ffective propaganda of the kind projected by the export combinations
 will involve large expenditures, and must be financially
supported by, dnd be under the control of, the American lumber
manufacturers who seek to profit by the export trade. No other set
of men is primarily interested in the work of extending the foreign
markets for American lumber. As has been already elsewhere pointed
put, American lumber is sold by foreign brokers and bought by forsign
 consumers merely because it happens to be, at present, the
cheapest material available for the purposes to which it is to be put in
the foreign market: In many markets the lumber trade is in the
hands of importing houses which likewise handle many other commodities.
 The interest of such houses is fo Handle the lines which give
them the most profit, whether lumber or wood substitutes, no matter
what they are or where they come from. The same house will handle
lumber from many competing sources. In some cases the importing
houses are financially interested in developing a trade in native lumber,
 and their sales of imported lumber are subordinated to supplementing
 the use of the native woods. Not only does American lumber
 now have to compete in many countries with native lumber protected
 by high tariffs, but if the proposed preferential tariffs between
the present allied nations are put in effect following the end of the war,
the demand for American lumber from many foreign markets now
available may be seriously diminished. For example, if in addilion
 to being confronted by the organizing power possessed ab
present by the buying combinations of Australian lumbermen, the fir
manufacturers of Washington and Oregon should be compelled to
compete with Canadian fir (Oregon pine) admitted to Australia on a
preferential duty, they would be at a still greater disadvantage in
their Australian trade than they are to-day. The need for a closer
organization to increase the bargaining power of the American producers
 of export lumber and to promote the use of such lumber by
foreign consumers, is likely to grow rather than diminish.
(3) The benefits which the work of the export lumber-selling combinations,
 if successful, would obtain for their members do not need to
be mentioned, nor is it necessary to point out the benefits which the