ant Lrsse, Irinc.

GENERAL OFFICE: PORTLAND I' OREGON

Merchondisers oJ oll Pacitic Coosf Foresf Producfs

Domestic and lmported Lvmber and Plywoods

DOMESIIC EXPORT ond IMPORT ' RAII ond WATER'

More Reolistic Price - Reporting On Timber Sqles Srudied

Berkeley-Technical appraisal of a proposed price-reporting ser,rice for basic fbiest products, including standing timber, is hampered by a "primitive state of knowledge" concerning the price-determining mechanisms involved in timber sales, say forest economists at the University of

California. The proposed reporting service for timber would resemble otieri now ofiired by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide market reports on livestock, grain and other farm commodities.

As outlined in a Senate bill introduced last year, such a service would aim "to provide farmers and other owners of small forest properties with current information on markets and prices and to aid them in more effrciently and profitably marketing forest products,"

Asked about the technical feasibility of forestry price reporting, especially for standing timber, the forest economists admit they're stumped. Researchers John

Zivriuska

(Phoio by Ed Frcitqt.l

Seventy-nine-year-old Earl Scott of Lake County, Calif., presented a photographic study in durability when he turned up at Union Lumber Company's retail yard at Fort Bragg, Calif., recently to buy lumber for a new cabin. Scott drove a one-ton, fat-bed 1926 Chevrolet truck over the steep mountain range to the coast to pick up the lumber. He told onlookers his truck has rolled up 300,000 miles and still runs smoothly. Scott's choice of lumber for the cabin matched the Chevvy truck in terms of service. He picked out 5,000 feet of California redwood lumbermost durable of the softwoods. Scott himself is pretty hardy. At 79, he plans to build the cabin alone.

A. W. NETH IU'VTBER SATES

13625-C Venturq Blvd.

Shermqn Ooks, Colif.

Phone: STonley 3-2663

TWX: Von Nuys 7576 and Ann Shideler of the lJniversity's School of Forestry recently made a study of the price determinants in national forest timber sales in Califoinia. Their analysis, they report,, "failed to reveal any usable relationship between Ponderosa Pine prices and such factors as voluhe of timber,_ proportion of pine, density of cut, and length of log haul."

From a technical viewpoint, many unsolved problems might block the way to successful jnd realistic brice re- porting: Do-zens of changeable factors, rnatly rrt.ttilated to market conditions, can inhuence the price in-a timber sale: most timber sales are negotiated on jn individual and scattered basis, unlike many farm crops rvhich are sold in mar- ket centers ; standing timber, especially in the mountainous W".!,^ is.poorly adapted_to any syjtem of grading and classlhcatlon ; accurate and unbiased sources to-reporiprice information might be hard to find ; and the cost if op.rut_ rng a reporting service might be high.

Merchqndises lath, shingfes, o,nd shcrkes and siding

DANT & RUSSELI. INC.

MedicolArts Bldg.

Eurekc, Colif.

Phone: Hlllside 3-4561

TWX: Eurekq 63

WINFREE & TYNAN

2717 N. Mqin 5t. Wqlnul Creek, Colif.

Phone: YEllowstone 5-l4OO

"In short, it has yet- 1o be demonstrated that forestry price-reporting is feasible," Zivnuska and Shideler state. "lfowever, no final verdict, either pro or con, can be reached without additional factual information and objec_ tive analysis. Further debate on this issue may well provide the stinrulus needed to transform speculation into its pro_ cluctive counterpart-investigation.,t

Masonite Corp. General Salesmanager F. O. Marion, Chi_ cago, announces promotions for two former western Mason_ rte salesmen. L. C. Kummerow, former assistant manager of dealer sales in San- Francisco, was promoted t" if,. W"?t ington, D.C., area. Howard_ M. Findliy, former dealer sales_ 1lr"l.il. Seattle, is now product -.r.g.. of peg_Boaia S"i* in Chicago.

(Tett them Aou sau) it in The California Luntber Merchant)