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Mr. CHANTLAND. I also wi

Luce in evidence a letter to Defense, Munsey Building, e to have inserted in the

Mr. M. C. Tuttle, Council of

Washington, D. C., which lette

record in connection with the testing of Louis B. Wehle of this morning. This letter is under date of ly 27, 1917.

(The letter referred to above is printed in the record in full, as follows:)

COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE,
Washington, July 27, 1917.

Mr. M. C. TUTTLE,

Council of National Defense,

Munsey Building, Washington, D. C.

I do not think I could

MY DEAR MR. TUTTLE: This is an admirable letter. improve it even if I had time to study it now, which I have not. I am just off to-day for a committee meeting in New Hampshire. (Worse luck.) I shall be back here Wednesday morning.

I wish you would send me a copy of this letter for my files.

Very sincerely, yours,

(Dictated but not read.)

IDA M. TARBELL, Per M. G. N.

Mr. CHANTLAND. I also wish to offer in evidence a memorandum concerning the cost of producing yellow pine, mill-run lumber and timbers in 21 mills located in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and Douglas fir, spruce, and hemlock mill-run lumber and timbers of 11 miles located in Oregon and Washington. I desired to have this printed in the record.

(The memorandum above referred to is marked "Exhibit N. L. K. No. 1108" and is printed in the record in full as follows:)

EXHIBIT N. L. K. No. 1108.

There are submitted herewith certain tables which show for certain companies the average costs of producing yellow pine and Douglas fir lumber. These tables are submitted to aid Government agencies which are negotiating for specific contracts with specific concerns.

The tables cover the average cost of producing run-of-mill yellow-pine lumber for 21 mills in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and the cost of producing Douglas fir lumber for 11 mills located in Oregon and Washington. The 21 yellow-pine mills in 1916 produced over 1,140,000,000 board feet, or 8.3 per cent of the estimated output of yellow-pine lumber in the United States. The 11 Douglas fir mills produced in the month of May, 1917, over 51,000,000 board feet, and their 1916 production was nearly 0.8 per cent of the estimated total Douglas fir production.

The costs shown in these tables do not purport to be the costs of producing ship timbers required for Government ship schedules, but, as already stated, are average costs covering the entire output of the mills. It was impossible to secure the cost of the special timbers required for the ship schedules at the time this report was prepared as the mills were not cutting such schedules, and the timbers required under the specifications adopted by the Emergency Fleet Corporation are largely special sizes which have not been produced by the mills in the past.

These tables, moreover, are not sufficiently comprehensive to warrant the commission in framing a judgment as to what constitutes a fair cost basis for determining the price on lumber sold to the public.

They are, however, typical of certain large producers in the industry and are submtted as being of value in connection with Government purchases alone. The costs of other companies, supplementing the data herewith submitted, are in preparation and will be submitted as completed. The books of many lumber companies visited have been found to be in such a poor condition that it has been a most difficult task to get satisfactory figures.

Work is being actively pushed toward getting the costs of producing the lumber required for ship schedules, a large force of men being now located