A Lumber Carrier. 



ONE OF THE FAMOUS FLEET OF THE DOLLAR COMPANY OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNL\. 



LUMBER TRADE AND THE CANAL 



By Robert Dollar 



[In order to ascertain what may l)e the effect of the opening of the Panama 

 Canal on the lumber trade of the Pacific Coast, American Forestry asked 

 Robert Dollar, of San Francisco, one of the biggest shippers of lumber, his 

 opinion. Mr. Dollar's answer is here given. He tersely defines the attitude of 

 the lumbermen, as he sees it, on the question of tolls, and on competition with 

 British Columbia. — Editor.] 



THE results of the opening of the 

 Canal are not generally under- 

 stood by the American public. 

 In fact, some prominent men 

 even say that free tolls will only benefit 

 the shipping trust. This trust that is 

 going to use the canal is a myth and 

 does not exist. In fact, we look for a 

 rate-war on the start. The American 

 public is going to pay the tolls and not 

 the shipowner. 



The cost of operating American ves- 

 sels is so great there is barely a fair 

 percentage of profit, in fact at this writ- 

 ing 33 per cent of all the lumber steam- 

 ers on this coast are laid up, unable to 

 run at the present low rate of freight, 

 and no steamer engaged in the coast- 

 wise lumber trade has paid a cent in 

 dividends to the owners during the past 

 nine months. Inasmuch as lumber ves- 

 sels are running and barely able to pay 

 expenses, is it reasonable to expect that 

 they can pay the canal tolls and add this 

 to the loss of operation? I think not; 



and one thing that our learned men and 

 theorists will find out, is that the dear 

 American public will pay the tolls. 



To illustrate : Suppose a ship is 

 willing and able to carry freight through 

 the canal on free tolls at, say, $3.00 a 

 ton, and Congress in its wisdom im- 

 poses a toll of $3.00 a ton, no sane man 

 would think that the shipowner would 

 continue to carry at that rate, when the 

 Government would make him pay $3.00 

 which thereby causes the service to be 

 performed for nothing. Strange as it 

 may seem to some, a steamship is not 

 operated on wind, so the inevitable re- 

 sult would be $3.00 for canal tolls, $3.00 

 to the shipowner and $0.00 to the 

 owner of the cargo instead of $3.00. 



But what is interesting the American 

 lumberman more than anything else is 

 this : That the British Columbia mills 

 are permitted to use the ships of all 

 nations to carry their lumber from 

 British Columbia to all American ports, 



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