Not only is it used for rotary-cut veneer, but it is made into cores 

 or backing on which veneers of costly woods are glued in the manu- 

 facture of furniture, interior finish and fixtures for banks, stores 

 and ofSces. It serves in the same way in casket making, and is 

 demanded in millions of feet. 



It is employed in amounts larger thsin any other wood by excelsior 

 mills in the northern Pacific coast region. It is the only wood 

 demanded by that industry in Washington and 6,400,000 feet were cut 

 into that product in 1910. 



Slack coopers find it as valuable in their business in the far West 

 as the common Cottonwood in the East, and hundreds of thousands 

 of staves are made yearly. It is in demand for the manufacture of 

 flour barrels and those intended for other food products. 



Trunk makers use it in three-ply veneers for the bodies, trays, 

 boxes and compartments of trunks and for suit cases. Though soft 

 and light, it is very tough, and sheets of veneer with the grains 

 placed transversely resist strains much better than solid wood of the 

 same thickness. 



Vehicle makers employ black Cottonwood for the tops and shelves 

 of business wagons. Another of its uses is aa bottoms of drawers for 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



bureaus, wardrobes and chiffoniers and as partitions in desk compart- 

 ments. A full line of kitchen and pantry furniture is made wholly 

 or in part of this wood in the regions where it is cheap and abundant. 



The cottonwoods belong to a very ancient race of broadleaf trees, 

 and Uke several others, they seem to have had their origin, or at least 

 a very early home, in the far North, where intense cold now excludes 

 almost every form of vegetable growth except the lowest orders. The 

 Cretaceous age saw cottonwoods growing in Greenland. The cotton 

 which then, as now, carried the seeds and planted them fell on more 

 hospitable shores then than can now be found in the far frozen North. 

 The genus was not confined to the arctic and subarctic regions, how- 

 ever, for there were cottonwoods at that time, or later, in more 

 southern latitudes. There were many species in the central portion 

 of this country, and also in Europe, long before the ice age destroyed 

 all the forests north of the Ohio and the Missouri rivers. Some of 

 the old species long ago ceased to exist, but others appear to have 

 come down to the present time without great change. 



The Cottonwood shows wonderf uL vitality, which is doubtless a sur- 

 vival of the characteristic which enabled it to come down from former 

 geologic epochs to the present time. A damaged and mutilated tree 

 will recover. A broken limb, thnist in the ground, will grow. 



\^ y^C)S';;sl:Jsrgcg^L^^c>^^yal»;:>x^ 



Lumbermen expect to see a large advantage gained in the con- 

 troversy over the proposed Canadian rate advancement as a result of 

 the developments at the final hearing of the testimony before Inter- 

 state Commerce Commissioner Balthazar Meyer, at the Federal build- 

 ing, Cincinnati, January 24 and 25. 



The testimony presented by the many witnesses showed conclu- 

 sively that Canadian receivers of lumber are distinctly opposed to the 

 advancement in tariffs. 



Another valuable point scored by the lumbermen was the favorablei 

 construction placed by the commissioner on the demand, through the 

 attorneys for the shippers, that complete records of data before the 

 freight associations ' meetings be produced before the commission. 



Commissioner Meyer announced that the brief of the railroad must 

 be filed with the commission on or before February 25, and the briefs 

 of the contesting shippers within fifteen days thereafter. He stated 

 that other arguments would be heard before the commission in Wash- 

 ington in the second week of March, providing the calendar of the 

 commission would permit. 



The proposed rate increases, which it is estimated would increase 

 the cost of hardwood and southern pine to Canadian points east of 

 Detroit by one dollar to two-and-a-half dollars a thousand feet, 

 were published by the railroads prior to September 1, 1912. On that 

 date the commission, acting on protest by lumbermen, suspended the 

 tariff until September, but at the conclusion of the suspension period 

 the suspension was continued until June 30, 1913. 



Lumbermen at points south of Ohio river crossings claim that the 

 increased tariff would practically ruin the export business of southern 

 lumber manufacturers to Canadian points. Representatives of the 

 trade from Memphis, St. Louis, New Orleans and Arkansas points 

 were present, there being an even dozen of outside lumbermen in 

 attendance. Other interests represented were Canadian associations. 

 International Harvester Company, manufacturers of the furniture 

 section of the Canada Manufacturers' Association of Toronto. 



Walter Wellford of Memphis was the first witness at the opening 

 session. In testifying for the coopers' business he said that ninety- 

 five per cent of the staves sent to Canada are shipped to points east 

 of Detroit. He testified that railroads are now asking more money 

 per unit than they did ten years ago, and that improved equipment 

 and increased speed permits them to turn even a greater profit than 

 formerly. This testimony was offered in order to show the raise is 

 not a necessity to return a profit to the railroad company. 



E. E. Fvpvsnll. traflfii' msinager of the W. T. Ferguson Lumber Com- 

 pany of St. Louis, was the next witness. This company has mills in 



Louisiana and Texas. The witness produced letters from various 

 individuals and firms interested in the advance, which tended to show 

 such advances would work a material and lasting hardship on the 

 industries affected. Mr. EversuU stated that yeUow pine men will 

 have to cut prices on yellow pine on Canadian deliveries about $2.50 

 per thousand or get out of the Canadian business if these advances go 

 into effect, as the competition from fir lumber wUl tend to make this 

 change necessary. He stated that all rates from southwestern terri- 

 tory are based on Cairo. 



B. M. Krebs, manager of the McLean Hardwood Lumber Com- 

 pany of Memphis, Tenn., was then called. Mr. Krebs showed that of 

 fifty-two points in Canadian territory that would be affected by the 

 change, three were lowered and the balance raised. Mr. Krebs offered 

 many letters from Canadian receivers of lumber stating that they 

 were decidedly opposed to the intended advances. His testimony was 

 for the purpose of showing that the advances are merely with a view 

 of increasing the revenue for Canadian lines, and not for the purpose 

 of equalizing rates, as Mr. Martin, representing the roads, stated 

 at the St. Louis meeting. The matter was debated by these two 

 gentlemen. 



Frank Robertson of the Anderson-Tully Company of Memphis was 

 the first witness in the afternoon session. Mr. Robertson said that 

 if the advances went into effect the southern manufacturers would 

 be seriously crippled in their efforts to secure Canadian trade and 

 would likely be shut out entirely. He stated that the lumber thus 

 barred from Canadian points would necessarily have to be marketed 

 locally, with the resultant demoralization of the general lumber 

 business. 



J. H. Townsend, trafBc manager of the Southern Hardwood Traffic 

 Bureau of Memphis, Tenn., followed Mr. Robertson and read a state- 

 ment showing that the proposed advances would affect four hundred 

 Canadian points. 



T. A. Sledge of May Brothers, Memphis, read a number of letters 

 of protest from all sections of the southern shipping territory. 



J. J. Bruner of the E. Sondheimer Company of Memphis declared 

 that the real reason for the advance was that the Canadian lines had 

 attempted to secure additional revenue as their proportion of the 

 through rate, and not having been successful in obtaining it from 

 connecting lines took the initiative in agitating increased rates. Mr. 

 Bruner said that he could substantiate his statement by giving the 

 source of the information. 



J. D. Allen, Jr., of the Darnell-Taenzer Lumber Company, Mem- 

 phis, Tenn., reviewed the many new developments in the lumber busi- 



