22 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



ness with which the lumber manufacturer has had to contend as the 

 years have gone by. He stated that further increase of Canadian 

 rates was entirely unjust and would work a distinct hardship. 



Elliott Lang of E. .J. Darnell, Inc., Memphis, testified against the 

 attitude of the railroad representatives to show that the amount of 

 lumber shipped to Canadian points was limited. He claimed that if 

 this export busine.ss were shut off, as it undoubtedly would be if the 

 advances in rates were sustained, it would have the tendency to throw 

 a lot of the mUlwork now going into that territory onto the American 

 markets. Mr. Lang laid particular stress upon the increased cost of 

 stumpage and operati'ou to tlie sawmill men. 



Mr. Lang again took the stand for the Friday night session, but 

 was shortly excused and was followed by Philip B. Gordon of Mont- 

 real, who stated that his business is principally in yellow pine and 

 fir timber. Mr. Gordon said that the high rail rates are responsible 

 for the increased cargo shipments of pine to Canadian points. He 

 said that this water transportation will undoubtedly increase during 

 the coming year. Mr. Gordon, in speaking for Canadian consumers, 

 said that if the advances went into effect they would undoubtedly 

 exclude pine from the Canadian markets in favor of western fir. He 

 further said that Canadians are distinctly opposed to the advances. 



Mr. Gordon gave the longest testimony of any of the witnesses and 

 his testimony made a very favorable impression upon the commis- 

 sioner. The railroad representatives failed in every instance to con- 

 fuse or to disprove his statement. 



H. C. Martin, general freight agent of the Grand Trunk line, 

 opened Saturday morning's session. He offered some interesting sta- 

 tistics, showing shipments to Canadian points from connecting lines 

 in the United States. It was noted that many of tlie cars shown in 

 the statement were principally for railroad material. 



Mr. Martin was followed by J. P. Pattendorf, general freight agent 

 for the Illinois Central KaUroad at Memphis, Tenn. He showed the 

 Illinois Central's portion of the through rates and also the variation 

 in proportions where railroads gained in one place and lost in 

 another. He then stated that the old custom of fifty years ago, when 

 all rates terminated at Ohio river crossings, might be acceptable to 

 many lines. 



A general discussion followed among the attorneys. Attorney 

 Wolter insisted upon a definite reply from the railroad representation 

 as to whether or not they would comply with his request to produce 

 the complete records of the meeting of the Canadian Freight Asso- 

 ciation, Central Freight Association, Southwestern Lines Association, 

 Mississippi Valley Association and the Southeastern Association. 



Mr. Martin, in speaking for the railroads he represented, said that 

 he could not speak for other lines, but that as far as he was con- 

 cerned he would decline to furnish any such data, as it was not 

 public property. 



Judge Moore, also representing the roads, stated that he would 

 confer immediately with his clients and that he had no doubt that 

 the information desired would be cheerfully given, especially if the 

 commission so ruled. He stated that, in his opinion, the commission 

 had the right to demand such papers. 



Commissioner Meyer stated that inasmuch as these records may 

 assist the commission they might be valuable to it, but he did not 

 wish to take the responsibility of ordering them produced without 

 first conferring with his colleagues at Washington. He then ordered 

 the railroad representatives to prepare their briefs and have them 

 filed with the commission in thirty days, and the shippers to file theirs 

 within fifteen davs after. 



JKiamm»>iws;^w.^w^>!:g^sTO^mBtro!!mi^^^ 



Universal T>James iSJeeded for Trees 



The number of commercial woods imported into this country is 

 much larger than is generally supposed by those who have not looked 

 into the subject. A study of the kinds of useful and ornamental 

 timbers shipped into the United States is not only an interesting, but 

 at the same time a very ditScult undertaking. Foreign woods are 

 enumerated in the official trade returns as coming under the following 

 classification of common or trade names: Mahogany, cedar, rosewood, 

 satinwood, lignum-vitae, ebony, boxwood, granadillo, lancewood, log- 

 wood, and fustic. The bulk of the woods which are now imported 

 are entered under the above names. There are, however, many other 

 woods which are shipped into this country only in small quantities. 



Practically all timber merchants put a great deal of reliance or 

 high value on common names. A little knowledge of the timber 

 trade will soon convince the thoughtful inquirer that there are no less 

 than fifty entirely different woods known as mahogany, and equally 

 as many called cedar. The commercial name has a relation merely 

 to the physical appearances or characters of the woods or to the 

 country from which the wood was shipped. A good many woods 

 having only a remote resemblance to mahogany are often sold as 

 mahogany. Lagos, Benin, Nicaragua, Brazil, and Panama wood are 

 named after the country from which they originate. Then again 

 there are names which are very general in their application, as for 

 instance "madeira," which means wood, and is sometimes applied in 

 the trade to mahogany, tamarind, etc. In the East Indies the word 

 "poon" is a name given by many of the tribes or nations to' any 

 tree. The early traders who heard the name "poon" applied to the 

 particularly noted tree {Calophyll'um inophyllum) in the East Indies 

 at once concluded that this was its regularly accepted common name. 

 Later other traders heard the name applied to entirely different trees 

 and today a number of unrelated species are called ' ' poon. ' ' 



"While such names are sometimes helpful in tracing down the true 

 name of the wood, one must not put too much reliance on them. The 

 names given to trees by the uneducated people are at best very uncer- 

 tain and fluctuating. This is often true even in civilized countries. 



as in the United States, where a single tree sometimes has a dozen 

 or more common or local names. On the other hand, the same name 

 is frequently applied to more than one species of trees. There are 

 in this country no less than six genera whose woods are called cedars. 

 Latterly the substitution of inferior wood for better kinds has been 

 practiced so extensively that a number of the recently introduced 

 woods have been given the names of the woods for which they are 

 being substituted. A good ex.ample of this is the okoume (Boswellia 

 klainea) of West Africa, which is used in place of the Spanish cedar 

 for making cigar boxes, and is now commonly known as cedar. 



A great many of the native names of trees of foreign countries 

 are constantly being changed or corrupted by travelers, who have 

 merely run through a region as collectors and are not familiar with 

 the language. This is true particularly in Latin America, where a 

 good many Indian and Spanish names have been so corrupted that 

 it is difficult to recognize them in print. Sucopira, sebupira, sepe- 

 pera, and sepibira (Bowdichia virgilioides) illustrate this case and 

 show that there is an entire lack of rule in spelling these native 

 names. The Indians of tropical America, for instance, have no rule 

 for nomenclature, and they have no means of producing a uniformity 

 of names and very frequently confound one name with another. The 

 reliance on these names very often leads to mistakes, instead of 

 proving an aid, in tracing down the botanical name of commercial 

 wood unless one is well acquainted with the wood structure of the 

 different groups of trees. Owing to very different woods having, the 

 same common names, occasionally very serious mistakes originate by 

 erroneously substituting a wood when one of an opposite kind was 

 intended. This is frequently the case with respect to our southern 

 pines. Both the loblolly and longleaf pines are called longleaf pine 

 in certain localities. The substitution of loblolly for the more durable 

 longleaf has frequently resulted in very serious losses. An effort 

 should be made to determine upon a commercial name for each impor- 

 tant wood, and if such a nomenclature would be followed by alL 

 dealers the number of errors would be greatly reduced. L. L. D. 



