HARDWOO D RECORD 



17 



utilization and considerable quantities of sucli stock goiog into 

 ties, there is every reason to believe that as the years go by, lum- 

 ber manufacturers will be increasingly less dependent upon the 

 box trade for an outlet for the poorer products of their mills. 



It is a worthy suggestion advanced by the box men that fibre 

 containers will gain in favor with increasing prices of wooden 

 containers. It must be conceded, however, that any change from 

 old methods is merely a mark of progress and that if a fibre con- 

 tainer demonstrates its superiority for carrying a commodity of 

 a certain character, its use in packing that commodity will fol- 

 low regardless of any price question and in spite of any efforts to 

 combat it. It is equally manifest that the number of places where 

 the fibre container can be used to better advantage than the 

 wooden container is exceedingly limited and with fair treatment 

 in rate classification the problem will eventually solve itself. It 

 is not to be supposed that any shipper will continue to use fibre 

 containers after they have been tried and found wanting. AVhile 

 it is easy to counsel "patience," still that advice seems the most 

 pertinent. After a thorough comparative trying out of the dif- 

 ferent classes of containers, it stands to reason that the eventual 

 adjustment will be along lines 



of actual utility and in keep- 

 ing with industrial progress. 



Low-grade lumber is scarce 

 and will probably never be as 

 plentiful as it was. It is esti- 

 mated by one competent to 

 judge that Wisconsin and Min- 

 nesota together contain only 

 5,000,000 feet of No. 4 and No. 5 

 pine lumber unsold and that 

 6,000,000 feet is the total of 

 unsold low-grade hardwoods in 

 Michigan, With similar con- 

 ditions prevailing with other 

 woods, it is apparent that the 

 box men are endeavoring to 

 crack the wrong nut. 



Higher prices for boxes, not 

 lower prices for lumber are 

 what the.y should seek. The lat- 

 ter condition is impossible of accomplishment while the former is a 

 concrete possibility for, as before stated, utility and not price is, 

 in the long run, what governs the shipper in his selection of a 

 container. 



Fire Risk in Wooden Buildings 



IN ACCOUNTING FOE THE GREAT LOSS BY FIEE in 

 * towns and cities of this country, wood receives a great deal of 

 blame which does not belong to it. Of course, wood will burn, 

 and in nearly all fires where any considerable loss occurs, wood 

 helps feed the flames; but the point that calls for comment is that 

 statistics show the principal losses from fire are not among the 

 wooden buildings, but in business sections where most of the 

 structures contain comparatively little wood, and are supposed to 

 be partly or wholly fireproof. Some alarm has been expressed 

 on account of what seems to be a great and abnormal increase 

 in fire loss. Various reasons have been suggested for it, and 

 one that is most generally put forward is the wooden building. 

 That has sounded so reasonable that many have accepted it with- 

 out taking the trouble to inquire whether the conclusion is justi- 

 fied by the facts. 



It is clearly not justified, according to the best information. 

 The greatest losses do not occur where wooden structures are 

 most abundant, but where they are fewest. The frame houses in 

 residence sections of cities and towns, and the wooden barns, resi- 

 dences, and school houses in the country are not the places where 

 fires originate as a general thing; but, rather, the fire that causes 

 the damage usually has its origin in business places, and it is of 

 comparatively rare occurrence that wood is the cause of the start 



UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL 



or rapid progress of the destructive fires which have been responsible 

 for heavy loss. 



It is well known that in nearly all costly fires it is the contents 

 of building rather than the material of construction which give 

 momentum to the fire and cause the loss. Where the building has 

 been properly done, and intelligent precaution is taken to lessen 

 danger, wooden buildings stand about as long .as those of any 

 other material. It would be bad policy, of course, to construct 

 city blocks of wood, because a fire in such a place would be likely 

 to get beyond control, but within reasonable limits and in its 

 proper places, the wood in building is not a menace. 



Milling-in-Transit Order Issued 



Q X FEBKUARY 17 THE INTERSTATE CO.M.MERCE COM- 

 ^^ MISSION issued at Washington its final opinion and order 

 regarding milUng-iutransit regulations. The order instructs the 

 railroads that they are at liberty to proceed to draw their own rates, 

 regulations and tariffs on milling-in-transit business, but that they 

 must keep such rules strictly within the law. 



The opinion included draft of a rule adopted at the shippers' 



confi'rence which would act as 



Minneapolis. Minn., 

 January 13, 1913. 

 Hardwood Record, 



Chicago, III. 

 My Dear Mr. Gibson: 



Your January 10th issue came In this morning and I 

 am impelled to drop you this line to say how much it 

 pleases me. It certainly is a dandy! You are to be con- 

 gratulated and I am happy in adding my word to the 

 many you should and doubtless will receive — all in the 

 same vein. 



May the year 1913. so auspiciously begun, prove as 

 pleasing and satisfactory financially as Hardwood Record 

 is typographically. 



Yours very cordially, 



FRANK W. TUTTLE, 



Northwestern Lumbermen's Association. 



but 



a substitute for rule No. 76, 

 said: 



' ' Upon careful consideration 

 of the whole matter, it is our 

 opinion that we should accede 

 to the request that rule No. 76 

 be cancelled, but, on the whole, 

 we do not think it would be 

 wise, even if within our pro- 

 vince, to publish as a ruling of 

 the commission such require- 

 ments as have been proposed. 

 It is our best judgment that the 

 policy of not making orders and 

 drawing rules or expressing 

 views as to what would or 

 would not under certain condi- 

 tions be considered a violation 

 of the law as to transit privi- 

 leges be not departed from by 

 us, as the carriers are charged with the duties of initiating their 

 rates, regulations and practices under their own responsibilities 

 and liabilities imposed upon them by the act, subject to the appro- 

 priate action by the commission or the courts in the event tliev are 

 found in violation of the law." 



The statement by the commission also provides that if at any 

 time shippers feel that milling-in-transit rates are discriminatory 

 or in any way unjust or unreasonable or if the commission itself 

 deems such conditions to be not entirely satisfactory, a new 

 investigation on the subject will be instituted. 



Tlie rule cited by the commission as submitted by the shippers' 

 conference says: 



When rules and regulations liave been estahlislud in tarilT I'orm ilearly 

 detining (lie purpose ur purposes for and the terms under wliieh the 

 transit privileges are granlod, and providing also for the elTectlve polic- 

 ing of the operations, under the arrangement a shipment may be stopped 

 in transit and the same shipment or a p.-oper e(|uivalent (less Invisible 

 loss in weight), as set forth in saul rules and regulations may be for- 

 warded by the through rate provided for by tariff from the original point 

 of shipment to final destination, plus the charge for trnusll privilege. If 

 any. This rule shall not be construed to authorize the publleallon of 

 tariffs providing for the substitution of one commodity for a commodity 

 of a different kind : that is to sa.v. oats or the products of oats for corn 

 or the products of corn, or shingles for lumber. 



It was further stated in the opinion that one of the main 

 reasons for setting aside milling-in-transit privileges was the 

 fact that such privileges have been very much misused and tha(> 

 milling-in-transit rates had not always been what they jjurported 

 to be. The railroads have also, according to the opinion, stated 

 definitely that they are able and willing to promulgate and enforce 

 proper rules and regulations governing the millingin transit privilege 

 question. 



