42 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Meeting of St. Iiouis Lumbermen's Exchange 



The Southwestern rate case was the priocipal topic touched on at the 

 first meeting and dinner of the Lumbermen's Exchange, under the admin- 

 istration of the newly elected president, F. H. Smith, which took place 

 at the Mercantile Club, on Friday evening, Feb. 7. There was a good 

 attendance. 



President F. H. Smith, called the business meeting to order and asked 

 Charles E. Thomas, chairman of the traffic committee to report on freight 

 rate matters. Mr. Thomas spoke of the proposed advances from the 

 Southwest, telling how comprehensive tbey were, how the contemplated 

 changes have caused the lumber interests of Cairo, Memphis, and other 

 cities, as well as tlie Lumbermen's Club to take action. He stated that 

 the advances were a far reaching scheme for other rate advances from 

 the South. He also mentioned that most of the money necessary for the 

 expenses in presenting the case to the Interstate Commerce Commission, 

 had been raised or pledged. 



Harold Small, an attorney, who has been retained to conduct the rate 

 advance case before the Commission, then discussed the various phases 

 of the freight rate situation. 



H. A. Boeckeler, Thos E. Powe, G. H. Cottrell and Geo. E. Hibbard 

 also spoke on the subject. 



George E. W. Luehrmaiin, chairman of the fire insurance committe<? 

 although not at the meeting, sent word that considerable progress had 

 been made by his committee and a report would be handed in at the next 

 meeting. 



National Inspection for January 



The .January statement of inspection issued by the secretary of the 

 Natioral Hardwood Lumber Association shows that during that month 

 1.3, .599. 434 feet of hardwoods were inspected 

 under the bonded certificate. This is an increase 

 of 3.818.60.3 feet over January, 1012, and was 

 accomplished at an expense of $191.04 in excess 

 of inspection fees earned. Floods and unfavor- 

 able weather conditions at many southern points 

 materially reduced the volume of work. 



Since the letter of Jan. 17, five new applica- 

 tions for membership were received, which makes 

 the total since the convention of last June, 

 ninety-five. 



The sixteenth annual convention will be held 

 in Chicago June 5 and 6 at the Hotel Sherman. 

 The attention of all members is directed to sec- 

 tion 2, article IX, of the by-laws. During the 

 coming month, the recommendations of the in- 

 spections rules committee which will be voted 

 upon at the convention on June 6 will be printed 

 and a copy sent to every member. Proposed 

 changes in the inspection rules must be sent to 

 Chairman J. M. Pritchard, Memphis, Tenn., prior 

 to March 5. 



R. L. Dooley has been appointed as assistant 

 to inspector H. H. Roberts at Huntington, W. 

 Va., and I. O. Burdette succeeds O. L. Faust as 

 assistant deputy inspector at Memphis. 



Biltmore Doings for January- 

 Jan. 2 brought the students of the Biltmore 

 Forest School together at Darmstadt in Germany 

 after the Christmas liolidays. The students 

 spent the entire month in Darmstadt. 



During January a number of short trips were 

 taken to the forests and wood utilizing establishments in the immediate 

 vicinity of the school's headquarters. The students were enabled to 

 study and observe the gradual increase in the intensity of forest manage- 

 ment as it developed with the gradual welding together of the many 

 small principalities which eventuallj', in 1871, formed the German empire 

 as we know it today. 



On Jan. 6 the students paid a memorable visit to old Heidelberg and 

 while there visited the communal forests under the guidance of the 

 supervising forester. Here were encountered some fine stands of chest- 

 nut grown from natural reed regeneration on steep hillsides. Chestnut 

 here suffers from wind-shake .inrt is utilized chiefly for its tannic acid 

 and for .staves of brandy barrels. 



The Balkan war has influenced forestry even in Heidelberg, for the 

 supervising forester is selling the box board quality of pine to be used 

 for ammunition boxes at a price of thirty dollars per cord. 



A visit to Mannheim, the terminus of the commercially navigihie 

 Rhine, was made praticularly pleasant by members of a local firm of 

 timber merchants. Most cf the lumber imported comes from Sweden, 

 Norway and Finland, with the United States a poor fourth. This situa- 

 tion will undoubtedly be changed with the opening of the Panama canal. 

 The principal lumber imported from the United States is longleaf pine. 

 Douglas fir is imported to some extent, but there Is a prejudice against 

 ft, the trade saying that it is too soft for flooring, for which purpose it 

 is chiefly used. 



The students made a trip to the plant of the leading German mana- 

 facturer of woodworking machinery. Here the points of difference be- 



GEORGE 



tween American and German woodworking machines were pointed out 

 and explained. The German machine is, generally spraking, more solidly 

 built, and usually has to accomplish a variety of purposes. Among the 

 recent inventions of this firm is a planer which planes the inside of a 

 finished barrel so as to prevent the spoliation of the liquids due to 

 microbes and fungi harbored on the uneven surfaces. A slack stave ma- 

 chine will finish at one operation, from lumber of uneven widths, 20,00(^ 

 staves a day. 



The students have been busy duriug iheir days spent at Darmstadt In 

 lumber inspecticn on yellow poplar, cypress, Cottonwood, gum. oak. 

 hickory, sycamore and maple. The school had a considerable quantity 

 of .American lumber shipped to it by a large .Vmerican manufacturer. 



Opens Wholesale Office at Cleveland 



George X. Comfort, formerly secretary of the Central Lumber Com- 

 pany of Cleveland, O., recently resigned his position with that concern 

 after having been with it for six years, and disposed of his interest in 

 order to enter the wholesale lumber business on his own account. Mr. 

 Comfort has opened offices at 568-70 Rockefeller building, Cleveland. 

 While he will do a general wholesale business, he expects to specialize 

 in northern hardwoods, white pine and other northern woods. 



Mr. Comfort started in the lumber business in 1900, being employed 

 at that time by F. W. Gilchrist at Alpena, Mich. Shortly afterwards, 

 he was transferred to Cleveland, taking charge of the company's whole- 

 sale pine and hardwood yard operated at Cleveland under the stjle of 

 F. R. Gilchrist & Co. He was with this company until it sold out, then 

 took a position with the Robert H. Jenkg Lumber Company, being de- 

 partment manager for this concern for three years. At the end of that 

 period, the Central Lumber Company was organized and Mr. Comfort 

 was elected secretary. He resigned that posi- 

 tion on Feb. 1. Mr. Comfort will operate under 

 his own name. 



Switching Controversy in Ealtimore 



Switching charge's, for a long time one of the 

 troublesome questions for Baltimore shippers, 

 are once more engaging the attention of those 

 firms and corporations who receive or send out 

 freight in carload lots. Some time ago the mat- 

 ter was taken before the Interstate Commerce 

 Commission on the plea that the charges made 

 by the Baltimore railroads were altogether out 

 of proportion to the value of the services ren- 

 dered, and greatly in e*;ess of the rates exacted 

 for a similar service in other cities, thereby 

 putting the Baltimore merchants and manufac- 

 turi rs at a serious disadvantage as compared 

 with their competitors in other cities. The 

 Interstate Commerce Commission, after a hear- 

 ing, granted partial relief, it having been shown 

 that while the charges were relatively low for 

 switching from one point on a railroad to an- 

 other point on the same road, they increased 

 disproportionately where the switching was from 

 a point on one road to a point on another road. 

 In some instances the charge for switching a 

 car within the city limits amounted to one-half 

 the freight rate from Baltimore to Pittsburgh. 

 The order of the Interstate Commerce Commis- 

 sion did not go far enough, in the opinion of 

 the shippers, and they appealed to the Maryland 

 Public Service Commission, which, after another 

 hearing, issued still further regulations, wherein the contentions of 

 the shippers were practically sustained. Now the railroads have 

 appealed to the courts for an order to vacate the decree of 

 the Public Service Commission, and the case has been up for 

 a hearing in the Circuit Court here for the last two days. 

 The railroads maintain that the order of the State Commission is unfair 

 to them, that they have expended much time and effort to the end of 

 being first on the ground in the matter of terminal facilities, and that 

 they should not be required to afford the use of these facilities to newer 

 roads. Under the order of the commission, the switching charges were 

 reduced to !fl a car for ordinary yard switching, and proportionate 

 amounts up to $7.50 for a more complicated service. The members of the 

 lunibi'r trade here are greatly interested in the outcome of the case, 

 siuce they are among the shippers who frequently have cars transferred 

 from one point to another in the city, to meet the special requirements 

 of their trade, and they have in times past been compelled not infre- 

 quently to sacrifice a large part of the profits by the p.ayment of switch- 

 ing charges, which they considered exorbitant. 



Forestry Students on Utilization Trip 



The senior class in forestry of the Pennsylvania State College has just 

 completed a forestry utilization trip in north central Pennsylvania, under 

 the direction of Professor R. R. Chaffee. -\ very interesting visit was 

 paid to the state nurseries in Tioga county. The students also visited 

 various industrial plants, including a basket plant, a hardwood distilla- 

 tion plant, a chemical wood products plant, a tannery and a stave plant. 



COMFORT, CLEVELAND, O. 



