40 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



to proposed advances on rates to Canadian 

 points via Ohio river crossings. 



Tlie committee suggested tbat inasmucli as tlie 

 rate work is of extreme importance and demands 

 more time and effort than a busy business man 

 can give, it seemed advisable that the exchangi-' 

 secure the services of a competent traffic man to 

 give bis entire time to the worli. 



The committee also recommended tbat the St. 

 Louis Lumber Exchange work in connection as 

 far as possible with the Lumbermen's Traffic 

 Bureau of Memphis. 



Nominations were then made for officers to 

 serve during the coming year. Two tickets 

 were named, one by a committee appointed by 

 the president and the other by a committee 

 named from the floor. The candidates named 

 for president were W. W. Milne and F. II. 

 Smith. 



The election will be held at the offices of the 

 •exchange on Jan. 5. 



The Eate Hearing at St. Louis 



The hearing of the proposed advanced tariff 

 ■on hardwood lumber and yellow pine lumber 

 from southern points to the Mississippi river 

 gateway and Canada and including Cairo and 

 East St. Louis, was heard by United States Com- 

 missioner B. H. Meyer of the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission, at the Planters hotel. Mon- 

 day and Tuesday, Dec. 16 and 17. Further hear- 

 ing was postponed until Jan. 24, in Cincinnati. 



A notice of the proposed increase in the tariff 

 was filed with the commission a month ago. The 

 lumbermen protested and the proposed rate was 

 ■ordered suspended until Apr. 1, 1913, pending 

 the result of the investigation by the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission. 



The lumbermen say that the added charges, if 

 sustained by the commission, will cause an in- 

 crease in the cost of hardwood in St. Louis alone 

 •of from $7,000,000 to $10,000,000 each year, as 

 the lumbermen will be forced to recover the in- 

 crease by raising the prices on their products. 



This will eventually come home to the con- 

 sumer, adding somewhat more to the high cost 

 of living. Including the lumber shipped to St. 

 Louis to be dried, graded and reshipped, it means 

 a total increase in the freight bills of St. Louis 

 merchants of from $15,000,000 to $25,000,000. 



Under ordinary conditions the lumbermen say 

 that they will grant everything commensurate 

 with their interests to the railroads, realizing 

 that without the conveyors they are practically 

 helpless, but they feel that the new rate is 

 altogether too high. 



No substantial advances in the tariffs on other 

 articles have been made and the St. Louis deal- 

 ers consider that the railroads are showing un- 

 just discrimination against them, especiall.v as 

 the hardwood trade lasts throughout the year, 

 and can be carried by any sort of an equip- 

 ment. 



In January, 1911, the railroads got permission 

 to advance the rates on lumber to St. Louis 

 alone, giving the other competing centers a tre- 

 mendous advantage over this city, sa.v the local 

 dealers, and in their opinion the proposed new 

 advancement is merely another blow at the Si. 

 Louis lumber yards. 



The southern lumbermen consider that tlie 

 granting of the new rates will mean a death 

 blow to many of them, as it will ruin their tradr 

 in the marketing of low-grade lumber, which 

 constitutes a majority of the business of most of 

 them. 



The time of the hearing on the first day, was 

 taken up with testimony from railroad officials. 

 Their testimony was of a technical nature. They 

 testified, in substance, that the proposed advance 

 would not increase the revenue of the Canadian 

 roads, as several reductions are made in the new 

 schedule as well as advances. The testimony 

 on Tuesday was largely a repetition of that of 

 Monday, at which the railroads contended that 

 the proposed advance in lumber rates would not 

 injure the lumber interests, who could add the 

 additional cost of transportation to the price 

 to the consumer. 



In the afternoon on Tuesday the lumbermen 

 began giving their evidence, the railroads having 

 closed their case early in the afternoon. 



James E. Stark of Memphis, Tenn., was the 

 first witness for the objectors. His compan.v, he 

 testified, handled almost 2,000 carloads of lumber 

 a year, of which about 150 are sent to Canadian 

 points. He expressed the opinion the proposed 

 rates would work a great injury to the hardwood 

 dealers of the South by enabling dealers in Idaho 

 to place fir lumber on the market cheaper than 

 the southern dealers could. 



National Inspection for November 



President Charles II. Barnaby of the Na- 

 tional Hardwood Lumber Association has issued 

 a statement of inspections by the inspection 

 bureau of that organization for November. 1912. 

 This statement shows that there was a total of 

 17.180,640 feet inspected under the bonded cer- 

 tificate during the month. Car shortage seriously 

 affected the work of many inspectors, but in 

 spite of this the figures show an increase of 

 4,510,243 feet over November, 1911. 



Fourteen new applications for membership 

 were reported since November 14, which brings 

 the total of new members admitted since the 

 June convention to sixty-five. 



The executive committee, as reported in a 

 previous letter from the association, decided to 

 call a meeting of the inspection rules commit- 

 tee in Chicago. A call has been sent out to 

 all members of that committee to meet at the 

 Hotel Sherman, Chicago. Jan. 13. 14 and 15. 

 Chairman J. M. Pritchard requests that all 

 members having an.v suggestions for changes or 

 additions to present rules submit their ideas in 

 writing prior to Jan. l.'i, in order that the 

 inspection rules committee ma.v be given ample 

 time to consider all recommendations before 

 drafting its final report. 



President Barnahy's letter say.s that there 

 have been fewer complaints during recent months 

 on account of the inspection department than 

 ever beforo- 



Improvements at Nashville Flooring Plant 



The Nashville Hardwood Flooring Company at 

 Nashville, Tenn., has just completed extensive 

 improvements at its Nashville plant, involving 

 the construction of two large Standard dry- 

 kilns at a cost of $8,500. Orders have also 

 been placed with the Berlin Machine Works of 

 Beloit, Wis., for additional moulders, which will 

 double the output of the interior moulding 

 plant. 



The Nashville Hardwood Flooring Company is 

 controlled by John B. Uansom & Co-, of Nash- 

 ville. It manufactures the famous "Acorn" 

 brand of hardwood flooring, which has gained a 

 wide reputation throughout the country. 



Bulletin on Chestnut Blight 



The Pennsylvania Chestnut Tree Blight Coui- 

 mission has just issued for the information of 

 the public. Bulletin No. 1, a brief, ilhistrated 

 publication giving the means of identifying the 

 chestnut blight disease and suggesting remedies 

 tor its control and eradication. 



The interesting document points out the 

 great danger of extermination that menaces 

 Pennsylvania's vast chestnut resources, and 

 urges a prompt and vigorous co-operation gen- 

 erally in the effort in progress to stamp out this 

 new, but terribly destructive pest of our native 

 chestnut trees. 



The disease has already entailed losses to tim- 

 ber owners in Pennsylvania amounting to fully 

 ten millions of dollars, having been especially 

 virulent in southeastern Pennsylvania, where 

 thousands of both old and young chestnut trees 

 were killed by the blight. West of the Alle- 

 gheny mountains, a concentrated effort on the 

 part of the employes of the commission and 

 with the co-operation of timber owners and 

 others, the blight will practically be wiped out 

 by the close of the year, thus giving the assur- 

 ance that a large portion of Pennsylvania's many 

 millions of dollars' worth of chestnut may be 



saved, and the disease checked before it can 

 spread into the valuable timber of adjacent 

 states. 



The bulletin describes many phases of the 

 blight, and the warfare that is being waged to 

 control the outbreak. It defines very clearly 

 that contrar.v to the erroneous opinion advanced 

 by one or two writers, the blight is of a parasitic 

 form, and the trees are not killed by any insects, 

 as has been stated. The fungus is spread, how- 

 ever, by the wind, animals, birds, insects, etc., 

 and when trees are infected, it soon girdles the 

 twigs, branches and trunks, thus causing their 

 death, since the supply of sap beyond the girdled 

 part is thus effectually cut off. 



At this season of the year, when chestnut 

 trees are found with branches bearing dry leaves 

 and immature burrs, cankers, orange-colored 

 pustules, etc.. it is an indication that the tree 

 is seriously diseased, and the facts should be 

 reported to the Commission and the owner. 



Every county in the Commonwealth is under 

 surveillance, and the wisdom of the law creating 

 the commission has been fully demonstrated by 

 the recent favorable developments in various 

 sections of the state where serious outbreaks 

 were promptly averted. 



The bulletin also refers to the economic and 

 profitable utilization of trees killed by the blight. 

 The commission acquired much valuable infor- 

 mation upon the subject, and can therefore prove 

 of genuine service to those seeking markets for 

 commercial products of the chestnut. The Penn- 

 sylvania Railroad Company also conceded special 

 low rates on blighted chestnut cord-wood con- 

 signed to tannic acid factories, in order to aid 

 timber owners to find a ready market for such 

 products. 



Chestnut nursery stock can only he sold and 

 shipped after it has been carefully inspected by 

 the agents of the commission and properl.v 

 tagged. A tree that does not appear to be en- 

 tirely free from the disease is condemned and 

 burned. Nurserymen, generally, are in sympathy 

 with this action of the commission, having no 

 desire whatever to aid in the dissemination of 

 the disease. 



It is a source of satisfaction to learn that 

 Ihus far the blight has confined its ravages to the 

 chestnut tree exclusively. 



Copies of the bulletin are available and will 

 be sent without charge upon request", by writing 

 to the commission, at No. 1112 .Morris building, 

 Phila.l.'lidiia. 



Buffalo Lumbermen at Head of Distin- 

 guished Function 



For a year Orson E. Yeager of Buffalo has 

 held the office of president of the Buffalo Cham- 

 ber of Commerce, which organization has done 

 marvelous work in boosting the Bison City. 

 During the administration of Mr. Yeager many 

 new ideas have been suggested and carried out, 

 and his administration has resulted in a vast 

 amount of good to the business of the city. 



On the evening of Dec. 14 this body held its 

 annual banquet at the Hotel Statler, Buffalo. 

 The banquet was a brilliant affair, attended by 

 practically every important business man of the 

 city. The gallery was filled with a brilliant 

 array of feminine beauty embodied in the wives 

 of many of the members. 



President Yeager presided and gave a forceful 

 talk, outlining what the chamber has been trying 

 to do, and entering the plea to the young men 

 of the city to draw up into the positions which 

 will gradually be vacated by the older element. 



Another lumberman. James B. Wall, who is 

 actively identified with this body, was one of 

 the banquet committee. 



Market Report Hardwood Manufacturers' 

 Association 



From the executive offices oC the Hardwood 

 Manufacturers' Association of the United States 

 at Cincinnati there has just been issued the 

 market analysis for the month of November. The 

 association is developing this market condition 



