22 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



January 25, 1917 



from Mississippi points be made with close relation to the rate from 

 Memphis and that two hardwood groups be established south of Memphis, 

 with line of demarcation between the two groups fixed as the Southern 

 Railway in Mississippi, running from Greeneville to Winona. 



The hearing of these cases opened in March and twenty-flve days and 

 nights were consumed in the taking of testimony. This was unquestion- 

 ably one of the biggest cases ever before the Interstate Commerce Commis- 

 sion, and needless to say, the able attorneys of the carriers fought every 

 step of the way. We went to the trouble to have our various members 

 furnish statements of their shipments for a representative period. Prom 

 these statements we made up an exhibit showing how the shipments 

 actually moved, volume of the returns, per ton mile and car mile earn- 

 ings and average length of the haul : the proportions of the different kinds 

 of lumber and the percentage of that moved by one line. All of this evi- 

 dence was prepared with great labor and could have been much more easily 

 furnished by the carriers, but they did not see fit to offer it. We had a 

 cost accountant present at the hearing and J. V. Norman, our attorney, 

 insisted that the carriers show the cost of doing this business, the property 

 devoted to It and returns thereon. Here again the carriers side stepped 

 the issue. They criticized and scoffed at our exhibits and even after the 

 case had been briefed, they claimed that the statements showing the ship- 

 ments of our members were false. I recall one instance where they ad- 

 vised the commission that a certain shipper never made a shipment from 

 his shipping point to St. Paul. Upon taking the matter up with the 

 shipper, he advised that it was true that the shipment did not move to 

 St. Paul but to North St. Paul. Members of the association may be able 

 to grasp the magnitude of this case when I tell you that the pages of the 

 record taken in this case were equivalent to about five per cent of the 

 total pages taken in all the cases before the Interstate Commerce Commis- 

 sion for the year, and that over one thousand hearings were conducted 

 before that body. 



This case has not been decided by the commission, but a decision is ex- 

 pected within the very near future. Unquestionably the commission will 

 hold that the maximum rate on gum ought to be the same as maximum 

 rates on oak, but we do not feel that the commission will approve of the 

 action of the carriers in bringing the rates on all kinds of lumber to a com- 

 mon level by radical advances in all of the rates. 



The decision in this case will have a far-reaching effect in the entire 

 rate structure both east and west of the Mississippi river. 



Membership 



During the past year we have lost four members with total annual dues 

 of $580. Thirty-one new members have joined the association during that 

 time at total revenue of $8,190 ; net gain in membership of twenty-seven 

 and net gain in revenue of $7.G10. 



Our total income from members in round figures is $20,085. This can 

 be roughly divided as follows : $6,655 from Memphis members ; $3,350 

 from Mississippi members ; $1,120 from eastern Arkansas members ; $1,100 

 from Helena members ; $3,290 from southern Arkansas members ; $4,000 

 from Louisville, Ky., members, and $680 from other members. 



I quote these figures to show that no one state, section or city con- 

 tributed sufficient funds to maintain an independent organization. 



After reporting on the collection of claims amounting to $32,- 

 583.23 and going into the benefits to be seen from the Louisville 

 branch, Mr. Townshend gave the following conclusion: 



In concluding my remarks I wish to refer you to a conversation which 

 I had with a high railroad official a short time ago. He asked how it was 

 possible that we reconciled the different views of our members. I in- 

 formed him that it was due to the fact that our members have confidence 

 in the association and that our governing board is composed of broad 

 minded men who would not recommend anything that would militate 

 against another member, unless it was just and equitable. 



I wish to thank our governing board for the support it has given me, 

 and I particularly wish to thank your retiring president, Mr. McCIure, 

 for the advice and counsel which he has at all times been willing to give. 

 Pew of you can appreciate the tremendous duties w^hich fall upon the 

 president of this organization. 



I also wish to call your attention to the efficient and loyal assistants 

 that we have in our employ. Not one has hesitated to work from fifteen 

 to twenty hours a day, and this was often necessary during the hearings 

 In the big cases which I have referred to. I feel that they have not worked 

 for us but with us. 



After reviewing briefly the principal contests before the Inter- 

 state Commerce Commission during the past year Mr. Townshend 

 referred to some of those pending as follows: 



1. — Memphis Band Mill Company et al. vs. the Rock Island & Missouri 

 Pacific, in which the association secured a reduction of 1 cent per hundred 

 in rate on logs and bolts from Arkansas points to Memphis in the face of 

 efforts of the carriers to advance these rates one cent. 



2. — The securing of a reduction in rates on lumber shipments from the 

 territory to Carolina points amounting to 2 to 7 cents per hundred pounds 

 and the opening thereby of new outlets for gum lumber. 



3. — The securing of a reduction in rate to Pacific coast points amount- 

 ing to 20 cents per hundred on a minimum of 60,000 pounds and recoveries 

 of tremendous amounts by way of reparation for members who shipped into 

 that territory. 



4. — Suspension of proposed advances hy the Rock Island System from 



points on Its lines to Pensacola, with prospects that this road will be 

 defeated in the final show down. 



5. — Adjusting of rates from points on the Illinois Central and Yazoo & 

 Mississippi Valley lines to Mobile and Pensacola, with every prospect that 

 equitable tariffs will be shortly published. 



6. — Recognition of the fact that west Side shippers are paying excessive 

 rates to gulf ports, as rendered evident by a recent decision of the Inter- 

 state Commerce Commission and announcement of Intention to file a com- 

 plaint in the near future if the carriers do not voluntarily reduce present 

 rates. 



7. — Elimination of "dummy" bills of lading in trading tonnage at transit 

 points and substituting therefor a certificate stating that the manufac- 

 turer is entitled to the tonnage, thus preventing loss of refund and effect- 

 ing a big saving for members. 



8. — ^.Ippearance of Secretary Townshend himself before the Newlands 

 Resolution Committee ask'ing that the Southern Hardwood Traffic Associa- 

 tion be given a hearing in the proposed investigation of all problems relat- 

 ing to transportation. Mr. Townshend set forth in his report that the 

 lite of the committee has been extended to Dec. 3, 1917, and that during 

 the coming year the association will make "certain recommendations and 

 suggestions to that committee, which, if adopted, will undoubtedly improve 

 transportation conditions as affecting our members." 



George C. Ehemann submitted the report of the membership 

 committee showing that thirty-one new members had been re- 

 ceived during the year and that four had been lost, making a net 

 gain of twenty-seven compared with a net increase during the 

 preceding year of onl}- eleven. Mr. Eheniacn also read, on behalf 

 of William Fritehard, chairman of the election committee, the list 

 of officers for the ensuing year already published in the Hardwood 

 Eecokd. 



W. S. Darnell, treasurer, showed in his report the receipts ana 

 disbursements during the year and showed a balance on hand. 



Mr. Stark announced standing committees for the year. 



Status of the Country's Timber 



The Forest Service has sent out an advance news item indi- 

 cating the chief findings in the investigation of the lumber busi- 

 ness and timber ownership which has been carried on during two 

 or three years by the Forest Service and the Federal Trade Com- 

 mission. The burden of the study was borne by the Forest 

 Service. It undertook to find out what is the matter with the 

 lumber business and what the remedy is. Its conclusions follow, 

 but are in condensed form. 



Too many timber owners are overloaded. They bought when 

 timber was cheap and they have too much, and are not financially 

 able to hold it. This leads them to cut too much, waste too much, 

 and to demoralize markets by making lumber when or where it 

 is not needed. That in a nutshell, is what is the matter with the 

 producing end. 



The suggested remedy is radical. It calls for putting much 

 of the standing timber of the country into stronger hands; and 

 these "stronger hands" are those of the government, or of state 

 or municipal governments. Government ownership of timber that 

 now is privately owned is the suggested cure for overproduction 

 and unwise cutting. The extent of the transfer of timberlands 

 from the individual and the company is not stated, but the infer- 

 ence from the context is that this shall apply only to large hold- 

 ings, principally in the West. 



The Forest Service found nothing much out of the way in 

 the distribution of lumber; restraints of trade are local only. 



The follovring paragraph from the newsletter sent out by the 

 Forest Service is quoted literally: 



The American public has no responsibility to protect the security of tim- 

 ber investments or the outcome of speculative ventures. The welfare of 

 many sections, however, depends in no small degree upon lumbering as a 

 large tax payer, a gigantic employer of labor and capital, and the chief 

 consumer of agricultural and other industries. The i>et^p]e of the whole 

 country, furthermore, have a live interest in the economical use of present 

 timber supplies and in continued forest production after logging. 



The problem of controlling the output of lumber through co- 

 operative agreements and combinations is thus dismissed: "The 

 Forest Service disagrees radically with the idea now mooted in 

 many quarters that forest conservation should be sought through 

 permitting industrial combinations for the regulation of lumber 

 production and control of lumber prices." 



