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The Cross-Tie Industry in 1910 



One of the heaviest drains upon the forest resources of the eouutry 

 is the use of cross-ties for steam and electric roads. Probably in no 

 other wood consuming industry is there so large a percentage of 

 waste, and it is because of this that statistics showing the annual 

 purchase of ties cannot be used as a basis for establishing the total 

 lumber consumed in tie production. Probably all but one per cent 

 of the ties used in this country are from timber grown in the United 

 States, and it is very probable that there are not less than 1,000,000,- 

 000 ties in use or being held for renewing. 



Steam and electric raUroads of the country purchased in 1910 

 148.231,000 cross-ties, and it is an encouraging fact that this is 

 twenty per cent higher than the purchase in 1909. It is estimated 

 that only sis per cent of this number were used by electric roads. A 

 recent bulletin of the Forest Service on the cross-tie question makes 

 some interesting observations on government statistics. It says that 

 during 1910 fifteen per cent of the consimiption of ties was for new 

 track. This figure is the same as that for 1907, the year of the 

 greatest total purchase of ties. It is a two per cent increase over 

 1909 and eight per cent increase over 1908 in this particular, which 

 indicates a partial return to the economic conditions encouraging 

 track construction which prevailed in 1907. 



A table in the bulletin shows that oak is vastly in the lead, repre- 

 senting in 1910 almost half the total production. This is true pro- 

 portionately in the other years recorded. Southern pine is second in 

 amount of production, being in each year considerably less than half 

 that of oak. Douglas fir represents the third most important cross-tie 

 timber during the four years shown, and next in order come chestnut, 

 cedar, cypress, tamarack, western pine, hemlock, redwood and gum. 

 The essential qualities to a good tie are durability, ability to hold 

 spikes and resistance to mechanical wear, but it does not necessarily 

 follow that the species in the order named rank in that same order as 

 to adaptability for cross-tie purposes. The question of availability 

 probably has as much to do with the consvmiption of various kinds 

 of ties all over the country. During the past two years beech, birch 

 and maple creosoted ties are coming into general use on many 

 northern railroads. 



As an instance, while the various species of oak are undoubtedly 

 better adapted for tie purposes than most woods, it is the broadcast 

 growth of suitable species of oak at all available points which is 

 responsible primarily for the enormous consumption of oak ties. This 

 is equally true of southern pine ties. The government authorities 

 anticipate an increase in the consumption of Douglas fir ties, as this 

 species has scarcely been touched, but has already proven its adapta- 



bility. C>"press as a tie material has become increasingly important 

 during the last three years; in fact it showed an eighteen per cent 

 increase from 1909 to 1910. 



Included in the consumption of oak ties are ties of Japanese oak 

 which have been imported increasingly of late, although less than 

 two mmion of these ties were brought into the United States dur- 

 ing 1910. 



By far the bulk of cross-ties consumed in this country is hewn 

 from the tree, thus involving great waste of timber. It is a notable 

 fact, however, that the proportion of hewn ties in 1910 was the 

 lowest ever rpcorded, and represented seventy-four per cent of the 

 total. This decreasing proportion of hewn ties is traceable to the 

 fact that the increases in oak and Douglas fir tie consumption have 

 been primarily in the sawed variety. 



Changes in tie values have not resulted in lessening the demand 

 to any extent. The average value during 1910 was fifty-one cents, 

 which is the same as the figure for 1907, the banner year in tie 

 consiunption, and an increase of one cent and two cents over the 

 prices paid in 1908 and 1909 respectively. 



Deterioration in service due to preventable decay has been one of 

 the heaviest drains on tie producing forests of the country. In 1910 

 nearly 126,000,000 cross-ties were purchased to make renewals. Adop- 

 tion of tie preserving methods would be extremely effective in retard- 

 ing wear, and the present trackage could probably be maintained with 

 one-half the quantity of wood now consumed. 



The principal causes of deterioration of cross-ties are decay, insect 

 attacks, breakage, splitting, mechanical wear and respiking. By 

 treating the ties with preservatives and using improved fastening, 

 such as S irons, the mechanical life can probably be doubled. The 

 preserving process is comparatively inexpensive and is becoming 

 more and more a factor with the railroads. Various preservatives, 

 most of them excellent, are being used in large quantities. 



An indication of the increasing interest in treating cross-ties is 

 the fact that from 1909 to 1910 there was a gain of some 8,000,000 

 ties treated in this way and a corresponding gain the year before. 

 This gain in treating is evident in the steam and electric railroads, 

 though only four per cent of the treated ties in 1910 were purchased 

 by the electric roads. The total number of treated ties in 1910 rep- 

 resented but twenty -one per cent of the total. 



Eailroads are gradually installing their own facilities for treating, 

 and as a result the number of ready -treated cross-ties purchased each 

 year is decreasing. In 1910 but one-third were treated before pur- 

 chasing. 



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Selling Lumber by Wire 



Many hardwood men used to regard a telegram with the same 

 sort of terror that the anxious mother who has a son in the navy 

 and another employed as a structural iron worker, feels when the 

 yellow-enclosed missive is given her by the uniformed messenger. 

 Tbey always thought that a telegram stood for "Car turned 

 down ; not up to grade. ' ' Naturally, therefore, the 'Western 

 Union, the Postal Telegraph & Cable Company and all of the 

 other restilts of the Morse mental vibratory apparatus were 

 regarded merely as necessary evils. 



Apparently it did not occur to some of those in the trade that 

 they could turn these instruments to their own advantage and, in 

 other words, hoist the enemy with his own petard. They let the 

 buyer do all the wiring, and as indicated, the wire not infre- 

 quently bore unwelcome tidings. The realization that the tele- 

 graph — and ths telephone — constitutes an effective department of 

 selling equipment, to be used to advantage more often than might 

 be thought at first glance, has broaght about a decided change 

 in their attitude. 



3&— 



"Sold ten cars today, five by wire and five by phone," said an 

 aggressive hardwood man in an Ohio valley lumber center the 

 other day. "Got the buyers at the other end of the wire and 

 simply put the proposition up to them so strong that they had to 

 do something." 



The best feature of these sales, from the standpoint of the lum- 

 berman who related the instances, was that the business was on 

 items which he particularly wanted to move. It may have been 

 that he was able to make an attractive proposition to the pur- 

 chaser for this very reason — but there was no indication that the 

 business did not produce its fair share of profit. The transac- 

 tion, all around, was certainly a good investment, considering the 

 expense of getting into communication with prospective purchas- 

 ers by wire. 



There is a strong psychological influence secured through the 

 use of a telegram. In spite of the multiplication of uses of wired 

 communications, and the more general gravitation toward this 

 form of doing business, largely increased by the institution of day 



