\M;sj;iti;aMi>tM!)ii!mimi>5ti;iii)im*j^^ 



.ii^itatBgo:i;gmatii»atK>wtis;tiatttfOKi^^ 



Hemlock and Hardwood Men Meet 



On Wednesday, April 23, the Northern Hemlock and Hardwood 

 Manufacturers' Association met in the regular quarterly meeting 

 at the Hotel Pfister, Milwaukee, Wis. 



Following the reading of the minutes, the treasurer reported 

 that the balance on hand April 19, 1913, was $3,304.71. 



Secretary E. S. Kellogg then delivered an extemporaneous 

 report. He said that a month ago a letter was sent out asking 

 the members for opinions as to the most equitable commission 

 to commission men handling the members' products. He said that 

 the commission men suggested that a straight payment of $7.50 

 a car on hemlock would be just. The consensus of the members 

 was that a better way of arriving at payment would be on a 

 thousand feet basis, and thirty-five cents a thousand was a very 

 fair commission. The matter was referred to the bureau of 

 grades, which decided not to make any recommendations. 



The secretary then analyzed the stoqk report published in 

 another part of this issue of Hardwood Record. He stated further 

 that since April 1 the association members have shipped twelve 

 per cent more hardwood than was cut during that time. He 

 further said that ten per cent less of hemlock is now being 

 shipped west of the Mississippi river than was shipped two 

 years ago. 



W. G. Collar, chairman of the railroail committee, reviewed the 

 recent transit ruling of the Interstate Commerce Commission. 

 He said that the railroads' suggestion on transit rates on logs in 

 Wisconsin is that present rates are satisfactory, but that if in 

 the future they prove not to be, the matter will be taken up for a 

 change. 



Mr. Collar recommended the appointment of a committee to 

 consider the matter of creating a traffic dejiartment for the asso- 

 ciation, stating that traffic departments of other associations are 

 doing very satisfactory work. 



J. E. Rhodes, secretary of the National Lumber Manufacturers' 

 Association, talked very interestingly regarding the "Blue Book" 

 published by his association. He said that it is now on a self- 

 sustaining basis jnd that its facilities have been enlarged and 

 made more efficient. He said that it will become the biggest 

 work of the association. Mr. Rhodes reviewed the Pridham case 

 hearing at Chicago. He stated that the testimony of the fiber box 

 people was delivered mainly by shippers and not by receivers, 

 hence the.y were partial to the fiber box. He further stated that 

 these shipi)ers were mainly handlers of light commodities. The 

 testimony, according to Mr. Rhodes, established the fact that 

 fiber boxes are inefficient for contents weighing more than forty 

 pounds. 



Mr. Rhodes said that the two weeks given by the commission 

 for the gathering of rebuttal testimony by the lumbermen will 

 be up on April 28. He said they are getting evidence from all 

 classes of receivers of freight all over the country, and that the 

 fight will cost an immense amount of money. 



Regarding railroad car weights, Mr. Rhodes stated that the Inler- 

 state Commerce ('oinmission may appoint su]>ervisors over railroad 

 scales in weighing, but that the work surely will be done by the 

 railroads themselves. 



Regarding timber ta.x, lie saiil that the foresters tlinuigliciiit the 

 country have conu' to realize that a more equitable system of taxa- 

 tion is necessary to conservation on the part of the Uunbermpn. Mr. 

 Rhodes said that the attitude of the d.iily press has been very nuudi 

 improved in the last year or two. 



Regarding the nuirket, the speaker said it is strong, with the exee])- 

 tion of some hesitancy on account of some pending legislation at 

 Washington. He said that the lumber manufacturers are generally 

 apathetic regarding the removal of the tariff on' lumher. According 

 to the speaker, the west coast manufacturers do not fear the tariff, 

 because they anticipate a greatly broadened market opened up 

 through the Panama canal. He said further that the chief difficulty 

 —Si- 



has been in securing return cargo, but that it is likely that they can 

 ship considerable hardwoods to the Pacific coast on return trips. 



Secretary Kellogg read a letter showing statistics of Michigan cut, 

 and W. A. Holt then read the report of the legislative committee. 



T. A. Green, reporting for the Michigan legislative committee, said 

 that keen apprehension is felt regarding tlie ten-hour day law for 

 work in the woods. 



The first business taken up in the afternoon was the report of 

 the bureau of grades and inspection, M. J. Quintan, chairman. He 

 said that answers to a query as to the opinion of the members regard- 

 ing the inspection service showed that ninety-seven per cent of the 

 membership endorsed it strongly and unqualifiedly. Regarding mar- 

 ket conditions the speaker said there is practically no dry hemlock 

 at any of the mills of the association members. He said further 

 that hardwood cut is already mostly under contract at good prices. 



Regarding desired changes in certain hardwood rules of the National 

 Hardwood Lumber Association, Mr. Quintan said that the changes 

 advocated by northern manufacturers last year will again be pre- 

 sented at the Chicago meeting of the National association in J\ine. 

 He said that the National a.ssociation rules committee met January 15 

 and reported to directors, proposing- the changes advocated last year. 

 Mr. Quinlan said that he anticipated the changes would go through, 

 but that every member should be present to register his vote. 



A suggestion that tlie secretary should issue report blanks for 

 reports on the amount of the various thicknesses and grades of hard- 

 wood lumber on hand at the end of eacli month received considerable 

 discussion, and its value was spoken of by several of the members. 

 The matter was referred to the grading commission. 



F. F. Fish, secretary of the National Hardwood Lumber Associa- 

 tion, issued an invitation to the membership to attend the meeting 

 of his association at Chicago, June 5 and 6. Mr. Fish said that in 

 the last year the National Hardwood Lumber Association has entered 

 the market of New York very strongly and that it now has as members 

 the majority of the trade of that city. 



T. A. (Jreen then read the following paper: 

 Logging by Steam 



Krom twin to V.'i>~ labor conditions in the woods, especially in Michi- 

 gan and Wisconsin, fc'rew gniduiilly wor.sc until. In certain localities some 

 Ivinds of labor were almost out of Ihp market. Dnrini: that i)criod steam 

 skidders came into use in this territory and more and more of them are 

 boinj; put into operation encli year. Teamsters became very ditticult to 

 get and the ;j:ood ones apparently disappeared with the rest of the old- 

 timo lumberjacks. This nnd the fact that horses have steadily risen 

 in priee has had much to do with the adoption of steam skidders by 

 many operators. 



There is no question l>ut what the steam skidder has come to stay. It 

 certainly has a place in the present day logginf; operations in this terri- 

 tory. Some will say that substituting engineers for te.'imsters will not 

 better the lalwr conditions. As a matter of tact I feel certain that those 

 who have tried both teamsters and engineers in their woods oiierations 

 will testify that the men commonly found to vun steam skidders are a 

 much mwf reliabli' class of laborers than are ti'amsters. The relief felt 

 by some r.perators wlieii free from the teamster led them to opernti' exclu- 

 sively with their stiam skidders, probably to their loss. Certain localities 

 can be logged cheaper with horses than by steam. Nearly every opera- 

 tion has lands best logged with horses and It is probable tluit nearly 

 all holdings have certain lands best logged by steam. .\ combination of 

 both is oft<'n possible, the nearby timber taken by teams and the timber 

 fiu'tber back b.v the skidders. No two oi)erati«)ns are alike, and advice 

 given as to methods of litgging are largely worthless unless all the local 

 conditions are known and taken into consideration. M'bat is possible 

 and profitable in one disti'ii-t nuiy be utterly impossible in otliers. Size, 

 density and tjuaiily of timber, labor conditions, soil, snow fall and topog- 

 ra]>hy m.-iy, any or all of them enter into this difference. Kver.v opera- 

 tion needs si)ecial study as a whole, and from year to year, because con- 

 ditions will change as time passes. 



The distance one can profitably skid with a steam skidder is governed 

 by a number of things. Outside of the loss of time in hauling out lines 

 the cost of the w'car and tear on cables m!is1 be considered. We have 

 seen no operations in this district wln're we considered skidding more 

 Hum seven or eight hundred feet from the mai'hine profitable, though 

 with the ordinary skidder logs can he bandied from nt-ariy double that 

 distance. In many places the steam outhaul is hidis|>ensable ; in others, 

 horses do the work as cheaply or cheaper than steam, when everythlnnc 



