HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



this year. Hence, uuless special provision is made, there jvill be 

 no provision for paying the salaries of the clerks and for meeting 

 the rent for the quarters of the court. Nevertheless, the court 

 will still be in existence technically at least as no direct act has 

 been passed by Congress returning to the district courts the juris- 

 ■diction of the Commerce court. This will effectively block all 

 legislation of railroad disputes, and no court will have author- 

 ity to review the law involved in any opinion of the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission. 



Possibly the hesitancy on the part of President Wilson about 

 committing himself on the question is due to the fact that he 

 recognizes that his endorsement of the Commerce court would 

 make it extremely probable that the advocates of similar special- 

 ized courts would immediatelj' endeavor to secure the inauguration 

 •of such tribunals. It is a fact that certain Democratic members 

 of the Senate are in favor of reducing the membership of the 

 ■court to three judges who will have the power to review the law 

 involved in both negative and aflSrmative orders of the Inter- 

 fitate Commerce Commission. It is believed that such a rftOfgam- 

 zation bill would pass the House because of the change of senti- 

 ment toward the court. 



Car Statistics 



THE REGULAR BULLETIN of the American Railway Asso- 

 ciation, showing car surpluses and shortages on May 31, gives 

 a comparison with the statistics for previous dates. 



According to the bulletin the total surpluses on May 31, 1913, 

 aggregated (i0,291 cars as against surpluses on May 15 of 61,269 

 cars, and surpluses on .lune 6, 1912, of 89,208 cars. The total 

 shortage on May 31, 1913, was 9,3S3 cars, and on May 15 was 10,- 

 975 cars as compared with figures for June 6, 1912, when the 

 shortage was 2,822 ears. The natural deduction from these figures 

 is that freight shipments, and hence business, is more active at 

 this period than it was a year ago. 



Although these figures do not indicate any striking shortage of 

 •cars, there are grounds for believing that as far as the lumber 

 business goes certain sections of the country are experiencing 

 some inconvenience from their inability to secure suflBcient num- 

 ber of cars for shipments. This is particularly true of certain 

 parts pf the South, but has not been noted at northern points. 



An Indication of Interest 



HARDWOOD RECORD HAS MADE EVERY EFFORT to build 

 up a publication which would serve not merely as a chronicle 

 •of minor news events, and a record of association meetings, but 

 would provide a valuable and authentic source of information on 

 every topic connected with the hardwood lumber and veneer 

 trade both from the viewpoint of the manufacturer and the con- 

 sumer. It has spared no expense or effort in this direction, and 

 judging from the comments which it receives at no infrequent in- 

 tervals, its efforts have been rewarded with at least partial suc- 

 cess. 



The idea of this editorial is not to work ourselves up into a 

 high state of inflation of the cranium, but is merely for the pur- 

 pose of pointing out a feature of Hakdwood Record which is in- 

 teresting from at least two viewpoints. The feature in mind is 

 "The Mail Bag" section. In the first place the development of 

 this section is of particular interest to the publishers of Hard- 

 wood Record because it is really the only means of ascertaining as 

 to whether or not the policy carried out is meeting with approval. 

 In other words, if no comment is received on articles appearing 

 in Hardwood Record, the indication is that those articles are not 

 meeting with approval. Hence, inasmuch as "The Mail Bag" 

 section is growing rather remarkably, it gives to the publishers of 

 Hardwood Record a feeling of considerable satisfaction. 



The second consideration is that readers of Hardwood Record 

 should utilize this "Mail Bag" section as a means of obtaining 

 information on various subjects pertaining to the hardwood trade 

 in its many ramifications, and should also be able to buy or sell 

 various unusual commodities of interest to the consuming trade. 



Hardly an issue passes that does not contain at least a full page 

 of "Mail Bag," and usually this section runs from one-and-a-half 

 to two pages. It is made up entirely of live interesting inquiries 

 and information, and its perusal each issue should be of value to 

 every uptodate manufacturer and consumer of hardwood lumber 

 and the products of the hardwood forests. 



Transportation Questions Analyzed 



I N AN EARLY ISSUE of Hardwood Record will begin the publi- 

 * cation of a series of articles anah-zing the broad question of 

 transportation, covering every phase of this question, including 

 the means of transportation, shipping items, rate and permanency 

 of such means. The average shipper, aside from knowledge of 

 freight rates from one point to another as may be possessed 

 by his traflie department, is entirely ignorant of many questions 

 affecting transportation from different directions. 



The articles referred to are written after a careful and expert 

 analysis of the question, and should command the earnest atten- 

 tion of the sincerely up-to-date element of the lumber trade. The 

 first of this series will appear in the issue of June 25. 



What the Underwood Tariff Law Means 



THE FOLLOWING ARE SOME CONCRETE FIGURES pub- 

 lished by the St. Paul Dispatch of St. Paul, Minn., showing 

 exactly what would result theoretically in dollars and cents from 

 the passage of the Underwood Tariff Bill: 



UNDEE THE PAVNE LAW, 1912 



Imports. Revenue, 



$759,209,91.5 .- $304,597,035 



Under the Underwood law tor a period of twelve months 

 (estimated) : 

 $1,000,999,000 266,701.000 



Loss in revenue under new law (estimated) $ 37,896,035 



Government revenue from all sources, 1912 938,522,482 



Expenditures, 1912 901,297,979 



Surplus $ 37,224,503 



Estimated expenditures, first year, under Underwood law. . . . 994,790,000 

 Estimated revenue, first year, under Underwood law 926,000,000 



Deficit $68,790,000 



Earning power of income tax, first year 70,125,000 



Estimated surplus, first year, under new law 1,335,000 



Exports and Imports 



I 'HE April exports and imports of forest products, as compUed 

 ■^ by the Department of Commerce, are shown as follows : Ex- 

 ports, round timbers, 18,401,000 feet; hewed and sawed timber, 

 49,546,000 feet; lumber, 195,763,000 feet; shingles, ll,ki95,000; 

 box and other shocks, 1,218,234; staves, .5,596,476; heading, 

 $25,191; doors, sash, and blinds, $107,066; furniture, $550,945; 

 empty barrels, $25,111; house finishings, $85,355; woodenware, 

 $59,160; wood pulp, $36,821; all other manufactures of wood, 

 $603,026. Following are imports: Briar and ivy root, $24,090; 

 cabinet woods, $417,412; round timber, 13,523,000; pulpwood, 

 49,100 cords; rattans and reeds, $61,549; lumber, 59,962,000 feet; 

 lath, 29,056,000; shingles, 36,134,000; pulp, 69,582,775 pounds. 



Reparation on Hardwood Shipments 



THE Interstate Commerce Commission recently decided the claim 

 made by the Michigan Hardwood Manufacturers' Association 

 against the Transcontinental Freight Bureau, for refund of freight 

 paid on lumber shipped to Pacific coast points from the southern 

 peninsula of Michigan, in excess of a rate of seventy-five cents 

 a hundred. Up to January 1, 1905, that was the rate. On that 

 date it was advanced to eighty-five cents, which was equivalent 

 to an advance of about four dollars a thousand feet. The com- 

 mission ruled that eighty cents is a reasonable rate and ordered 

 reparation of all in excess of that; but, this does not apply to 

 shipments prior to August 1, 1908, because the statute of limita- 

 tion bars all earlier claims. 



