40 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



bends in the hose near the play pipes make it almost impossible to hold 

 the pipe, whereas when it is under an easy curve the recoil is reduced 

 to a minimum ; the stream should never be manned on a roof with less 

 than three men and they should be reinforced with extra men to pass 

 signals ; in most cases, 100 pounds at pumps is the maximum pressure 

 necessary. 



The bulletin then gives a description of various fires which have 

 occurred among its membership during June and July and closes with a 

 resume of the fire tax on lumbermen's resources during Juno. More de- 

 tailed description of the latter is contained in another article in this 

 issue of Hardwood Record. 



Compromise in New Orleans to Mempliis Mahogany Rates 



The Southern Hardwod Traffic Bureau of Memphis, Tenn.. through 

 J. H. Townshend, reports that a compromise has been effected in the 

 case of the Memphis Veneer & Lumber Company against the Illinois Cen- 

 tral and the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley reads whereby a rate of twelve 

 cents per hundred is to be given on shipments of mahogany logs from 

 New Orleans to Memphis, effective Sept. 1. The old rate was fifteen 

 cents. The bureau asked for a rate of nine cents but although a petition 

 had been filed witli the Interstate Commerce Commission to this end, the 

 compromise was effected without the aid of that body. The securing of 

 this lower rate removes a serious obstacle to the importation of mahogany 

 logs at Memphis and it is stated that, with the lower rate, there will be 

 several firms embarking in this particular branch of the lumber industry. 

 These logs will be brought from British Honduras and other mahogany 

 producing countries via New Orleans. 



Number and Performance of Freight Cars 



This abstract, taken from Trade and Transportation, Is based upon the 

 compilations covering the fiscal year ended June 30, 1012, made from the 

 annual reports of carriers having gross operating revenues of $100,000 

 or more for the year and also of railway companies owning property 

 operated by the same carriers under lease or other agreement, which have 

 been made in advance of the completion of the twenty-fifth (or 1912) 

 annual report on the statistics of railways in the United States. The 

 omission of returns for small roads (having operating revenues below 

 $100,000) prevents the showing of items comparable with complete figures 

 for 1011. None of the statements includes returns for switching and 

 terminal companies. The figures given in the abstract may be somewhat 

 modified by revision before they are presented in the full report for 1912. 



The total number of cars of all cla.sses in the service of such roads 

 was 2,368,658 (or 2.">,2niri more than on June 30, 1011), which equip- 

 ment was thus assigned : Passenger service, 50,606 cars ; freight service, 

 2,203,128 ; company's service, 114,924. The figures given do not Include 

 so called private cars of commercial firms or corporations. 



Of cars in freight service, there were classified 2,202,906, with an 

 aggregate capacity of 82,647,059 tons. 



The number of tons of freight reported as carried (including freight 

 received from connections) by roads represented in this statement, for the 

 year ended June 30, 1912, was 1,818,232,193, while the corresponding 

 figure for the previous year was 1,753,189,939, the increase being 65,- 

 042,254. 



The ton mileage, or the number of tons carried one mile, as reported 

 by the carriers under consideration for Ihe .vear ended ,Iune 30, 1912, was 

 262,955,005,123. The corresponding ton mileage as reported for the year 

 ended- June 30, 1911, was 253,456,389,237, from which it will be seen 

 that the increase in the ton mileage for the year ended June 30, 1912, 

 over the returns for 1911, as applying to the roads represented in this 

 abstract, was 9,499,215,886. The number of tons carried one mile per 

 mile of road for the year ended June 30, 1912, was 1,108,578, as against 

 1,088,314 for the preceding year. The average number of tons of freight 

 per train mile was 409.29. The corresponding figure for the preceding 

 year was 386.17. 



The operating revenues of the railways in the United States for the 

 year ended June 30, 1912, herein represented (average mileage operated 

 237,809.09 miles) were $2,826,917,967 ; their operating expenses were 

 $1,958,963,431. The corresponding returns for 1911 (average mileage 

 operated 234,366.14 miles) were: Operating revenues, $2,772,733,828; 

 operating expenses, $1,901,399,475. 



Operating expenses as assigned to the five general classes totaled 

 $1,908,903,431. 



To Save Unnecessary Freight 



Tratfic automatically follows the shortest route, so that it obviously 

 follows that if traffic centers of restricted areas are established, con- 

 gestion will result, that if artificial obstructions to traffic routes are 

 allowed, valuable time and energy will be consumed in getting around 

 these obstructions. 



In the consideration of freight traffic, in any large community, a great 

 number of cars are brought into various railway yards, switched to other 

 yards, and then drawn out of the community unopened. Other cars are 

 brought into Ihe yards, unloaded and their contents carted across the 

 city, placed in warehfiuses, only to be carted away again, loaded into 

 cars and shipped out of the city. All of this involves expense, which 

 adds to the selling price of merchandise. The suggestion made to over- 

 come this wasteful effort is to establish large freight and warehousing 

 centers where cars not consigned to the community would be segregated 

 and merchandise Intended for reshipment would be warehoused and 

 hnndlert to a large extent by machinery. 



June's Fire Tax on the Liunbermen's Resources More Than Three 

 Million Dollars 



The general fire loss total for June was very close to $25,000,000, 

 .■iccording to the last bulletin of the Lumbermen's Underwriting Alliance 

 of Kansas City, Mo. This is an increase of more than $4,000,000 over the 

 exceedingly high losses of June. 1911, which up to that time was the 

 heaviest for many years. The reported losses on lumljer manufacturing 

 plants reached $12,890,000. Figures on a number of large fires have not 

 h(H!n made available, and with unreported losses, will undoubtedly swell 

 the contribution to the grand total to much over $3,000,000. These 

 figures do ndt include the timber destroyed in the forest fires of the 

 month, and therefore do not represent the entire fire loss to lumbermen. 

 There were fewer lumber property fires in July, but some exceedingly 

 heavy losses. Practically every case where particulars were available the 

 tires originated from conditions against which the Alliance has tried un- 

 remittingly through its inspection work and its fire bulletins to safe- 

 guard its own plants. 



Overheated journals and friction troubles have been responsible for 

 more recent fires than any other one cause. Three of the heaviest losses 

 of the year are attributed to this source. 



It is reported that the fire resulting in the destruction of the big new 

 mill of the, Big River Lumber Company, near Prince Albert, Sask., 

 started from a hot box about seven o'clock in the morning, shortly after 

 the day crew had come on duty. This fire is reported to have cost close 

 to half a million dollars. 



A second example is furnished in the burning of the planing mill and 

 •"iO.OOO feet of lumber at the plant of the Escambia Land and Manufac- 

 turing Company, Pace. Fla.' The blaze is believed to have originated 

 from a hot box in the shafting located in the general wohk room. The 

 loss is estimated at from $20,000 to $30,000. 



At the plant of the H. II. Hitt Lumber Company, Palkville, Ala., the 

 fire which took the planing mill, dry kilns and several hundred feet of 

 dressed lumber is suppo.sed to have originated through friction of a belt 

 and transmission machinery. 



The fire destroying the sawmill and planing mill of the Kirby Lumber 

 Company, Kirby, Wash., together with dry kilns and more than a million 

 feet of lumber is thought to have been caused by a hot box in the planing 

 mill. 



Ilot box Jires usually mean that muck and dust deposits about Iwarings 

 and supports have not been closely enough removed. If the bearings 

 are thoroughly brushed each day with a stiff-bristled brush — such as is 

 used in cleaning castings — and if thc^ cleaner will include the framework 

 within arm's reach, there will not be sulHcient fuel left in the vicinity 

 of the bearings to feed and spread the flames. 



The million dollar fire on the night of July 12 at the Michigan City 

 plant of the Barker & Haskell Car Company is reported to have started in 

 a pile of waste in the lumber yard of the plant, where a spark from a 

 locoiuotivc fell and smouldered. A gale from Lake Michigan was sweep- 

 ing over the plant at the time and the flames attacked the huuber with 

 such intensity that Ihe local flre companies were helpless. Before out- 

 side aid arrived dynamite was resorted to as the only means of checking 

 the fire. 



In nearly every Alliance inspection report will be found in connection 

 with the description of boiler house conditions a reference to the presence 

 or absence of fine, dry dust on boiler tops. It has always recognized In 

 such deposits an opportunity for ignition and instant spread of flames 

 throughout the boiler room. 



In spite of recent rains, wet premises and absence of wind, the lumber. 

 shingle and lath mill of <i. A. Bcrgland, Bergland, Mich., was entirely 

 destroyed about 2 :30 on the morning of July 4. Mr. Bergland attributes 

 the origin of the fire to "spontaneous combustion" of dust on top of 

 boilers. The spread of the fire to other divisions was prevented by 

 tearing down connecting trams. 



F. O. B. Prospects in England 



The position of business gei^erally has been receiving attention, and 

 Ihe question of a continuance of the present brisk trade and high prices 

 has been under consideration. In a recent issue the Timber Trade Journal 

 says : 



■'For many months past the idea has prevailed that the trade 'boom' in 

 England must be at its height, and many a time we have been warned 

 that the day has come to jjrepare for the inevitable reaction ; but we are 

 still making progress, and [irices still go up. The pessimists lose every 

 time, 'i'et while we may for some months to come hear of record figures 

 in the Board of Trade returns, and of mills and factories working at 

 full pressure, timber merchants must always keep an eye on the flnancial 

 position ; this is at the present time of the utmost importance, and it 

 must never be forgotten that, after all, credit is the basis of modern 

 commerce. We have seldom had a year with the bank rate at such a 

 high level as it has been all through thfs summer, and, as we pointed 

 out a week or two ago, financiers do not look upon the future as altogether 

 free from anxiety. The effect on Herman trade of an unstable and re- 

 stricted money market has been only too apparent, and some years ago 

 American commerce went through a most critical period mainly because 

 of the impossibility of traders obtaining ready money except on exorbllant 

 terms. There is no occasion to be alarmed at the present time, and it In 

 our own trade speculation is abandoned, and Importers purchase cau- 

 tiously, and only when they see a good prospect of a profit. iM-lng enreful 



