20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



May 25. 1922 



ing of the congress, which in all probability will be held at Knox- 

 ville, Tenn. 



The next speaker was Colonel W. B. Townsend of the Little 

 River Lumber Company, Townsend, Tenn. He presented a very 

 interesting address on "Eailroad Construction and Operation in 

 Logging." His conclusion is that the person who can solve the 

 railroad logging problem in the Southern App.alachian region has 

 won the battle. According to Colonel Townsend it is a real problem 

 and spells the difference between bankruptcy and profits. 



Present logging railroad methods. Colonel Townsend said, have 

 been developed by a process of evolution and the exercise of great 

 ingenuity and engineering skill. He also referred to parts in Mr. 

 Bitter's address and urged the members to go home at the close 

 of the meeting and impress upon all lumbermen the importance of 

 producing adequately to meet the impending demand and do all 

 they can to prevent a runaway market that shall again put the 

 lumber industry in disrepute on account of high prices. 



Other members of the committee called upon to discuss the sub- 

 ject which Colonel Townsend opened were W. T. Latham, Andrews 

 Manufacturing Company, Andrews, N. C; B. C. Staebner, Meadow 

 Eiver Lumber Company, Eainelle, W. Va., and D. H. Tipton of 

 Townsend, Tenn. 



Harvey T. Graceley of the Marion Steam Shovel Company, 

 Marion, O., told of developments in shovel manufacture of interest 

 to operators. Mr. Graceley said his company makes a gas-elec- 

 trical machine that by means of a gas engine on its platform 

 develops electricity for its operation, and the machine is so built 

 as to use power developed otherwise for the operation of its 

 motors. A number of these machines have been sent into the 

 loggfing camps in the Northwest, Mr. Graceley said. 



The question of wrecks on logging railroads was then brought 

 before the meeting by H. B. Curtin, Pardee Curtin Lumber Com- 

 pany, Clarksburg, W. Va. Mr. Curtin said that it has been the 

 experience of his company that less wrecks occur on the seven 

 and eight per cent grades than on the four and five per cent grades. 

 The reason for this, Mr. Curtin said, was that the train crews are 

 more on the alert when they are traveling on the heavy grades. 

 Colonel Townsend said that a railroad could be successfully oper- 

 ated on a seven or eight per cent grade, but believed that building 

 a railroad on a grade of this character should be avoided wherever 

 possible. 



The fight of the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association for 

 reduced freight rates was reviewed by J. H. Townshend, secretary- 

 manager, in his address before the congress. He also referred 

 to the flood conditions in the South, which he said would not permit 

 resumption until July 1 in many cases. In reference to freight 

 rates on low grade lumber, the speaker said that a differential 

 based on price might solve the problem. However, that might 

 create the impression among carriers that the rate on the high 

 grades are not high enough. Freight is the largest part of lumber 

 cost, and should receive more attention than is given it, J. Van 

 Norman, counsel for the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association, 

 said. In conclusion, he pleaded for greater support of the organi- 

 zation. 



Before the morning session adjourned H. B. Curtin of the Pardee 

 & Curtin Lumber Company, Clarksburg, W. Va., called the lum- 

 bermen 's attention to the proposal that the toll on coast-to-coast 

 ships through the Panama Canal be repealed. Mr. Curtin said he 

 opposed the proposal on the grounds that it would mean a tax on 

 eastern producers for the benefit of the western producers, and 

 cited an instance where western producers put hemlock into Clarks- 

 burg, W. Va., his home town, cheaper than he could sell it there. 

 President Norcross said that the congress would take some action 

 in this matter before the convention adjourned. 



The first speaker on the program for Wednesday afternoon, May 

 10, was Colonel W. B. Greeley, Chief Forester of the United States, 

 and the subject of his remarks was "Practical Ways and Means 

 of Forest Conservation. ' ' 



Colonel Greeley said that two great forces are bringing refor- 



estation about. The first is our staunch old economic standby, the 

 law of supply and demand. The second is the insistence of the 

 American people that something effective be done to insure a future 

 supply of timber and prevent a large part of the soil of the United 

 States from passing into unproductive idleness. The Chicago lum- 

 iier industry. Colonel Greeley said, now pays in freight $25,000,000 

 a year, because the forests of the Lake States no longer supply its 

 needs. He cited several other cases, and said that these factors 

 were bringing about reforestation quicker than anything else. 



In reference to the forest situation in the United States, Colonel 

 Greeley said, that we are using our timber three and four times as 

 fast as it is being produced. He urged the bringing of production 

 to equal current use, and said that there should be no gre.at diffi- 

 culty in achieving this end. 



The efforts of the congress to prevent fires was then told by 

 President Norcross, who also said that several match and tobacco 

 companies had pledged the organization their support in this cam- 

 paign. A representative of the American Tobacco Company was 

 introduced by President Norcross, and he said that his company 

 was enclosing slips in each package of cigarettes warning the users 

 against throwing lighted cigarettes away. He also Said that the 

 company is studying means of marking other packages. President 

 >?orcrosR said that the Ohio Match Company and the Diamond 

 Match Company also were placing warning slips in packages of 

 their product. 



The next number was the committee discussion on ' ' Timber Cut- 

 ting and Swamping. ' ' M. W. Stark, vice-president and general 

 manager of the American Column & Lumber Company, Columbus, 

 0., acted as chairman of the meeting while this subject was being 

 discussed. Mr. Stark led the discussion by saying that the problem 

 of timber cutting can be divided into several phases, personnel, 

 tools, planning of work, proper records, standards and methods. 

 He was followed by Murray Pryor of the W. M. Bitter Lumber 

 Company, who told of his company's methods. The question of 

 cutting logs by contract came up and H. B. Curtin said that this 

 system attracts the competent workmen, and assures the mills of a 

 quicker and better supply of logs. Henry Mather of Henry Disston 

 & Sons, Philadelphia, Pa., and Lewis Doster of E. C. Atkins & Co., 

 Indianapolis, Ind., spoke on the care and uses of saws. During a 

 discussion on the uses of saws several lumbermen said that the 

 four-tooth saw was the best when cutting hardwoods, while the 

 two-tooth saw answered the requirements when cutting soft woods. 



At the close of the session E. A. Gaskill of the Suncrest Lumber 

 Company, Sunburst, N. C, exhibited two chairs and explained that 

 with the present cost of lumber and allowing thirty per cent for 

 waste the lumber in each would cost 18 cents. Mr. Gaskill said that 

 both chairs wholesale at $1.50 apiece and retail at $3 each. 



In the evening the banquet was held in the ballroom of the Hotel 

 Sinton. Ealph A. Tingle, Ohio representative of the Standard Oil 

 Company, was toasttaaster. 



The program for the evening included speaking, radio concert and 

 a musical entertainment. The speakers were: William C. Culkins, 

 executive secretary of the Chamber of Commerce; Douglas Malloch, 

 Chicago; William Hopkins of the New Eiver Lumber Company; 

 President F. G. Norcross; P. S. Spires, vice-president of the Amer- 

 ican Column & Lumber Company, and G. T. B. Cobbett of London, 

 England. Following the speaking golf trophies were presented 

 to several members by William Hopkins on behalf of the Cincin- 

 nati Lumbermen's Club. 



L. D. Gasteiger of the Pittsburgh Lumber Company, Braemar, 

 Tenn., opened the morning session on May 11, with an interesting 

 address on "Eailroad Maintenance." With the aid of sketches 

 he told of the principles involved in spiking and locating ties at 

 rail joints. This phase of the logging industry was discussed at 

 length and the opinion of a majority of the delegates was that a 

 thirty-five-pound steel rail is the most practical light weight and 

 the seventy-pound the most practical heavy weight. 



Following Mr. Gasteiger 's remarks other members of his eom- 

 (Cotitliiucd on pagv 20) 



