HARDWOOD RECORD 



sents an increase of 11,285,000 ties or ton per cent over the num- 

 1 I'r purchased in liHlS, l)iir a decrease of 19.5 per cent from the 

 number reported for 1907. The year 1907 was one of great activity 

 in the railroad world, while in 1908 the railroads felt the effect of 

 the general tusiness depression and curtailed their piirchases ac- 

 lordiugly. 



From a comparison of the figures of i909, 1908 and 1007, it is 

 evident that the cross-tie industry is rapidly regaining the pros- 

 perity enjoyed in 1907. 



Ten kinds of wood supplied more than ninety-seven per t-ent of 

 all the ties purchased. These are oak, yellow pine, D'ouglas fir, 

 western pine, cedar, chestnut, cypress, laiiiarack, hemlock and red- 

 wood. The oaks led by a wide margin, being the timber used 

 for more thau forty-six per cent of the total number purchased and 

 more than two and one-half times as many ties as were made from 

 the southern pines, which rank next in importance. 



Douglas fir, a species which will prob:;bJy be drawn upon licavily 

 as the demand for ties crowds the supply, was used for more tlian 

 9,000,000 ties. 



Ranking next in importance was western pine, cedar and chest- 

 nut, each being credited with a total of slightly more than 6,500,000 

 ties. Cypress, tamarack, hemlock and redwood each supplied more 

 than 2,000,000 ties, which completes the list of the ten leading 

 kinds of woods purchased. The remaining species, which include 

 white pine, lodgepole pine, gum, spruce, beech, maple, birch, elm, 

 mesquite, locust, ash, walnut and a number of others furnished 

 about 3,334,000 ties. 



The increasing use of several of the relatively unimportant tie 

 woods, especially gum, spruce, and beech, is noteworthy. Approx- 

 imately seventy-seven per cent of all ties purchased in 1909 were 

 liewed. Although the jiroportion of hewed ties was lower than in 

 1908, it was the same as in 1907 and higher thau in 1900. It has 

 been thought that sawn ties were increasing in use, but from this 

 review of the industry it is apparent that methods of manufacture 

 are not undergoing any great or permanent changes. 



The total cost of all ties purchased iu 1909 was $60,320,700, an 

 amount which exceeds the figures for 1908 by more than .$4,000,000. 

 The highest price reported by the steam railroads was 64 cents for 

 sawed redwood ties, and the lowest 33 cents for hewed hemlock. 

 The electric roads paid as high as 82 cents for hewed western pine 

 ties, these being practically all treated, while the lowest average 

 price paid by them was 31 cents for hewed hemlock. 



Many species of timber unfitted for use as ties because they lack 

 decay-resisting cjualities or immunity to insect attacks, are made 

 available for the purpose by the use of a preservative treatment. 

 Even in the case of wood that is naturally more or less durable, 

 such treatment is often economical, the added life in service more 

 than paying for the increase in cost. There are now more than 

 seventy wood preservative plants in the United States. A number 

 of the large railroads possess expensive plants fitted to haudle 

 large quantities of timber in a very efficient manner. Nearly all 

 cross-ties treated by railroads are treated in closed cylinders 

 permitting the application of pressure and designed to secure a 

 heavy absorption of the preservative. The principal preservatives 

 used were creosote oil, and, to an almost equal degree, a solution 

 of zinc chloride. Many ties are treated with an emulsion of 

 creosote oil and a solution of 7.inc chloride, and one road treated 

 large quantities of its ties with a heavy injection of crude 

 petroleum. 



Government Report on the "Lumber Trust" ( ?) 



Herbert Knox Smith, commissioner of corporations, has at last 

 issued the long delayed report on the lumber industry. The meat 

 of the whole matter is that Mr. Smith has not been able to discover 

 at the present time the existence of a "lumber trust," but is 

 fearful that such a trust will eventually become possilile and 

 possibly be organized. 



In Mr. Smith's letter of transmittal, he says that the con- 

 centration of a dominating control of standing timber in a com- 



paratively few enormous holdings, steadily tends to a central 

 control of the lumber industry. He avers the vast speculative 

 purchase and holding of timber land is far in advance of any use 

 thereof, and furthermore, that the enormous increase in the value 

 of this diminishing natural resource will show a great profit to its 

 owners, and this value, by the very nature of standing timber, 

 the holder neither creates nor substantially enhances. 



He contends that these underlying tacts are of tremendous 

 significance to flie public welfare and are primarily the result of 

 our public laud policy long continued. The laws that represent 

 that policy are still largely operative. He says the past history 

 and present status of our standing timber drive home upon us the 

 imperative necessity of revising our public policy for the future 

 management of all remaining natural resources. 



Mr. Smith alleges that forty years ago at least three-fourths 

 of the timber standing was publicly owned. Now four-fifths of it 

 is privately owned. The great bulk is passed from the govern- 

 ment into private hands through enormous railroad, canal, and 

 wagon-road grants by the Federal government, direct government 

 sales in unlimited quantities at $1.25 an acre, and by reason of 

 certain public land laws great tracts wore assembled in spite of 

 the legal requirements for small holdings. 



He alleges that the present annual growth of timber is only 

 about one-third of the present cut, and replacement by new growth 

 is very slow. He makes many specific citations of the enhance- 

 ment of timber values, and makes special mention of the vast 

 holdings of the Southern Pacific Company, the Weyerhaeuser 

 Timber Company and the Northern Pacific Eaihvay Company, 

 which together have 238,000,000,000 feet, or nearly eleven per cent 

 of all privately owned timber. He alleges that one-half of the 

 private timber owned ia the area analyzed is held by only 195 

 holders. 



The report deals very largely with the building wood situation 

 of the North, South and the Pacific coast, and has little relation to 

 the hardwood holdings of the country, which are not grouped in 

 any such large areas as are the building woods. The report in 

 detail is specific and very voluminous, and is involved in a sum- 

 mary of Commissioner of Corporations on the lumber industry, 

 Part I, referring to standing timber, and is issued by the govern- 

 ment printing office under date of February 13. Copies can 

 doubtless be obtained from the Forest Service or from the 

 commissioner. 



Rail Rate Advance Denied by Commerce 

 Commission 



Contrary to the most sanguine expectations, but really in accord- 

 ance with the deficiency of evidence produced by the railroads, the 

 shippers have made a clean winning of their fight against the rail- 

 roads in both the so-called ' ' eastern ' ' and ' ' western ' ' rate cases, 

 as the Interstate Commerce Commission decided on Thursday last 

 tliat no advance in freight rates would be permitted. 



The increase in class rates asked for by the railroads in ofiScial 

 classification territory aggregated $27,000,000 annually. The pro- 

 posed increase in commodity rates by the roads in the western trunk 

 line territory were also disapproved. 



In both cases the carriers are required to cancel, on or before 

 March 10, their advanced tariffs and restore their former rates, 

 which are those now in effect. If this requirement is not complied 

 with, the commission will issue a formal order suspending the pro- 

 posed advances and putting into effect the existing rates for at least 

 two years. 



After an exhaustive consideration of the whole subject from their 

 view point, the commission could not see its way clear to grant an 

 advance in rates, although it conceded that in the case of some 

 of the roads, an increased revenue was needed. 



In what was known as the eastern case, the commission was em- 

 barrassed by the admitted fact that several of the lines in the terri- 

 tory were paying good dividends upon existing rates, while other 



