38 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



suggested that manufacturers of forest prod- 

 ucts should endeavor to properly educate the 

 public as to actual conditions prevailing in 

 the manufacture of timber or lumber, par- 

 ticularly as this opinion already condemns 

 the operator as a ruthless destroyer of forests. 

 It is pointed out in the report that the tim- 

 ber resources of the country are under tlie 

 same heading as other resources, such as coal. 

 They are placed here for the purpose of utili- 

 zation, and- the sawmill man is no more a 

 destroyer of natural resources than the coal 

 operator. As to the work of reforestation, 

 the committee says that all classes of people 

 have need for timber products in some form. 

 and therefore the reforestation should be 

 undertaken by the general public and car- 

 ried on by proper legislative provisions and 

 not by individual efforts. But this does not 

 mean that such organizations as the Na- 

 tional Wholesale Lumber Dealers' Associa- 

 tion should not lend every possible effort to 

 such movement. 



The question of Canadian reciprocity is 

 touched upon, the committee recommending 

 that pressure be brought to bear with a view 

 of changing the proposed provisions so that 

 the American manufacturer can obtain saw- 



T. J. MOFFETT, CINCINNATI, O., 

 TRUSTEE 



logs from Canada to be manufactured in 

 the United States, under equally favorable 

 conditions as his Canadian competitor enjoys. 

 In connection with the failure of the tariff 

 commission bill, the report states that the 

 committee anticipates such legislation in the 

 near future as will be needed to make the 

 tariff schedule purely a business question and 

 not a political issue. 



The report commends the efforts of the 

 National Civic Federation to effect uniform- 

 ity of state laws, and takes up the question 

 of control and regulation of employers' lia- 

 bility. It advances the opinion that while 

 much unnecessary legislation will probably, 

 result from the gencr.al discussion of this 

 subject, time and experience will tend to im- 

 prove existing conditions, and point out the 

 logical solution. The committee recommends 

 close consideration of the results of the 

 president's statutes bearing on this subject 

 and that the association take such action as 

 will enable it to lend its assistance in the 

 investigation of the results of the operation 

 of various laws. 



Next in order was the report of F. E. Bab- 

 cock, chairman of the Special Congressional 

 Car Stake Committee, which follows: 



Report of Special Congressional Car Stake 

 Committee 

 Your committee lias little or nothing- of in- 

 terest to report, as since our last annual con- 

 vention we have accomplished nothing. 



It will be rememliered at the time of our last 

 annual report we were hopeful that we might be 

 brought into activity again b.v some encourage- 

 ment that we hoped to receive at the hands ot 

 the Committee of Interstate & Foreign Commerce, 

 and vour committee, at a meeting held at tlie 

 close'of our convention at Cincinnati, determinerl 

 to wage an active campaign on the members ot 

 that committee, following up our appeal, winch 

 was mado liefore them, praying for an amend- 

 ment that would provide the relief asked tor. 

 In this follow-np work we soon made our exist- 

 ence felt to such an extent that the members ot 

 the commerce committee apparently thought 

 thev could not afford to mislead us : theretore 

 we "were given to understand from every cb.annel 

 through which we approached them that, while 

 thev realized the validity of our contention, yet. 

 owing to the development of opposition m the 

 House against the administration railroad bill 

 they fullv realized thev would have a hard 

 fight to win wilhout being burdened by any 

 amendments whatsoever in the interest of any 

 one commoditv. lint that they honed their ad- 

 ministration bill would increase the powers ot 

 the Interstate Commerce Commission to such an 

 extent that it would open up new avenues 

 through which we might get the relief sou,sht 

 for Their prophecy as to the opposition to Hie 

 railroad bill is already a matter ot history; it 

 was one ot the most bitterly fought measures 

 that ever passed the houses ot Congress. 



iour committee was then compelled to take 

 up the study ot the new act and to ascertain 

 It the increased powers given the commission 

 were of such a character as to afford any real 

 or direct relief, and the opinions of our attor- 

 neys were in part as follows : 



"I have gone over the amendment to the inter- 

 state commerce act by the bill as amended .Tune 

 1.8. 1!)10. In so far as this amendment refers 

 to 'the shipment of timber, Uiniber, logs, etc., it 

 does not materially change the law as it ex- 

 isted before the amendment was passed. Ihe 

 net before the amendment provided 'That it 

 shall be the duty of every carrier subject to the 

 provisions of this act to provide and furnish 

 such transportation upon reasonable request 

 thereof, and to establish through routes and 

 .iust and reasonable rates applicable thereto. 

 The new act adds to the old in this respect: 

 'Section 1 — And it is hereby made the duty of 

 ail common carriers, subject to the provisions 

 of this act, to establish, observe and enforce 

 .lust and reasonable classiflcatlon ot property for 

 transportation, with reference to which rates, 

 tariffs, regulations, or practices, are or may he 

 made and prescribed, and lust and reason.able 

 regulations and practices affecting classification, 

 rates or tariffs, the issuance, form and sub- 

 stance of tariffs, the issuance, form and sub- 

 stance ot tickets, receipts and bills-of-lading. the 

 manner and method of presenting, marking, 

 packing and delivering property for transporta- 

 tion, the facilities for transportation." .\gain. 

 the old act defines what transportation means : 

 "'And the term "transportation" shall in- 

 clude cars and other vehicles and all instrumen- 

 talities and facilities of shipment or carriage, 

 irrespective of ownership or of any contract, ex- 

 press or implied.' 



"Here, then, we have (1) the old law declar- 

 ing that the word 'transportation' shall include 

 all instrumentalities and facilities of shipment: 

 (2) that it shall be the duty of every carrier 

 subject to the provisions of this act to provide 

 and furnish such transportation upon reason- 

 able request therefor: and (3) that it shall, un- 

 der the new act, be the duty ot all common car- 

 riers subject to the provisions ot this act to 

 establish, observe and enforce just and reason- 

 able classiflcatlon of property tor transportation, 

 with reference to which rates, tariffs, regula- 

 tions or practices are or may be made or pre- 

 scribed, and just and reasonable regulations and 

 practices affecting classifications, rates or tariffs, 

 the issuance, form and substance ot tickets, re- 

 ceipts and bills-of-lading, the manner and method 

 of presenting, marking, packing and delivering 

 property for transportation. Under these pro- 

 visions facilities are in themselves transporta- 

 tion, and it is the duty of the railroad company 

 to furnish them, and they have the right, under 

 the new section, to establish, observe and en- 

 force iust and reasonable classifications ot pro])- 

 erly for transportation. They may prescribe 

 how lumber shall be packed and what facilities 

 shall be applied." 



Your committee did not feel that the increased 

 powers given the commission were such as to 

 warrant a change in the opinion heretofore ex- 

 pressed by the commission as it was at that time 

 constituted, but it certainly does not give the 

 carriers a greater power than they possessed 

 under the old act, and gives the commission 

 power to determine whether the furnishing of 

 stakes by the shippers is a reasonable regulation 

 on the part ot the carriers ; it also gives the 

 carriers power to make and prescribe regulations 



and practices, providing they are just and reason- 

 able but inasmuch as Chairman Knapp, in de- 

 liverin" .an opinion, found it convenient to take 

 refuge behind the quotation. "It Is deemed un- 

 necessary to consider certain questions of law." 

 and practically held that it was a reasonable 

 -regulation for the carriers to require shippers to 

 furnish these stakes ; that they were much 

 handier furnished in the lumber yards where 

 the cars were loaded than anywhere else, and 

 that inasmuch as the shippers luid for a long 

 time been so furnishing them, they ought to con- 

 tinue furnishing them, wholly ignoring, we 

 think, the act of congress wh'ch provides thai 

 the carriers shall furnish all instrumentality, 

 and that the stakes are just as much an "in- 

 slrumentality" as the pockets into which the 

 stakes are put. 



We therefore felt that it would be a useless 

 expenditure of time and money to again formally 

 appeal to the commission until such a time as the 

 commission should he reconstructed, and when 

 such reconstruction took place the proposed ad- 

 vance in railroad rates was so prominently be- 

 fore the country and the commission that it 

 was deemed unwise by your committee to again 

 open the question. We are of the belief, how- 

 ever, that there is a psychological moment and 

 an opportune time for all things, therefore 

 recommend that the Special Congressional Car 

 Stake Committee be. so far as possible, kept in- 

 tact, and if the railroads should be granted an 

 advance in freight sufficient to warrant that, we 

 would be in readiness to make our re-entry be- 

 fore the commission, believing that inasmuch as 

 two members of the present commission as it is 



B. FRANKLIN BETTS, PHILADELPHIA, PA„ 

 TRUSTEE 



now constructed dissented from Chairman 

 Knapp's original opinion, and the fact that he 

 openly stated that he did not deem it advisable 

 to take into consideration certain points of law, 

 showed pretty conclusively that his opinion was 

 not based upon the law or the intent of the 

 act, but was, rather, his personal opinion as to 

 the reasonableness or unreasonableness of this 

 demand on the part of the carriers. This, taken 

 in conjunction with the fact that during the 

 time of our hearing before the commission, Chair- 

 man Knapp was all the time on the bench and 

 had with him at times only one assistant, at 

 others only two, and very rarely over three, and 

 the fact that the opinion was not unanimous, 

 we believe, indicates a weakness or a division in 

 the commission. Therefore It is our opinion 

 that, even though there is only a fair probability 

 of having a new ruling made, it would be greatly 

 to the interest of the lumber shippers through- 

 out the country to have this case again filed 

 before the commission In order that we might 

 get a direct opinion, based squarely upon the 

 question at issue as to the intent of the act, the 

 reasonableness or unreasonableness o£ the regu- 

 lation whereby the carriers are compelling the 

 shippers to furnish these stakes, which we be- 

 lieve to be instrumentalities and facilities of 

 shipment and should, therefore, be a part of the 

 transportation, eliminating all testimony that is 

 irrelative which was brought into the case at 

 the time of our original appearance before the 

 commission. 



This w-ould have the effect of keeping the mat- 

 ter before the public, before the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission and before Congress, to some 

 extent. And it would have a tendency to pre- 

 vent further demands and exactments by the 



