April 2."! 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



News from the National Capital 



Luiiil)i'i-nu'n arc still in tlio dark in rogaril to tlic tentative luiii- 

 bor tarilT wliicli has Ijecii drawn up by rongross for the permanent 

 tariff bill. 



Despite the faet that iiieiabers in the lloiisi' who are in t(MU-h 

 with the situation either refuse to be (pu)ted or refuse to discuss 

 the tentative lumber schedule, it is rei)orted that a duty is con- 

 temphited on all finished lumber, leaving only eertaiu kinds ol' 

 rough lumber on the free list. 



The iluties, as tentatively agreed upon, [irovide for proteetion 

 on all kinds of fir and sjiruee, lioth rough and finished lumber. This 

 is designed to furnish proteetion to the West coast lumbermen 

 who fear importations from British Columbia. 



The general impression has been that Jiine and other kinds of 

 lumber, both rough and finished, would be allowed to come in free, 

 inasmuch as no claim of any need of protection has been ad\':ineed 

 by the manufacturers. Th.it lumber should remain on the free 

 list has been strongly urged by the Retail Lumber Dealers' Asso- 

 ciation as a means of encouraging housing construction and also in 

 order to conserve the forests of the United States. 



Advocates of free lumber protested when it was learned that 

 the tentative rates contemplate that while rough lumber, except 

 fir and sjiruce, shall be free of duty, lumber finished on two sides 

 would liear .-i duty of .jO cents per 1,000 feet, and lumber finished 

 on men' than two sides $1 per 1,000 feet. 



Till' rates on fir and spruce are $1..50 per 1,000 feet on rough 

 lumber, $'2 per 1,000 feet on lumber finished two sides, and .1^1!. ."lO 

 on lumber finished on more than two sides. 



It is stated that comparatively little rough lumber eoiiies in from 

 Canada^ hence the imposition of a duty on finished pine and other 

 varieties of lumber is said t(i mean tli.'it the bulk of imports will 

 be dutiable. 



****** 



The American Wholesale Lumber Association and lumber com- 

 panies of Chicago, St. Louis and Cleveland, have filed with the 

 Interstate Commerce Commission complaints protesting that the 

 $10 penalty charge, effective Octolicr 20, 1910, on cars loaded with 

 lumber, ludd for reconsignment after 48 hours of free time, was 

 un.inst and unreasonable. 



The complaints declare that the penalty w.as eolleeted only on 

 lumber or other forest jiroducts taking simil.ar rates, and not on 

 other commodities. 



The Interstate Commerce Commission has assigned a hearing for 

 June ^'^, which will be held in Chicago before Assistant Chief 

 Ex.'iminer Kutler. 



****** 



Bl.ack walnut and spruce lunilier, taken off the lumber schedule 

 of the General Supply Committee during the war, because the 

 Government needed all that was obtainable for national defense 

 purposes, has been restored to the schedule for the fiscal year 192L' 

 by the advice of the Forest Service of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture. This bureau co-operates with the General Supply Committee 

 in the ]ireparation and revision of specifications and the making 

 of awards that cover lumber, millwork and building material. 



The Forest Service plans to co-operate also with several of the 

 larger lumber associations with a view to including in both of 

 these schedules most of the commercial wood of the Pacific Coast 

 in grades comparable with those listed for Ea.stern supiplies. 

 ***»#» 



Conferences will soon be held by the Department of Commerce 

 with representatives of the principal trade and business associa- 

 tions of the country to discuss complaints which have been received 

 of irregular trade practices on the part of American comp.anies 

 dealing in foreign trade. 



It will be the aim of the conference to provide for the diseon- 



tinuanee of practices, which, if permitted to continue miglit injure 

 this country's reputation for fair dealing in foreign trade. 



H ***** 



I'orest fires during the five years ending 1920 devastated an area 

 much greater in extent than that occupied by the New England 

 St.ates. and occasioned a loss of more tlian $85,000,000. Because the 

 destruction of our forests by fire spells disaster unless the rate of 

 burnings are materially checked, Secretary of Agriculture Wallace 

 lias written to the Governors of all States reiiuesting their co- 

 operation in the nation-wide observance of Forest Protection 



Week, M.iy 22 to 28, recently proclaimed by President Harding. 



* ^* * * * * 



.\s tlie r.iilroad situation becomes daily more desperate, observers 

 are of the opinion that the Interstate Commerce Commission 

 sluirtly may move, under the Transportation Act, to effect a liori- 

 zontal reduction in freight rates. This act places a mandate on 

 ttie Commission, it will be remembered, to fixe rates which will pay 

 a 6 per cent return on the carriers' property. 



Last summer the commission interpreted the situation to mean 

 that a l!o per cent increase was necessary to carry out this man- 

 date. This interpretation has failed fliatly. It now appears that 

 the Commission will recognize the fine 'effect which the law of 

 vanishing returns is having on railroad revenues and again invoke 

 the Tr.-insportation Act rule. 



According to observers, it is a rule which necessarily will work 

 both ways. If rates must be raised to p.ay the return, the Commis- 

 sion must raise them; otherwise, if lower rates would bring more 

 revenue, the Commission can not escape the oldigations to initiate 

 a general reduction. 



****** 



Senator Penrose has stated that Congress pirobably would not 

 get down to the work of tax revision before May, and that a 

 measure would not be enacted before August or September. 



Secretary of the Treasury Mellon is ready with his tax program 

 and will make known to the Ways and Means and Finance Commit- 

 tee whenever called upon to do so. 



****** 



The Senate passed a resolution introduced by Senator Reed, author- 

 izing the Senate Judiciary Committee to continue its inquiry into 

 foreign loans and commitments made liy the American govern- 

 ment. 



***** -^ 



The Senate adojjted the Cummins resolution providing for an 

 investigation of the railroad situation. The hearings will probably 

 oi>i'n .about May 1. 



{Coutinitcd from pat/c 20) 

 pulilie is elnnioriug for cheap lumber. Tliere can be no cheap lumber in 

 the I'lituie if the logger and millmun are to make a fair profit on their 

 investment. Lumber will steadily rise in price as the timber recedes 

 farther and farther away from centers of population ami the cost of get- 

 tiufi the logs to the mill increases year by year. 



rurnierly a lugger with a capital of five or six, tliuiisaud dollars could 

 open up a camp and province logs. Today his nnichiuery will cost him 

 aiipre\iniatel.v one hundred thousand before he can eonunence to operate. 



Tile price ef logs governs the price of lundtcr, and with the eonsumcr 

 ib-niautling cheap lumber the niilhnau naturally is demanding cheap logs. 

 The logger, in order to get his logs as cheaply as possible, is devastating 

 ear forests, cutting only the timber that can be cheaply handled, smash- 

 ing down all the smaller timber in the process of logging, and leaving in 

 the woods, to rot or to be burnt, some thirty to forty per cent of the 

 volume of the timber on the grovind. lie cannot afford to attempt to log 

 mueh of the timber on the high elevations or vn the rough ground, llroken 

 timber is left, and on most operations <m rough ground fully half of 

 the timber stand never reaches the mill, it being broken up and left on 

 the ground. 



The virgin growth of timber in British t'olumbia is steadily decaying 

 {Contiititcd on iKif/r 2H) 



