M:i> lU, IMj; 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



51 



HIGH HUMIDITY 

 DRY KILN 



Interior I'iew slior^'iiuj 

 battery of si.v Icilns at 

 the O. A. Miller Tree- 

 ing Co., Brockton, 

 Mass., d r y i n g last 

 blocks and shoe trees 

 from hard X'dv I'.ng- 

 taiid maple. 



'The Kiln with the Circidation 

 You Can Understand" 



B. F. STURTEVANT CO. 



Hyde Park, Boston, Mass. 



Atlanta. Oa.. Boston. .Mass.. C1lic-ai:o, III.. New York, N. V., 



rliHa<lel|>liia, I'a., Rochester, N. Y., Seattle. \Vasli.. 



JSaii I'Vaneiwo, Calif. 



plans lii'foic tile ('iniiiiiiiis ciiiiiinittci', ,-ni<l .iilvucMte tin 

 of such rruiilatioiis as will hi' hciu'fii'ial to all roiii-crnccl. 



aildpti 



Advance in Freight Bates 



1 now conio to the most imiiovtant subject which coiit'ront.s the 

 industry. On .June 2'y, 1918, the Kailroad Adnjinistration permitted 

 the catrier.s to advance their rates 2.') per cent, with 5 cent maxi- 

 mum, on lunilier and forest products. This i>lan was devised by 

 practical (ran.sportation exiierts. :iud while it di<l not meet with 

 universal apjiroval, at the same time it was absolutely ueeess.'iry 

 that the advance be fi^r.anted the carriers and the shippers will- 

 ingly con.sented to these advances, especially in view of the fact 

 we were actively engaged iu war. However, under the tremendous 

 increases granted to organized labor, these increases in freight 

 rates were not sufticiint to pay the operating expenses of the car- 

 riers, and as a eonse()Uence, on August 2(), li)20, the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission iiermitteil increases ranging from 25 to 40 per 

 cent. The association wliich I represent maintained that if a tax 

 was to be added to transportation, it should be uniform through- 

 out the country, and should bear a uniform maximum; that a 

 straight pi'rcentage advance would be detrimental to the best 

 interests of the industry. Unfortunately, however, there was a 

 diversity of opinion between the various brandies of the industry 

 throughout the United States ;is to how these increases should Ix' 

 applied, and as a result a divided industry received a straight per 

 centage incri'ase, but based upon different i>ercentages according 

 to the several localities or territories. What is the result? Take 

 Cincinnati as an illustr.ation — there are shippers who subsequent to 

 August 26 are paying an increase of 40 per cent in their rates to 

 Cincinnati; another section paying an increase of 33% per cent, 

 and still another section is paying 2.> per cent increase. 



A careful investig.ition shows conclusively, and beyond :i \uv 

 adventure of doubt, that existing freight rates, as applied to a low- 

 grade heavy loading traftic, such as h;irdwood forest products, are 



ixcessi\ (■ and retard to a verj- great extent, the movement of forest 

 products. As an illustr.ation of the tremendous increases in freight 

 rates — from a certain point on the C. & O. r.-iilroad to Norfolk, Va., 

 a distance of 400 miles, is 27 cents per 100 pounds. Furthermore, 

 I was talking to a Innibernian this week, who s(dd a carload of 

 lumber .at an eastern m.irket, for wliiidi he ri'ceivi'd a delivered 

 price of $427; the freight rate was .$420. Manifestly, a shipper 

 can not continue to operate and pay such excessive freight rates. 



In presenting our case before the Interstate Commerce Commis- 

 sion last summer, with res])ect to the necessity for a uniform 

 increase and a uniform maximum, the hardwood industry, or at 

 least that branch of it that I represent as traflic manager, was 

 bitterly opposed by the Southern pine interests, who claimed that 

 their principal competition was from Douglas fir, i^nd that they 

 would be benefitted by a percentage increase. However, it now 

 appears that certain members of that industry realize that what is 

 good for one branch of the industry is good for another branch of 

 the industry, and that a flat increase should be made without dis- 

 crimination. I was most pleased with a speech made by Mr. A. L. 

 Cl.ark, president of the Southern Pine Association, at the meeting 

 of that association in New Orleans receutly. Mr. Clark said: 

 "There is no such thing as being neutral between right and wrong. 

 I know no philoso])hy of life nor creed nor rule of conduct in human 

 affairs between single individuals or en masse, i-xcept the Golden 

 Rule of eternal right and .justice to all, and being of the faith that 

 nothing is settled until it is settled right, little difliculty will be 

 encountered in determining the true cause. The real big thing in 

 which we should all be interested today is to get a united industry 

 behind the troublesome .md far-reaching transportation problem. 

 There is always a plane on which reasonable men can get to- 

 gether." Mr. Clark made this statement after he had stated that 

 l)usiness is halting under excessive freight rates, which. .13 applied 

 liv the Interstate Commerce Commission, were wrong in principle 

 and unsound. 



The har<lwo<id imliistry has decided, through the Southern Hard- 



