i6 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



sociation, but tliis cotulition lias not yet definitely resiilteJ in a firmer 

 market. It phoujd be borne in mind generally tliat the present level 

 of market values may seem a little less nnsatisfactory if it is realized 

 that these values, generally speaking, compare unfavorably with the 

 unusually high level of values that was in evidence before the present 

 break occurred. ■ i 



Probably the best policy is to stand pat as far as possible with 

 the idea of sizing up the trend of conditions for the first of the 

 year, as there are good indications in many sections. There is nothing 

 really weak in stock conditions in the North, as any large stocks are 

 in strong hands in that section. The same is true of the South. In 

 the Memphis territory there is of course (]uitp a little lumber, but the 

 indications are that there will not be ;iiiy iiinluc c|u;uititics manu- 

 factured during tju' coining winter. 



Above High Water 



RAl.N'S JJAY DKSCKM) and Uouils iiuiy rise, but tlicic is small 

 likelihood that the swinging bridge featured in the cover picture 

 of this issue of H.vkdwood Record will be in danger of disaster. It 

 is stretched from hill to hill, and the stage of the water beneath it is 

 of little moment. The structure is not even hung from cables above, 

 as the custom is with suspension bridges, but the cables run beneath 

 the bridge's floor. There appears to be nothing to protect the struc- 

 ture against the force of the wind, and the real danger apparently 

 comes from wind rather than water. At any rate, a person whose 

 brain is not proof against dizziness has little business on the bridge, 

 even when the air is as serenely e.ilni as it appears to have been when 

 the camera caught the object. 



The jihoto is from the rich collection at the Field Museum of 

 Natural History, (.'liicago. The location is at Granite Falls, in the 

 state of Washington. It might be presumed that this is a summer 

 resort and the bridge is one of the attractions, and belongs in the 

 class with aerial railways, shooting the chutes, and threading the 

 labyrinth ; but such is not the case. The bridge was built for business, 

 not for show or amusement. It is the creation of an ingenious west- 

 ern lumberman who had a lot of shingle bolts on one side of the river 

 and wanted them transported across to the other side. He figured 

 that it would be easier to stretch cables from bluff to bluff across the 

 river than to grade a road down to the stream, build the bridge low 

 down, and grade a road up the opposite bluff. The western man has 

 a certain dash about him which is not afraid to take short cuts to the 

 end sought. The bridge is a sample. 



It looks like a risky place for a footman, and passage across by a 

 mule might be thought an impossibility; yet the bridge was made for 

 mules, not footmen. A track is laid and a light car, loaded with 

 shingle bolts, makes many a journey a day. The artist did not suc- 

 ceed in catching the mule at the moment the picture was snapped, but 

 nevertheless the level-headed mule is a regular traveler across. He 

 has never yet fallen off, and, of course, he never will more than once ; 

 for if he falls, his fall may be compared to Mulciber's in Paradise 

 Lost: "From morn till noon he fell." 



The river and the forests might be mistaken for a scene among 

 eastern mountains. Hardwoods are mixed with the conifers, but the 

 western hardwoods are usually of small value compared with those of 

 the East. 



The Tap Lines Win Out 



THE COMMERCE COURT on November 20 handed down a de- 

 cision repudiating the previous decision of the Interstate Commerce 

 Commission regarding the status of the tap line railroads. The 

 former decision of the Interstate Commerce Commission was directly 

 ■ against the tap lines while the recent decision of the Commerce 

 court is, as stated, directly the opposite. 



Briefly, the basis of the decision was the expressed belief of the 

 court that service performed by the tap line road for a certain shipper 

 owning that road in full or in part, must necessarily be classed as 

 interstate commerce when similar service performed for other shippers 

 is so considered. The court also suggested that it may in some cases 

 be held that the tap line is merely an adjunct to the plant in the 

 service that it performs, but that as soon as similar service performed 

 outside is adjudged interstate commerce, that service as performed 



for the proprietary shipper must come under similar classificatiuii. 



^Tbe court in making the decision admitted that such a ruling 

 might give the opportunity for practices that are not legally correct,, 

 but stated that this ruling is based entirely upon the legal view- 

 point that the Interstate Commerce Commission must necessarily 

 formulate regulations that will prevent such evils ratlier than cutting 

 off the revenues of the carrier. 



Thus this long-standing controversy is brought, to a succes.sful 

 culmination, agreeable to the interests owning such lines. 



The State's Rights Contest 



Till-; DOCTRINE OF STATE'S RIGHTS came to the surface 

 for a few hours during the Conservation congress in Wash- 

 ington, and then disappeared. It was the old question, whether 

 the water. powers, irrigation projects, forests, coal and other nat- 

 ural resources situated on government land, and whether the land 

 itself should be turned over to the states in which those resources 

 lie. In that event the government would get out of the land 

 business; national forests would be things of the i>ast; reclama- 

 tion projects would change hands; the Alaska coal fields would 

 be thrown open to speculators; and certain states would come 

 into possession of billions of dollars worth of property which be- 

 longs to the whole people. 



The fight on the floor of the irrigation congress was extremely vig- 

 orous for a short time; but when a vote was taken the majority 

 against the measure was overwhelming. Thereupon some of the state 's 

 rights delegates denounced the convention. 



There are no politics in the state's rights question now. It 

 is a business proposition, and party lines have nothing to do- 

 with it. The charge has been many times openly made that 

 large private interests are active in the fight to get those vast 

 resources out of government control, and turn them over to cer- 

 tain states. At any rate, the state's rights fight, regarding that 

 property, did not wax warm until after the government adopted 

 the policy of administering those enormous properties for the ben- 

 efit of the whole people, instead of selling them or giving them 

 away in such a manner that they fell into the hands of specu- 

 lators. 



The contest was carried to the Conservation congress by state's 

 rights advocates, for the prestige it would give them if they 

 could win. A victory for them there would have been the first 

 step toward carrying the fight to the United States Congress. 

 There are a few men in that body who have made it known that 

 they would be glad to espouse the fight for state control, which 

 in most cases means private or corporation control of natural re- 

 sources. It is a safe guess what the stand of the American people 

 will be on this question, if an opportunity is ever given them to 

 express themselves. 



Wood's Opportunity 



THE VIGOR AND ENERGY displayed in the interest of the 

 Forest Products Exposition scheduled for Chicago and New York 

 next spring guarantee success so far as bulk of exhibits and number 

 of visitors are concerned. That is only a portion of the success 

 possible. The purpose of the exposition is to increase the use of 

 wood, or at least to hold the ground which it now has. 



The fight is against substitutes. There is no disguising this fact. 

 Wliatever ground has been lost by wood, if any has been lost, has 

 gone to the multitudes of substitutes and makeshifts which in recent 

 years have been pushing to the front with remarkable vigor in well- 

 planned campaigns to capture markets. Manufacturers of forest 

 products must meet their rivals and fight to retain what is now held, 

 and to recover any ground that has been lost. 



Something may be learned by studying methods followed by manu- 

 facturers of substitutes when they place their products on exhibition. 

 The man with something of metal to sell, or of cement, asbestos or 

 any other material which is to be substituted for wood, does not 

 content himself with showing to his prospective customers a crude 

 mass of the material which he uses ; but he shows the finished product, 

 so that its appearance when ready for use, and in use, may be judged. 

 If it is metal, he exhibits a panel of ceiling, or a partition, a filing 



