October 20, 1921 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



27 



From 75 per cent of tlio membership of his association he had 

 reoeived figures which he had classified. 



Actual estimates were received from members wlio uormally employ 

 11,543 men in their camps, and Mr. Swan figured with that as a basis, 

 with the following result: 



Normal This Year Per cent 



Northern Michigan 1,530 242 16 



Bay Shore 2,603 797 30 



Central Wisconsin 4,435 926 21 



Western Wisconsin 2,975 925 31 



11,543 2,890 25 



Taking these as a basis, he figured that the total membership, which 

 normally employs about 20,000 men, would have 5,000 in the woods 

 this year. 



Reports received from members indicated that the input of logs this 

 winter will be about 260,000,000 feet, and the figures for the two 

 previous years were: 



Winter of 1919-20 672,000,000 feet 



Winter of 1920-21 532,000,000 feet 



Winter of 1921 22 2(50,000,000 feet 



To this input he added the surplus stock held by members but not 

 sold, amounting to about 100,000,0.00 feet, and 125,000,000 feet which 

 would normally go to the pulp mills but wliich they will not take 

 because they are stocked with logs, and estimated tliat the members 

 expected a volume of trade ne.xt year aljout 50 per cent above that of 

 this year, and 75 per cent of normal, since the trade of this year is 

 about half the normal figure. 



In closing, Mr. Swan said that the northern mills have not been 

 getting their share of the business this year, and they will not be helped 

 by a reduction in freight rates as much as will the long-liaul mills. 

 A general reduction in freight rates on all commodities may bring 

 relief and cause a general improvement in business all over the country, 

 and the northern mills will benefit from this, but the volume of demand 

 for lumber must increase enough to take nearly the normal supply of 

 all woods before the northern manufacturers can expect much benefit. 

 He believed that lumber would be among tlic first commodities to feel 

 trade improvement. 



Clyde Track Machine in Action 



James Wood, of the Clyde Iron Works Sales Co., Duhith, then 

 sliowed the Clyde track laying machine in action by the use of moving 

 pictures. This machine is mounted on an ordinary flat car, and picks 



(Continued from page 2i) 



He gave it as his opinion that there is no prospect of the enactment 

 of Federal forestry legislation during this or the next session of 

 Congress, or, for that matter, for the next two or three years. But 

 he warned that the members of the lumber industry should not on 

 this account permit themselves to grow indifferent toward the 

 question of a National forestry policy. "The subject remains one 

 of the greatest importance to the lumber industry,' he said. "This 

 interim will be a formative period, during which legislation will be 

 developed more or less as it will be finally enacted. Therefore, it 

 is of vital importance that the lumbermen keep their interest alive 

 and participate in the development of this legislation." In no 

 other wa.y, he said, could the lumbermen safeguard their interests 

 and assure themselves against legislation that will be impractical 

 and harmful. "You have got to be continually at it during this 

 formative period," he said. 



He stated further that he believed during this time a certain 

 amount of forestry legislation would be enacted by various states, 

 and that the lumbermen should keep their eyes upon such move- 

 ments. 



Compton Predicts O. C. P. Victory 



After declaring that he witnessed the rehearing of the hardwood 

 case, Mr. Compton said that what he saw and heard there led him 

 to believe a decision would be rendered by the Supreme Court 

 which would in the main uphold the defendants and relieve them of 

 the sweeping injunction granted by the lower court. He thought 

 that the defendants would be given a "selective bill of health;" 

 that is, that the court would condemn certain parts of their Open 

 Competition practices and warn them against their continuance, 

 but would permit them to continue the operation of their plan, 

 modified, but yet sufficiently complete to give them a great deal of 

 information. "They will be permitted to continue," he said, "pro- 

 vided they will handle their information in good faitli, presenting 

 all and not a selected list of transactions, giving both high and low 

 sales." He said he did not believe that a regional group, adhering 

 to this policy in its sales and other conditions reports, could be 

 successfully attacked. "I believe," he concluded this part of his 

 address, "that the Supreme Court will render a decision in this 

 case, which will uphold the right of business men to gather and 

 disseminate information on conditions in their industry." 



While at the meeting Mr. Compton received a wire from L. C. 

 Bo3'le of Washington, counsel for his association, announcing that 

 the Dividend Rule, which provides for the taxation of dividends 

 accumulated up to March 1, 1913, when distributed, had been 

 decisively defeated in the Senate on October 19. This rule was 

 one which would have worked great harm to the lumber industry, 

 especially those firms which when having cut out of a territory, 



liquidate their organization and distribute the accumulated earn- 

 ings. 



Herman Lundin of Bay City, cliairman of the Forestry Commit- 

 tee, made a comprehensive report on national and state forestry 

 questions. He urged that inasmuch as the Congress is going to 

 enact some sort of forestry bill, that his association should support 

 the Snell bill, so modified as to properly safeguard the interests of 

 the government and the individual lumberman, even though the 

 bill is not aplpicable to conditions in Michigan, because of the 

 "small timber holdings left, and tlieir divided ownership." 



But he said: "What will affect us, however, and what we should 

 endeavor to obtain, is proper state supervision and control of 

 reforestation." He recommended that the state acquire consider- 

 able more forest land through fair trade and purchase, and to keep 

 for reforestation lands fit for that purpose which are turned back 

 for taxes when cut over. 



A great deal might be done in the state for the conservation of 

 its forest resources, he said, if larger appropriations were made for 

 fire control, providing for enlargement of the patrol system and 

 the tower system. 



The matter of appropriating from .$250 to $500 to help finance 

 the Michigan Traffic League's fight in the Michigan Class Rate Case 

 was left to the executive committee, with power to act, following 

 a request for co-operation made by R. L. Tuttle, traffic manager of 

 the American Box Board Company of Grand Rapids. 



M. J. Fox of the Von Platen Fox Company, Iron Mountain, Mich., 

 and president of the Northern Hemlock & Hardwood Manufac- 

 turers' Association, was present at the meeting, and took occasion 

 to extend to the members an invitation to attend the meeting of 

 his association at Milwaukee, Wis., October 27. 



An interesting digression from the consideration of strictly busi- 

 ness affairs occurred when President Barden persuaded E. Von 

 Platen of the Von Platen-Fox Company to tell the members of his 

 trip to Europe, from which he had just returned. 



In his report Secretary Knox advised the members that "October 

 1 your secretary completed fourteen years of service, having served 

 in that capacity since October 1, 1907. Many changes have come 

 to the lumbermen of Michigan in that time," he said. 



Indiana Forest Reserve 

 As the first step in outliuliig a $1,000,000 forestry program for the state, 

 \V. A. Guthrie, chairman of the state conservation commission ; C. R, 

 Tillotson, United States forestr.y service ; Charles C. Deam, state forester, 

 and I. 15. Stearns, special agent, made a surve.v of Indiana, and in the 

 report to Governor McCray recommended the establishment of a state 

 forest reserve near Leavenworth, Ind. Mr. Guthrie emphasizes in bis 

 report the importance and necessity of a definite forestry program on the 

 part of the state. 



