January 10, 1922 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



Election of Officers 



S. M. NICKEY. head of the Green River Lumber Company, 

 who has served the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association so 

 efficiently as president during the past two years, was unani- 

 mously re-elected to succed himself. 



JAMES F. McSWEYN, Memphis Band Mill Company, was 

 elected vice-president of the association, while ELLIOTT 

 LANG, R. J. DarneU, Inc., who has served as treasurer for 

 several terms, was chosen to succeed himself. 



Other officers and directors elected at the same time are: 



VICE-PRESIDENTS IN CHARGE OF DISTRICT 

 OFFICES: S. E. Richey, Richey, Halstead & Quick, Cincin- 

 nati; A. E. Norman, Norman Lumber Company, Louisville; 

 Lucas E. Moore, Lucas E. Moore Stave Company, New Or- 

 leans; J. F. McSweyn, Memphis Band Mill Company, Mem- 

 phis; A. C. Thompson, Kurz Bros., Helena, Ark. 



VICE-PRESIDENTS IN CHARGE OF STANDING 

 COMMITTEES: Earl Palmer, Ferguson-Palmer Company, 

 Inc., Memphis, legislation; Robt. Bruce, E. L. Bruce Com- 

 pany, Memphis, car supply; George C. Ehemaiin, George C. 

 Ehemann & Co., Memphis, finance and auditing; James E. 

 Stark, James E. Stark & Co., Inc., Memphis, exporting; 

 T. E. Sledge, May Brothers, Memphis, rate book; John W. 

 McClure, Bellgrade Lumber Company, Memphis, rate adjust- 

 ments; O. M. Krebs, McLean Hardwood Lumber Company, 

 Memphis, membership and assessment; R. C. Stimson, Stim- 

 fon Veneer & Lumber Company, demurrage and storage; J. C. 



West, J. C. Wett Lumber Company, Cincinnati, freight claims. 



DIRECTORS FOR THREE YEARS: O. P. Hurd, Bennett 

 & Witte, Memphis; Paul C. Smith, Helena Band MUl Com- 

 pany, Helena, Ark.; C. H. Sherrill, SherrUl Hardwood Lum- 

 ber Company, New Orleans; Walker L. Wellford, Chickasaw 

 Cooperage Company, Memphis; B. B. Burns, Ritter-Burns 

 Lumber Company, Huntington, W. Va.; H. B. Johnson, Mans- 

 field Hardwood Lumber Company, Shreveport, La.; Charles H. 

 Barnaby, Greencastle, Ind. 



DIRECTOR FOR TWO YEARS: Max Miller, Miller Lum- 

 ber Company, Helena, Ark.; chosen to succeed J. F. McSweyn, 

 elected vice-president. 



HOLD-OVER DIRECTORS FOR TWO YEARS: W. H. 

 Day, Wood Mo;.aic Compauy, Louisville, Ky.; S. B. Anderson, 

 Anderson-Tully Company. Memphis; W. C. Bonner, J. H. Bon- 

 ner & Sons, Memphis; W. T. Yoimg, Corinth Sawmill Company. 

 Corinth, Miss.; J. W. Bailey, Eastman-Gardiner Company, 

 Laurel, Miss.; J. M. Jones, J. M. Jones Lumber Company, 

 Monroe, La. 



HOLD OVER DIRECTORS FOR ONE YEAR: H. C. Coles, 

 Arkansas Oak Flooring Company, Pine Bluff; W. B. Morgan, 

 S. T. Alcus Company, New Orleans; F. B. Robertson, Fergu- 

 son-Palmer Company, Memphis; C. B. Allen, Allen-Eaton 

 Panel Company, Memphis; Fred Grismore, Grismore-Hyman 

 Company, Memphis; T. V. Ashby, Ashby Veneer & Lumber 

 Company, Jackson, Tenn., and R. L. Jurden, Penrod-Jurden 

 Company, Memphis. 



Ijufore that body. " Confereuee after confcrciu'e," he said, ''was 

 lit'ld with executive officials of the carriers from which the associa- 

 tion obtained much sympathy but uo action." He believed that 

 southern carriers were willing to grant relief but that northern and 

 eastern railroads were opposed to allowing any reduction in rates. 



' ' When we finally filed formal complaint with the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission we were confronted with almost unbeliev- 

 able ignorance on the part of some of the traffic men," he said. 

 ' ' When we emphasized the impossibility of handling low grade 

 lumber on existing freight rates, although able to get bj' on the 

 lii-ttcr grades, one traffic man wanted to know why we did not stop 

 producing the lower grades. We succeeded in convincing the com- 

 mission that a real emergency existed and that an iiumediato hear- 

 ing was necessary. We got it in a week. But the railroads fought 

 hard, those which had been most friendly before the filing of the 

 complaint being the hardest fighters. We made a .splendid showing 

 at Washington. I have practiced law for 21 years and I never 

 had such a creditable array of witnesses in my entire experience. 

 Kven some of the attorneys for the carriers conceded that we had 

 made such a splendid showing that we were entitled to what we 

 asked for. 



"Then the hard luck began. Commissioner Cox, who appeared 

 so favorably impressed with the justness of our contentions, was 

 hurt in a railroad wreck. Otherwise I believe that we would have 

 obtained not only an earh- but a favorable decision as well. In 

 the meantime many untoward things happened, including ordering 

 by the commission of a general investigation of rates holding back 

 the decision in the hardwood rate case until this investigation is 

 completed. The decision of the Supreme Court in the "open com- 

 petition plan" case, too, was delivered by the Supreme Court and 

 this has prejudiced the interests of members of the industry because 

 creating the impression, in the minds of some of the commisisoners, 

 that there is no reason for being hasty in furnishing relief in the 

 form of lower rates to those who stand convicted of being in a con- 

 .spiracy to restrain production and advance prices unduly. 



Cox Is Back on the Job 



"But Commissioner Co.\ is now back on the job and I feel assured 

 that he will force the decision through if he is able to do so." 



Mr. Norman urged, in this connection, that the association keep 

 up its fight before the Interstate Commerce Commission for lower 

 rates. "Do everything in your power," he fairly shouted, "to take 

 the shackles off of commerce and let it move as before. Von should 

 let congressmen know that present freight rates are throttling busi- 

 ness. A concerted voice should be revised instead of a single voice 

 here and there. You should be represented at Washington to see 

 that nothing is done in the general investigation that will prejudice 

 your interests and your case before the commission. Take your 

 punisliment standing up and not lying down." 



Mr. Xorman deplored the fact that railway executives have 

 gotten into the habit of going to Washington for everything. He 

 declared that they claim to be able to change rates for the icasou 

 tiiat rates are made by the Interstate Commerce Commission and 

 that they cannot reduce labor costs because these are determined 

 by the railway labor board. But he insisted that, if traffic cauuot 

 move and the wheels of industry cannot be unblocked in any other 

 wav, present conditions should be changed and changed speedily. 



He urged the association to continue vigorously because it is more 

 necessary to the industry than ever before, now that rates are so 

 intricate and now that the railroads themselves have a strong cen- 

 tralized organization. 



President Advocates Fighting 



President Nickcy agreed that the fight for lower rates should be 

 kept up and deplored the fact that railroad men are governe<l by 

 figures and theories in approaching the rate problem rather than by 

 the common sense facts of the situation, such as disclosed by the 

 inability of hardwood manufacturers in the South to use more than 

 3.3 per cent of a tree, the reuiaiuder going entirely to waste, thus 

 costing producers heavy loss in money and resources and at the same 

 time causing the railroads decided loss in tonnage, because of pres- 

 ent prohibitive freight rates. 



The majority of members of the association voted in favor of 



